Gaming News

13-02-2018 8:14pm

He got really strange looking after the original trilogy from what i remember.

SolvableKnave · 14-02-2018 2:50pm

THQ Nordic (Nordic Games) have purchased Koch Media. They now own the rights to Saints Row, Dead Island, Risen, Homefront, and more.

J. Marston · 14-02-2018 3:53pm

Sea of Thieves will be adding microtransactions 3 months after release but they won't have lootboxes...

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2018/02/13/sea-of-thieves-will-add-microtransactions-around-3-months-after-release-2

Makes you wonder if some companies will adopt that strategy though. Avoid a public flogging like Battlefront 2 got and then add in the shady shít a few months down the line when it won't affect review scores and day one purchases.

Billy86 · 14-02-2018 3:56pm

I was quite looking forward to Sea of Thieves, I'll hear out about what the MTs are for but that is me gone from about 80% likely to buy it to about 15% instantly, and now a 0% chance of buying it on release or within the first few months. If they are 'bad' MTs that are in it, I'm out. No discussion nor chance of redeeming themselves. Just not buying, end of story.

TitianGerm · 14-02-2018 3:59pm

Billy86 wrote: »

I was quite looking forward to Sea of Thieves, I'll hear out about what the MTs are for but that is me gone from about 80% likely to buy it to about 15% instantly, and now a 0% chance of buying it on release or within the first few months. If they are 'bad' MTs that are in it, I'm out. No discussion nor chance of redeeming themselves. Just not buying, end of story.

You can buy a monkey anyway.

Also get Game Pass for a month and see what you think of the game.

Mickeroo · 14-02-2018 4:03pm

Cosmetic items only and no loot boxes from what i read yesterday, plus all genuine content updates will be free.

Billy86 · 14-02-2018 4:07pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

You can buy a monkey anyway.

Also get Game Pass for a month and see what you think of the game.

I'm on PC so pretty sure that's not an option, but my main concern even then would be playing it, liking it, buying it, then a month or two later getting hammered with microtransaction nonsense.

If it's all cosmetic though, then hat's absolutely grand - I'd never be bothered buying that stuff but have no issue with it either, so long as they're not messing around with actual gameplay.

Mitch Connor · 14-02-2018 4:10pm

Billy86 wrote: »

I was quite looking forward to Sea of Thieves, I'll hear out about what the MTs are for but that is me gone from about 80% likely to buy it to about 15% instantly, and now a 0% chance of buying it on release or within the first few months. If they are 'bad' MTs that are in it, I'm out. No discussion nor chance of redeeming themselves. Just not buying, end of story.

I wonder is this MT business tied to the Game Pass 'problem'.

Anyone in Game Pass (tenner a month) will get Sea of Thieves day 1. I reckon you will see an uptick in Game Pass subs, but that won't significantly generate revenue for SoT. For a lot of people, SoT will almost be kinda like a free to play game.

I do reckon that is where a good percentage of the player base will be coming from - so MTs might be getting used to supplement the costs in the abscense of sales revenue.

That is not to say I particularly excuse the MT model - MS have decided on this Game Pass model, they made that choice, but I do have to say if MTs aren't a part of these titles I have no idea how MS thinks GP could be financially viable.

Mickeroo · 14-02-2018 4:13pm

Billy86 wrote: »

I'm on PC so pretty sure that's not an option, but my main concern even then would be playing it, liking it, buying it, then a month or two later getting hammered with microtransaction nonsense.

If it's all cosmetic though, then hat's absolutely grand - I'd never be bothered buying that stuff but have no issue with it either, so long as they're not messing around with actual gameplay.

It's an option on PC too. I've a one month game pass free trial left to redeem so that's how I'll be playing it when it comes out, for the first month at least.

TitianGerm · 14-02-2018 4:13pm

Billy86 wrote: »

I'm on PC so pretty sure that's not an option, but my main concern even then would be playing it, liking it, buying it, then a month or two later getting hammered with microtransaction nonsense.

If it's all cosmetic though, then hat's absolutely grand - I'd never be bothered buying that stuff but have no issue with it either, so long as they're not messing around with actual gameplay.

They've said it's all cosmetic.

In the monkey example they used they said if I buy him and bring him on board then the rest of the crew can interact with him.

I'd say most of it will be clothes, hats, beards, animals and instruments.

Mickeroo · 14-02-2018 4:18pm

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I wonder is this MT business tied to the Game Pass 'problem'.

Anyone in Game Pass (tenner a month) will get Sea of Thieves day 1. I reckon you will see an uptick in Game Pass subs, but that won't significantly generate revenue for SoT. For a lot of people, SoT will almost be kinda like a free to play game.

I do reckon that is where a good percentage of the player base will be coming from - so MTs might be getting used to supplement the costs in the abscense of sales revenue.

That is not to say I particularly excuse the MT model - MS have decided on this Game Pass model, they made that choice, but I do have to say if MTs aren't a part of these titles I have no idea how MS thinks GP could be financially viable.

Doubt it's because of game pass, it's no different to Overwatch or any other "games as a service" type game that gives free DLC. They're planning on keeping it going for years if its successful so they need a revenue stream to fund that.

FAILSAFE 00 · 14-02-2018 4:19pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

It's an option on PC too. I've a one month game pass free trial left to redeem so that's how I'll be playing it when it comes out, for the first month at least.

Be aware if you have already used a 1 month trial code another 1 month trial code won't work.

14-02-2018 4:20pm

SoT is a gaming service. You can't expect them to keep churning out free content and not have any new revenue streams. The standard game model would have DLC and sequels generating billions in revenue. Good to see that they are treading lightly on the subject, but no doubt about it their end game is to make a big profit. They have some leeway as a result of Game Pass. They can argue, ok the game isn't generating much revenue but it is the most played game in Game Pass and therefore generating a lot of profit indirectly.

Mickeroo · 14-02-2018 4:24pm

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Be aware if you have already used a 1 month trial code another 1 month trial code won't work.

Not used it yet, never had need to before. To think I was almost going to give it away free on here :pac:

Stone Deaf 4evr · 14-02-2018 5:52pm

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I wonder is this MT business tied to the Game Pass 'problem'.

Anyone in Game Pass (tenner a month) will get Sea of Thieves day 1. I reckon you will see an uptick in Game Pass subs, but that won't significantly generate revenue for SoT. For a lot of people, SoT will almost be kinda like a free to play game.

I do reckon that is where a good percentage of the player base will be coming from - so MTs might be getting used to supplement the costs in the abscense of sales revenue.

That is not to say I particularly excuse the MT model - MS have decided on this Game Pass model, they made that choice, but I do have to say if MTs aren't a part of these titles I have no idea how MS thinks GP could be financially viable.

You have to think of it in bigger picture terms.

exclusive titles - while nice and all, don't usually set the world on fire with regards to sales figures.

however, if you take into account the library of games that are on game pass, and the fact that none of the DLC for any of those games comes bundled with the pass, its a safe enough assumption to make, that Microsoft are taking a cut out of all DLC sales / microtrans spends that come from a game thats in the pass. Its also safe that assume, that if a game is not downloaded and played, then the kickback to the publisher from microsoft is minimal at best, and in the vein of all these subscription services, its a lot easier to convince someone of the value of 10 euros a month than it is to get 120 off them for a year. Its a sum of money that people don't miss going out, and probably overlook when reviewing budgets.

14-02-2018 6:18pm

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

exclusive titles - while nice and all, don't usually set the world on fire with regards to sales figures.

That is not necessarily true, Sony Exclusives such as Uncharted, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Bloodborne and so on do massive numbers and even smaller exclusives like Nioh and Yakuza do pretty big numbers. If a platform has good exclusives they will sell, the problem with Xbox is that they have very few exclusives of note in recent years. I hope Sea of Thieves is a success and shows MS that people want exclusive titles as if I'm not mistaken the only big exclusive on the Xbox last year was Halo Wars 2.

TitianGerm · 14-02-2018 6:20pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That is not necessarily true, Sony Exclusives such as Uncharted, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Bloodborne and so on do massive numbers and even smaller exclusives like Nioh and Yakuza do pretty big numbers. If a platform has good exclusives they will sell, the problem with Xbox is that they have very few exclusives of note in recent years. I hope Sea of Thieves is a success and shows MS that people want exclusive titles as if I'm not mistaken the only big exclusive on the Xbox last year was Halo Wars 2.

Did Bloodborne not sell something like 2.5m copies of the game?

Edit:

I just checked the figures for those games

Bloodborne = 2.9m
HZD = 4.5m
TLOU = 6.1m
Uncharted = 41m (this was four games, remaster and stand alone expansion so about 6.8m per game)

BOTW has 5.5m sales and the number of Switches sold are far lower than the number of PS4s.

FIFA 17 has total sales of 11m on the PS4 on its own.

Jerichoholic · 14-02-2018 6:20pm

Surely they are only putting games from the studios they own as Day 1 game pass? They would supplement the losses of game sales with the uptake in game pass. It's pretty smart really.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 14-02-2018 6:31pm

TitianGerm wrote: »

Did Bloodborne not sell something like 2.5m copies of the game?

possibly, horizon zero dawn topped out at about 4.5 million. For a console with 70 million units sold, thats a fairly poor attach rate. Its still the big multiplatform games that make the money.

TitianGerm · 14-02-2018 6:34pm

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

possibly, horizon zero dawn topped out at about 4.5 million. For a console with 70 million units sold, thats a fairly poor attach rate. Its still the big multiplatform games that make the money.

I edited my post above with actual figures. I wouldn't say any of the games listed had massive sales especially when you consider the amount of PS4 sold.

wes · 14-02-2018 6:49pm

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Surely they are only putting games from the studios they own as Day 1 game pass? They would supplement the losses of game sales with the uptake in game pass. It's pretty smart really.

Also, Micro transactions. It may be more worthwhile to get people in the door for some of these titles.

TitianGerm · 14-02-2018 6:57pm

wes wrote: »

Also, Micro transactions. It may be more worthwhile to get people in the door for some of these titles.

If you get the base game for "free" you'd be more likely to buy DLC and Micro-Transactions. It'll be interesting to see where it is in two years time.

FAILSAFE 00 · 14-02-2018 11:28pm

Jerichoholic wrote: »

Surely they are only putting games from the studios they own as Day 1 game pass? They would supplement the losses of game sales with the uptake in game pass. It's pretty smart really.

Yes, just their own studios. I doubt there will be losses. Xbox exclusives don't sell that well. Take an amazing game like Sunset Overdrive. It didn't even sell 500,000 copies.

Microsoft made games are much more valuable to them in Game Pass.

johnny_ultimate · 14-02-2018 11:43pm

Fascinating bit of reporting from Eurogamer on the recent struggles at Sunless Seas / Skies developer Failbetter.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-02-14-behind-the-sunless-scenes

Touches on a load of issues: the struggles of growing indie developers, the perils of Early Access, the limits of Kickstarter success, and what happens to a studio when it loses its creative & business head. Some admirably frank comments from staff current & former within.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 15-02-2018 10:35am

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Yes, just their own studios. I doubt there will be losses. Xbox exclusives don't sell that well. Take an amazing game like Sunset Overdrive. It didn't even sell 500,000 copies.

Microsoft made games are much more valuable to them in Game Pass.

Is that an accurate figure for Sunset overdrive? That's massively disappointing if so, its legitimately still one of the best games on the console, and I'd highly recommend anyone to check it out.

SolvableKnave · 15-02-2018 10:36am

Horizon: Zero Dawn wins Writers Guild Award

The other nominees where:

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow?????
Madden NFL 18: Longshot

Kimbot · 15-02-2018 10:39am

SolvableKnave wrote: »

Horizon: Zero Dawn wins Writers Guild Award

The other nominees where:
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow?????

Madden NFL 18: Longshot

Futurama is a mobile game, it appears to be decent enough but I havent played it yet

15-02-2018 11:10am

TitianGerm wrote: »

Did Bloodborne not sell something like 2.5m copies of the game?

Edit:

I just checked the figures for those games

Bloodborne = 2.9m
HZD = 4.5m
TLOU = 6.1m
Uncharted = 41m (this was four games, remaster and stand alone expansion so about 6.8m per game)

BOTW has 5.5m sales and the number of Switches sold are far lower than the number of PS4s.

FIFA 17 has total sales of 11m on the PS4 on its own.

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

possibly, horizon zero dawn topped out at about 4.5 million. For a console with 70 million units sold, thats a fairly poor attach rate. Its still the big multiplatform games that make the money.

TitianGerm wrote: »

I edited my post above with actual figures. I wouldn't say any of the games listed had massive sales especially when you consider the amount of PS4 sold.

For exclusive titles those numbers are impressive, especially when you consider that all bar Uncharted were new IPs. Of course the likes of FIFA will be the bigger sellers given the history of the franchise and the fact that many people who play FIFA play nothing else.

Zelda did really well and it's success is well deserved but it was a launch title and as such, it was destined to be a hit. It's also an established and loved franchise while Zero Dawn was a new IP. Zero Dawn and the like will have long shelf lifes, I'd expect Zero Dawn to do 7-9 million sales this gen and the sequel to do much bigger business.

Penn · 15-02-2018 11:19am

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

possibly, horizon zero dawn topped out at about 4.5 million. For a console with 70 million units sold, thats a fairly poor attach rate. Its still the big multiplatform games that make the money.

The issue is the large percentage of PS/XB consoles sold are sold almost entirely for the big multiplatform games like Fifa and COD etc. I don't like using the term "casuals" but it fits in this respect. Many people buy the consoles as bluray/netflix machines and play the occasional Fifa/Madden/COD/Battlefield and not much else.

Compare that to the Switch which is just for games, and whose big franchise games are always going to be Zelda and Mario, there's always going to be a much bigger attach rate.

So when it comes down to two consoles (PS4/XB1) which are so similar in what they offer, the exclusives may not have huge attach rates or sales figures, but ultimately they're what helps to sell consoles, particularly further out from launch as the exclusives can tempt people who already have one of the consoles to get the other for the exclusives they haven't been able to play. The exclusives also act as marketing for the consoles or next-gen consoles. Sure, you want to showcase how all your consumers' favourite multiplatform franchises will be available on your console, but you also want to showcase what will only be available on your console. And many times those exclusives can look better than normal multiplatform games because they're designed solely for that console.

Additionally, when you compare sales figures of something like Horizon to the likes of Fifa, it's comparing apples to oranges. For example if you compare Horizon to AC: Origins (even though AC Origins has only been out a few months), Horizon has sold the same amount as AC Origins has on both PS4 and XB1 (approx. 3m PS4, 1.5m XB1).

Exclusives serve a much greater purpose than just the actual sales figures or attach rates of the games themselves.

Grumpypants · 15-02-2018 1:50pm

Exclusives are just used to tip the balance to get an install base, they don't have to get huge sales. Sony will bundle them up and say look at these 10 great exclusive games only on PS4. And that sometimes is enough to get someone to buy a PS4 over an Xbox.

Sony then charge about a $10 licensing fee to all the third party publishers per game. So if Overwatch sells 20mill on PS4 that's $200mill in Sony's pocket.

As for the game pass thing, the average games per console purchase rate is only about 1-2 games a year. So if they get $99 a year from Game Pass it is actually about right overall.

Plus they get a franchise boost for lesser known/new IPs and it gives a steady dependable income to reduce the risk of individual launches.

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