|
Harrow posted:Possibly, though it would probably have loot boxes and pay-for-power MTX if it was. As it is, Anthem is not free to play, but (for now) has no loot boxes and only plans to sell skins, emotes, and stuff like that. They also plan on all the content/story updates being free instead of being paid DLC, so... yeah, good luck with that. Splatoon does it and doesn't offer micro transactions. If they can do it why can't anybody else.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:49 |
|
|
# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:26 |
|
I said come in! posted:As costs go up the number of copies sold in order to make a profit increases as well. spend less money on
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:49 |
|
Cowcaster posted:5 to 6 million copies sold seems to have become the industry's standard expectation for most triple A game releases for some reason There's like 100 million PS4/Xbones in the wild plus PC so 5% of the market share isn't unobtainable. Battlefield easily does that but these companies sink so much cash into their big brands that they literally can't afford to sell less than 10 million units. Of course if anything bad happens they'll cut hundreds of employees instead of one overpaid manager who'll move on to become Associate Director Leader of Ideas (200k salary plz)
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:50 |
|
I said come in! posted:As costs go up the number of copies sold in order to make a profit increases as well. And so does the importance of post-launch monetization. That's also why an increasing number of third-party single-player games are going open world now. It doesn't seem to make sense on the surface--a huge, detailed open world like in an Assassin's Creed game isn't exactly cheap--but the important thing is "engagement." Specifically, publishers like big open world games that most players never finish because the longer they can keep someone playing, the more likely they are to buy more stuff for that game. That could be microtransactions, or it could be that you never uninstalled or finished the game and so it's easier to get you to come back and buy the DLC/expansion when it comes out. Either way, open world games are the highest-engagement single-player games and that's why they're everywhere. Almost everything else is either largely a multiplayer game, or a first-party title like God of War that can function similarly to a loss leader for console sales. (It likely didn't actually lose money, but it also was under less pressure to make a giant profit all on its own because it can drive console sales.)
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:50 |
|
In Training posted:Splatoon does it and doesn't offer micro transactions. If they can do it why can't anybody else. Nintendo was willing to miss out on the extra $200 million from selling playable off the hook
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:53 |
|
Convex posted:This is not an attack or snide remark in any way, but I never understood the humour in this strip. Is it based on characters that are built up over time or something? On their own they never feel like they are inherently humourous Nancy is now the strip for millennial gamers imo
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:54 |
|
EA should say gently caress it and just have this new idiot battle royale be the moneymaker while they reinvest into Dead Space. There was recently an Ars Technica "war stories" video on the making of Dead Space that is excellent, and it's now the highest-viewed vid on the channel at 3 million views. I think the audience is there for it, especially with how well RE2 is doing. Here's the vid btw because it owns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3iqq49Ew8
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:56 |
|
CharlieFoxtrot posted:yeah but GAMERS have both a very insular view of the world and the entitlement to make their preferences known on the internet The joke was supposed to be that EA won a literal Worst Company in America online poll that some consumer watchdog site put up in those years. Another multiple winner of this poll: Comcast. Harrow posted:One difference is that Anthem has a ton of anti-hype working against it. Yeah, it's not really the same situation as Destiny at all. Destiny was the new original IP from Bungie that a) represented them throwing off the yoke of their corporate overlords (or at least being perceived as such) and b) was preceded by a well-liked entry in a popular franchise. Anthem is the new original IP from Bioware who a) are still very clearly under the corporate thumb and b) are just coming off a release that was a complete disaster and probably killed an already-tarnished franchise.There's zero goodwill waiting for Anthem, it had to be instantly and substantially impressive and it wasn't.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:57 |
|
In Training posted:Splatoon does it and doesn't offer micro transactions. If they can do it why can't anybody else. Same reason God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn could be made without microtransactions: they're first-party console exclusives whose main (commercial) job is to drive console sales. It's a similar concept to loss leaders in retail, though worth noting it's not quite the same because none of those games actually failed to turn a profit. They don't need to make as much money in and of themselves because their job is to get you in the door. Splatoon 2 doesn't need microtransactions because it probably sold Switches, or contributed to it. Nintendo gets a cut of every single game sold on the Switch. If Splatoon 2 contributed to Hypothetical Consumer buying a Switch, then Nintendo's cut of any Switch games that Hypothetical Consumer buys are sort of serving as Splatoon 2's continued revenue, the way microtransactions do for third-party games. And more of Splatoon 2's revenue is profit for Nintendo, as well, because they don't have to give a cut of it to any platform owners--they are the platform owner. Because companies like EA and Ubisoft are third parties, they're not getting a cut of sales--instead, they're giving a cut of their sales to platform owners. And they don't get any continued revenue from any source other than the game. Once box sales dry up, that's about it, that's all the money you're getting out of that game. So if you're not making a profit, or enough of a profit, on initial box sales, you make it up somewhere else, and that's where microtransactions and DLC come in. With a game like Anthem where the developers have said they have no plans for a sequel and want to support and expand the game for years to come, that's even more important, because if they're not selling expansions (something Splatoon 2 actually did), eventually they're going to need to sell something to fund continued development. They're hoping that non-loot box cosmetics are enough. I hope they're right, but I kinda doubt it. One way to look at it is that if we say we want more games to have Splatoon 2's content and monetization model, what we're really saying is that we want more games to be first-party console exclusives. Honestly I'm not all that convinced that would be a total disaster, but I know a lot of people think of console exclusives as anti-consumer in other ways, so Harrow fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Feb 8, 2019 |
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:57 |
|
lest we forget https://www.pcgamer.com/revenue-from-pc-free-to-play-microtransactions-has-doubled-since-2012/quote:PC gamers will spend a whopping $22bn on microtransactions in free-to-play games this year, double the figure from 2012 and nearly three times the revenue generated from full game purchases on PC and consoles combined. That's according to a new report from games data and market research firm SuperData, which suggests that although players are "quick to complain" about monetisation they "continue to support service-based [models] with their wallets". that article is from 2017, too, so there's no reason to believe the situation is even shittier now
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 19:58 |
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElfIpY6xvB4
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:02 |
|
The developer commentaries Valve did for the Half-Life episodes are cool and more developers should do it. To give my final thoughts on the series, it was definitely something that got better as it went along. I enjoyed HL2 but I wasn't really invested in the characters and the story was kinda chaotic. E1+2 tightened the focus of the story with clearer goals and the more I spent time with the characters the more I cared about them. The clear technogolical progression between games also helped a lot to make for better graphics and better set pieces which made things feel more impressive with each game. All in all it was a fun experience but I wouldn't really put it up there with my favourites. Perhaps E3 would have changed that but I guess Gaben's too busy rolling around in his stacks of titty game cash now.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:03 |
|
Cowcaster posted:lest we forget https://www.pcgamer.com/revenue-from-pc-free-to-play-microtransactions-has-doubled-since-2012/ Fortnite alone made 3 billion dollars last year. So I imagine the numbers for 2018 to be insane.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:04 |
|
I said come in! posted:Fortnite alone made 3 billion dollars last year. So I imagine the numbers for 2018 to be insane. Well, Fortnite is also way bigger than anything else
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:07 |
|
Rarity posted:I'm glad you got a kick out of it Portal 1/2 is a legit All Time Top 10 game, you're in for something special. (Yeah I'm combining them into a single game because 2 is direct sequel using the same tech, deal with it) It's really a shame that Valve lost their pride in their work afterwards
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:09 |
|
Harrow posted:
can I say I want more games like Splatoon 2 because they're fun as hell
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:19 |
|
DLC Inc posted:EA should say gently caress it and just have this new idiot battle royale be the moneymaker while they reinvest into Dead Space.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:36 |
|
In Training posted:Why do people care about video game stocks unless you're a stock broker This apex boom is significant because Jay Rust posted:Anthem is going to raise EA stocks even higher!! When they layoff all the bioware staff and sell their offices next year
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:37 |
|
so what does Apex do diff from the other royales
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:38 |
|
Alan Smithee posted:so what does Apex do diff from the other royales From what I've seen, Overwatch-style classes plus squad gameplay that works with complete strangers and without requiring voice
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:40 |
|
i plan on never trying it out but i have to say "without requiring voice" definitely piqued my interest
Cowcaster fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Feb 8, 2019 |
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:43 |
|
Alan Smithee posted:so what does Apex do diff from the other royales Its not a hodgepodge game built to copy a technical disaster assetflip that got hot
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:44 |
|
Wamdoodle posted:can I say I want more games like Splatoon 2 because they're fun as hell I mean I'm gonna buy every Splatoon sequel from here until the heat death of the universe so yeah I just mean that its monetization works because it's a first-party console exclusive and wouldn't necessarily be viable for a similar third-party game. It is, however, a really loving good game and deserves every bit of praise it gets, including for its really generous free updates. CharlieFoxtrot posted:From what I've seen, Overwatch-style classes plus squad gameplay that works with complete strangers and without requiring voice Cowcaster posted:i plan on never trying it out but i have to say "without requiring voice" definitely piqued my interest Its ping system is goddamn brilliant, really. I hope everyone making any squad-based game, whether co-op or competitive, is taking notes. Respawn tested Apex Legends for a full month with voice comms off to make sure they could fully communicate as a squad using only the in-game tools.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 20:57 |
|
I miss voice...
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:00 |
|
Is "Booyah!" one of the pings
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:01 |
|
CharlieFoxtrot posted:Is "Booyah!" one of the pings Sadly, not every game can be as perfect as Splatoon
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:02 |
|
Alan Smithee posted:so what does Apex do diff from the other royales The respawn system is a great mechanic. In other battle royales, if team members die there's always the awkward "well...you can keep going if you want...but maybe we should just quit and start over?" Because nobody wants to just sit there while the rest of the round plays out but also nobody wants to be the rear end in a top hat that forces their friends to quit when they're still alive. Making your team members return to your corpse if they want to revive you forces them to stay in the action. So either they too die to the team that killed you, or they manage to get to your corpse and get you revived.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:03 |
|
I miss the old days of voice, when in SC: Chaos Theory a spy would yell "I'm Rick James bitch!" in my ear before knocking me out
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:03 |
|
No one is ever gonna top Splinter Cell's use of multiplayer voice, including spies hacking the enemy voice chat to gain intel and being able to voice chat with the enemy team when you melee/grab one of them
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:05 |
|
Remember when Mario’s voice was a gruff Brooklynite? Before the happy, shrill yelping that can’t form a sentence?
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:05 |
|
ah yes the halcyon days of voice chat long before anyone realized you could yell slurs at people to get a rise out of them
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:06 |
|
Jay Rust posted:Remember when Mario’s voice was a gruff Brooklynite? Before the happy, shrill yelping that can’t form a sentence? Rest in peace, Captain
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:08 |
|
I would rather die than hear the voice of another human being when I'm playing a video game
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:09 |
|
Voice chat was never good, we just all took different lengths of time to realize it.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:10 |
|
In Training posted:Splatoon does it and doesn't offer micro transactions. If they can do it why can't anybody else. because it'd just make a shitload of money, instead of all the money. that's not acceptable.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:10 |
|
Convex posted:This is not an attack or snide remark in any way, but I never understood the humour in this strip. Is it based on characters that are built up over time or something? On their own they never feel like they are inherently humourous Yeah, that's a big part of it. A lot of Achewood's humor relies on playing its characters personalities and backgrounds off of each other, and that (plus the occasionally extreme surrealism and heavy reliance on obscure references) makes it hard to get into. At the repeated urging of some friends years ago, I took several attempts at reading it and bounced right off of it a few times before one day it clicked, and now I adore it. (If you want to try to get into it, it's a good idea to jump in at a story arc like the Great Outdoor Fight. To the dude about to play Portal for the first time: I wish I was in your shoes, my first playthrough of Portal was one of my all-time favorite gaming experiences.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:11 |
|
Update: I did not get fired but things are hella tense RN. Prolly gonna be lots of staff meetings in the near future. But for the time being I'm employed and can afford DMCV Deluxe, phew.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:12 |
|
haveblue posted:Voice chat was never good, we just all took different lengths of time to realize it. I think my first mic was to talk to people in Day of Defeat, and the first thing I did was start singing Linkin Park lyrics into voice, so I'm basically the reason it's poo poo
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:12 |
|
exquisite tea posted:I'm employed and can afford DMCV Deluxe, phew. Sometimes the suffering is worth it
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:13 |
|
|
# ? Jun 5, 2024 03:26 |
|
exquisite tea posted:Update: I did not get fired but things are hella tense RN. Prolly gonna be lots of staff meetings in the near future. But for the time being I'm employed and can afford DMCV Deluxe, phew. can you buy me a copy too while you're still gainfully employed i'm very poor and saving my money for sekiro
|
# ? Feb 8, 2019 21:14 |