Blizzard really looks like a sinking ship nowadays. I doubt it'll ever stop printing money but the name is never going to be admired like it was before.
Blizzard really looks like a sinking ship nowadays. I doubt it'll ever stop printing money but the name is never going to be admired like it was before.
(First Chris, technically). First Mike now Frank. I hope this is a message to Activision and the gaming community. But I suspect nothing will change. Money>games now. Watching Blizzard and...
(First Chris, technically). First Mike now Frank. I hope this is a message to Activision and the gaming community. But I suspect nothing will change. Money>games now. Watching Blizzard and Bethesda slowly burn off hurts my heart...
It’s inevitable really. Once you have shareholders the pressure ratchets up. I only wish the really good talent would have bounced sooner and started up their own studios. Imagine how many better...
It’s inevitable really. Once you have shareholders the pressure ratchets up. I only wish the really good talent would have bounced sooner and started up their own studios. Imagine how many better games we’d have now if these minds were free to do build gameplay features instead of real money auction houses.
Yeah I'm not sure what to think of the current landscape of gaming. A once cheap and harmless hobby has turned into a quick decline of consumer respect and deception based on the idea of chasing...
Yeah I'm not sure what to think of the current landscape of gaming. A once cheap and harmless hobby has turned into a quick decline of consumer respect and deception based on the idea of chasing every penny. Is it worth shunning their once loyal fanbase to build a new one that's willing to dump thousands of dollars on loot boxes and faux-gambling mechanics that hinder base gameplay just to point you to shortcuts like xp boosters? For them, probably.
It's sick and bullshit, but what can we do when we have companies like epic games willing to swindle every dollar from a player's parents bank account so they can bend us over some more? I've started going back to older games, for example the re-release of final fantasy 12 is absolutely fantastic and highlights a time when games were games and not massive open world slot machines. Anachronox is a widely unknown turn-based rpg from the 90's that highlights early PC gaming frustrations but also highlights why those games were amazing. Half life 1 and 2, portal 1 and 2, platformers from the ps2 era like ratchet and clank and Jak and daxter, it hurts knowing that we probably won't get games like these anymore simply because they can't be monetized in the way publishers want, but hey they're still there and playable.
Google Stadia is a publisher's wet dream with the only thing a consumer needs is a $50 box and a controller and all they have access too is a video stream that can't be modded or patched by fans. No cheat engine to mod xp boosters into your inventory, perpetual DRM in the hands of Google, I'm sorry but that's scary.
I know this post is long, I know it's not necessarily going to be read, but your comment really hit home for me. Gaming is a staple of my childhood, and is a hobby that got me through so many hard times in my life, and now these shareholders want to ruin all the progress the industry has made all because they want a few more dollars in their bank account, it's just sickening.
You (and @lepigpen) should probably look more towards indie games than AAA ones from the massive companies like EA and Ubisoft. The great games made by passionate developers and not loaded up with...
You (and @lepigpen) should probably look more towards indie games than AAA ones from the massive companies like EA and Ubisoft. The great games made by passionate developers and not loaded up with monetization absolutely still exist, but it's (mostly) not the big companies making them. There are a ton of amazing indie games coming out constantly. I can't even attempt to keep up with all of the ones I want to play.
Something I like to keep in mind is that modern AAA games are effectively a new type of game that didn't even exist when the game industry was younger. Gaming wasn't popular yet, so the companies had to be much smaller and couldn't invest nearly as many resources into a game. That's pretty much exactly what modern indie developers are like: they're generally making games for a particular niche, so their market is limited and they have to keep everything smaller and more focused. The big AAA devs are the opposite: to make the most money, they need their games to appeal as widely as possible. Even though the games have insanely high production values (graphics, music, gigantic worlds, etc.) because of their massive resources, the games themselves are mostly bland and formulaic, sticking to whatever's been shown to sell well recently. They're not trying to take any risks.
I think this little clip from an old Steve Jobs interview sums it up pretty well. The large companies end up being run by people that aren't really "product people" and work more in areas like marketing and monetization. The metrics they look at for whether a game is "successful" or not can be completely separated from the game's actual quality.
It really says something when I can barely recall any recent games that came out I wanted to play. And many of the gamers I used to follow online have mostly switched to smaller indie titles that...
It really says something when I can barely recall any recent games that came out I wanted to play. And many of the gamers I used to follow online have mostly switched to smaller indie titles that are great, but not large immersive experiences like I'm interested in. I literally just play modded Bethesda games and every now and then run through a GTA to remind myself what a fully featured triple A game is supposed to be like. I log in to Warcraft and just stare at the state of things and log right back out. My game time bought with in game gold will lapse soon. And since Overwatch hasn't had a good playerbase/community in a year or 2 I think I will be removing BattleNet from my computer for the first time ever really...
Being luke warm on Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk and RDR2 not being on PC I really just don't know where gaming is going for me. Nowhere, it seems. I can't see anything I support coming outin the next year or 2. Outer Worlds was the one thing but now its an Epc exclusive so I won't buy it day one. I dunno what kind of shenanigans or sales will happen months after release...
Yup, I will be playing the outer worlds on PC GamePass when it comes out so I won't have to worry about the EGS nonsense. Even GTA is falling prey to the terrible AAA nonsense with GTA Online so...
Yup, I will be playing the outer worlds on PC GamePass when it comes out so I won't have to worry about the EGS nonsense. Even GTA is falling prey to the terrible AAA nonsense with GTA Online so they're not innocent by far. I am seriously looking into getting the Xbox Scarlett or PS5 and leaving PC gaming behind for a while if it continues down this path, at least Sony has games like God War and The Last of Us 2 that actually show quality and passion in the game.
RIGHT!? I was an XBOX gamer most of my gaming life. Soon as I finally get a PC worthy of modern games, industry tells me to go fuck myself and PlayStation doubles down on their best exclusives...
RIGHT!? I was an XBOX gamer most of my gaming life. Soon as I finally get a PC worthy of modern games, industry tells me to go fuck myself and PlayStation doubles down on their best exclusives reputation. I am jealous of the type of people who have a PC, xbox, ps, switch, etc. I am a one thing at a time type of person, if I can afford even that...
Blizzard really looks like a sinking ship nowadays. I doubt it'll ever stop printing money but the name is never going to be admired like it was before.
(First Chris, technically). First Mike now Frank. I hope this is a message to Activision and the gaming community. But I suspect nothing will change. Money>games now. Watching Blizzard and Bethesda slowly burn off hurts my heart...
It’s inevitable really. Once you have shareholders the pressure ratchets up. I only wish the really good talent would have bounced sooner and started up their own studios. Imagine how many better games we’d have now if these minds were free to do build gameplay features instead of real money auction houses.
I have decent hopes for Outer Worlds but when my friend told me it's on Epic Store I just rolled my eyes. What does this lead to...
Yeah I'm not sure what to think of the current landscape of gaming. A once cheap and harmless hobby has turned into a quick decline of consumer respect and deception based on the idea of chasing every penny. Is it worth shunning their once loyal fanbase to build a new one that's willing to dump thousands of dollars on loot boxes and faux-gambling mechanics that hinder base gameplay just to point you to shortcuts like xp boosters? For them, probably.
It's sick and bullshit, but what can we do when we have companies like epic games willing to swindle every dollar from a player's parents bank account so they can bend us over some more? I've started going back to older games, for example the re-release of final fantasy 12 is absolutely fantastic and highlights a time when games were games and not massive open world slot machines. Anachronox is a widely unknown turn-based rpg from the 90's that highlights early PC gaming frustrations but also highlights why those games were amazing. Half life 1 and 2, portal 1 and 2, platformers from the ps2 era like ratchet and clank and Jak and daxter, it hurts knowing that we probably won't get games like these anymore simply because they can't be monetized in the way publishers want, but hey they're still there and playable.
Google Stadia is a publisher's wet dream with the only thing a consumer needs is a $50 box and a controller and all they have access too is a video stream that can't be modded or patched by fans. No cheat engine to mod xp boosters into your inventory, perpetual DRM in the hands of Google, I'm sorry but that's scary.
I know this post is long, I know it's not necessarily going to be read, but your comment really hit home for me. Gaming is a staple of my childhood, and is a hobby that got me through so many hard times in my life, and now these shareholders want to ruin all the progress the industry has made all because they want a few more dollars in their bank account, it's just sickening.
You (and @lepigpen) should probably look more towards indie games than AAA ones from the massive companies like EA and Ubisoft. The great games made by passionate developers and not loaded up with monetization absolutely still exist, but it's (mostly) not the big companies making them. There are a ton of amazing indie games coming out constantly. I can't even attempt to keep up with all of the ones I want to play.
Something I like to keep in mind is that modern AAA games are effectively a new type of game that didn't even exist when the game industry was younger. Gaming wasn't popular yet, so the companies had to be much smaller and couldn't invest nearly as many resources into a game. That's pretty much exactly what modern indie developers are like: they're generally making games for a particular niche, so their market is limited and they have to keep everything smaller and more focused. The big AAA devs are the opposite: to make the most money, they need their games to appeal as widely as possible. Even though the games have insanely high production values (graphics, music, gigantic worlds, etc.) because of their massive resources, the games themselves are mostly bland and formulaic, sticking to whatever's been shown to sell well recently. They're not trying to take any risks.
I think this little clip from an old Steve Jobs interview sums it up pretty well. The large companies end up being run by people that aren't really "product people" and work more in areas like marketing and monetization. The metrics they look at for whether a game is "successful" or not can be completely separated from the game's actual quality.
It really says something when I can barely recall any recent games that came out I wanted to play. And many of the gamers I used to follow online have mostly switched to smaller indie titles that are great, but not large immersive experiences like I'm interested in. I literally just play modded Bethesda games and every now and then run through a GTA to remind myself what a fully featured triple A game is supposed to be like. I log in to Warcraft and just stare at the state of things and log right back out. My game time bought with in game gold will lapse soon. And since Overwatch hasn't had a good playerbase/community in a year or 2 I think I will be removing BattleNet from my computer for the first time ever really...
Being luke warm on Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk and RDR2 not being on PC I really just don't know where gaming is going for me. Nowhere, it seems. I can't see anything I support coming outin the next year or 2. Outer Worlds was the one thing but now its an Epc exclusive so I won't buy it day one. I dunno what kind of shenanigans or sales will happen months after release...
Yup, I will be playing the outer worlds on PC GamePass when it comes out so I won't have to worry about the EGS nonsense. Even GTA is falling prey to the terrible AAA nonsense with GTA Online so they're not innocent by far. I am seriously looking into getting the Xbox Scarlett or PS5 and leaving PC gaming behind for a while if it continues down this path, at least Sony has games like God War and The Last of Us 2 that actually show quality and passion in the game.
RIGHT!? I was an XBOX gamer most of my gaming life. Soon as I finally get a PC worthy of modern games, industry tells me to go fuck myself and PlayStation doubles down on their best exclusives reputation. I am jealous of the type of people who have a PC, xbox, ps, switch, etc. I am a one thing at a time type of person, if I can afford even that...