Com_Raven's Posts

Com_Raven (51915299)

I said there were no plans, back when there were no plans. Now there is a plan :)

Com_Raven (51908471)

I hope that some of you may find today's teaser of interest :)

Com_Raven (52378805)

I don't think that is true for everyone, but yes- the top tier players usually get it in their contracts that they can do personal sponsorships and deals besides their teams.

Com_Raven (52377965)

Leaving aside how the last part sounds like children arguing in kindergarden- they don't assume, they know the likenesses are in the contract. In Zlatan's case for example, EA has a deal with AC Milan.

Com_Raven (52378493)

I also love how that user acts as if the rights to their likenesses and marketing wasn't an important factor in players getting their millions in salaries...

Com_Raven (52293752)

I don't think Cloud and Sephiroth count as Western fantasy. Or the tons of ridiculously oversized swords on Korean fantasy games, for example.

Com_Raven (51530588)

Same, waiting for my pre-order as well. Tier 2 Europe represent Also, if you have Ubisoft+, may i cheekily suggest giving Anno 1800 a try ;)

Com_Raven (51529697)

Valhalla works fine, you just have to connect your accounts. Watch Dogs Legion does not currently support it, as mentioned in the article you quoted.

Com_Raven (50707651)

This has been announced a month ago as part of the Legion Season Pass:

Com_Raven (50119072)

If you don't have much say in a game that is set in one of your most important IPs, you are doing it wrong. And I don't think that Nintendo, a company that is infamous for being very controlling, would work like that.

Com_Raven (48952342)

For anyone curious to learn more about Land of Lions (the final Season 2 DLC), we also have four DevBlogs about it:

Com_Raven (49277248)

As AleeN634 mentioned, the publishing rate of the newspaper in later game stages has been reduced. Also, you can now select to keep pubishig the last edit newspaper repeatedly, as some players felt that disrupted their game flow too much.

Com_Raven (49452421)

That can indeed feel overwhelming after a break! If you find them hard to parse, maybe setting them up anew may be easier for you? We added some new functionality to the trade route menu so you now always see what every ship has loaded, plus you can directly jump to it from the map. And if you lose one, it will be shown directly in the trade route, so you don't run into problems down the road cause you missed a ship on a crucial route being sunk.

Com_Raven (48441953)

As others said, I think Age 3 was the most controversial one among the Ensemble Studios Age games. Age of Mythogy sits at a 89 MC score, and was very popular as far as I recall (also their first 3D game).

Com_Raven (48283589)

Wow, I have seen companies that were late with their salaries for months in a row get much better GD reviews. Sounds like a nightmare :(Depends on what criteria (reviews, sales, cultural impact) you want to apply, I guess? There are a couple developers that had a hell of a run with their first few games; Infinity Ward, Respawn, BioWare, Ensemble Studios, id etc. come to mind.

Com_Raven (46666937)

It is a bit weird, but also extremely on brand for Era to see so many people discount Sea of Thieves because they don't like it, or because it is a GaaS title. The game is objectively a huge success (15M+ players), is getting better almost every month, is popular with content creators, and offers something very unique in the market (open-ended sandbox gameplay with high-end production values and polish). It's a fantastic game, and Rare deserves all the success it has. Also, saying that one game is not enough to be among the most successful studios in the world makes me wonder what these poster would classify Riot (until last Fall) and Mojang as, cause I think they are pretty successful...

Com_Raven (45710381)

Weekend era is off to a good start, I'd say!

Com_Raven (45717983)

Are we gonna have this thread after every single conference for the next year or so?

Com_Raven (45372818)

Probably a fair point, yes...

Com_Raven (45374222)

SWTOR trailers have always been incredible. Blur make amazing trailers, that's for sure.

Com_Raven (45277952)

That is concept that quite a few games have used over the years (I think Max Payne 3 may have been one of the first prominent examples?). it would be interesting to see someone do a study to see if being on the receiving end of other cheaters can lead to some cheaters being reformed, or if they just keep doing the usual thing of setting up a new account, and diving right back in.

Com_Raven (45273980)

If staff at a specialist retailer can't be expected to know about the product they are selling, then we probably shouldn't be surprised that fewer and fewer people bother shopping there.

Com_Raven (45273170)

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but...isn't it kinda their job to be knowledgeable about the products they are selling? If everybody knew exactly what they want to buy, they would just get it from Amazon, or any other major retailer. Also, these comments still fail to explain how it is somehow possible to sell stuff like smartphones or cars (both of which frequently have several similar SKUs) without the sky falling.

Com_Raven (45272468)

My (perhaps elitist) take: the people who care about the level of texture filtering for their old BC games will be able to wrap their head around the concept of two different SKUs. The parents who just want a console for their kid (as commonly cited in these examples) probably don't worry about that too much.

Com_Raven (45264878)

Cause a lot of people don't read/ struggle with embargo dates/ time zones. Probably the number 1 reason for leaks like this...

Com_Raven (45144143)

I am sure many other developers also wished that they had players (!) finance their games to the tune of 250M+. Having worked on both the developer and publisher side, I can firmly say that I would hate working on such a project. Having some limitations and a need to finish things (as opposed to redoing them over and over again) can be quite beneficial for a project.

Com_Raven (45009794)

If Valhalla, Gears Tactics, Yakuza, Beyond Light, Tetris Effect and Cyberpunk are a subpar line-up, I wonder what a good launch line-up for a console would look like.

Com_Raven (44902796)

I can't recall the name, but the music that always played when Mike Morhaime came on stage for Blizzcon openings is awesome!

Com_Raven (44581163)

I came to post this. Right now, there is no good reason for me to buy one as the owner of a high-end PC. But being able to play all my Xbox games from across 4 generations, including my beloved MechAssault? Now that would be an awesome reason!

Com_Raven (44580170)

I am very sorry to hear you had bad experiences at gamescom. I still love going there every year to meet old colleagues and friends and talk to our players, so it is always disappointing to hear when people were made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe there. Thankfully, the number booth babes and companies using them has gone down a lot since the early days, and I don't think I can think of any major companies outside a few F2P publishers doing it these days. Personally, when I see booth babes these days, my default assumption is that your game is probably not very good and you have to find other ways to draw attention.

Com_Raven (44578940)

I have to say I really dislike this trend I am noticing recently in threads like this where anybody correcting wrong information is being accused of defending the thing. Even when being critical of something, we should strive for accuracy and facts. Pointing out that it is not "a viking game" is a fair point, as is others saying that some of the other factions like Anglo-Saxons and the Holy Roman Empire are also very popular in certain right-wing circles.You are welcome. When my friend found this announcement, we were both baffled by this combination, giving the documented history of some of their team.

Com_Raven (44572709)

With regards to Destructive Creations, something curious happened last month during devcom (the professional developer event that happens alongside gamescom, the spot once filled by GDC Europe). Devcom was promoting a Developer Night party and live stream of a concert by the German metal band Caliban, with a motto of "developers against violence, anti-semitism, racism, facism, sexism and discrimination", presented by Destructive Creations, the developers of Hatred. Following social media criticism, I believe the show was cancelled however?

Com_Raven (44574788)

Sure, this is the tweet announcing it: And here are three (German only, however) tweets about the feedback and decision to not go ahead with it: Maybe they thought that announcing a game about fighting nazis in World War 2 was a good fit, and did not properly look into their past history or so?

Com_Raven (44097239)

Indeed.

Com_Raven (44096636)

Not necessarily, no.

Com_Raven (43854458)

Agreed that stylistically they wear their inspirations on their sleeves, but it looks nowhere near as good as Sea of Thieves does (which is of course to be expected and totally fine, given it is an indie game). Sea of Thieves has some of the best stylized graphics I have ever seen, with the sea and storms especially looked incredible.

Com_Raven (43455617)

As others mentioned, the game was announced a long time ago at an Oculus Connect (almost a year ago, I think?), so the title is still inaccurate.

Com_Raven (43380794)

I wonder if any of the people going “they should have just made an AAA open-world rpg for 100M instead” have any idea who Daedalic is, or how small their team/ budget is. I am rooting for it, god knows the German industry needs more internationally successful games.

Com_Raven (43382000)

Yeah, the last couple of years/ games haven’t always been great for them. I hope that things will get better again with Gollum and now that they are free of Bastei. A bit of a shame though to see so many people in this thread reduce one of the greatest fictional worlds ever conceived to “I want to play as the handsome dude with the sword again”.

Com_Raven (43309703)

Stormtrance in Destiny is one of the most satisfying and fun to use abilities/ skills in any game. So I guess the answer would be my Warlock? :p

Com_Raven (43323362)

From looking in as an outsider who doesn't really play FGs (though I followed this one for the stunning art direction), this game seemed to make as many of the typical mistakes that many Japanese games make as a single game can: 1. Extremely staggered release (the West coming later than japan is already a mistake, but splitting the US and EU releases in 2020? Crazy...) 2. Poor online, bot for netcode and functionality (fighting games are so well suited for cross-play) 3. PC version releasing later 4. Monetization that may work with Japanese hardcore fans, but is a hard sell in the West (I can't even think of any other games announcing two separate Season Passes at the same time?) It's shame, cause the game is gorgeous and I have heard a lot of love for the actual gameplay, but those are a lot of unforced errors to make when trying to establish a new IP in the West, I feel.

Com_Raven (43146366)

Judging by some interview quotes by top people from both sides at the time, it didn’t feel like much love was lost.

Com_Raven (43116060)

Because Epic with Unreal Engine 3/ 4 was Crytek's main competitor in high-end engine licensing, and there was not too much love lost between the companies, to put it that way :)

Com_Raven (43114971)

Seeing a Crytek (and even Crysis) game being exclusive to the Epic games Store is about the funniest thing anyone could have told me 5 years ago when I was Brand Manager for Cryengine :p

Com_Raven (42966711)

Wasn't the original source article IGN is citing already discussed yesterday?

Com_Raven (42826194)

Really? Every game dev company I have been at (5 so far) used actual employees for these image/ recruitment videos.

Com_Raven (42689868)

I don't get it? Why is it a leak if they show it in an official stream? And why is it surprising that they would show a DBFZ character in a DBFZ stream, as the thread title implies?

Com_Raven (42415110)

That is easily said from the outside, but not really taking the realities of being an independent developer into account. When faced with the choice between making a game and keeping your employees paid, and declining to do so out of pride or because it may not be the best publisher, I would certainly hope that you develop the game. I say that as someone who previously worked at an independent developer who certainly struggled between projects, and had to significantly reduce staff as a result.

Com_Raven (42328452)

For them, it is probably their "last chance" to make money from the Remedy partnership, since we know their next games will be with Epic (and it was definitely one of their most high-profile games as a publisher so far). Not that I am defending them, mind you.

Com_Raven (42328071)

Now, let's take a deep breath, think for two seconds, and realize who in a publisher-developer relationship tends to have the final call on pricing.

Com_Raven (42327102)

I strongly doubt that this is Remedy's call as the developer.

Com_Raven (42219426)

True, though marketing budgets don't exist in a vacuum. They are often tied to the production budget, which in turn of course takes the sales projections into account. So it seems that Bethesda doesn't believe that spending more on marketing would necessarily lead to much higher sales (Arkane's games are clearly aimed at core gamers anyways).

Com_Raven (42213645)

That is really the crucial part. I frequently see people who think that saying something is not AAA is a slight on its quality, which is of course not true at all. AAA is about the budget, as we all know, you can find both great and poor games at any budget levels. In Arkane's case, their output is usually top tier!

Com_Raven (42212457)

Worth pointing out that Hollywood directors are usually not employed by the studio, and so no one has to pay them on their break, I think? So the gaming equivalent would be to ship a game, leave the company, take a creative break and come back with a new project and company.

Com_Raven (42211743)

Isn't budget traditionally THE main factor when discussing if something is "AAA" or not? Since budget numbers (assuming they are communicated, of course) are an objective value, whereas most other factors are often more subjective (like the classic art style vs visual fidelity).

Com_Raven (42211014)

Yeah, I was confused and thought someone else had left now.

Com_Raven (42211287)

In that users defense, Arkane's games are probably on the lower end of what we think of in terms of "AAA" for budget, especially their marketing, which is nowhere near some of the bigger brands. That has nothing to do with the quality of their games, which is pretty much always excellent (and I expect Deathloop will be very good as well)!

Com_Raven (41717190)

What am I, a sociopath? Of course I say Hi to cute dogs or cats I meet! <3

Com_Raven (41243967)

First gameplay was shown at E3 2019, but I think it was announced in 2018 or so already?

Com_Raven (41243742)

I never played Battletoads, but this looks fun, gameplay-wise. And I also kinda dig the art style, a bit surprised to see people being so down on it, to be honest.

Com_Raven (41666655)

Are you sure that you are thinking of Susan Rice, and not confusing her with the much more famous Condoleezza Rice? Cause I don't think that Susan Rice has been very high profile so far...

Com_Raven (41059926)

Forza: 11 console/ PC games in 15 years- Halo: 13 console/ PC games in 19 years Gears: 7 console games (plus a remaster) in 14 years People love to complain about these games being "pumped out", but comparing that to the number of games released for franchises like Mario, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil or Even Yakuza in the same time span, I honestly don't think that Microsoft is too egregious. Yes, they have studios that are dedicated to one of their core franchises each, but my point of gamers being the ones outraged if studios like Ninja Theory or Obsidian get the freedom to try something new still stands. As for cancellations- everyone cancels games, much more so than most gamers realize. MS simply cancelled them much later/ more visibly than other companies usually do (ideally prior to announcing them, of course).

Com_Raven (41062221)

Considering that the last communicated date (as far as I know?) for the Squadron 42 beta was Q3 2020 (so...now), I like that they are working on a preview of a work-in-progress roadmap to show people.

Com_Raven (41019927)

To be honest, I don't think you sell a studio with 150+ people because of a small passion project with initially 4 (5?) people on it.

Com_Raven (41018139)

That's not what I said- Era likes to think that everyone has the same taste in games, which is heavily leaning towards single-player games and Japanese titles. Which is not representative of the larger gaming community per se, where stuff like The Last of Us 2 is very popular, but pales compared to many MP titles.

Com_Raven (41016117)

Yes, I'd argue that is mostly the Era bubble, where Sony's third party games are king, and GaaS is the devil. If you look at the majority of gamers in the world, they play multiplayer stuff.

Com_Raven (41016657)

Pretty good summary. My favorite still being when people predicted Wildlands being doomed for coming out close to Persona 5, I think?

Com_Raven (41008722)

The recent demo on Steam played and looked really polished for an Early Access survival game, and was a lot of fun.

Com_Raven (41009280)

I don't think the problem here is MS, it is the part of the community that screams bloody murder as soon as a studio wants to try something outside their usual wheelhouse (Bleeeding Edge, Grounded, Sea of Thieves...)

Com_Raven (40974225)

Well, you answered your own question right there. They have a ton of money, without the publishing oversight that is normally responsible for making sure a team sticks to deadlines and deliverables, and gets a game done. That was after all their pitch to fans- "give us money and we can bring Chris' vision to life without those pesky publishers meddling with it". So that is what they are getting...

Com_Raven (40893108)

Hell yes! I loved the game. It seriously had some of the most impressive in any game at the time (those frescoes on the ceilings in the palace were mindblowing). Sadly I never managed to convince my friends to give the very elaborate MP mode a try over the usual CS/ Quake 3 fare :(

Com_Raven (40963590)

I think that pretty much sums the whole thing up at this point. A weird obsession to be the most detailed and realistic in everything they do, without stopping to ask if doing so will actually make the game better, or more fun. Of course, they also severed ties with the initial developer of the FPS portion I think...People keep saying this, but it is flat out incorrect. Star Citizen made around 2.1M on Kickstarter, which is far from being the most successful gaming Kickstarter. That is a third of the 6.3M Shenmue 3 made.

Com_Raven (40962348)

Wow, I had no idea that they already have paid customization beyond the hefty prices of the ships themselves. I don't think this is a scam, no. I know talented people who have been working there for years and are fully committed to building a great game for fans. I do however think that this the worst case of (still ongoing?) feature creep ever, and that the project has probably become unmanageable for their production team a long time ago. Which should sadly not be too surprising for people who kept track of Chris Roberts previous games.

Com_Raven (40963023)

If you never heard of Chris Roberts before, then you probably aren't the target audience for Star Citizen, at least not during its crowdfunding phase.

Com_Raven (40927299)

Well, I guess that means there is no more need to check google from time to time to see if there is any update. Between ASoIaF and this (plus a couple in-progress Warhammer stories), it can be pretty frustrating to read fantasy/ sci-fi series :(

Com_Raven (40827423)

No, Ubi has 18k people across 40+ studios working on all brands and games. It is interesting to see that the number of studios involved in a project is often perceived negatively by gamers with Ubisoft's games, but that doesn't seem to be the case with other studios :)

Com_Raven (40827636)

It is extremely common, and everyone does it for games of this level. There are art outsourcing companies in countries like China or Vietnam that do themselves have hundreds of employees that only provide support to AAA studios.If that is weird to you, then quite frankly you haven't been paying much attention to how video game development works.

Com_Raven (40673631)

Lol, seriously? Is it now company's faults when people make up random rumors, and everyone jumps onto them for some drama? This is getting ridiculous.

Com_Raven (40644066)

I was gonna say...that is exactly what Matt said.

Com_Raven (40643817)

I don't think those are mutually exclusive. Having a show with 22 games, and saying "everything you have seen is part of Game Pass" is in itself a mic drop, because no one has ever done it. Does it appeal to everyone? No, but then again, nothing ever does. Whatever your big mic drop moment is, it won't apply to everyone.

Com_Raven (40484253)

I mean, have you seen how Sony pushed the Infamous series?

Com_Raven (40215138)

I always found that very weird looking, especially for anything bigger/ longer than a pistol. How are you supposed to hold a weapon that is 75cm long centered in front of you?

Com_Raven (39991614)

It is very sad how at a time when multiplayer and games-as-a-service are bigger than ever, Daybreak/ former SOE is on life support. Everquest Next sounded so good; turns out it was actually too good to be true.That water in Dark Alliance 1 was some proper next gen shit, blew my mind at the time!

Com_Raven (39946404)

Judging by the general state of Daybreak games, I would be quite surprised to see anything Everquest in the next couple years, much less Champions of Norrath coming back.

Com_Raven (39936498)

People think I am crazy when I say this, but Dark Alliance was the reason I bought my first console as a big Baldur's gate and D&D fan :) Champions of Norrath was great yeah. We had tons of fun playing co-op in those games.

Com_Raven (39932559)

As you probably know, the latest Dark Alliance game was announced last year at The Game Awards. It is a reboot of the beloved D&D action-rpg series from the PS2 generation, from Canadian developer Tuque Games (the originals were from Snowblind and Black Isle, respectively). It is supposed to be out in Fall 2020, and...we haven't heard a single word about it this whole year, as far as I know? The studio's twitter account has not even mentioned the game's announcement last year, and the Dark Alliance twitter account last posted anything the day after the announcement last December. COVID has obviously thrown a wrench into everyone's plans for this year, but it is looking very unlikely that they game will be out in the next 5 months to me. I know the trailer was controversially received (see below for some bonus In Flames on a Friday morning), but I lovbed the originals, and still hope that this will turn out to be a fun old-school arpg like D&D Heroes on Xbox.

Com_Raven (39934968)

I don't know. On the one hand, that trailer was obviously a very weird choice, and the CG was not great. On the other hand, the two short glimpses at the actual game itself at the end didn't look terrible, and had a proper D&D feel.

Com_Raven (39830461)

That pretty much sums it up. For decades, the conventional wisdom was that certain PC genres cannot properly work on consoles, such as rpgs and rts. And then...they suddenly did. Last Fall I found myself sitting at an airport playing Baldur's Gate on my Switch, and it just hit me how crazy that notion would have been only a few years ago.

Com_Raven (39825973)

Yeah, I fortunately never had the "pleasure" myself, but I faintly recall there being some kind of timebomb essentially in those games that at a certain point completely tanked the performance.

Com_Raven (39826849)

Of course PC is the best platform for these games, though I have to say that I finished Skyrim and Dragon Age Origins (several times even) plus Witcher 3 on the respective Xbox consoles, and still loved them. I guess that is testament to their sheer quality :) Well, that would be the reverse of what OP describes.

Com_Raven (39788149)

Do people not like it? Sorry, didn't follow it too closely.

Com_Raven (39800713)

Yeah for Europe it says “35-65$” which is a joke. Both that range (“it may cost this, or twice as much, who knows?”) and the price itself, which is way higher than shipping from other places.

Com_Raven (39795346)

Yeah, the core rules plus shipping is a lot more expensive than just buying the book on German Amazon :p

Com_Raven (39787225)

That's crazy cheap, thanks for the heads-up!

Com_Raven (39800374)

Can’t argue about personal taste, but I would argue that saying FF7R (which I loved to play, don’t get me wrong!) has a world that is more alive than ACO is factually wrong. Midgar is essentially a stunning looking film set that feels very alive it you don’t look too closely, but once you pay attention the illusion becomes pretty obvious. The same NPCs will mostly stay in the same spots all day long, and if you stay next to them for a few minutes you will quickly realize that their conversations are very limited and quickly repeat the same few lines. ACO on the other is a very systemic game, and you will see a lot of things like animals attacking or Athenian and Spartan soldiers fighting by themselves when wandering the world. It is also a much more realistic world, where you can go into most houses and see people’s kitchens or beds (where the go sleep at night), giving the feeling of being an actual world people live in. I remember sneaking up on an outpost I wanted to attacked on AC Origins, and as I came over the hill I saw everything was on fire because a hippo was attacking the place, which had knocked over some oil I to the fire. So yeah, it is pretty baffling to me how anyone could argue that FFVIIR feels more alive as a world, tbh...

Com_Raven (39744427)

That is a weird criticism though. Of course a developer whose office language is using English as the primary language the game is developed in, because it is what everyone on the team speaks. I am sure the same happens in reverse with Eastern companies developing games set in the West. Calling that an inaccuracy seems far-fetched.

Com_Raven (39743161)

Did Famitsu write this?

Com_Raven (39743674)

It was indeed, as I was under the impression that people don't take Famitsu too seriously these days.

Com_Raven (39757342)

Have you met Fallout 3 on PS3 though?

Com_Raven (39730444)

That is a hell of a title, considering everyone (including me) will think of the hugely popular game first, instead of some random streamer.

Com_Raven (39579919)

That would be madness for a rts, the game was announced August 2017. For comparison, it was announced a few hours prior to our own strategy game, which came out April 2019.

Com_Raven (39580375)

Even then that seems like a very long time, assuming it is a traditional rts game (and god, I sure hope it is). Also very cruel after the X019 trailer last year, which looked incredible <3

Com_Raven (38645092)

Fun fact- it was (alongside IloveBees) the topic of my master's thesis on viral games marketing. Thanks for my degree, "Charlie" :)

Com_Raven (38543266)

Somehow I missed this book coming out, will look into it. Cheers, OP!

Com_Raven (38140396)

Weekend Era is starting early this week, huh. Leaving everything else aside, just consider the cost of doing something like that at scale...

Com_Raven (38025574)

Yes, it is out today at 6pm CEST/ 12pm Eastern/ 9am Pacific,

Com_Raven (37459813)

Ah, you just wanted to drive-by troll, gotcha :)

Com_Raven (37459108)

Nothing besides the color palette and architecture being very similar to DAI, and all the red lyrium prominently shown in the one image, of course. And many members of the Dragon Age team prominently sharing it. And us knowing that they are working on DA4.

Com_Raven (37457911)

I think developers can be forgiven if they follow in the footsteps of a game that won them a ton of Game of the Year awards from major outlets, and also was one of their fastest-selling games ever...

Com_Raven (37451794)

To be honest, people say that about every company at some point. BioWare has been making rpgs for almost 25 years now, so of course some people will leave. There are still lots of people there who have been with the company for a long time, and who have been working on Dragon Age for a long time, despite some former leads leaving the company. I think Kotaku said the former GaaS focused version is not the one that is currently being worked on post-Anthem. Even if it was, people need to keep in mind that GaaS does not have to mean competitive multiplayer. AC Odyssey is very much a service title, and that is a sprawling single-player rpg (and an excellent one, if I may say so as an employee).

Com_Raven (37451482)

Well, we have known for a while that it won't be out until Fall 22 at the earliest:

Com_Raven (37449583)

Agreed! DAI had some stunning regions and landscapes, and I liked that despite obviously being Western fantasy, it tried to have its own style apart from Tolkien. And some of the artworks (like the tarot ones) were amazing. My biggest gripe was with the inquisitor's winged helmet :pAll ready as vacation reading in two weeks :)

Com_Raven (37448536)

Yes. Very much in line with the vibe of Inquisition, and it has been shared by members of the Dragon Age dev team.

Com_Raven (37448650)

Just reading the word "lyrium" makes me angry with Anders again...

Com_Raven (36235252)

Sadly par for the course for Valve's non-commitment to fighting that. Searched for players named "Hitler" on Steam out of curiosity, and it found a cool...48k results.

Com_Raven (37184350)

Lol, what kind of elitist weirdness is this now. "I guess if you only play the games, you would not understand" oO

Com_Raven (37186417)

For context, and speaking from my day job: When we do a trailer where the footage is captured inside the game, we call it a gameplay trailer (as opposed to CG). Obviously a gameplay trailer is still an entirely different beast from a gameplay demo (as in "a lenghty chunk of uninterupted gameplay"), which is what most people were expecting.

Com_Raven (37184932)

It never comes up (especially on ERA), but it is certainly noticeable that Sony has yet to successfully establish a MP/ service title besides GT Sport. But as ERA doesn't like those as much as cinematic SP games, it is rarely discussed.

Com_Raven (37185715)

But what is then the issue you seem to be concerned about? As you say yourself, for a gamer it does not matter who came up with the idea as long as it is published by the first-party whose platform they own. So why is it something Microsoft must do, as long as they manage to have compelling games?

Com_Raven (37180174)

Unless you make big cinematic AAA games or Japanese games, you are gonna have a hard time on ERA :p You can see it from MS either getting shit for only doing sequels, or for getting shit for doing new IPs like Grounded and Bleeding Edge.

Com_Raven (37182136)

No offense, but I honestly think you have a very limited and flawed understanding of the highly collaborative and iterative process that is game development. You seem to think someone has an idea on day 1, and that is where the creative aspect of game design ends. Games change constantly during development, and the publisher is deeply involved in that. If you are somehow trying to tell yourself that Halo is not really a Microsoft IP because Bungie showed a very different game once at MAc World, then I don't know what to tell you...

Com_Raven (37179202)

I am saying that it is weird to see this kind of "concerned gamer" thread a month before they will probably show their biggest investment in new IP in many years.

Com_Raven (37177933)

I mean... - Grounded - Bleeding Edge - Project Mara - Everwild - Sea of Thieves So not sure where the idea they are not doing new IPs is coming from? Also worth pointing out that many of these have been met with a lot of skepticism here on ERA, cause how dare devs try something new...

Com_Raven (37178092)

Red Steell the...JRPG?

Com_Raven (37086094)

Depends how you wanna look at it. There are hundreds of millions of people playing video games. If you compare it to that, the views (while very impressive, ofc course) don't scream "mass market audience".

Com_Raven (37085710)

Up and coming indie startups Sega, Codemasters, Bandai Namco and Ubisoft.

Com_Raven (37085314)

I am a) not sure that the mainstream players watch these shows at all. And b), if they do they wanna see CoD and FIFA. Which ERA complains about as well :p

Com_Raven (37031362)

No, this is what the OP said: " It's painfully obvious there was no curation at all". That is completely different from what you said. To which many, including myself as someone who previously had a game at the PCGS, said that they are incorrect, and that there absolutely is curation.

Com_Raven (37032154)

I mean, you keep telling people to read the OP, but you somehow seem to ignore all the people who have done so and are pointing out that your claim that there is no curation for these shows is objectively wrong. Weird how that works? I think what can be even more helpful (if you are lucky) is the secondary/ knock-on effect of a games writer or influencer seeing your game at one of these shows, and having their interest piqued enough to follow up on it. Just being part of such a show by itself obviously isn't a guarantee that your game will succeed, but it can (if you are lucky) be quite helpful. Which is the best you can hope for, after all.

Com_Raven (37030636)

When you are in a thread trying to explain to people how valuable events like this are for indies and smaller games, only to have your own game called shit by someone else. Feels bad...

Com_Raven (37030444)

Consolidating them would come at the cost of kicking out many games for which a show like this is the best chance at getting some eye balls. I find it strange that people complain about having too many shows that no one is forcing them to watch, considering how extremely helpful they can be for some indie developers.

Com_Raven (37028503)

There absolutely is curation for these streams, yes. If you think there isn't, then maybe you don't know how this stuff works as much as you may think you do. The whole benefit of these smaller shows is to help showcase some of the games that would not make it into a Sony or MS conference. Of course there are "better looking" games in the same genres- they are after all indie games, with indie budgets. Of course Metal Hellsinger is gonna look less impressive and polished than DOOM Eternal (it does look very fun though). That is to be expected, and totally fine. It is great that these shows give smaller games a shot at being on a bigger stage, and i say this as someone who mostly plays AAA himself.

Com_Raven (37026967)

One big question for that would be "fair by which standards?". After all, the cost of living in many countries is much lower than in the West, so fair salaries by local standards there could still be very low over here.

Com_Raven (37020985)

I don't think it would make sense to show a new Forza Horizon before showing a new Forza Motorsport, whic is long overdue.

Com_Raven (37021930)

That's curious. So far it seemed that the big strength of Turn 10 was to deliver very high quality frequently and reliably, whereas GT as their man competitor may be higher regarded, but only releasing games every 4 years or so. FM doing the same would certainly raise expectations for the series...

Com_Raven (36829336)

Imagine giving Crucible a better score than Minecraft Dungeons...

Com_Raven (36278809)

Writing these blogs has definitely been very nostalgic. I couldn't even remember that my first gaming mouse did not have a wheel :(

Com_Raven (36277900)

For those curious, we have put out our first blog looking at the changes and improvements to Anno 1602:

Com_Raven (36138526)

Also, there was allegedly a Brothers in Arms game in development during the SAG-AFTRA strike:

Com_Raven (36141661)

I mean, literally everything about Brothers in Arms (starting with the name!) is pretty much "how close to Band of Brothers can we get without getting sued".

Com_Raven (36137599)

That project became Battleborn. And Borderlands is extremely successful, so that's what they keep doing (in addition to publishing indie games on top).

Com_Raven (35973055)

They don’t actively court them, no. I also don’t notice much action being taken against countless nazi/ SS-fetishizing user groups that have been there for years. And I will say that Steam is the only gaming platform that has ever actively promoted a curator to me with a review calling Activision a „Jew company“, which I certainly did not expect.

Com_Raven (35945757)

Thanks, that was the one from among the mentioned regions was I was unsure about. That's good to hear.

Com_Raven (35945550)

Fair point, though that also hits local players who may be supportive of LGBT rights. And, as cynical as this admittedly sounds- there would not be many places left to sell products in, for one reason or another. Even in the US, there are a lot of politicians who constantly and actively try to undermine human rights, and want to make it legal to discriminate against people. Starting from their president.

Com_Raven (35943723)

And if that wasn't shocking enough by itself- those hate crimes are often encouraged or defended by local authorities as "understandable moral outrage", and such.

Com_Raven (35943105)

As others pointed out, Era has a tendency to look at things from a very US/ Western perspective, without always taking the local situation into account. In this case, supporting or promoting LGBT rights is literally illegal/ against the law in these countries (not sure about Turkey, but definitely the case in Russia and many Arab countries). People who do so frequently become victims of violence that the state at best ignores, and at worst supports or defends as righteous. Are these laws terrible? Obviously, we are after all talking about often denying the most basic human rights to many of their citizens. But for us to sit here in countries where we are free to express our opinions and demanding that companies go break the law in countries where this freedom does not exist, and where doing so can very often have brutal consequences for their employees on the ground seems weird to me.

Com_Raven (35314611)

Indeed, they were based in Styria. Let's just say that they did not necessarily use the terminology one should be using today for documenting code :)

Com_Raven (35267748)

They are doing some great things for accessibility, well done to the team and the people pushing for it. Cant wait to finally learn more about the game after the long silence!

Com_Raven (35239647)

The Release Notes for next week’s Game Update 8 are here, and I hope you enjoy some of the new stuff :)

Com_Raven (35209686)

I understand the preservation concerns (though there are of course the physical copies, and everyone who owns the classic versions digitally will keep them), but it doesn't really make sense to offer the both the classic and History editions at the same time: - gameplay is exactly the same (plus some small quality of life improvements) - History Editions cost the same as the classic games - As grandwizorb mentioned, the classic games have issues running on modern PCs (1602 for example needs you to fiddle with legacy settings), while the new versions are all about making sure they run properly on modern PCs As with all Ubisoft games, yes. Uplay is also used for multiplayer.

Com_Raven (35108799)

If you own them, you will of course keep them and will still be able to download them from your libraries. They will however be removed for new buyers.We may have learned a new thing or two about Austrian accents along the way! :)As the development team, we do not decide on which platforms the games appear.

Com_Raven (35048463)

These new releases will replace the classic versions of the games where they are available. So on Uplay, they will replace all of the old games. As only 1404 is available on Steam right now, only 1404 History Edition will be on Steam.

Com_Raven (35050188)

Not gonna tell you that your opinion is wrong, but I would like to point that all of these have taken months of work, and are not what I usually expect in the scope of a patch (especially when it comes to 22 year old games): - ported them all to 64 bit (also worth pointing out that the two oldest games are from a completely different developer, and took some serious source code archaeology) - replaced the multiplayer middle-ware, which in some cases had been dead for years (Gamespy) to work via Uplay, with modern features like Desync Recovery and Quickmatch - in the case of 1503, got the multiplayer properly and stable running for the first time ever - added some new quality of life features for all themThat is not possible, as all new multiplayer runs via Uplay (setup similar to Anno 1800), while the older games used services like Gamespy, and haven't had working online for years.

Com_Raven (35031045)

5 months, from E3 to November. So not too crazy, actually. If you think this is bad, promise me to never delve into the wonderful world of Metal Gear YouTube :p

Com_Raven (35029770)

All their Fallout games had it, so if that is the kind of content they are going for, 18 could be realistic.

Com_Raven (35030283)

No, that's other agencies like ESRB, who have those funny summaries describing all the bad words being used :p

Com_Raven (35029335)

For physical events like gamescom, yes.

Com_Raven (35029599)

Though you only need an age rating for a public event. A press presentation/ event does not need an age rating, ´for example.

Com_Raven (34945203)

I don't think Paragon (released, reworked, cancelled) nor Patriots (instead became one of the must successful games of this gen) could as being in development hell. Out of the games mentioned, only Dead Island really fits the criteria, as it has seen developers change not once but twice, and hasn't been seen in action in years. Cancelled games are not in dev hell, they are simply dead.

Com_Raven (34534398)

And there's even gonna be more stuff in the free update on the same day, like an overview of all your items ;)

Com_Raven (34531839)

And now for some shameless self-promo, here’s a blog post about our next DLC coming June 2 :)

Com_Raven (34514952)

Learned something new today, cheers!

Com_Raven (34514085)

I am confused- I take it Nintendo is not involved? Which "official" kinda implies, no?

Com_Raven (34507629)

That is a bad example, as Warzone is literally a separate game that is available for free and stand-alone from the rest of Modern Warfare.

Com_Raven (34508502)

I am not showing empathy to Rockstar. I don't care about GTA Online, haven't played it beyond an hour or so at launch, and I deeply dislike their monetization. What I dislike even more than that (it is after all pretty easy to ignore a game if you don't like it) is the overdramatization from a lot of users where everything these days seemingly has to be "the best ever", "the worst of this generation", anti-consumer, unethical or whatever completely inappropriate word gets thrown around next instead of what it actually boils down to, which is "I don't like it". Which is fine, plenty of people dislike GTAO. No need to be all dramatic about it.

Com_Raven (34471488)

Isn't gog.com barely generating profit (which is a shame, especially with cool moves like Galaxy 2)?

Com_Raven (34417518)

Was thinking the same thing :p

Com_Raven (34471269)

To be honest, saying you are being melodramatic was almost generous. Complaining that a company is not releasing additional new content (which they never said they would, nor have any obligation to) in a way you want them to is "unethical" feels like peak gamer discourse.

Com_Raven (34461669)

This. Even after years, I must admit that people on this forum frequently manage to baffle me with their melodramatic, over-the-top threads. And I say this as someone who has zero interest in GTAO.

Com_Raven (34469184)

Regardless of whether people like them or not- people trying to argue that Ubi games are not successful is certainly entertaining to see.

Com_Raven (34468410)

I won't pretend to understand the stock market, but that is certainly surprising to hear given how Ubi had 11 games selling 10m+ copies this gen, and a hugely successful GaaS with 60M players to date.

Com_Raven (34325223)

It certainly is a name that seems to come up a lot when people talk about YouTubers that constantly try to create drama and toxicity...

Com_Raven (34283244)

It intended to feel markedly different, with a bit of a survival feeling to it, yes. Which is why we replaced the happiness tab with warmth for this session.

Com_Raven (34189788)

I think the “big” in the OP might be a bit exaggerated there.

Com_Raven (34073007)

Humble is an Uplay key, EGS is on EGS. Even when buying on EGS, you will need to have an Uplay account, meaning that everyone can play multiplayer together without issue, regardless of where they bought it. We generally advise people to buy all their content from the same store, but I have seen players claim they bough some DLC from one place, and some from the other without issues. I may be biased, but I like to think they add a lot of interesting options to the game, and a lot of players seem to agree. And no, there is no third Season planned for now (2 is already more content than any Anno ever had after launch).

Com_Raven (32112027)

It takes a while for ships to cross from the old to the new world, you should be able to see it on the world map or your trade route. And you can also set up charter route if you have no ships available.

Com_Raven (31924086)

You can find the direct links to the store pages here: They aren't indexed, so they cannot be found by search on Steam.

Com_Raven (33579327)

I very rarely play racing games, but tried it on a whim on Game Pass, and had a blast. I think many racing games outside of the big series like Forza and GT struggle with the fact that racing isn't well suited to many of today's big trends (the same is true for some genres like rts), like tem-based multiplayer or open-worlds (though Horizon is awesome).

Com_Raven (33284817)

I don't know what the plans they had back then were, but also worth keeping in mind that Cevat is no stranger to making overambitious statements at times (I remember the time he said that other shooters would have a hard time charging 60$ after Warface is out). Regardless, it is crazy how ambitious Crysis was even with its traditional storytelling. I remember throwing a stone at an enemy soldier, and him shooting it out of the air, which was mindblowing to see at a time when most other games had very basic physics.

Com_Raven (33000852)

Here in Germany, we love strategy games (especially real-time strategy and city-building), simulators and MMOs (as a former boss once put it- "Germany has yet to see a MMORPG it did not like"). Obviously people also play all the popular genres and franchises just as anywhere else, but I think the love of sims and certain strategy genres is quite different from many other markets, especially the US.

Com_Raven (32602884)

We'll see. The world has been going in the direction of online for well over a decade, and yet large areas in even G7 nations have a terrible internet infrastructure.

Com_Raven (32597259)

If bandwidth is the concern, then surely streaming from the cloud is not the solution for those users.

Com_Raven (32594097)

I think you can to a degree answer that question yourself by looking at reactions to even the smallest, least important visual glitches in any AAA game. It is what a lot of people in the gaming community definitely want.

Com_Raven (32473782)

I am torn on whether to play Ghost of Tsushima when it comes out, or as a PS5 launch title. I guess it will depend on what info about PS5 BC or improvements are detailed until then, and how many other games have been delayed by the time Tsushima is out...

Com_Raven (32337135)

This just almost made me spit out my drink, well done.

Com_Raven (32345586)

I haven’t played the game, and this is the first time I heard this line. And I am every day in Twitter, gaming forums etc. so I would have to say no. Press F to pay respect, while not spoken, is for example way more famous. Or Tracer’s “Cheers Luv, the cavalry’s here”.

Com_Raven (32305107)

Small correction- the twitter account predicted Crysis Remaster three days after the Crysis website was changed with the first teaser. Not saying they are wrong, but don't take the Crysis tweet as any confirmation of anything.

Com_Raven (32234850)

I always felt this way, yeah. They are not as famous as Sony’s or Nintendo’s franchises, but they have a good stable of IPs they forgot about. MechAssault or Crimson Skies could really shine with the popularity of multiplayer these days :(

Com_Raven (32249904)

Thanks for the great OT, , learned some new things I hadn't heard about before! Game is pre-loaded, looking forward to giving it a spin next week!

Com_Raven (32207967)

I can only speak for myself and not other people in the community, but my main issue with H5 is that the story and vibe overall did not really feel like classic Halo to me anymore. I will obviously play the game and am looking forward to see what conclusions they drew from criticism, but if they just continue H5's story, I don't expect that I will be blown away by the story.Agreed, I found them extremely unsatisfying to fight. Something about the designs and the lack of hit feedback, while shooting Grunts and Elites is just immensely satisfying to this day!

Com_Raven (32202000)

Honestly, I would be quite happy for Infinite to be a reboot, and if it just pretended the story of Guardians never happend. Of course, that will probably not happen :(

Com_Raven (32195520)

Plot twist- Itagaki is now in charge of Halo's story!

Com_Raven (32160012)

No idea of any of it is true, of course. Though I have been wondering how the name and what we have seen so far are supposed to follow up on H5's story.It is most likely fake, agreed. Then again, games have done crazier things in the past...

Com_Raven (32163663)

I am not saying it is impossible, but changing your plans for your biggest IP two weeks before E3 should be based on more than reactions to a weird 4 chan leak (and yes, I remember the ODST fiasco at E3...).

Com_Raven (32159571)

Wasn't that recently suggested in a "leak" as well?

Com_Raven (32161749)

I think heavily pushing what felt like a pay-2-win multiplayer mode did not help the game :(

Com_Raven (32062473)

But that is not a remake, especially in the sense that the OP means.

Com_Raven (32061996)

This. A remake of GTA 3 to next-gen standards would cost more than the vast majority of current-gen AAA games. People underestimate the efforts of this because they think the game already exist, when the creation of 3d assets alone is extremely expensive.

Com_Raven (32063583)

This! Sadly they have stopped doing that, while leaving out many of their own classics (like the MechAssault), which is a real shame :( Having a scenario where you could put any Xbox disc from the last three generations into your Series X and play them with improved frame rate would be a dream <3

Com_Raven (32061285)

Of course there are. A remake takes a full development team, and millions of dollars. Neither budgets nor resources exist in a vacuum, and any team developing a AAA remake like FFVIIR is a team that won't be developing a new game in the meantime. There is only a limited number of major projects a publisher can suport at any given time. Things are different with quick remasters or ports.

Com_Raven (31721127)

Very interesting. Speaking of Outer Worlds, I wonder when they will have news on the DLC. Maybe it was planned as a stealth release for Microsoft’s E3 release? Absolutely loved the game, one of my favourites last year (even if the Perks weren’t anything special). I specifically liked their confidence of making a shorter rpg instead of another 100+ game.

Com_Raven (31734372)

To clarify, this is from a separate indie studio Ancel runs, and unrelated to Ubisoft Montpellier or BGE2.

Com_Raven (31653180)

Maybe people would not misunderstand the OP if they hadn't done the era thing of "X is the best ever at Y", and then just mentioned exactly one other game as an example.

Com_Raven (31613454)

Dead Island 2 hasn't been with Yager for years. As for their projects, the truth is that Yager never had a major financial hit (even if Spec Ops is an excellent game), and independent studios can't be too picky with their projects. That is just a fact in the current industry climate. They also haven't released too many games themselves, considering how old the studio is.

Com_Raven (31611726)

In any case, it was announced last year that Skull & Bones won't ship this FY, so it is normal that there is no communication around it right now. As for BG&E2, that game had it's last update on the website a month ago. Not my place to say more, as I don't work on that project (though there is a team working hard on it in our studio).

Com_Raven (31610835)

Yes, it was confirmed to be cancelled. Even then, canceling an entire AAA game outright is probably a different level than cancelling a single port SKU.

Com_Raven (31599837)

I don't think anyone at Sony would call that a "major game", by any stretch. It's not even full price.

Com_Raven (31593246)

In my personal experience, Ubisoft doesn't cancel announced projects without informing the community.That made me smile, cheers.

Com_Raven (31472904)

Definitely not true, otherwise AC2 would not be free on German Uplay right now. Truth is that PSN is just pretty clunky when it comes to certain things, so they hide demos behind purchases or PS Plus as a weird age check mechanism.

Com_Raven (31425774)

German sales are best, cause Germany loves Anno <3The listed months are when they earned sales awards.

Com_Raven (31300755)

Damn, I had completely forgotten about that!

Com_Raven (31294221)

Despite popular belief, the Crysis IP belongs to Crytek, so the much-rumored remaster would not necessarily need to be released by EA.

Com_Raven (31293567)

Well, what other games have EA released since? None. And they already said that stuff like Apex is coming..This was quite remarkabel to me as well, yes!That would require EA to be involved.

Com_Raven (31295163)

We'll see! In the past, it seems that Koch Media was their preferred partner (Ryse PC, Warface, Hunt).

Com_Raven (31285512)

So we do agree that there is nothing prevent Atlus from going the upgrade or DLC route, besides having a community´that is happy to buy the game a second time (and business wise, I guess I can't blame them for doing that while it works).Sure! My personal stance is that QoL improvement should be free for all your players (like PS4 Pro support), while new content can be monetized. Ideally, this could look something like this: 1. Free QoL patch for all P5 owners 2. New DLC for 20-30$ for existing owners 3. Sell the Royal edition as 60$ for new buyers I feel this would be more or less the industry best practice at this point.

Com_Raven (31284597)

Their critical success changes nothing about the technical feasibility, which is what people are arguing somehow seems to be impossible for Atlus. Also, if a failed game can afford to do major reworks without charging people 60$ a second time, shouldn't a game that sold very well be able to afford doing so as well? ;) But sure, then let's look at Divinity Original Sin 1+2. Huge reworkings of the games, with lots of new content, and completely free. Witcher 3 received significant DLCs for 20$, etc. Nothing GaaS about either of these :)

Com_Raven (31283457)

While that is true, all the QoL updates are still free. I don't think anyone is saying that Atlus should not charge for new content that obviously costs money to develop. But the argument here is that it is somehow technically impossible for them to rework the game as DLC or a patch, when many other companies manage to do so.

Com_Raven (31282038)

While I personally think their business is an absolute joke in this day and age (where many other company overhaul their games for free or as lower priced DLC), I think this thread shows you exactly why they get away with. Atlus has clearly found a big enough audience of people who will not only buy the same game several times, but even be grateful for it and defend them. Plus, they get a free pass to do so from press who would be up in arms if any Western developer tried to pull the same stunt. What more could a company ask for?

Com_Raven (31282827)

Both Divinity Original Sin games got major reworkings for free. Ghost Recon Breakpoint just completely reworked most of the core gameplay systems as a free update last month. Fallout 76 is doing so today with Wastelanders. There are many, many other examples of games being reworked from the ground via free updates.

Com_Raven (31195167)

Amazing how many people comment without reading the super short article that clearly explains what the planet you see is.

Com_Raven (30786785)

Is the beta tied to the Xbox Insider program at all? As in, is there a way for insiders to get in?

Com_Raven (30834344)

No offense, but that is one of those criticisms that doesn't really say much, I feel? It's a setting that you rarely ever see used in games, with a more casual and friendly take on what is usually a very hardcore and unforgiving genre. Doesn't sound so bad, no?

Com_Raven (30423565)

True! I am torn on the topic after having been in a similar situation previously (company getting lots of bad press, people calling for boycotts, with a lot of us employees who couldn't easily switch employers being stuck in the middle). I do feel for the devs and would not encourage anyone to boycott their games, but I definitively can't blame anyone who doesn't want to give any of their hard-earned money to Randy.

Com_Raven (30420854)

Well if people hadn't bought the game, the team would have received even less, or no bonus at all. So that part is certainly true.

Com_Raven (30418528)

That sums up what seems to be happening pretty nicely, yes. People were lead to believe that they would get bigger bonuses quicker than they will, despite the game being a huge success.

Com_Raven (30418296)

Did you even read the article, or just the headline? The problem is that people are getting a smaller bonus, and not the big numbers (up to 6 figures, supposedly) that they had been led to expect.

Com_Raven (30418148)

No one said the game did not make money. The money first goes to 2k to cover their costs, and that is why the bonuses are lower (they still exist). The big question is whether the devs knew that the game was so expensive, and that 2k would get all of their cut first.

Com_Raven (30417184)

I don't know what the cost of development in Finland is like, but Europe tends to be cheaper than the US. The Control team was probably also smaller (which makes the quality and graphics of that game even more impressive!), and they are planning to do 4 big DLC packs (and who knows if they are already working on a second Season pass). Don't get me wrong, 45M for post-launch is certainly a huge number, but it doesn't seem completely unrealistic depending on their scope.

Com_Raven (30417056)

As done as Rockstar or Naughty Dog are, whenever the crunch stories resurface? Truth is that most BL3 buyers will never hear of this (cause they don't follow gaming news), and from those who do hear a lot won't care, as with many other examples.

Com_Raven (30416952)

Control cost around 30M according to Remedy.

Com_Raven (30416855)

BGS open world games are actually much cheaper than many others I think, due to being more systemic and less content heavy. The next GTA on the other hand probably has a good shot at being the most expensive game ever (at least #2 after Star Citizen), though they will still be profitable.

Com_Raven (30416680)

The commonly used baseline for development in the US is on average 10k per employee/ month. Take a couple hundred devs for a few years, and you very quickly have huge budgets.

Com_Raven (30416302)

95 the main game, and 45 million for their post-launch plans. Whether that includes marketing or other non-dev costs, is not clear. Given the cost of AAA development, probably not.

Com_Raven (30246846)

Always count on ERA for the most cringe-inducing, melodramatic thread titles! EA never left Nintendo. The truth is just that most of their games are on an engine that so far hasn't been ported to Switch. They still have FIFA, Unravel 2 and Fé.

Com_Raven (30222706)

I don't think there any planned changes to existing DLCs as such, no. And for the UI, there are a few individual elements we are considering reworking (plus maybe some new functionality), but no complete overhaul.

Com_Raven (29888434)

The most definite news about Season 2 so far is this blog: Land of Lions will be the biggest Anno 1800 DLC, so bigger than The Passage, and also more integrated with the Old World.

Com_Raven (29862523)

That's awesome to hear, welcome to the Anno community :)

Com_Raven (29834534)

Amen. Think about how mercilessly any graphical glitch in an AAA game is dragged across social media for years, often being one of the top google results for the games etc.

Com_Raven (29832789)

It is absolutely possible to make (even successful!) games without the kind of crunch that companies like Rockstar or ND allegedly put their employees through.

Com_Raven (29827547)

Let me first of all say that this Brand Manager dude seems extremely reli- and likeable ;) And indeed, Ubisoft currently has no plans to make Anno 1800 available on Steam again. However, it was very important to the Anno team that all players of the game get access to all content at the same time, so we will of course continue to make all DLC available to our Steam players.

Com_Raven (29800790)

Hey, could you send me your Uplay name via private message?

Com_Raven (29800080)

In EGS or on Uplay? If you open Uplay, there should be a prominent Free Weekend banner, and the game should also appear in your library under "Free Games".

Com_Raven (29801683)

Glad to hear that it has now worked out for you!

Com_Raven (29795527)

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience! There was unfortunately a delay with getting the pre-load on EGS live, though it has been up for Uplay since Monday. Keep in mind though that the free weekend only starts tomorrow, so not being able to play it yet is intended. Let me know if you need help with anything.

Com_Raven (29795509)

Thanks for sharing the news OP, we are super happy with how successful the game has been <3 There are unfortunately no plans. Anno has a ton of calculations going on under the hood with regards to citizen needs, demands, production etc, which would be extremely challenging with regards to current gen consoles :(

Com_Raven (29795808)

Surprise :p Also, pro tip- it is worth checking out the merry-go-round from the Holiday Pack in first-person mode...

Com_Raven (29770296)

Perfect excuse to buy Anno 1800, no? :p

Com_Raven (29761827)

No, the Gold Edition only includes the Season 1 Pass.There are two main groups of Anno players- the min-maxers, and the "beauty builders". A lot of players don't care about how pretty the city is, and only about the maximum number of citizens they can get, or making their economy as efficient as possible. For our trailers, we do of course want to show pretty cities, even if they are less efficient :)I think you can grab the Free Weekend build from EGS here:

Com_Raven (29748527)

But maybe our three new DLCs that we announced 3 hours ago may entice you back? :p

Com_Raven (29750379)

What coincidence- we announced one today :) You can test Anno 1800 for free from March 12-15 :)

Com_Raven (29752805)

Glad to hear it, we aim to please :) Pre-load is already up on Uplay.

Com_Raven (29614386)

As others have pointed out, BF2 has been greatly optimized for consoles, and as a result feels and plays pretty great on them.

Com_Raven (29574616)

Sounds about right...

Com_Raven (29503680)

Any executive telling staff that they won't tolerate "negative feedback" is a surefire way to sink a product or company.

Com_Raven (29481800)

I am sure thaaa the story of Crytek's rise and fall over the years would make for a fascinating story if well reserched.

Com_Raven (29482129)

Definitely. Straight up stands there telling people their concerns are just bla bla, and that she is not there to sympathisze with employees. Wow...

Com_Raven (29481730)

I have to admit that the video of their GM speaking to the team at their town hall is one of the worst examples of shitty coporate bosses trying to give a prep talk I have ever heard. Absolutely shocking.

Com_Raven (29465342)

Also, sorry for the double post, but I know that a lot of people on Era enjoy behind the scenes stuff about Game Dev. Ubisoft now has a podcast series called "Game Makers", and the latest episode is all about the audio work on Anno 1800:

Com_Raven (29392809)

By all means, go for it! My cats need food, and I need new consoles :p

Com_Raven (29379300)

You should keep an eye out for any future Free Test Week(ends), which would give you another opportunity to see how the game runs for you!

Com_Raven (29336775)

Disney had allegedly been considering buying Hasbro in the past (as they make all the Star Wars and Marvel toys), but that rumor seems to have cooled down/ gone away since. And both sides just announced a multi-year extension of the toy licenses on Friday.

Com_Raven (29312675)

As others mentioned, both Original Sin games were in Early Access, and ended jo being two of the best classic RPGs ever. I have complete faith in Larian‘s quality.

Com_Raven (29309782)

Hasbro (who via their subsidiary Wizards of the Coast own D&D) held an investor briefing at New York Toy Fair yesterday, which included some gaming news when they discussed their digital strategy: - they have 7 D&D video games in development - they are planning to have at least 1 D&D rpg out every year throughout 2025 - Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming to early access later this year (note: the slide does not mention early access, only the text does).

Com_Raven (29309856)

Can‘t hate a trailer that uses In Flames...

Com_Raven (29309874)

Wizards bought TSR (makers of D&D) in 1997, and were then bought by Hasbro two years later.

Com_Raven (29227616)

Seems that THQ Nordic have been happy with the feedback to their recent Steam demo of a potential Gothic Remake:

Com_Raven (29161354)

Congratulations! Time to get ready for future content, I think ;)

Com_Raven (29155636)

This. Somehow Era has this weird obsession with making threads along the lines of "is X the most/ best Y ever?" And they are almost exclusively about From, Naughty Dog or something anime-related...

Com_Raven (29124632)

Time to get more efficient! We don't have any immediate plans to increase the sie of the game world, sorry.

Com_Raven (29119493)

Only way to be safe is to set the box, the console you were going to play the game in, and your couch on fire. Then, start praying.

Com_Raven (29029253)

But... but my clan mechs. My Cougar! :(

Com_Raven (28990254)

There were rumblings about a lot of senior staff leaving for a few months now (not sure how big their team is, but losing 6 seniors/ leads across 3 months is worrisome for any team). Seems they never found that publisher they needed to finance development (I am sure Underworld did not help there). On a side note- holy shit that RPG Codex thread is bad, what an awful community.

Com_Raven (28956998)

This! I used to love him back in the OG Xbox days, when he was cocky and admittedly a jerk (especially towards Harada and Tekken), but still entertaining. But somewhere during Devil Third's Odyssey he sadly he went down the same path that a lot of old game dev heroes who are overtaken by new trends take, and suddenly everything was always everyone else's fault. Publisher uselss, press too unskilled to understand his game's genius etc. Nothing could ever be the fault og him, or his awesome game. Always pretty sad to see people you once liked turn out that way.

Com_Raven (28915884)

Here's the relevant part from that they are stopping development of "A Year of Rain" after only three months in early access (also, that is a horrible name that certainly didn't help their sales):

Com_Raven (28916141)

Speaking of which- whatever happened to the much rumored Modern Warfare 2 Remaster that a lot of insiders claimed was on the way a few years back? Also, finally Singularity's time to shine! <3

Com_Raven (28916249)

Speaking of which- whatever happened to the much rumored Modern Warfare 2 Remaster that a lot of insiders claimed was on the way a few years back? Also, finally Singularity's time to shine! <3 And as others said, Blur was a great game that could be fun again.

Com_Raven (28904634)

Not sure what the rules are for shameless self-promo (and if it is exactly the thing you are looking for, OP), but a few industry friends and myself do a weekly podcaast as a little side subject, and we try to cover a wide range of topics (from both the dev and gamer angle). For example last week we discussed the challenges of getting awareness for your indie games in 2020, similar to what you are talking about.

Com_Raven (28907887)

Bastei Lübbe (a German media publisher that owns 51% of Daedalic) just issued an ad hoc release to shareholders in which they say that they do not deem Daedalic’s business model future proof, and are lowering their valuation of the studio by 12-14 Million euro. As a result, they are looking in restructuring measures, and a realignment of their business strategy. Just last week, Daedalic announced that they are ending development of their Steam Early Access title A Year if Rain after it sold less than 5.000 copies since November. This is all very troubling news. Daedalic is one of the most critically beloved German game developers (especially their classic point and click adventures), but they Had several seemingly underperforming games in recent years. i wonder how this will affect development and especially marketing for Lord of the Rings Gollum on Next gen consoles.

Com_Raven (28907972)

Thanks, will add it to the OP!

Com_Raven (28906334)

That is definitely how not we use the term in PC development, no. Cause that hasn't been the case for 90% of physical PC games for year. And, as others have pointed out, this is far from the first Switch game to have a code in a box, so I am a bit surprised how many haven't heard of the concept before.

Com_Raven (28906636)

Physical mastering can take a lot of time, and the game must be “finished” much earlier than with a digital-only release. I assume that before their timelines were very tight to hit the end of the finance year. Now that this pressure is gone, they have more time.

Com_Raven (28906184)

I think their HQ is in SIngapore, but most of their workforce is in China (big office in Shanghai, for example). They did work on Starlink, and have a good rep in general these days.

Com_Raven (28905736)

Are you asking how a box you buy in a brick and mortar store is physical?

Com_Raven (28906021)

True, though it probably has already had an effect on games coming out this year. Even 2-3 weeks of missing time can make a big difference depending on the game's schedule.

Com_Raven (28905980)

To me physical means "buy a box in store", first and foremost. As a pc gamer, buying a box with a code is pretty normal, and has been so for years at this point. EVen then, people still buy those boxes (especially here in Germany), because they don't want to buy online, prefer using cash or want to give them as a gift.

Com_Raven (28904952)

Expect to see that happening a lot this year, depending on how things turn out. With many of the best/ most popular AAA outsourcing studios based in China (or surrounding countries), the corona virus could have quite the impact on game development this year. Needless to say that keeping the studios closed is the right course of action, of course; employee health has to take priority over video games.

Com_Raven (28829284)

That's some interesting info, appreciate it!

Com_Raven (28827445)

Play Total War games, those are great Sega games! Or I guess Football Manager, which seem to be pretty popular if you are into those :p Again, don't let anyone stop you from being excited for the game, just something I found surprising.

Com_Raven (28827492)

I meant that it would be my principle after being ignored for 7 years, not that they did it out of principle. Though I don't think that the reasons you mentioned are a valid excuse either when most competitors manage to do global releases.

Com_Raven (28827302)

Not saying people shouldn't enjoy this if they want to, but I am a bit surprised anyone is still getting excited for it. I wouldn't care about a game where the publisher ignored me as a potential customer for seven years, I think... (edited as original phrasing was confusing, my bad)

Com_Raven (28792846)

Not usually a genre I play too much, but between Romero games and the cool prohibition setting, I am definitely keeping an eye on it!

Com_Raven (28747150)

I see the bar for something being called vaporware is awfully low these days...

Com_Raven (28629061)

Makes sense to be honest. The truth is that a lot of games get away with poor onboarding because of the sunken cost fallacy of players already having spent their $60 so they put up with the game. Free-2-Play or Subscription games don’t get that luxury, and must do a good job getting new players engaged. I don’t see how that is controversial at all, though the headline certainly Made it sound like a big dramatic thing, so good job on the click bait.

Com_Raven (28540539)

Anyone not saying Anno is a cop! Just kidding, mine is easily Assassin’s Creed <3

Com_Raven (28541137)

the hero this thread needed.

Com_Raven (28443714)

He means the video documentary series about how games are made :)

Com_Raven (28443311)

It looks stunning, the combat is relly fun and fluid, the weapons feel pretty different in their playstyles, there re plenty of upgrades to give you the feeling of making progress, writing and music are great, and the voice acting is stellar.

Com_Raven (28442646)

Can't say it often enough how great this game is. Can't stand roguelikes usually, but Hades is easily one of the best indie games I have played this gen <3

Com_Raven (28409378)

I know people didn't seem to like the TGA trailer too much, but if their previous work on Duelyst is any indication at all, it should be a clever game with a cool art direction. Fingers crossed!

Com_Raven (28383183)

Lol, no. Also, they’d be more likely to hang out with Erdogan (again) than Biden.

Com_Raven (28352076)

Let me tell you about the many delights of Anno 1800.

Com_Raven (28316246)

I also like to make definite proclamations of a year being "the most X ever" on January 16.

Com_Raven (28317251)

As a former Blood Angels player, I have to disagree :)I never got the MOBA comments. Yes, they have maps with lanes, but surely the defining trait of a MOBA is playing one character?

Com_Raven (28316350)

Campaign is stricly Blood Ravens I think, but I believe you can customize your chapter in skirmish/ MP?That would either be Orks or Tyranids (think Zerg from Starcraft).

Com_Raven (28262533)

Not related to video games, but as the topic came up before: FFG has now announced that SW Destiny is ending:

Com_Raven (28243120)

The Golem music was by Marty O'Donnell of Bungie/ Halo fame, so it was probably the most hyped aspect of the game.

Com_Raven (28211748)

Super happy to see Ano 1800 nominated. Just learned about that in the middle of an Overwatch match, and did not even mind losing <3

Com_Raven (28180855)

I think someone like Focus is a good home for IPs like Warhammer. They can't afford the biggest budgets, but they know how to cater to niche fan bases, and are willing to support less mainstream genres (like turn-based stuff).

Com_Raven (28154945)

That's the problem with 40k, I think. It is not big enough to warrant the huge budget for something like this, while at the same being a licensed IP that the publisher does not have full control of.

Com_Raven (28154515)

I shared a few drinks with some senior guys from Vigil a couple years after the collapse of THQ, and from their stories, it sounded like budget was pretty much a concern from the get go for the game (this being the time when every AAA publisher wanted their WoW killer, and was willing to invest big money to compete). They were for example going up against SWTOR in the sci-fi MMO space.

Com_Raven (28151016)

Joe Mad art directed 40k? In my veins... But yeah, not a good idea to do a MMO while your published is on the verge of bankruptcy :(

Com_Raven (28149158)

Damn, that is a lot! I shame the emperor with my lowly 120ish hours played :( Assuming it somehow counts the original GfWL playtime as well?Yes please <3 Listening to the Caves of Ice audio book at the moment, nd I just love Cain (and Jurgen, ofc).For some reason, I find myself drawn to stories that are less emblematic of their universe. In 40k, it is mostly the Inquisiton and Guard novels, without any Marines, and in the Star Wars EU I always preferred the stories without Jedi :p

Com_Raven (28140805)

I think there are a few factors going into the lack of bigger 40k games. While very popular among the hardcore fans, I am not sure the license has enough mainstream appeal for proper AAA budgets. Maybe the eventual tv series will help? 2. GW seems to prefer working with smaller companies where they are the more powerful partner these days. I think that is a consequence of games like Warhammer Online, where they were much smaller than the lot licensee (EA).I think that was the last time they signed a new AAA level license (Sega came through Relic/ THQ), only working with indie companies or smaller publishers since.

Com_Raven (28140827)

I am a huge fan and can wholeheartedly recommend the Eisenhorn and Ravenor novels from Dan Abnett. They are a bit of a spy/ detective/ noir take on the grim dark, and so a great job with the atmosphere and vibe. I also like the Ciaphas Cain novels (an imperial inquisitor who becomes an accidental hero despite lashing trying to save his own ass), the Horusian Wars and Vaults of Terra (yet more inquisition).

Com_Raven (28141439)

Only rts where I finished the campaign several time, that’s for sure. Shame they went back to the mass combat focus on DoW3 :(

Com_Raven (28140956)

You are right, though I think that deal was signed at a time when Warhammer Online was still running, and before Wrath of Heroes was cancelled in beta by EA.

Com_Raven (28140966)

Thanks for promising us a 40k rpg, , emperor protects you :p

Com_Raven (28087994)

It always baffles me that people invest so much time in making shit up

Com_Raven (28061716)

One major difference though is that Duke, while changing engines and features, was always more or less the same project.

Com_Raven (28061861)

When was Nioh first announced? Mid-2000s, I think?

Com_Raven (28057235)

It is available on Xbox Game Pass, not sure about Switch or PS4.

Com_Raven (28051001)

Good news- no need to trust them with a game that has yet to be announced, and that no one is asking you to buy yet... Also, as many others have pointed out, RDR2 is a pretty strong counterpoint to your concerns.

Com_Raven (28035389)

For those unfamiliar with the name, Fantasy Flight Games is the company behind some of the biggest names in nerdy board games (such as Imperial Assault or the various Game of Thrones games). FFI was created a few years back to bring their games to digital platforms (like the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game on Steam and Xbox Game Pass). Only took a week to have the first game dev layoffs in 2020 :(

Com_Raven (28035972)

I could see them killing some game lines. Game of Thrones LCG had a lot of rumors lately (and more world championships in the future), for example.

Com_Raven (28036743)

only seen talk of FFG layoffs, but rumors has it that Asmodee may be up for sale again.

Com_Raven (28035540)

Supposedly there are cuts across the entire company, including a lot in their rpg department. I would assume the big performers like board games or Keyforge should be safe. Still sucks, of course...

Com_Raven (27992226)

I think that Witcher 3 is one of the finest games ever made, but I would be hard pressed to find a lot of major 2019 games that look worse than an unmodded Witcher, especially on console...

Com_Raven (27986657)

The games that immediately came to my mind have all been mentioned already: Ryse, The Order and Infamous were all early games that still look fantastic today.

Com_Raven (27926887)

**VoteBot: Thanks for participating in ResetEra GOTY 2019! You vote receipt is available .**

Com_Raven (27892751)

That would make aa lot of sense, yeah. Both would offer some new play styles that aren't fully covered by the announced roster yet. BP as the fast, nimble melee striker and Hawk as aanother ranged character, which there aren't many of so far.

Com_Raven (27891474)

Thank you! Seeing people say that Anno 1800 was their GotY is pretty humbling, considering how many great games we had last year! Also, good reminder that I still need to do my own GotY post...

Com_Raven (27865420)

Anno tends to traditionally pick up a lot of awards in Germany (as we are currently doing), but usually less so abroad. Though we were extremely happy and honored to be nominated at the Game Awards this year! But for some reason, Anno tends to get overlooked by American mediaa especially, despite being a Ubisoft title. C'est la vie :)

Com_Raven (27791760)

Fair point, and something we hear a lot. Unfortunately it is a bit of a tricky technical topic to hold the rest of the game while letting the player keep building stuff, as that was never originally intended.Yes, we are currently working on some new content and features for 2020.

Com_Raven (27747787)

Com_Raven (27737009)

I will never for the life of me understand why people complain about devs trying to make a game as fair and balanced as possible, instead of mist games being a one-sided trashing where one team just stomps all over the enemy. Worst thing being when you allow full pre-made teams to run amok over random matchmade teams (looking at you, Destiny...).

Com_Raven (27697633)

you can play completely without AI if you want to, though you will miss out on a lot of quest and items that are rewarded via them.

Com_Raven (27459102)

We haven't released any sales numbers, but we announced that it is the fastest selling game in the series, with more than 4x as many day 1 players as previous games :)

Com_Raven (27461794)

Completely different teams. Anno is from Ubisoft Mainz, Settlers from Düsseldorf.

Com_Raven (27460004)

That is certainly the plan :) We just announced last week that there will be more new content for Anno 1800 in 2020.

Com_Raven (27449491)

I can definitely say that we are seeing a lot of new players, which is awesome. Also, welcome to the Anno community :)

Com_Raven (27429588)

I absolutely love how many people in the gaming community seem to have a memory that doesn’t go back further than 3 months, meaning that everything is always the worst launch, the biggest mess, or the best thing ever. Not to mention the hyperbole of course. I feel that ion order to be one of the most unpolished games, there should be universal issues across the board. Personally, I finished the game yesterday on a decent PC, and didn’t have any issues that stuck out to me. If you truly think that JFO is one of the most unpolished AAA games ever, I would highly recommend you take some time and read up on some of those lists of the worst game launches. Starting with Fallout 76, a mere 13 months ago.

Com_Raven (27316280)

If you are thinking about getting the game, we are currently running a sweet sale, where the main game is between 45% and 55% discounted (depending on edition), while the Season Pass is 30% off. Finally, there is currently a free week where you can play the game until December 19 to test if you like it.

Com_Raven (27317097)

In that case, let me be the first to welcome you to the Anno 1800 community :)

Com_Raven (27317479)

It is certainly a good deal ;)Yeah, it only started yesterday :)

Com_Raven (27316657)

Does anyone have any suggestions for task switching? When I try to do so, it permanently shows me a warning screen (never seen that before, so at least it is both pointless and new :)?

Com_Raven (27249195)

Your brand name only helps you when people actually hear it. Beyond the announcement, release date and then later delay/ EGS deal, I haven't seen too much about the game in the bigger gaming outlets. Getting the word out these days is pretty tough, as people are non-stop bombarded by news, media and content. Relying on name, especially one that was been largely dormant for over a decade (MWO aside), doesn't always work.

Com_Raven (27243218)

Again, Piranha have done pretty much anything in their power not to create hype for the game. No previews for press, no open betas, few trailers in-between, late review embargo... That is not how you create hype in 2019, in my humble professional opinion.

Com_Raven (27237230)

Ah, screw it- pulled the trigger and bought it. Now let's see how long the download from EGS takes...

Com_Raven (27236570)

First reviews are better than I had feared! 8 from Destructoid, and a 7.5 from Handsome Phantom (no clue who that is, tbh)

Com_Raven (27229466)

It was announced a long time ago (I think around 3 years), but as mentioned, they haven’t done a good job with securing press coverage for the game...

Com_Raven (27231369)

This. Sidewinder Pro (that sadly seems like a huge hassle to get to work these days) twist was perfect for the torso movement in MW 3 and 4.

Com_Raven (27216920)

I swear to god, I jumped out of my chair screaming and jumping around the room when this was announced. My GF and then dog (RIP :( thought I had gone completely crazy. Man, what a dream that was back then...

Com_Raven (27218254)

Thanks for the heads-up

Com_Raven (27216524)

Between thhem more or less saying that MWO doesn't cover their costs anymore, and the sudden move to Epic, I think we should probably be happy they got it out at all (and hopefully it won't be another Rune 2 -.-).

Com_Raven (27216422)

I do feel kinda bad for them cause I know they had a lot of issues with CE3 on MechWarrior online that maybe weren't entirely their fault. But they certainly haven't done much to inspire confidence in this new game so far -.-True, and I am happy about that. But when you played MW4 competitively in leagues for almost 4 years, you want more than jsut co-op :)

Com_Raven (27216275)

I am so torn on this. On the one hand, I want to be excited, cause MW4 is one of my favourite games ever, and I played it for years. But almost no preview coverage, no reviews prior to release for a single-player title, no pre-load, no multiplayer... It doesn't give me a lot of confidence, sadly...

Com_Raven (27210030)

Sorry, my apologies for being an "asshole" and not liking your idol. I didn't know Jim was excempt from the general Era policy of allowing the mentioning past missteps in threads. I will try to do better and not be an "asshole" anymore.

Com_Raven (27209450)

I agree with you on that, and I am absolutely convinced that Jim doesn't hold a grudge or wish ill upon any rank and file EA, Konami, Ubi etc. devs. But the problem (and my entire point is) that someone who holds a lot of sway (as evident from some users in this thread) with a lot of people, needs to be very careful what they say. And they should not, under any circumstances, make shit up about things they clearly have no clue about, and in doing so further feed the rage and anger of a part of their faithful audience. Because Jim should very well know that those angry people (and let's be honest, he is not shy about stoking anger against gaming companies!) are not gonna send a politely worded letter to Bobby Kotick to express their dissatisfaction, but are gonna abuse or threaten some random Infinity Ward CM or Dev because they are intentionally inflating install sizes on their game. After all, their idol Jim said so, so it must be true, right?

Com_Raven (27208661)

Once you have enjoyed a certain amount of abuse from gamers citing Jim as proof of why you are horrible for working for a certain company, you may come to disagree :) If not, more power to you.

Com_Raven (27206402)

Which is an entirely different problem, yes. YouTube actively promotes negativity and anger (and while I can't stand him, Sterling is very moderate compared to a lot of the "I AM SO ANGRY" gamer bullshit that YT promotes). That would go off-topic, but I am very concerned about the effect that YouTube has on society, and especially kids (just read a nice article today about how one of the biggest German gaming YouTubers is buddies with right-wing musicians...).

Com_Raven (27205999)

I just find it hard to believe that someone who actively makes up an insane theory to paint companies as evil was just „accidentally wrong“. You can be wrong when someone asks you for info, andyou accidentally give the the wrong answer. That’s a mistake. Making shit up by yourself and then blasting it out to a huge audience takes intent. I certainly can’t recall any case where I made the small mistake of making up a conspiracy theory :)

Com_Raven (27206124)

Where is the lie in what I said? Did he not explicitly say that companies artificially increase install sizes To prevent you from installing other games?

Com_Raven (27205789)

And who is at the receiving end of the abuse of the people riled up? A corporation? A CEO? Or the rank and file devs? Also, I can’t help but notice you ignored the whole „made up a conspiracy theory“ not.

Com_Raven (27205086)

If I tell a bunch of people „hey oni-link intentionally does this thing X to limit your choices and prevent you from doing what you want to do“, wouldn’t you agree that it was probably not aimed at endearing you to the people reading this message?

Com_Raven (27204865)

„He May lie, but at least he is not afraid to speak his mind“ is a great summary of 2019 society :)

Com_Raven (27204612)

I am to be honest baffled that people still care about his stuff after he recently admitted to randomly making up conspiracies to rile up people agains developers („install sizes are artificially inflated to prevent you from installing other games“).

Com_Raven (27204798)

When somebody makes up shit to rile up gamers and make them angry at developers over nothing, then I have a hard time appreciating their work, yes. I also find it incredibly hypocritical to do shit like that, and in the other hand bemoan there toxicity of gamers, that he himself is happy to stoke with stunts like that.

Com_Raven (27101861)

At lest there is co-op, which is nice. And hopefully a big meaty mercenary campaign!

Com_Raven (27101358)

That is unfortunate. I played MWO for an hour or so, but it felt way too F2P (I know it is) with the number of different currencies it had. To be honest, it didn’t even occur to me that a new MW game could not have PvP :(

Com_Raven (27102142)

that was fairly early on, so many years ago. But whenever I see anything about their monetization or shop, I am turned off all over again. The gameplay could be a lot of fun, for all I know^^

Com_Raven (27087813)

Man, I am so torn on this game. MW 4 series were some of my favorite games ever, and I played them almost religiously for around 4 years in a variety of online leagues (VL, SL). I remember shouting with excitement when Jordan Weisman first announced he as doing a new MechWarrior (around 10 years or so ago?). Now a new one is coming out after 17 years, and I am not even sure if i want to buy it. Sad :( Any Era people been playing the beta?

Com_Raven (27065248)

Yeah, this whole story had "legal dispute" written all over it. And them selling a multiplayer game to users, and then shutting down the studio a day after launch is... questionable, at best.To be honest, that seems more like wishful thinking. It has been many, many years since HH had been involved with a successful game, and being an independent AA/ AAA developer is brutal. You essentially live from one project/ contract to the next, and any issue can kill you. Most of them go under or get bought out. And HH were nowhere near the tier of a studio like Insomniac, even at their best of times in the early 00s.

Com_Raven (27010600)

Glad to see the game making progress, and wishing them all the best. When I was working on CE, the Wolcen guys were an absolute joy to work with, great (and very hardworking) little team.

Com_Raven (26996172)

To be honest, 3 years for an open world sequel doesn't seem that much faster than I would have expected.

Com_Raven (26984827)

I am not defending them. I am pointing out that people here should have realistic expectations how long communication takes once the lawyers come in.

Com_Raven (26984630)

Presumably because they massively underestimated the situation, and thought they could nip in in the bud before it blew up. Which was very ill advised and unprofessional, to be sure. But the Medium, which came after, really kicked things up into legally relevant territory.

Com_Raven (26983674)

Let me first of all say that I don't know anyone involved here (besides having heard the name Ben Judd before). With that said, some posters here need to take a step back and look at this whole thing like sensible adults and not forum warriors. A lot of very serious (as others aptly remarked, potentially company/ career-ending!) allegations have been made. And you seriously have nothing better to do than keep tagging one of the accused people here, expecting them to reply to such allegations in a random internet forum thread? This is something you talk to your lawyers about, and definitely don't want to say anything about in public. And talking to your lawyer probably doesn't happen on a Saturday night on Thanksgiving weekend (and the same is of course true for quality press coverage). So give it some time, and don't keep expecting people to defend against potentially career-ending allegations in an Era thread.

Com_Raven (26970494)

I should keep screens of this as the new textbook definition of „Era“. „You are all wrong, and here is some Dutch text showing why. Also, since no one wants to agree with me, I am off to bed. C ya internet nerds, I have a life you see.“

Com_Raven (26969895)

He has also as an anonymous poster implied that all the verified people here saying they have such clauses in their contracts are lying or making stuff up, so... yeah^^

Com_Raven (26969986)

I mean, you tell me? I am not the one saying that everyone who disagrees with me is lying or making things up, so...

Com_Raven (26969778)

I am very sorry that my ongoing making up of totally imaginary contracts contradicts you (I assume you are Disney EU's Chief Legal Councel, based on your behaviour in this thread), but... Previous job, Games Industry, Germany: contract includes this clause Previous job, Games Industry, France: contract includes fairly strict non-compete (which the company waived, ofc, as I am not an Exec) Current job, Games Industry, Germany: contract includes non-compete in any fields employer works in Fiance's current job, Software, Germany: contract incluces clause regarding all projects or inventions made during her time there. Sorry, I will stop making things up now.

Com_Raven (26968893)

Never worked outside the EU, and I had such clauses in my contracts, yes. It is definitely not an US-only thing. i am always baffled how Era on the one hand positions itself as this gathering place for gaming insiders, yet frequently half the posters are baffled when hearing about something that is absolute standard in the industry (whether the rule is bad or not doesn’t change fact that a ton of people on this forum who love to tell devs what to do are rather clueless about the industry).

Com_Raven (26969205)

It seems a bit weird when the random anonymous poster accuses the guy who had to prove to staff that he actually works in the industry about making jo his work contract. but hey, whatever works for you, Walt :)

Com_Raven (26969266)

Careful, if you disagree with that poster he will accuse you of making up your contract ;)

Com_Raven (26725415)

More power time you, though I have to say seeing someone who chose to represent themselves online with an image of a PlayStation IP say that “PlayStation is winning then over” made me smile :)

Com_Raven (26446637)

Presumably the individual games will be around 10, full package 60.

Com_Raven (26446489)

Seeing some rumors that it would stealth drop today, but the PC test flight was extended only this week, with playtest dates until the 18th. Which wouldn't make sense if they planned to drop it today.

Com_Raven (26174723)

i am honestly not convinced it would thrive on Steam either. You still need marketing to get awareness on Steam, where the size of the user base is balanced against the sheer number of games. there is just very little promotion happening around the game, which will make it hard to find a player base on any platform.

Com_Raven (26002939)

If you think 10 resources are crazy, you should see what crafting in real MMOs looks like, tbh. Destiny also certainly has a lot more resources in its economy (planetary alone are at 7 or so now).

Com_Raven (25849904)

No accounting for taste, but I am genuinely baffled to see several people say they think QB is better than Control. QB certainly had a lot of potential, but in the end the whole tv tine-in turned into a cheap gimmick that felt like it was holding the game back, and the combat in Control feels a lot smoother and more nuanced than in QB to me.

Com_Raven (25660218)

Well, strictly speaking, Apple Arcade is already a Netflix-style Model, of largely exclusive (as in, only via this sub) content at a affordable subscription. I agree that we probably won’t see big budget third-party console or PC games in such an exclusive setup soon, but at some point it is likely bound to happen.

Com_Raven (25630715)

That's pretty awkward... Is that still from Panini? I have fond memories of selling their Blizzard books at Games Convention during an internship ten years ago :)

Com_Raven (25548792)

Very few concrete technical details have been announced so far. I certainly wouldn't expect that to be one of the first things detailed, a year prior to launch.

Com_Raven (25533858)

From personal experience, I think it is very important to give your players realistic expectations. If they only find out about such things for after they bought the game, they tend to be a lot less forgiving than if you tell them in advance. And honestly, I am quite happy with a rpg that "only" takes 40h or so, which is around the lenght of KotOR or Mass Effect 2 I think.

Com_Raven (25502617)

Certainly the most excited I have been for a Call of Duty games in years, so count me as "hyped" indeed!

Com_Raven (25495307)

Saying developers don't optimize file sizes cause you don't know how the process works is a mistake, fair enough. Claiming install sizes are intentionally bloated to prevent you from installing other games is flat out lying to cause controversy and rile angry gamers up. That would be a text book case of (artificially created) negativity, so it certainly fits the topic of the thread.

Com_Raven (25495389)

Even when it comes to anecdotal evidence, to be honest. I almost exclusively use YouTube for music, with the occasional funny/ cute animal video. I still frequently get some gaming drama ("X killed game Y!!!!!") or right-wing ("women ruined Star Wars!!!") shoved in my face. So I would certainly agree that they heavily promote negativity, and drama. Stuff that generates clicks and comments is what their service relies on, after all.

Com_Raven (25494894)

Well, that is certainly good news for Jim and his content! And if the algorithm doesn't work, you can always make up weird conspiracy theories about install sizes...

Com_Raven (25475409)

It‘s decided then!

Com_Raven (25441837)

My biggest hope is that cross-progress (via account systems like Origin, Bethesda.net etc.) and cross-play will become a standard feature.

Com_Raven (25441462)

Surely this is a bug, and not working as intended? ...Right?

Com_Raven (25444073)

Holy shit... I normally hate to criticize other devs for stuff like this, but that's a hilarious level of not even trying...

Com_Raven (25444212)

That's an awesome birthday present, kudos to Volition!

Com_Raven (25391708)

Isn't Diablo 1 stricly 2d, with explosions being sprites?

Com_Raven (25391510)

Here's a quick comparison for Quake 2. The difference can be quite dramatic in some parts.

Com_Raven (25392042)

Also, a small side but awesome side effect that most people won't care about- this may bring some of those older PC titles to Germany. Thanks to Q2 RTX, Quake 2 is now for the first time officially available from Steam for us <3

Com_Raven (25392813)

i would assume that these would largely be ports where they work with the IP owners, as they create new sales potential for these games. So they could get whatever they need in terms of assets and code from the respective partners.

Com_Raven (25391392)

In the case of Quake II, it was free, and you can either play a few demo levels, or load your existing Quake 2 installation into the RTX version. So presumably future games would do the same, meaning you have to won/ buy them to enjoy the RTX features.

Com_Raven (25391284)

Yeah, but Todd Howard has nothing to do with this ;)

Com_Raven (25391075)

This is great news. When I played Quake 2, my mind immediately started thinking "what other games were made with the Q2 engine and could benefit from this..." Heretic 2 would be fantastic, but is probably a far shot...

Com_Raven (25390928)

Damn, there are some great looking portraits here. The nostalgia is hitting hard...

Com_Raven (25380621)

That seems fair.

Com_Raven (25382523)

Do you think it makes for a good forum culture if everyone accused everyone else because of the games they like, or companies they buy from? And I am fairly sure that almost everyone here would be guilty of playing games from a company that has done something another user deems unethical at some point. Pointing out that a company has done something in a thread makes sense. Attacking other users over it, not so much. And if you are yourself playing games from a company that has done or supported something bad, it is pretty hypocritical I'd say. In this thread alone, you can find some users who are talking about boycotting Blizzard (which again, they have every right to), and when you look a few posts down their history on ERA, you will see that their high moral standards only seem to apply very selectively.

Com_Raven (25380249)

I absolutely respect every individual's choice to not buy from certain companies. At the same time, I hope you also realize that you are very unlikely to find a major company (entertainment or otherwise) in this day and age that is not in some way putting money above principles, or bending to questionable politics. So unless you want Era to turn into a forum where every thread about a big, publicly traded company ends after two posts cause somebody will point out something bad the company did, I think you may just have to avoid certain topics, and let those who want to talk about them do so. At least that's how I personally handle it.

Com_Raven (25379770)

The fifth is random :)

Com_Raven (25379678)

We just use the Battle Net groups feature for that, which has the benefit of being able to jsut hang out in voice chat with the rest of the people while playing another game. Battle.net 1 was a big deal back in the day, but these days there are just so many options how to chat with your friends (and Discord is probbaly the best one, I'd argue).

Com_Raven (25378842)

Works for me. I never care for public chat in such games, and always just hurried into matchmaking.

Com_Raven (25361712)

Real talk- do you think Nintendo would allow someone to make a political statement in a Nintendo Direct? Cause I highly doubt that (and I could have probably named any other major gaming company here instead of Ninty).

Com_Raven (25362012)

I am being hypothetical cause I don't want to derail the topic, but here is one example for you, if you can't be bothered to google:

Com_Raven (25361789)

Sorry, I was not aware that working in the industry means you are no longer allowed to point out common sense (the fact that everyone does it).

Com_Raven (25361616)

You don't need to be owned by Tencent. Any company putting on such major tries to avoid controversy, as as any sports organization (for example, football players not being allowed to have any messages underneath their jersesy when they celebrate a goal). So before you jump on to any conspiracy conclusions- remember that this is very common, even without anything Chinese involved (hello, NFL).

Com_Raven (25361902)

Oh, I guess I look like a complete jerk now :( My apologies then! I assumed it was a case of "of course the corporate guy defends this", as happened in the past. Sorry!

Com_Raven (25362166)

Exactly. Esports mimicks real sports yet again, if you think about the ban on anything lgtb during olympics in Russia, NFL cracking down on kneeling during the anthem etc. Controversy is bad for business, and that is after all what matters to shareholders. Though I am to be honest surprised to see how many people across the internet only seem to notice this now, I had thought that was pretty obvious.

Com_Raven (25283614)

he is saying that your first sentence pretty much says “only Us Americans can affect change”, and that others need not apply.

Com_Raven (25283468)

I’d say you can save yourself that part, cause Valve already did this just a few months ago (though it seems to have flown largely under the radar):

Com_Raven (25208006)

if they only announce a new game 5 1/2 years after they shipped their last one, I’d certainly start wondering if there are any issues at the studio.

Com_Raven (25208069)

Going purely semantically, yes. Cinematic, by definition, does after all mean “film like”. As those are 24 FPS usually, 30 is indeed more film like, so that is an easy answer. Do 30 FPS make for better gameplay? Of course not, 60 is always preferable.

Com_Raven (25001812)

I know that Steamspy is not run by Steam. But I know where it's data comes from, how close to the actual numbers it is (usually very accurate, based on past cases where I could verify the actuals myself), and I can't help but notice that Steamspy is frequently cited when it comes to showing the success of games on Steam :) But by all means, if you want to insist that Borderlands has not sold more than 10M copies, because you find a random game's writer more believable than the companies involved, I guess I don't know how to convince you otherwise.

Com_Raven (25000542)

If everyone (at least those that don't fit your agenda) lies anyways, what is the point of even having discussions? "I don't believe you unless you say the guys I hate are doing poorly, and the ones I like are doing well" is a very weird stance, don't think? Also, it seems that Valve is also part of the conspiracy/ lie, as Steamspy shows more than 10M copies for Borderlands 2 on Steam alone. I guess that is more plausible than the writer not doing proper research? :p

Com_Raven (25002198)

I don't think I have ever consciously seen the "shoulder grab" before. Will pay more attention from now on!

Com_Raven (25000627)

Wasn't that game thrown together in 8 months or something? Even with all the reused stuff, I find it impressive that they managed to pull that off (blame here of course lies on whoever decided on that timeline).

Com_Raven (24985425)

Yes, we do- right here. And if a publicly traded company giving this kind of data to investors and press is not good enough for you, then I guess there is no point arguing. Unless you are normally used to counting every sold game and console by hand, yourself.

Com_Raven (24985712)

You do realize that there is more data in life than "game x sold y copies on platform z", right? Or, in the words of Merriam Webster: So yes, 5M copies sold in, twice as many sales in launch 5 days and 70% retail are all data points, even if you don't seem to think so.

Com_Raven (24984971)

A small blip like that in such volatile political and economic times (remember that China is the market of the future for gaming) is a non-story, yeah.Nothing like the good old "I only trust data that serves my agenda" to make for a good, sssensible discussion mong adults.

Com_Raven (24602800)

True! Though I honestly blame them more for how long it took them to fix it, rather than the initial problems, many of which probably just showed up out in the wild with big player numbers.

Com_Raven (24600064)

I'd have to disagree, to be honest. In terms of scope and ambition, I'd argue that the Master Chief Collection still sets the bar. Having four different games from three different console generations all working within one package, with seamless cross-game playlists is unheard of, and I am not surprised that the game had a ton of issues when it came out, tbh. That is in my book still way more impressive on a tech level than what FFVIIR does, which is "only" making a series of completely new AAA games.

Com_Raven (24600182)

I think that is what the OP's argument kinda comes down to. By that reasoning of course, any game development (especially AAA) is always ambitious, cause you invest a lot of money without guarantees you will make it back.

Com_Raven (24436834)

To be honest, this partially sounds like a problem that is more on your side, or with the selection of media outlets you use. There has been a lot of coverage with Fire Emblem whenever there was news (notably, Nintendo allowed previews very shortly prior to release). There have also been lots of outlets who mentioned that it could be a serious GotY contender. There has also been a lot of coverage on Control and Man of Medan from various events, so if you have never heard of those games until they were out, I am not sure what to say? Clearly a lot of people have been aware of these gams thanks to gaming media, so it can’t be true that they simply don’t report on them... Edit: Nevermind. Just saw your later post and as an Ubi*** I just realized you are not worth talking to after all.

Com_Raven (24178020)

"Are two tripple AAA games that each cost $60 at release worth $7.50?" Really? And people are surprised that more and more companies turn to free-to-play or MTX for their games, if this is the mindset of the core gaming community in 2019?

Com_Raven (24178553)

We are talking about two video games, for less money than what a McDonald's meal costs.

Com_Raven (24178914)

I was more talking about the general perception of value in games that I see these days, and which i find pretty concerning tbh (both as someone who works in games and who enjoys to play big budget quality titles). You are right ofc, the implementation of MTX in BF2 at launch was a terrible mistake, and the game paid dearly for that. Thankfully, it feels pretty good now, and they keep adding content frequently (with more on the way).

Com_Raven (24115663)

At least you can say you have done your part to show that there is still a market for single player only third-party games! I far too often see people who buy titles like Control in a Steam Sale complain that no one is making SP games anymore...

Com_Raven (23922210)

Go here it to add it to your Uplay: But hurry, the Trial ends in 10 hours.

Com_Raven (23922244)

Something about the idea of spending 275€ for an ostensibly fancy dinner, only to sit on long benches (?) is kinda hilarious.

Com_Raven (23911969)