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Harrow posted:I am very excited for this. The other day I was thinking, I could buy the new Assassin's Creed, but wouldn't I rather go shoot more robot dinosaurs instead? It's an expansion with a new skill tree, new items, new enemies, and a new environment. It also has updates to the animation and camera when talking to NPCs. It looks about the size of Witcher 3's Heart of Stone.
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Nov 1, 2017 14:26
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Wamdoodle posted:
More importantly, other players can see your loot box drop and what items you get out of it. A lot streamers already make a spectacle of lootboxes/gacha summons so this seems like a natural step. Got to keep up with the digital Joneses. Monkey Fracas posted:Feel like we're hitting the peak of shoehorning lootboxes into every big game lol Only a small amount of whales have to buy lootboxes to make them worthwhile. Most players play casually and do not spend money on microtransactions/loot boxes. Whales tend to be very specialized in what they play and treat their games as a 'lifestyle game.' So different games can have very successful monetization systems since there is little overlap in whales who make up the bulk of each individual game's revenue. In a way, microtransactions can help smaller developers, such as Grinding Gear Games or Digital Extremes, compete with larger companies since they have dedicated fanbases to make up for their smaller size or lack of mainstream appeal. Most small and mid-sized developers were forced out of the market when their $60 game had to compete with EA/Acti-Blizzard/Take2/Ubisoft. We can also see this in the Japanese gacha mobile game segment where games with niche appeal can compete with more mainstream brands in terms of revenue since the former attracts more power spenders. A licensed anime game with a hardcore fanbase can easily out earn a global brand like Sonic the Hedgehog. It's why we're seeing so many 90s anime revivals on mobile, such as DBZ Dokkan Battle and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, do well since kids who grew up watching these shows are now working adults with money.
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Nov 1, 2017 16:46
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I thought maybe it would be like the care package from past games but it looks like some drat gatcha from a phone game.
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Internet Kraken posted:Hasn't CoD been dying as a franchise anyways? It certainly doesn't have the popularity peak it once did. Somehow I doubt this entry is gonna change that. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the game where baby-faced Kit Harington is the big bad, was the best selling game in North America in 2016. In the UK, it was #2 after FIFA. In most of Europe, it was one of the top five best selling games of the year.
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Nov 3, 2017 04:41
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exquisite tea posted:Despite Hellblade being so-called "indie AAA" it still had a production budget of around $10 million from an established studio, which is just not going to be possible for a fledgling developer. Despite seeming counterintuitive, AAA publishers would prefer to keep production costs sky-high because it creates higher and higher barriers to entry for the competition. If you don't have a gifted art or animation team then your project is going to be relegated to pixel art garbage tier in the minds of a consumer. Hellblade is interesting in that it's a 'AAA' indie that takes after the highly polished single-player games 8-10 hour that fell out of favor in the market. It's performing better than what Ninja Theory originally expected but it's still not at the breakeven point. Most indie titles would be lucky to have Hellblade's media coverage and sales. What if Hellblade wasn't a hit out of the gate and players waited for a price drop? Ninja Theory is unique in that they take up a lot of contract work to keep the lights on and work on their own projects in their spare time. I'm not sure how viable the model is for indie studios that are a couple of rent payments away from folding.
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Nov 4, 2017 15:51
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Nina posted:This actually reminds me of like those LPs former Insomniac developers did and how they talked about how back in the day publishers would set actual potential playtime and feature quotas on games. A lot of stuff like new game plus features were simply born from "Okay we kinda have our vision laid out already but the publisher demands the playtime to be longer" Actual footage of a videogame focus group. Motto posted:And it was a pretty different situation, console gaming being treated as a toy fad by companies that were overzealous in flooding the NA market, and even then only for a few years before Nintendo swept in. I think people just take "companies do bad, market dies" from that when it was neither as significant or comparable to today as they believe. The big publishers have never been more profitable. Much of this is due to the transition to live service games and more integrated monetization systems. They've solved a lot of problems that hurt profitability during the previous console generation. For example, if someone picks up a game like Rainbow Six Siege used then Ubisoft can still make money off microstransactions and keep the customer engaged through content updates.
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Nov 4, 2017 19:24
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precision posted:Ninja Theory seem to have figured it out with HELLBLADE It seems to involve having multiple projects for big publishers subsidizing your personal project, landing on the cover of Game Informer magazine, and spending enough on the development of the game that 200K+ copies isn't enough to break even.
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Nov 5, 2017 01:11
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corn in the bible posted:The flagship title of a billion dollar videogame console producer was better than a budget title from Sega?!?!? Both games were in development for the same amount of time and the core development teams had comparable headcounts. Cuphead, a game made funded by two men mortgaging their homes, hit a metacritic score in the high 80s and sold over 1 million copies. MysticalMachineGun posted:Mario vs Sonic hasn't been relevant since 1996 They'll battle it at the Olympics and make SEGA lots of money.
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Nov 9, 2017 03:51
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CJacobs posted:Red Dead 2's multiplayer will almost certainly have those stupid Shark Cards and a way to buy your way to the first game's one hit kill gold weapons and infinite stamina horses, because they make Rockstar literal millions of dollars Help Im Alive posted:I think they said at some point they had made like half a billion from people buying GTA Online $$$ Grand Theft Auto Online recently had its best quarter ever despite originally launching October 2013.
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Nov 9, 2017 15:08
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This isn't the biggest acquisition by EA in terms of money. EA bought Popcap for $650 million with an additional $500 million bonus. Popcap failed to earn a fifth of the bonus and underwent a series of layoffs. They also bought Pandemic/Bioware for $850 million from Elevations Partners, a private equity firm. The firm was co-founded EA CEO John Riccitiello when he left EA in 2004 before returning to EA in 2007. After the sale, Pandemic was closed down in 2009 by EA after shipping The Saboteur. I'm sure Riccitiello pitched the deal to the EA boardroom out of the kindness of his heart and not an attempt to give his buddies back at Elevations Partners a huge kickback. Oh, and Riccitiello made $4.9 million off the sale due to his ownership of Elevation Partners. Hopefully, the Respawn acquisition goes better. Bogart posted:I know nothing about nothing but can't you just self-publish? AAA games need a publisher to fund the developers, handle marketing/advertising, and actually publishing the game. Most independent developers don't ship enough AAA games in a year to justify having a large in-house publishing staff. Respawn had a sweetheart deal with EA who provided seed money for the studio, handled marketing, and allowed Respawn to own the Titanfall IP in exchange for publishing rights.
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Nov 9, 2017 23:45
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In Training posted:That sucks about respawn Don't worry. They'll be forced to make Titanfall 3 on Frostbite, run into development hell due to technical issues, get closed down, and have Titanfall 3 finished by another EA studio subsidized by the Quebec government. Reality Winner posted:I'm always surprised when I hear EA is still in business. I guess there are still a ton of people buying Madden and The Sims every year They've been more profitable than ever before since they kicked out John Riccitiello and his strategy of competing in every product category. Instead, they adopted the Acti-Blizzard model of consolidating resources on sure-fire bets and high growth products. It also helps that most of their games have very aggressive monetization systems. Andrew Wilson might look like a James Bond villain but he brings in money like a James Bond villain.
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Nov 10, 2017 01:07
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Cowcaster posted:i also had no idea that EA bought popcap, the company poised to be Zynga before there was a Zynga, and ate it like saturn devouring his son “We picked EA because they have recast their culture around making great digital games,” said David Roberts, CEO of PopCap. “By working with EA, we'll scale our games and services to deliver more social, mobile, casual fun to an even bigger, global audience.” -- "Our new EA partnership is already proving to be both positive and productive," said Mr. Resnick [President of Pandemic Studios]. "Pandemic Studios prides itself upon its creative independence while being the best place for top industry talent to work. These values continue to be upheld by all levels of EA and we couldn't be more excited about the future of our studio and our games." -- "While it wasn’t necessary, going with EA made a lot of sense. With Titanfall and Star Wars, EA has been a great development partner that supports us and doesn’t interfere with our process for making games or studio culture. EA will provide us with more resources, access to new technologies, and expertise that we can tap into to that will help us make better games, and Respawn will retain the same creative freedom and culture we’ve always had. We’ve been talking closely with the leadership at EA and we share their values and vision for the future of being a developer-focused company that puts the players first." - Vince Zampella Hmm.... Help Im Alive posted:If I bought Popcap I guess I would say 'make more peggle/bejeweled/that bookworm game' but what do I know The issue with Popcap is that they didn't adapt to trends in the casual gaming segment. Most notably, developers were putting a fewer amount of casual games on mobile devices, using F2P monetization, and supporting them with deeper gameplay. Popcap had a scattershot approach that failed to get traction against genre leaders.
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Nov 10, 2017 02:26
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Palpek posted:I loving love that their technological workflow even allowed them to record blooper reels, somthing that would have to be animated by a team in another game: It was a double-edged sword. Actors had to be brought on set, groomed, and photo captured. This meant re-writes were difficult which complicated an already difficult production.
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Nov 11, 2017 15:23
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Andrast posted:Do these idiots actually think that the developers of the game actually get a choice between including lootboxes or not? https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/930093649127337984 Publishers ask for microtransactions and developers implement the system. Most publishers have a broad strategy of their games having post-launch content for player retention and revenue. Developers have to design the system and how extreme the monetization is. It's why one publisher's catalog, like Take2, can have vastly different monetization systems, such as lootboxes vs DLC packs vs paid timers, depending on what the developer feels is best for the game. It's not unusual for developers to implement aggressive monetization systems since they can hit performance bonuses much easier as than trying to move enough copies at $60. There's a very strong incentive for them to have a well-monetized live service since it provides much security to the developer. They're less likely to be downsized or shutdown if the game is bringing in money month after month. For example, much of Destiny's microtransactions was spearheaded by Bungie rather than Acti-Blizzard.
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Nov 13, 2017 18:19
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Jay Rust posted:Haven’t heard much about Resident Evil 7 for a long time, does it stand the test of time? I liked the game my first time through and much less the second. There's too many unskippable scenes and forced animation segments. It was the opposite with RE6 where I didn't like it as first but grew to enjoy it as a co-op action game. Palpek posted:Anyway, apparently since yesterday EA removed the refund button from the Battlefront 2 page lol. You can still refund via customer service but they obviously had to react to make it a bit harder. I wonder how many refunded copies prompted that decision. I pray they do not alter the deal any further.
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Nov 14, 2017 15:00
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It looks like EA might be suspending real money purchases for Battlefront 2. I'm guessing they take out P2W crates and introduce cosmetic crates in a few months.
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Nov 17, 2017 02:15
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Ciaphas posted:I really wonder about if I’m gonna like HZD at all after playing BotW Horizon takes more after Assassin's Creed and The Witcher 3 rather than Besthesda RPGs.
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Nov 17, 2017 05:26
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PantsBandit posted:Wow, Wolf 2 at half off already? The game will only have been out for like 3 weeks at that point... Bethesda's business plan: Step 1: Make single-players games that push story-telling and inventive gameplay Step 2: Don't nickle and dime players with microtransactions Step 3: ??? Step 4: Don't make a profit
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Nov 17, 2017 22:43
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Palpek posted:A new expansion for Titan Quest was just released out of nowhere. What the gently caress. 2017 still having some aces up its sleeves. THQ Nordic is the THQ we need but don't deserve. Help Im Alive posted:Mercenaries is great. I remember buying the 3DS RE Mercenaries game on sale and it's got RE4 stages but not Leon/Ada?!? He's a gay icon in Japan.
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Nov 18, 2017 00:57
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Help Im Alive posted:I'm surprised Wolfenstein didn't sell a little better, it seemed like there was a lot of hype around it On consoles, it released around Super Mario Odyssey and Assassin's Creed Origins. On PC, it released right next to a major expansion for Warframe and the PC release of Destiny 2. Even then, the market is very hostile to $60 single-player games you can Redbox in a weekend. The Evil Within 2 performed about the same with pared back ad campaign.
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Nov 18, 2017 17:19
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Macaluso posted:
Of course PUBG is an anathema to people on this forum who grew up on Nintendo and Playstation. It represents the rise of the modern game with its focus on online multiplayer gameplay, paid-alpha funding, streaming/influencers, live service updates, the growing Chinese market, and loot boxes. Super Mario Odyssey harkens back to an age where polished single-player games were king and shipping an unfinished buggy product was supposed to be a death sentence. The TGAs will be a battle for gaming's soul. The winner will receive a lifetime supply of Mountain Dew.
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Nov 20, 2017 18:50
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I know it's just disheartening to see PUBG sitting next to Mario Odyssey (or the other games too, I just use that one just because it's SO polished) as a legit option in this kind of thing (and like I said my own Game of the Year isn't even on the list, but man)
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Wildtortilla posted:My local video game shop has a sale this week: new 1TB PS4 for $200. Is that a good deal? I don't think I need a Pro if I don't have a 4k display, right? For Black Friday, Gamestop has the same $200 1TB PS4 Slim deal with a $50 gift card.
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Nov 21, 2017 16:19
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Codeacious posted:drat, I didn't think Belgium would actually end up opposing loot boxes, much less a week after the initial controversy. Publishers are no strangers to having to circumvent restrictions on monetization in certain countries. If they don't suspend sales of the game in Beligum, they can provide a region specific build of the game where character progression is extremely slow and they player can choose to buy XP boosters or Star Card powerups a la carte at inflated prices. It's been done before when localizing games in countries like China or South Korea. Furthermore, loot boxes are just one of many battle-tested monetization models. For example, a game like Clash Royale has the player win chests from battles and events which have a lengthy timer on them. Each chest contains a set of items that the player can receive by waiting for the timer to tick down in real time. The length of time increases with the chest's rarity and you can only have the timer tick down on a limited number of items concurrently. So each player is guaranteed the payout of each chest but paying customers will be immediately go through their chests and use their new items to snowball. Furthermore, chest rarity is not random and chest drops instead follow a cycle that resets after its completed. Imagine if Battlefront II had a similar business model. Players wouldn't use real currency to purchase crates but win timed crates from winning in the game. Players who choose to bypass the timers and open time-consuming rare chests would advance at a much more rapid pace than players who waited to unlock an ever growing number of lootcrates in their backlog. It's essentially a fancy XP boost you can buy while keeping the infectious excitement of opening a loot box. Sunning fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Nov 22, 2017 |
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Nov 22, 2017 00:36
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New Concept Hole posted:EA's going to get beat up in the parking lot by all the other Devs for ruining it for everyone EA and Disney's Star Wars Deal in 2013: "Today, The Walt Disney Company has announced that they have chosen EA to create new Star Wars experiences for gamers worldwide. The magic of Star Wars is interwoven into the worlds, characters, planets and amazing battles. It is a universe that lends itself perfectly to gaming. Our agreement unlocks a whole new future of Star Wars games that will span consoles, PCs, tablets, mobile and more. EA and Disney's Star Wars Deal in 2017: "We didn't allow Joe Camel to encourage your kids to smoke cigarettes, and we shouldn't allow Star Wars to encourage your kids to gamble."
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Nov 22, 2017 02:04
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Phantasium posted:Deadliest Warrior the show owned bones as long as you didn't have a stick up your rear end for accuracy or whatever, just a bunch of dumb sword nerds gushing about historical figures before some goofy re-enactment thing. :Examines Pig Carcass: "I see neck wounds!"
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Nov 29, 2017 15:25
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