Did you see the news The Crew is Shutting Down their servers in April? If you bought this game, and live somewhere where your consumer protection agencies might have teeth you could help this guy put up a defense against companies bricking games you paid for.
My partner and I just played through this together in co-op and had a great time. We thought it was a good game.
I read the whole discord drama stuff, and I’m more on Crema’s side. I think they’ve made the mistake of trying to talk to a fanbase like they are just a group of reasonable people that will understand and empathize if you just lay out the facts. But they aren’t. They’re just going to pick apart anything you say and relentlessly shit on you because they are, collectively, not able to be reasoned with.
They released an MMO in its final state, minus some Kickstarter promised stuff, that they have said they will deliver. They tried to monetize the game how they felt was best, it didn’t work out, so they’ve moved on and left a functioning, small-scope MMO. You can argue the quality of it or whether you agree with their decisions, but they made what they said they were going to make.
And they are still releasing small updates to a community that is, frankly, awful. The subreddit is just a hivemind of asshole armchair developers.
Honest question: can you name an asshole gaming community that isn't tied to a live service game? Because I feel like the shitty community comes from expecting everything to be continually improved, and lots of those improvements are subjective, so someone's improvement is someone else's regression. I'll happily revise my hypothesis with some good counter examples though.
Sometimes. The chess community is very weird in my experience. Like, anarchy chess is a thing and shitposting seems to have permeated chess culture. Case in point, the double bongcloud being played in tournament (1:32 length clip). (For context, the bongcloud opening is very bad, playing it is basically a self nerf. Because of the way that tournaments and points work, the end outcome of this game was basically a mutually agreed draw, but they did it in the most shitposting way possible.).
Personally, I think this is great, it’s made it harder for some people to be gatekeepy arseholes within the chess community. I am always slightly perplexed by the memes though - with absurd humour, it can be hard to tell whether I’m missing the joke, or whether the joke is that there is no joke.
Warframe’s community is the nicest, least toxic community I’ve ever encountered. Not saying there aren’t toxic ass holes, there certainly are, but compared to other online game communities I’ve been part of the Warframe community is a breath of fresh air.
No, there are asshole in all types of games including Single player. Even if Souls has multiplayer, I’ve seen toxic communities in even games like Breath of the Wild
Half the community is from the intelligence community, it’s in their interest to keep it nice so new players keep joining and leaking top secret technical specs
It's because the fanbase is a bit tired of the developers.
The developer already set the tone very early on by being a pompous prick over the whole ban nonsense. No one could prove it but it seemed like certain key remappers (like for joysticks and things like that) were causing the anti cheat to trip even if they weren't being used, just running in the background. The CEO was a real jerk about it on twitter when people asked why there wouldn't be any appeals.
That kind of arrogance and behaviour came out several times. There isn't any reason for the community to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Apparently any further sales of the game will have a cut going to even the staff that was laid off.
That’s commendable, but overall this is still an unfortunate development. I wonder if microtransactions in big games like apex and genshin are down this year? Is this an overall trend, or are people choosing to spend on one game, foregoing titles like Jumplight Odyssey for bigger spending on one (arguably less deserving) game.
I wonder if microtransactions in big games like apex and genshin are down this year?
In Apex? Yes, and we know this from investor calls. Not sure about Genshin or Honkai, but even Fortnite is making less money. This appears to be an entire economy problem, not a video game problem. Perhaps related to inflation and consumers adapting their spending in response (a potential explanation I offer with no expertise to fall back on).
I get the impression any more urgent gaps will be covered by the community.
I’ve used my Deck in its desktop mode, plugged in a dock, for extended periods when I didn’t have access to my PC, and it was a decent enough experience for the most part.
I could definitely see SteamDeck sized devices becoming standard computers with a dock for larger screen, IO, keyboard/mouse and maybe GPU in desktop mode while sizing down to a portable device for travel. Same games in both configuration just 4K high quality when docked and 1080 medium quality when handheld. Plus with a full Linux os it could become our main device.
I’ve been thinking about this for some time, but rather smartphones as the form factor. It aligns with the trend of converging technologies, where devices are becoming more multifunctional, and users are seeking more flexibility and efficiency from their gadgets. It’s a future-forward vision that I believe will redefine personal computing.
People have floated this idea of “dockable devices” for decades. Microsoft even made a Windows Phone that did it. The only time it worked was the Nintendo Switch, where they sold the dock together - and even then, I think their studies showed that a majority of players only play in one mode.
So it comes down to consumer friction. What do they get in one box, and how likely are they to buy a second?
Depending on how it’s done, it could make the game better or worse, just like any other tool. I imagine there will be a lot of growing pains as devs figure out what works and what doesn’t.
I could see an mmo using it for small random side quest generation where any npc could give you a quest tailored to the character. That kind of stuff would go along way to make big open worlds more “living”
ML models ‘learn’ by generating non-human-readable arrays of weights, that’s a little pixie-dusty. But it’s use there is narrow, in a supporting role. My comment was about the core ‘making radiant quests feel tailored to you’ thing. It woulf still be a set of tables with fillable blanks, it’s structure and content decided by humans with a little random or maybe AI-gen content dropped here and there to add variety. Otherwise it won’t communicate the resulting quest to the system.
As a developer (not of games, but still), I would actually be interested in a tool that can generate simple code snippets for me to correct and assemble into a more complex system. But yeah, as you said, there will be growing pains as everyone figures out the optimal use cases for AI in development
Game engine limitations, apparently. Say a thread on exactly this earlier today.
Agree it is much poorer for lacking them. It’s immersion breaking being in the far future, zipping around on an interstellar craft, yet being forced to explore slowly on foot. I really can’t even use the ship? Cmon.
Bg3 I think really has shown us what is achievable in today’s games. The branching and intricate story around the Prisim you retrieve at the start of BG3 (without going into spoilers) and the repeated revelations about it and how to can change the direction of the story. Even the companion stories that feed seamlessly into the main plot.
My playtime in starfield is limited at the moment but I’ve been picking along a quest line for a company doing some corporate espionage stuff. But every mission has felt so lackluster. The first mission to “infiltrate” a rival company office and plant a virus. I expected to be putting my stealth skill to the test and breaking into thier server room, dodging the cameras and guards. But what I actually did is walk unimpeded into thier 2 room office space past the reciption desk and though the security checkpoint, squat next to a computer in a cubicle, do the hacking mini game (which is the same as the lockpick one! A downgrade from fallout) click a button and then walk out. I didn’t even have to convince anyone I should be there or even hide my presence.
The following missions were equally uneventful. Run to a “secure” place unopposed, squat, click the gizmo, run back. In one I had to wear a suit, which the vendor in the same building would sell me, and the game even told me that.
Such a stark change from even the simple quest path to out kargha in the druid grove as a wrong 'un in BG3
They thought they had a brilliant idea, but it’s not. It’s a classic. The space is beautiful, of course, but it’s the interactions that make a game unique. No interaction, no party.
You can’t exactly force a company to employ someone. Even in a pro-labor-rights country the employer would be free to terminate. The termination would come with all sorts of employee benefits of course.
Honestly curious why you believe otherwise. Termination without cause is absolutely allowed, and again, comes with legal provisions for the employee. In Ontario, Canada, for example, this manifests in severance pay.
I’m not super well versed in EU practices so perhaps it’s even more strict but fundamentally if a company cannot afford to retain an employee they must have the ability to let them go.
Germany is famous for employing people part time, and then the state compensates the employees when not working. This is done to keep people that the company otherwise couldn’t afford, employed.
This is uninformed bullshit. You are wrong and talking with authority on something you clearly know nothing about, I can only assume you live somewhere without employee protections and rights.
I backed it a lifetime ago and have gone back and forth between “it’s a scam” and “maybe it could happen” so many times that I just don’t care any more. As broken as it is and as slow as progress has been, there has never been anything like it. I check in a couple of times every year and usually have fun seeing the sights for a week or two. I think I’ve had enough enjoyment from it to justify my original cost.
Even though their goals are unreasonable, irrational, and completely mad, they have somehow managed to fund stable development for over a decade and have actually made meaningful progress. Will I live to see it realized? Who knows. I wish them luck for both their sakes and the people who spent big money on this ridiculous dream, but unlike many others, I have no hard feelings personally. I’d like to see it realized someday, but I have no more money to give them even if I wanted to.
That’s how I feel too. I only bought the $40 entry years ago. Check back every so often and they add more and more. It may feel like a scam but from the hundreds of played hours I got my money’s worth many times over. And if they continue to improve every few months it’s a win win for gamers.
Ah yes, yes. The game from “one of the best indie game developers” that, as of 2025.12.04 (2 days since release), has <4 Metacritic user reviews (no score) and stands at 77 score with only 7 reviews by game critics. Devs get tons of free clout by being removed, but somehow their game is still unpopular. Wonder why.
They got tons of publicity by being banned from steam. They harnessed it as much as possible which spawned the infamous “one of the best indie game developers” title in some news articles. Being banned from two major game stores brings a lot of eyes on their game. And even with a bright spotlight lightning up their game - still barely anyone is talking about it. My theory is - game is below average at best and can be barely called an art piece in gaming industry. (based on what I know about the game and on one youtube playthrough)
Popularity matters cause it is a good metric to measure sales. If game is good and sells well - people will talk. People are barely talking about this game. Sales are probably very low. But also, what would sales be if it wouldn’t be banned of steam? I bet they would barely exist.
It would be an extremely risky strategy. The studio’s whole portfolio are offbeat shortforms (indeed one of the higher profile indie devs) and I don’t think getting banned from Steam and losing sales there was something they anticipated. Using this for publicity is plan B for damage control, never has been plan A.
The steam ban was ages ago, the news was recent. They decided to go loud about the steam ban as they released, its clearly pr. I dont think they got banned intentionally but the differwnce is a little academic when you cry this loudly about it.
Yes, as I said, plan B. Do you expect the studio to say “ok fuck it, let’s close up” when they projected a huge loss of sales after Steam denied their release?
(1) The devs trying to make the best out of a bad situation and marketing their game in a difficult situation is, like, not their fault? If you have a product, you want to sell it. Especially if you are an indie dev who desperately needs as much marketing as possible, and ESPECIALLY if you get banned from the largest videogame storefront on the planet because of Valve’s shitty review policies. Calling this “publicity stunt” is very narrow-minded.
(2) Some random news article calling them “one of the best indie game developers” is, again, not their fault. First of all, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and secondly, the devs are not out there brainwashing people to like their game. If someone liked their game enough to consider them a GOTY contender, good for them. My 2018 GOTY was CrossCode despite other big titles releasing that same year (MH World, RDR2, Spiderman, Celeste, God of War just to name a few), is it the dev’s fault?
(3) You calling it “barely an art piece” means shit all. It’s not up to you (or anyone) to decide what’s art and what’s not. This is blatant censorship, but I guess that’s alright as long as it’s not something you like?
(4) The problem is not that they would’ve sold fewer copies had they be available on Steam; the problem is that they weren’t allowed a chance to prove themselves to begin with, because of the shitty review policies by Valve who adamantly refuses to review any game twice (despite them having more than enough money to do so) when they find something they deem “unacceptable”, according to their nebulous metrics. Somehow Sex with Hitler is allowed to be sold on their platform, and so are many Japanese hentai games featuring questionably-legal child-like characters, but this one isn’t? Why is that?
In this crazy world where it could actually happen, I don’t think they did it with intent. Most likely the haven’t had this in their plans, but they did plan on having a minor in the game to ride a horse. They thought that it would be a great idea to capitalize on Steam ban - that is undeniable. And I can’t blame them. That is indeed a perfect advertisement campaign - loud and, most importantly, free.
It is just hilarious to me that with all this clout and attention, their game is getting barely any buzz post-release. And also that the most posted article about Steam ban is mentioning them as one of the best idie devs out there when they are like mid at best.
Thats not what theyre saying at all. Did you read the comment?
Theyre saying after the Steam ban the company decided to make use of the ban to popularize their game, which is completely normal imo. Theyre only saying the game is overhyped by controversy.
They got told “no, and never” by Steam 3 years ago. It’s absolutely a marketing move to bring it up now. The Epic and Humble removals were rug pulls, though.
Does it being a marketing move mean that it’s not worth criticizing Steam for having a one-strike-you’re-out system? I don’t think it does. If your game has (something valve considers reject-worthy) and you get rejected, you should probably be allowed to submit it again after removing the thing valve rejected you for.
that would be impossible! Lord Emperor Gaben is the sole bringer of light to a world of darkness, he, and he himself, is single-handedly the reason why there is still good in the gaming industry! for example, he, alone, by himself, birthed Linux, so we could all enjoy a world free of the tyranny of Microsoft!!!
ok but for real. why do gamers talk about gabe newell the way tech people talked about elon musk circa 2018… im seeing a lot of uncomfortable parallels
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