It’s such a tragedy that Xbox controllers are the only major controller not to have any gyro. We could’ve had cross-platform shooters that allow for gyro ironsight aiming, or even allow it on PC (it’s currently a common option on Steam Deck, with some tinkering)
From article notes, it sounds like disjointed artistic messaging between departments, in this case development and marketing.
For what it’s worth, it is RARE for a developer to directly throw marketing under the bus by saying anything other than “We stand by our messaging blah blah”, so for the president to agree the trailer is bad is kind of significant, and might even get him internal flak.
I think the process of taking your time and flipping off the marketing managers is a good one; but I’ve also seen signs that if development takes TOO long, the internal creative momentum can kind of grind to a halt or even be overtaken as they become outdated against advances in game design.
The developers are generally gamers too, and the passion for development is often fueled by excitement for the concept - excitement that can fade the same way as with fans (granted, they have to be more patient than most fans). Sticking with something too long can even lead to low confidence in that concept.
I can be patient, I just hope their approach hasn’t lead to internal burnout.
If they wanted to focus on live service, I’m surprised they made a trilogy of games. In the meantime a bunch of other devs just kept adding content to the one game their players play.
Not good for Payday’s fans to compete within their trilogy for attention.
Even if I agree some games have gone too far on censorship, I don’t like having this totalitarian attitude to any kind of “offense”.
There are certain weird themes I really like in niche games, but I acknowledge if they were “thrown in” to a game about shooting or adventure, would sour the experience for a lot of common players. I’d point to perverted character designs as a common one - sexualized character designs are obviously appealing to some players, but to others they can actually make it hard to get absorbed in the story of a game like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or Nier Automata. Even for a series like Persona, there have been players that decided “What weeb shit” and abandon the game because of the way female characters get harassed at times.
It’s easy to call it “political”, but politics comes from personal opinions - and it can genuinely affect how people view the media. These days I have a much more vehement reaction to stereotyped Native-American depictions (“Indians”) over when I was a kid. I doubt it’d make me hate Tomb Raider, but I can see why they’d have a warning.
Given some of the fair-use-adjacent fan work the Team Fortress voice actors have done, I sometimes wish there were more fictional characters out there that actors had the rights to represent as outside of media.
I recall interviews where the guy who does Dr Eggman just politely refused simple fun requests because they wouldn’t be approved by Sega, which is too bad.
I remember Half-Life 2 opening with a walk around a city, and it was so memorable to me. I guess in part because it was reliant on its own atmosphere, and still let the player be an interactive part of it rather than bound to a tight track.
I’m guessing none of these shares were purchased from Tencent’s 40% stake? That’s often been the main reason I limit my interaction with Epic where possible.
This is why I still kind of appreciate digital downloads in their own way. I can’t think of any format of purchasing a game that has 100.00% chance of working 20 years in the future. Steam, at least, has been able to get those purchases reliably for that long.
Who wants to bet how long it takes for someone to post a victim-blaming comment that claims this is an exaggeration to detract from some other anti-consumer behavior of theirs?
It’s going to be interesting to see if this is more about the chase, and getting the other to admit their feelings, or contending with the challenges of a long term hedgehog relationship in a world that still exhibits homophobia.