but you don’t want to play a *Microsoft-undermined game,
Tech corporations (especially US ones) that big don’t back anything, they enclose markets, buy the innovative companies and undermine the industry until they can force a meager profit out of the industry even though they are selling crap.
Exhibit A: Gamepass
I will not be a part of the Spotify-cation of the video games industry, for that is one of the things that killed my love for producing music.
What part of the progression to the end stage of Spotify do you think we are at?
Maybe the stage where they give you a bunch of stuff in an unsustainable firehose because it is meant to destabilize the industry and decisively put Microsoft between gamers and video game developers so they can charge both more rent once there aren’t any popular alternatives left?
I know that someone like you with your attitude will just say “whatever bro, it is what it is” and frankly I don’t want to live that way because nobody can live that way forever.
To be clear, Gamepass itself is a totally fine concept, but if you choose to remain ignorant of the context Gamepass is being used in that is your problem and honestly people are going to remember you didn’t care, especially video game developers.
I find massive value in the service so I subscribe to it. When I don’t I won’t. It’s not the deep “bro”. Maybe Microsoft does have some underlying motive to reshape the gaming industry but I’m not going to think about it that hard. Also things change and it’s ok. Apple started the digital music movement BTW and I’m not an artist so that is theirs and the labels deal to negotiate. Spotify is great value too FYI.
It’s not the deep “bro”. Maybe Microsoft does have some underlying motive to reshape the gaming industry but I’m not going to think about it that hard.
I know you don’t want to, that was obvious from our initial interaction which is precisely why I am taking the time to try to get you to think about it harder or at least point out to others the folly in your shallowness.
That is perfectly ok, you don’t have to tackle the world by yourself, thank you for providing me the public opportunity to show why you are so critically incorrect in your approach to things you love so the rest of us can evolve together :)
Just because we are leaving you in the dust doesn’t mean we won’t care for you, but my oh my you are taking out a big future debt on your soul by going through your life with an attitude like this.
I have nothing against the idea of people using gaming streaming services. I think it is awesome actually, I just can’t join into the positivity yet until we solve this existential underlying problem.
You sure are spending plenty of attention on defending that you don’t have attention to spend on this. We all vote with our wallets. There’s no opting out.
Amazing how I’ve been hearing the same thing since the service released 8 years ago. Will it eventually get shitty? Probably. But in the meantime it’s a phenomenal value.
PS Plus is closer to Xbox Live than Xbox Gamepass. Xbox Live had 40-50 million subs at the time in 2020.
Presently Xbox Live has 120 million users vs 33 million PS Plus Essentials subscribers. Gamepass has 34 million subs vs 14 million higher-tier PS Plus subs. Even if we drop Nintendo into the mix, Gamepass has an equal number of subs to Nintendo Online members. Seems like they’re doing just fine.
I don’t personally know anyone on game pass, and only one with Nintendo online, so that seems accurate. But it doesn’t matter. Releasing AAA games day one on a subscription model isn’t sustainable for Microsoft or the studios participating. Those prices will go up and the service will enshitify.
40% of Xbox gamers are from the US. The US has 132 million households. That means that roughly 1 in 10 US households currently has a Gamepass sub. Hope that puts it into perspective.
No. 34 million current gamepass subscribers. 40% of Xbox gamers are from US, so roughly 13.6 million subs in the US. There’s 131 million US households, thus 1 in 10.
People use something out of value and/or convenience. It taking over is just the effect of that. It’s capitalism not some underlying motive from the corporation. Of course a business wants their product to succeed.
Playing with fire with that name, given Morrowind takes place on Vvardenfell. They just removed the V’s and changed a vowel.
Edit: Finally had a chance to watch the trailer after work, and noticed they are even using the Magic Cards font in their trailer, which is the same font used for all the text in Morrowind. Not that Bethesda owns the font (it was used by MTG before Morrowind), but could make it harder to argue the name is coincidental.
You know there are people at tencent unironically thinking “People were happy with how unmonetized Elden Ring was. How can we monetize that satisfaction?”
Usually, the devs aren’t thinking that, management is and that’s what’s shoveled downward. Still people at tencent, but I imagine it’s not everyone ludicrously evil.
Still, this is a reminder not to get too attached to any particular developer. Doesn’t matter how sincerely dedicated to producing fun and satisfying experiences From is: when Tencent talks, they have to listen.
The question about Starfield being multiplayer (it’s not, BTW) just made me wonder if other players in the BG3 session see your character’s pronouns (I haven’t played online yet).
Wouldn’t be that cool if the other players keep misgendering my gnome.
Haha I figured it was on purpose linking this news to the current Nexus drama over the removal of a mod that removes the pronoun option at character creation.
Microsoft will buy my teapottery if anti-trust regulations don’t keep them in check. And, in today’s climate, I don’t believe for a moment that anybody will make a reasonable attempt to do so.
I remember getting getting sucked into opening packs years ago in Madden Ultimate team. I stopped when I realized I had spent twice over what the game itself cost. I stopped then, and never played ultimate team again. I am not an addictive person, but even the most strong minded individual can get sucked into their vortex. The fact that lawmakers let this industry be self regulated means these companies can keep abusing players.
i did that once with microsoft points i got for my birthday. never did it again when i found out that after X number of games all those great players i have cannot be used unless i buy some fucking dumb shit thing to refill their playing meter? or something dumb like that
I’ll drink the half-full glass: accessible gaming hardware is more widely available than it has ever been.
Big corporation Microsoft bad, but as the article points out, they have been one of the major players in the accessibility field with hardware and software accommodations to help meet some of the common needs of disabled gamers. Valve’s platform allows for dynamic reprogramming of just about any key binding that I can think of to get around games that have their inputs hard coded in.
I believe the CEOs son has some special needs and he’s been big on pushing them to develop inputs methods that are accessible. It’s definitely getting better! As a gamer who’s been playing since they were a kid and now in my 30’s I’m starting to get RSI like issues and definitely appreciate some of these accessibility movements because they allow me to change up my input more often.
Not to mention accessibility settings in games themselves. Fortnite has an option to visually show sounds and their directions on the HUD and it was amazing when I spent a month with no audio solution, I can’t imagine what a breath of fresh air it is for deaf gamers. The Last of Us Pt2 is also wildly player-friendly, and recently I’ve even been seeing some indie titles like Metal Unit do their best to assist players and let them enjoy the game.
Accessibility is only getting better, and I think this cynicism is unwarranted. We should certainly keep up the fight and demand for it, but you go back two decades and games didn’t even come with subtitles as standard. Doom 3 still pisses me off in that regard.
Agreed, and it’s been such a quick change in the industry too which is a great sign. It really wasn’t that long ago that you didn’t even get a brightness slider, and hell some games still have a static 50 FOV.
rockpapershotgun.com
Ważne