Game News 2.0

quokula

wes wrote: »

IMO, this hurts their rep. They abandon Andromeda, which still had issues for this, and now they abandon Anthem, for Dragon Age. I can't say I have much trust in bioware anymore.

I don’t really understand this point of view. Anthem is over two years old, it’s still up and playable for the foreseeable future, and it doesn’t have a big enough player base to warrant further updates. You can still play it. You can still contact customer support if there is an issue. It is no more abandoned than Super Mario was the day it came out for the NES and Nintendo started developing their next game.

As for Andromeda, I bought it at launch and it was a completely playable feature complete single player game filled with content that I finished. It also has a multiplayer mode which is still live and playable four years later with no end date in sight.

By all means these games are worthy of criticism for their flaws as they had many. But I don’t understand why we’d expect a developer to be obliged to keep updating a mediocre game with a dwindling player base for years instead of making a new game.

The other end of the spectrum is situations where we wait years and years for a new GTA instalment while they milk GTA online.

Not that either company has some guiding philosophy driving such decisions. GTA makes too much money to ignore. Anthem makes too little money to justify more investment. It’s as simple as that really.

As a gamer I’m happier to see BioWare move on to other things. I am of course weary that their recent games have been far from their best quality, but the fact that they apparently “abandoned” them doesn’t register as a concern at all for me.

pixelburp

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't much of the brain-trust that informed those early glory days of Bioware left the company? I seem to recall those especially responsible for Mass Effect had anyway; just wonder if we can expect much from Bioware these days if a core part of it had left...

OptimusTractor

Mr Crispy wrote: »

So Henry Cavill (the big tease) posted this on Instagram, with the caption "Secret project? Or just a handful of paper with random words on it.... Guess you'll have to wait and see. Happy hump day all."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLrAjEuhtTe/

Someone ran the blurry text through a deblur program, and it turned out to be an excerpt from the Mass Effect 3 Wikipedia page.

Looking forward to when he movie adapts The Verge's PC build fail.

Markitron

quokula wrote: »

I don’t really understand this point of view. Anthem is over two years old, it’s still up and playable for the foreseeable future, and it doesn’t have a big enough player base to warrant further updates. You can still play it. You can still contact customer support if there is an issue. It is no more abandoned than Super Mario was the day it came out for the NES and Nintendo started developing their next game.

As for Andromeda, I bought it at launch and it was a completely playable feature complete single player game filled with content that I finished. It also has a multiplayer mode which is still live and playable four years later with no end date in sight.

By all means these games are worthy of criticism for their flaws as they had many. But I don’t understand why we’d expect a developer to be obliged to keep updating a mediocre game with a dwindling player base for years instead of making a new game.

The other end of the spectrum is situations where we wait years and years for a new GTA instalment while they milk GTA online.

Not that either company has some guiding philosophy driving such decisions. GTA makes too much money to ignore. Anthem makes too little money to justify more investment. It’s as simple as that really.

As a gamer I’m happier to see BioWare move on to other things. I am of course weary that their recent games have been far from their best quality, but the fact that they apparently “abandoned” them doesn’t register as a concern at all for me.

I mostly agree with you, I don't think game developers owe the gamers anything months and months after release unless a subscription is involved or the game isn't fundamentally broken.

On the other hand this is a developer that has twice promised the moon with years of pre-release hype, released an underwhelming project, swore they would fix it up to the standard they originally promised only then to just give up cos it wasn't worth the effort.

It is a pattern at this stage with them and they no longer deserve any benefit of the doubt. I say this as someone that would have described themselves as a Bioware fanboy right up until about 5 years ago, they are responsible for more of my favourite gaming memories than any other developer.

pixelburp wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't much of the brain-trust that informed those early glory days of Bioware left the company? I seem to recall those especially responsible for Mass Effect had anyway; just wonder if we can expect much from Bioware these days if a core part of it had left...

Yes, pretty much anyone of note from any of their great games before Andromeda has left.

Robert ninja

quokula wrote: »

It is no more abandoned than Super Mario was the day it came out for the NES and Nintendo started developing their next game.

Super Mario didn't need servers, DRM middleware, internet and an authenticated EA account in order to function. These live service games being 'abandoned' can lead to a bricked product for customers.

Markitron wrote: »

I don't think game developers owe the gamers anything months and months after release unless a subscription is involved or the game isn't fundamentally broken.

If DRM is involved then I think they do owe a certain level of support to customers for as long as they keep that in their game. If they really want the contact between them and the customer to end after purchase of the game then they can go ahead and release a DRM free update or have a GOG release.

gizmo

pixelburp wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't much of the brain-trust that informed those early glory days of Bioware left the company? I seem to recall those especially responsible for Mass Effect had anyway; just wonder if we can expect much from Bioware these days if a core part of it had left...

Little bit of column A and a little bit of column B, really. This came up before Anthem was released and I went through some of the bigger names here. Since then both Mark Darrah and Casey Hudson have left but what was more interesting was that during the rather revealing post-mortem of the game which Jason Schreier came out with in 2019, it became evident that while EA had been responsible for the production hell that was Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, Anthem's failure was more firmly on the doorstep of Bioware itself. Those same people who had produced those remarkable titles back in the day while working at the coal face evidently hadn't been as effective in their leadership roles leading to, as quokula said above, two years when they didn't even know what the game was.

quokula

gizmo wrote: »

Little bit of column A and a little bit of column B, really. This came up before Anthem was released and I went through some of the bigger names here. Since then both Mark Darrah and Casey Hudson have left but what was more interesting was that during the rather revealing post-mortem of the game which Jason Schreier came out with in 2019, it became evident that while EA had been responsible for the production hell that was Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, Anthem's failure was more firmly on the doorstep of Bioware itself. Those same people who had produced those remarkable titles back in the day while working at the coal face evidently hadn't been as effective in their leadership roles leading to, as quokula said above, two years when they didn't even know what the game was.

Yeah it's never quite as simple as "X left the studio and now they don't know how to make games anymore". AAA Games, and the studios who develop them, are huge ships that can't turn quickly. Hundreds of people contribute to any given game, and while there are obviously some critically vital vision holders, the best people in that role are often also great at instilling that vision in everyone else in the team, as that's what's needed to make a coherent game. So staff move around and it makes a difference obviously, but a lot of the DNA stays with people.

Different processes, goals and deadlines that a new owner or publisher brings in will often have as much of an impact, if not more, than key people moving on. Taking Anthem, it was clearly something that EA were pushing for to get on the Destiny bandwagon, but it was also pretty far outside the sort of experiences that Bioware have been known to craft historically. So even with the same people they might not have done much better.

PopePalpatine

What kind of name is "Anthem" anyway?

Markitron

PopePalpatine wrote: »

What kind of name is "Anthem" anyway?

The kind that they decided on last minute.

Retr0gamer

Markitron wrote: »

The kind that they decided on last minute.

By a bunch of coked up suits.

I don't know how anyone was excited by anthem. Bioware havent been good in years. Their lore and world building is awful and when it was announced the destiny shlooter craze was long gone and was saturated by destiny and borderlands. Any videos bored me to big fat salty tears.

Markitron

Retr0gamer wrote: »

By a bunch of coked up suits.

I don't know how anyone was excited by anthem.

Was anyone ever really excited? That original E3 demo was graphically impressive but I feel like most people saw right through it.

Just like the fads for the MMO, military FPS, MOBA and BR, the GAAS looter/shooter (or wtf this genre is called) claims another high profile scalp.

I'm gonna guess Avengers is next. If a GAAS based on the ****ing Avengers fails, that should be enough to get all the me-too developers to jump off this poxy bandwagon. To think EA wanted every one of their games to be something like this.

J. Marston

Markitron wrote: »

Was anyone ever really excited? That original E3 demo was graphically impressive but I feel like most people saw right through it.

Just like the fads for the MMO, military FPS, MOBA and BR, the GAAS looter/shooter (or wtf this genre is called) claims another high profile scalp.

I'm gonna guess Avengers is next. If a GAAS based on the ****ing Avengers fails, that should be enough to get all the me-too developers to jump off this poxy bandwagon. To think EA wanted every one of their games to be something like this.

GaaS is going nowhere. Anthem failed but EA are still making billions from their other GaaS looter/shooter, Apex Legends.

For every flop like Anthem and Sea of Thieves, companies are still gonna chase the endless money that Fortnite, Fifa, CoD, Apex Legends, Rocket League, League of Legends etc offers.

Fifa is the ultimate grift because while the other games are free, the idiots who play Fifa (I can say that, I used to be one of them) pay for a new copy every year.

Markitron

J. Marston wrote: »

GaaS is going nowhere. Anthem failed but EA are still making billions from their other GaaS looter/shooter, Apex Legends.

For every flop like Anthem and Sea of Thieves, companies are still gonna chase the endless money that Fortnite, Fifa, CoD, Apex Legends, Rocket League, League of Legends etc offers.

Fifa is the ultimate grift because while the other games are free, the idiots who play Fifa (I can say that, I used to be one of them) pay for a new copy every year.

I think you are using much more generalised examples than what I was referring to.

I'm talking specifically about the high budget, full-priced Destiny clones. You cited a football game with lootboxes and a number of FTP games from various genres.

earthwormjack

J. Marston wrote: »

GaaS is going nowhere. Anthem failed but EA are still making billions from their other GaaS looter/shooter, Apex Legends.

For every flop like Anthem and Sea of Thieves, companies are still gonna chase the endless money that Fortnite, Fifa, CoD, Apex Legends, Rocket League, League of Legends etc offers.

Fifa is the ultimate grift because while the other games are free, the idiots who play Fifa (I can say that, I used to be one of them) pay for a new copy every year.

Don't think Sea of Thieves should be labelled a flop. It's been a huge success for Rare.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1365005940739743745?s=19

The diverging trajectories of two recent games changed the minds of Wilson and other executives at EA, according to the people. One was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player game released in November 2019 that won critical acclaim and outperformed EA’s sales expectations, reaching more than 10 million players in its first four months. The second was BioWare’s Anthem, a multiplayer game that was widely panned when it launched. The games showed that single-player games could still be lucrative and that BioWare, traditionally known for its single-player, role-playing games, might be better off returning to its roots. A spokesman for EA declined to comment.

Retr0gamer

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-playstation-is-winding-down-sony-japan-studio/

Sony looks to be winding down their best developer. Guess I probably won't be needing to get a ps5 this gen. Sony japan studios always made their best stuff, the quirky games that made sony stand out while their others doubled down on big budget but safe releases.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1365031385556205570?s=19

Zero-Cool

Imagine working on a project for 5 years and it ends up being scrapped, sucks man.

pixelburp

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1365005940739743745?s=19

It's kinda crazy to think corporations still need persuading that Good Singleplayer Games can make money. The urge to nickel and dime customers being otherwise so strong.

gimli2112

I guess the problem is they can make a truckload of money doing it

Sieghardt

Retr0gamer wrote: »

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-playstation-is-winding-down-sony-japan-studio/

Sony looks to be winding down their best developer. Guess I probably won't be needing to get a ps5 this gen. Sony japan studios always made their best stuff, the quirky games that made sony stand out while their others doubled down on big budget but safe releases.

Depressing but inevitable news, their japanese talent has been leaving in droves the last few years. So many of them made great games for vita only to get zero support from sony. The fact that games like Freedom Wars and Oreshika didnt even get an easy PS4 port let alone sequels is mind boggling

Ten of Swords

Zero-Cool wrote: »

The Sinking City getting a PS5 upgrade today. 4k, 60fps, etc and free dlc. No free upgrade as there are still legal issues with publisher and devs are self publishing. They are dropping the price to 50 dollars though and 30% off for ps plus subscribers for first 2 weeks.

I always wanted to try this and was gonna bite now as the ps4 version can be gotten cheap, not for 50 (or the discount) though.

https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3652610/frogwares-surprises-ps5-owners-with-enhanced-version-of-the-sinking-city-tomorrow/

Sinking City has been listed on Steam today however it appears to be a version released by the publisher Nacon, who still have some kind of tenuous hold on the IP, not the developers Frogwares.

It doesn't have any of the DLC's and will likely be unsupported by the devs who are distancing themselves from it

Grumpypants

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Imagine working on a project for 5 years and it ends up being scrapped, sucks man.

On the other hand imagine working on a game for 5 years and still not having anything close to being able to release.

Games are really hard to make, new IP from a new studio is doubling up on the risk.

It's why we have so many established studios happy to keep making sequels.

Mr Crispy

The next Need For Speed is going to be delayed, as Criterion are put to work on Battlefield instead - Game Informer.

Markitron

Mr Crispy wrote: »

The next Need For Speed is going to be delayed, as Criterion are put to work on Battlefield instead - Game Informer.

This is exactly what they did to Visceral

Zero-Cool

Need for Speed was one franchise that needed some love, last few entries have been shyte. Heat has been the best in a while but still underwhelming and the fact it lost it's post launch support so quickly wasn't a good sign. Won't be keeping up hope for this one.

Turquoise Hexagon Sun

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Need for Speed was one franchise that needed some love, last few entries have been shyte. Heat has been the best in a while but still underwhelming and the fact it lost it's post launch support so quickly wasn't a good sign. Won't be keeping up hope for this one.

I hear ya. But it's impossible for NFS to make any mark when Forza: Horizon exists. Horizon is the best arcade open world racer. But its not completely arcade. So it moved that type of game forward. Its progressive in that sense. NFS is kind of stuck in that 90s arcade racer genre with a modern look. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed some Payback as that had good drifting and a nice map but Forza is just so refreshingly good.

Retr0gamer

Once EA destroyed criterion there was no hope for that franchise

gimli2112

I see criteron have been drafted in to assist on BF6