Games Industry Discussion

[Jason]

Yea that's... spicy.

 

MS will put all their games on PS when Sony allow Games Pass on there, which they won't anytime soon. If MS pull CoD then Sony will pull Bungie from Xbox no doubt.

 

I hate platform exclusivity so I'm in favour of MS keeping CoD on PS indefinitely as it will encourage more of it between MS and Xbox, so hopefully a middle ground is found. It would be a real set back for the industry and where it's going if this ended up with Sony and MS putting up those walls again.

[Zello]

Maybe Sony brings back SOCOM. But that doesn’t have the big name like COD does.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Zello

[Zello]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/microsoft-activision-acquisition-expected-to-face-deeper-investigations-in-uk-eu

Jim Ryan

[Jason]

2 hours ago, Zello said:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/microsoft-activision-acquisition-expected-to-face-deeper-investigations-in-uk-eu

Jim Ryan

 

Nothing MS wouldn't have expected, though Sony's hypocricy is hilariously embarrassing for them. Dev that pays for single platform exclusivity crying about the possibility of losing Call of Duty (and just Call of Duty), even though MS most likely wouldn't pull it anyway.

 

What they're most likely really scared of is being no longer the best place to play Call of Duty, something which is only really true due to exclusivity deals. Through GP and GPU MS could offer the full game, DLC, support cross progression between Xbox/PC/Cloud and more and basically make playing the game on Xbox the best value for the CoD crowd. Sony don't want to compete with GP (don't, not can't) so they'll fight to stop it.

 

The deal being investigated further is nothing unexpected tho, MS are probably sitting on a whole library of responses to any Sony response to it. They've already played the "it'd make no business sense, PS is the most popular platform" card.

[Zello]

Dunkey starting a publisher?

Cool. I hope he succeeds 

[Pedinhuh]

Surprised to see that VI's leak and the implications that this could have to T2 weren't commented in here at all.

 

It made the share price dip down a bit, good chance to load up on more shares.

[Jason]

That Dunkey thing is... uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.

 

I genuinely hope he succeeds as I think he is genuinely passionate about what he's trying to do at it's core, but that video was a shocking way of announcing. It was genuinely difficult to tell if he was being serious lol.

 

Like, playing lots of indie games and sh*tting on AAA games (which he often does in ways that are purely comedic rather than fair) doesn't make you qualified to be someone who can put a "Approved!" sticker on games. Not only that but he even seems to be wanting in on the creative aspect... which defeats the entire point of indie, which stands for independent as he clearly forgot.

 

He also heavily implies people come to his channels to find out what is worth playing but that's a lie and he knows it, people come to his channel for the comedy - he calls his reviews "dunkviews" for a reason, they aren't real or serious reviews.

 

So yea, while I'm not against the idea of him using his platform to try and do something publishing wise, he's not made a great start to it.

[TheSantader25]

I know Dunkey's reviews are often not professional but I think a lot of the points he makes are usually valid. I watch it for the comedy too but I also watch it because I think he has a good understanding of what a videogame should be. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by TheSantader25

[Jason]

He has a good understanding of what video games that appeal to him should be.

 

He is often very dismissive of AAA games just for being AAA these days, there's many-a-times in his videos about an AAA game where he intentionally stages stuff to make the game look bad. He's playing to his audience as that is what everyone watches him for, and I generally enjoy his content my self, but it also really rubs against this new claim that people come to him for reviews or for what to play. He's first and foremost an entertainment channel, he's not someone people are F5ing when an embargo drops for previews/reviews. He's not somelike like the late TotalBiscuit who absolutely was someone people went to for reviews.

 

I am all for him using his platform and audience to highlight the best upcoming indies, I think that's a great idea, but I am not convinced by the way he's seemingly doing it nor his attempts to justify why indie devs should partner with him.

[Zapper]

Quote

I, Martin Luiga, a founding member and Secretary of the ZA/UM cultural association, as well as the assembler of most of the core team, am hereby dissolving the ZA/UM cultural association (not to be confused with the ZA/UM company, on which subject I would note that neither Kurvitz, Hindpere nor Rostov are working there since the end of last year and their leaving the company was involuntary. Which would seem like bad news for the loving fans that are waiting for the Disco sequel.)

The reason for dissolving the cultural organization is that it no longer represents the ethos it was founded on. People and ideas are meant to be eternal; organizations may well be temporary. I find that the organization was successful overall and most of the mistakes that were made were contingent, determined by the sociocultural conditions we were thrown into. I still encourage people to organize, and I would say that one of the qualities that the ZA/UM cultural organization sorely lacked was pretty much any formal structure.

For a while, it was beautiful. My sincerest thanks to all that have rooted for us.

RIP Disco Elysium 2.

[Algonquin Assassin]

So it appears Google Stadia will be shutting down in January.

 

Never really cared for it personally, but it’s not that surprising. It didn’t seem to have a great following anyway, but apparently some devs were left in the dark with games just released or still in development.

 

Really poor communication on Google’s part.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Algonquin Assassin

[Jason]

Well the ZA/UM stuff is disappointing but sadly not unexpected. The game was too successfull both critically and financially for money not to get too involved and start fiddling with things. Hopefully the sequel gets out alright, apparently it has a good chance of that, but it's a shame that those key people have left.

 

It's the worry with the CRPG devs right now be it Owl Games, ZA/UM or Larian, their games are all doing well and turning heads and with the way the industry is right now you would think there's corps looking to get a stake in them which could be terrible.

 

As for Stadia, we all knew it was coming before it even launched. Individuals like Phil Harrison running it was enough to ensure that. Good on them for handing out refunds but they really sorta didn't have a choice, it would've been a monumental PR disaster had they not. They've given a fair few developers a nice headache though.

[Zello]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/playstation-boss-jim-ryan-flew-to-brussels-to-voice-concerns-to-eu-over-xboxs-activision-deal/

 

 

[Jason]

They are absolutely terrified over the prospect of losing Call of Duty to the point it's kinda mad.

 

I'm against exclusivity so I hope it stays on PS but yea, f*ck. They don't give a sh*t about all the other massive games they could lose, it's just CoD.

[Zello]

It's Jim Ryan getting on a plane to go beg them to not approve the deal

Edited October 3, 2022 by Zello

[Jason]

In an era where there's so many big multi plats now, and after having just bought Bungie, it's just embarrassing to see them cry and cry and cry about one game... like seriously, just one. Not to mention they're a company that has built their current dominance largely on exclusives, and has a growing list of anti-consumer moves in recent years.

 

They are a genuine mess under Jim Ryan, playing dirty to stay on top instead of actually trying to improve their service and offerings. Them putting games on PC is pretty much the only good move they as a company have done in the past few years, and even then they still have work to do there.

[Zello]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/fandom-acquires-gamespot-metacritic-and-giant-bomb-other-sites

 

I didn't know Fandom had that kinda money. I thought they just ran those sh*tty wiki sites lmaoo. I guess having all those huge ads finally paid off.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Zello

[Mister Pink]

Acti-Blizz deal got another approval. This time in Brazil.

 

On Wednesday, the country’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) said it had approved the merger with no restrictions.

 

“Considering the huge popularity of Call of Duty , it is reasonable to infer that if Activision Blizzard games were no longer available on Sony consoles, PlayStation users could decide to migrate to Xbox, or even a PC, to continue having access to franchise games,” part of CADE’s summary reads.."

 

“On the other hand, it’s also reasonable to assume that if upcoming Call of Duty games became exclusive to the Microsoft ecosystem, players loyal to the PlayStation brand could simply abandon the series, migrating their demand to other games available on their favourite console.”

Brazilian regulator approves Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard deal | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

 

Was not expecting them to be so nonchalant about it. Basically saying if COD goes exclusive, just deal with it; buy an Xbox or Game Pass sub or find something else to play. 

 

Saudia Arabia have approved it previously. 

Saudi Arabia is ‘the first regulatory authority’ to approve Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Mister Pink

[Pedinhuh]

...Why would CADE even care about this is beyond me.

[Mister Pink]

1 hour ago, Pedinhuh said:

...Why would CADE even care about this is beyond me.

Yeah it seems like just a formaility at this stage.

 

But to echo what I've heard the likes of Mr. Matty Plays saying: it's good that these things don't go unchecked. It is the largest acquistion in gaming history and probably in entertainment. 

 

Most likely there will be more aquisitions after this. 

Xbox Considering More Studio Acquisitions (gamerant.com)

[Failed Again]

Brazil approves Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase, says it won't defend 'particular interests of specific competitors'
By Joshua Wolens

 published about 1 hour ago

Brazil approves Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase, says it won't defend 'particular interests of specific competitors' | PC Gamer

 Hope this goes through. All the way. All the delays worldwide, have been so frustrating

 

 

Now it's rumored another delay for Starfield

Edited October 7, 2022 by Failed Again

[Zello]

I don’t really care about COD. I care about Activisions library. I wanna see remasters/ports of True Crime, GUN, Tony Hawk, and the Scarface game. Y’all can keep COD just remaster those classic games and bring them over to PlayStation

[Ivan1997GTA]

10 hours ago, Zello said:

I don’t really care about COD. I care about Activisions library. I wanna see remasters/ports of True Crime, GUN, Tony Hawk, and the Scarface game. Y’all can keep COD just remaster those classic games and bring them over to PlayStation

And bring Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled over to PC. Why didn't that game get a PC port after over 3 years is beyond me.

[Zello]

I love remasters.  But this is a good video

We need remasters for games that are not playable. Not for games that we can already play due to backwards compatibility or are already available.

[Zello]

Don’t play golf but about time we get some competition in sports games again.

EA vs 2K

[Jason]

Yea we potentially could be about to enter a bit of a golden spell for golf games as T2 and EA are both involved and have both invested in it.

 

Fifa made massive leaps in terms of gameplay and feature sets as it toppled PES in the mid to late 360 days, but that ambition has completely fizzled out now and they just focus on FUT. EA's golf games were going in the same direction before they shelved them, overly monetised, overly service driven and just... riddled with issues from a design, UI and technical perspective - a lot of those issues being caused by the switch to Frostbite as well it has to be said, customisation went from pretty great to f*cking terrible when they did that.

 

Soooooooooo hopefully we see some good games out of this.

[Tru Company]

About golf real quick just want to say the 2k21 game isn't too bad imo, may or may not be worth it for 2k23 I guess we'll see very soon when it releases this Friday. I hope it sparks some more good games to come as well.

 

Only thing about 2k21 though, is just a few days ago after I posted elsewhere of golf, the game froze my computer (might have been something on my end that caused it idk ) and after forced to do a hard reset on my PC, my saves were lost. All my progress, 4 full tours, gone. Still had my level and currency and unlocked stuff, but my progress was entirely reset. Needless to say, after now starting from the beginning, I'm making a backup after each round. My progress just got reset again after closing the game without a freeze this time but luckily I had a backup ready. 

 

It's an alright time waster. Definitely an improvement from the pga tour games of old but still with flaws. I get the feeling pga tour might be back and here to stay for a few more years at least. May not be too popular but eh it has its niche. Hope I'm not off topic for this discussion, don't have too much to add

Edited October 12, 2022 by Tru Company

[Jason]

Re: MS x Acti Blizz

 

After announcing a year 10 commitment to bring CoD to Nintendo consoles it was also confirmed that MS offered Steam the same deal, Gabe Newell's public statement on it was... amusing.

 

"We’re happy that Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to reach customers with Call of Duty when their Activision acquisition closes. Microsoft has been on Steam for a long time and we take it as a signal that they are happy with gamers reception to that and the work we are doing. Our job is to keep building valuable features for not only Microsoft but all Steam customers and partners.

 

Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment but it wasn’t necessary for us because a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be."

 

Gabe casually firing shots at Sony and Epic at the same time lol.