i think it’s very clear now that the lack of unionization in the gaming industry will need to change, or every year or two or whatever arbitrary interval we’ll see an astronomical number of people losing their jobs all at once in this way.
This is true across tech workers. Having a nice salary kept unionization at bay, but there are no assurances during hard times.
These coordinated layoffs are almost certainly intended drive down labor costs in the long run by flooding the labor pool. Sure in a year we’ll get “not enough developers” stories forgetting to mention the drastically smaller salary…
Tbh that’s a low bar to pass. The newest CoD flopped pretty bad and Rockstar has been too busy with GTA6. Almost every other notable release was either a flop or a smaller studio or indie title.
While that might be true, 2023 was an year filled with great games and yet Hogwarts Legacy is first, and Call of Duty is 2nd.
As for notable games of the year that weren’t flop (in no particular order):
Spider-Man 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Diablo IV
FF 16
Armored Core 6
Street Fighter 6
Alan Wake 2
Not to mention:
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Dead Space Remake
They may not be to your taste, but they all rated very highly. I haven’t included any Nintendo games, cause they don’t share digital data. Their numbers are based only on physical sales.
That’s actually fair. I barely pay attention to AAA gaming to begin with, so most of these games just weren’t on my radar. I just thought “oh, Starfield was the big hyped flop of the year, of course there wasn’t much AAA competition”
Well, Mario has kind of a general appeal, so I won’t call it a niche (and it was in 12th with just physical sale). And Pikmin 4 also sold over 2 Million in just first month or so, IIRC, though not sure if that’s enough for being a top seller in a year like the one we just had.
Also, Tears of the Kingdom was on 5th overall sales, and that’s only with the physical sales. Don’t know the actual number difference between 1st and 5th, but with digital added, it could’ve at least entered top 3, if not gone for 1st.
Naturally. Rockstar likes to resell their titles no less than Bethesda. They will sell it to you on PS5 and series x/s, then again on PS6 and whatever Xbox will be around. Then probably Nintendo platform, finally PC.
This way they maximize the amount of times some people will buy the same game, each time with minimal quality upgrade.
Same as their previous titles. It’s not that they didn’t learn. They have the numbers and know very well what they’re doing.
imo buying a copy for one platform should entitle to play on every platform it is released on. The crucial aspects of the work are the same. adapting to different hardwares and making controls for gamepads and mouse and keyboard only plays a small part in the total effort. Also you can play with a controller on pc in most cross platform games.
Sure, but GTA 6 is 100% already working on PC. Not just because they develop the game on PC, or because they’re building on top of the RDR2 engine (which is already ported to PC), but because they planned to support PC from the beginning, and that type of engine work usually gets ironed out early during development or in pre-production.
I was just pointing out the flaw in your tire analogy though. TBH I’m not saying they should give free copies to people who bought it on other platforms. That’s unprecedented for giant publishers like this. But I am pissed that they’re delaying the PC version since you can be sure it’s a calculated plan to ensure PC gamers buy the game twice. They collected enough analytics and surveys to know that a significant amount of GTA5 PC gamers also own a next-gen console. It’s all very nefarious.
That’s not how game development using an engine works… RAGE likely compiles code for at minimum a majority of modern computer hardware with next to no tweaking, and probably the same with Xbox & PlayStation consoles.
Most game engines used on large projects generally are made to handle as much of a variety of hardware as possible with little to no changes in the code – if you make a game using Unreal Engine or Unity for example it will almost certainly be able to work on Xbox, Playstation, and most PCs just fine. Most of the performance optimization for different hardware can then be offloaded to the engine. It’s likely the same with RAGE.
I actually have experience porting games and engines to consoles. If it runs on a development PC (likely Windows), they have the build system and platform layer implemented, which is the hardest part. Porting the content is also an important step, but really only for consoles, which usually have limited memory and power.
Typically the only problem with “PC ports” today is when the game wasn’t designed around mouse/keyboard, or when the devs didn’t make an effort to optimize it on consumer specs (although nowadays console architecture isn’t too different from PCs so there are more optimizations that work across platforms). Another potential problem is when the game gets a lot of last minute hacks to fix bugs in order to ship on a console and those hacks don’t survive a platform transition, then the publisher just tells them to ship as is since there’s no certification process on PC. Basically, the problems are almost always logistical/business decisions due to a lazy/cheap publisher.
None of that is going to apply to this game. Rockstar has always intended to ship and fully support PC from the beginning. They had the technology, the talent, the incentive, and the time to do it. The most realistic explanation (IMO) for the PC delay is that they’re trying to double-dip.
As much as I theoretically agree, I can immediately think of two problems:
The storefronts would have to communicate
It’s against their own interest to do this. Imagine you buy all your games on Steam because of the sales (although the creators of the game of course decide the prices, but still) and then play them on your Xbox. No profit at all for Microsoft, yet they’re the ones providing all the additional services like the actual game hosting, friends system, etc. It’s not much by any means, but it does add up. The money all goes to Valve. You could even buy the games via the Steam mobile app if you don’t even own a PC. Also, even if they were theoretically fine with this, even coordinating it would be a pain. Since you could put a game on the Google Play Store, the App Store, hell maybe even F-Droid, Epic Games, GoG, Steam, the Xbox Store, and the Play Station store, and I am absolutely certain I forgot multiple other options, all of them would need to be able to communicate and decide on if you actually own the game. This would be a logistical and technical nightmare.
Companies would just sell mildly different versions and claim it’s a new game
You know how for example Undertale has a slightly special Nintendo Switch version where there’s… I can’t even remember, but I think it’s an additional boss. That’s just something small and cute, but let’s go with the GTA example. I have played about five hours of 5 and dropped it, so excuse me if this isn’t the best theoretical example, but let’s say the PS5 and Series X/S get the base game. Then the PS6 and new Xbox get maybe five additional cars and the game they’re selling is GTA 6 Expanded. Afterwards on switch (although by that time Nintendo’s new console would’ve released) you get blue and red weapon skins or whatever and it’s GTA 6 Switched Up. And then finally on PC you get the GTA 6 Ultimate Edition with expanded settings, better graphics, and maybe five more cars on top of those from GTA 6 Expanded. These are all technically not the same game, so you would not be able to claim them. Sure, you could argue they’re similar, but where is the exact line? That’s quite impossible to figure out - is it a cheated rehash or a mediocre remaster? Who knows
Because a PC can do everything a console can do, but way better, plus way more, lol
Consoles are completely redundant, you can get a better performing PC for the same price or lower if you wait for sales (especially when you consider the $60-120/year premium you have to pay to play console games online, Microsoft & Sony sell consoles at a loss because they know they’ll suck way more money out of you from subscriptions & other “fees” you experience from console)
Consoles are just shit value, you can’t use them for anything other than what, gaming and TV? And their specs are worth less than just buying similar parts separately and putting them together. So why would I spend up to $500 plus $80 every year on a shitty console just to play a new game because of artificial exclusives that will come to PC anyways? Assuming you use your PS5 or Xbox Series X or whatever for 6-7 years, that’s $1000 down the drain. And then after that you’ll still have to spend a few hundred on a laptop or PC or whatever to, you know, do your job or uni or whatever, because your console that costs over $500 can’t do any of that.
The one thing consoles have had for a long time over PC is physical disks. Fuck what I wouldnt do to have non-steam required disks. Btw I know itd be slow I dont care.
I didn’t know console games had subscription costs in ways the PC equivalents don’t. I’m a PC gamer myself, and wouldn’t buy a console precisely because it’s a unitasker. But the one task it does do well is couch gaming with a controller, and that’s not how I’d use a PC. Fair, if that’s someone’s thing, but I would just think a console was better for that usecase.
There’s not really anything that makes using your PC in the same way inconvenient, you can connect it to your TV and wirelessly connect controllers, even more conveniently. Although switching between games or using different apps while doing so means you’d have to have a m&kb beside you I think, so if you’re playing with friends it might be less convenient (personally I only use controller on games that are unplayable on M&KB though, mainly emulated games)
If you only play that particular game with a controller, sure. My point was that if you’re a controller player, I’d think you’d have a better time on a console, since they and their games are made for it. Mouse and keyboard controls with key remapping are the biggest reason I play on PC.
Some people i used to play battlefield with played infantry and ground vehicles with mouse and keyboard but used a controller for planes and helicopters.
I could also see controllers to be nicer for racing games and simiiar considerations. At the end of the day even a pure controller player still needs a PC for non gaming. So might as well have one device for everything.
Because game dev, at the best of times, is a giant multi-year gamble. You have to hope that people like the game you are in year 3 on because you don’t have money to go much past 4. And you also have to hope that another more popular studio doesn’t release something similar that cannibalizes your sales.
One way to make that safer? Get a publisher with deep pockets. Someone who can say “Hey, Elden Ring just came out and even has the same ‘there is a whole other world underground’ gimmick that you do. Can we delay your game for another six months but keep paying you the entire time?”
And those kinds of publishers tend to prefer the big studios where pivoting to a new engine or making a prototype for a radical genre shift is viable.
And this also applies to the insanely successful small studios. Dead Cells is a great example. Motion Twin is mostly a worker cooperative. This greatly limited its scalability (profit sharing for indie games doesn’t scale all that well) and resulted in a spin off of Evil Empire to manage Dead Cells.
Unionization will go a long way toward avoiding the worker abuse inherent in game dev. But startups are dangerous no matter what industry you are in.
Imho the DnD settings kind of held the game back anyway, the combat in Divinity 2 was a lot more fun since they didnt have to constrain themselves to the super basic DnD item system.
I dunno, I like BG3 a lot more than DOS2. I like actually being able to move and not feel like I wasted my turn doing so, and I feel like I get a lot less “fuck! I didn’t want to go there!” situations eating up all my actions in BG3. Having distinct action / bonus action resources, where the latter can be converted into extra movement, is a good system IMO. Now if only they allowed you to use your action as a bonus action if you wanted…
I will never understand being so angry at a fictional work to a point that you feel justified in threatening and harassing the people who are part of it… And also their relative and loved ones!
Amazing but more usual that one might think, it’s the same anger you can see in people that identity themselves with some other fictions like religion, nationalism, football teams, ideology, race, etc. When watching a movie you kind of temporarily turn off your disbelief to experience joy, sadness, anxiety etc but when the movie is over the healthy behavior is the recognition that everything was an acting. But with the fictions that I just described somehow the disbelief is never turned on, the critical thinking is canceled.
I remember seeing it the first time as a kid on AC2 and I was like “wooooooaaaaah look at this kick ass view and sick spin around” and then I saw it for the next 10 games and I was less impressed.
My guess is that the Venn diagram for the set of people who know Ubisoft is the publisher and the set of people who would read this article is pretty much a circle.
So what about people who do want to use they/them? Adults could install software like this for their kids and use the mod to deny their kid the right to choose what pronoun they want to use.
People are welcome to mod games in whatever way they want, but Nexusmods has zero obligation to host anything, let alone content that violates their TOS.
It’s not the first time they banned mods like this. Nexus had the same shit storm last year when they banned Spiderman mods that tried to remove pride flags. It’s mentioned in the same article here as well.
The only reason it is getting this much outrage is because of the same reason last time, this is the hottest game on the market right now, just like Spiderman was when it came out for the first time on PC.
Huh, just considering practicality, how many new characters would one have to create in order to save rather than waste downloading this? Given the time required to download, read, and set up, I’d guess somewhere in the range of 20-30 characters.
Speedrunners might download a mod to skip setup entirely, not a single option. Of the millions who purchased starfield, perhaps a few dozen might use this ergonomically. Neat.
Practice mods are occasionally used if, say, there’s a tricky section 1.5 hours in. With route highlighting or landscape deemphasizing, if necessary. Speedrunning has slowed to a crawl in the last decade so that seems unlikely.
It is not a big deal. It doesnt have to be. Its just a small mod with a small change that some people apparently wanted for their experience. They didnt demand to change the game. I dont see problem with choosing pronouns, but I also dont see a problem with changing pointless stuff in your game.
Just pick your pronouns when you create your character. These are people getting their panties in a twist because they are being reminded that other people can choose different pronouns.
These are people getting their panties in a twist because they are being reminded that other people can choose different pronouns.
That’s nothing new. The vast majority of far-right reactionaries know exactly zero trans people. They’re getting upset because a stranger, who exists entirely in their imagination, may have an opinion about their own body that the far-right have not approved as “okay to have”.
Of course, there’s probably deeper reasons that they won’t say out loud. What if they accidentally find a “man” attractive? What if they have to treat a casual acquaintance with basic human decency?
I'd imagine for some, the problem is being reminded they too can choose. And they've had the option to choose for a long time.
Honestly, that was my biggest issue the idea of asking other people their pronoun was sort of a trend (at least according to the rightwing media? idk; I've never once seen a person ask another person their pronouns in IRL). For some reason I never wondered why I, as a "cis man", I'd be afraid of such a question (especially since I was the type to like when people mistook me for being gay, so it wasn't like I was afraid of having my "masculinity questioned" or was anti-LGBT).
From the conversations, it sounds like he knew they were a minor and still leaned into the conversations. Why? Why TF would you even be curious about it?
Yes, and he’ll do the old “force austerity to temporarily drive up profit margins for a quarter or two, then once it’s clear the next quarter will be crap, sell all of the stock that was awarded (auspiciously with a very short vesting window, if not just given outright)”
Typical bs, probably worth shorting this stock over the next year or so
He has 0 salary, he isn’t getting paid for any of this. Hence the end of the letter. You obviously didn’t even read it.
I expect everyone to roll up their sleeves and work hard. I’m not getting paid, so I’m either going down with the ship or turning the company around. I much prefer the latter.
No shit, he’s an activist that bought in and turned the company around when it was being run into the ground by consultants working for short sellers. He owns about 15%
Now compare that to executives with no personal stake in their company, making millions in salary and not giving a fuck about anyone else
This is the part that blows my mind. When you have a money-printing machine like Fortnite and you still manage to lose money, maybe it’s the CEO you need to be firing.
That's true, but also we rarely use the switch as a portable in our house and my kid could care less. We don't need Mario Kart to be 4k 120 and Breath of the Wild is designed to look great with lower graphics quality. We have a PS5 and a 4k TV with VRR and we switch between the two all the time.
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