Sorry to have to lock the post and clean up some comments, but I think it’s safe to say that gamergater apologia is not cool on the gaming community here.
Please do not downplay death threats, especially when they come from a site absolutely known for sending them out. Think what you want about SBI, but to deny Gamergate and other harassment campaigns and the damage they have caused is dangerous and also absolutely does not contribute to making beehaw a safe place.
Sweet Baby Inc found themselves at the center of attention at kiwi farms, a website known for harassment and driving people to suicide. I find it very far fetched to believe they received no harassment.
Ubisoft being in bed with SBI is also not a lie
Unless I totally missed it, I see nowhere in this article that said they didn’t work with SBI?
I have fond memories of a game called dino defender. I played it when I was like 5 years old so the game might be bad but maybe not!
Another game from that era that seemed cool but I could never get to work on my computer was scan command. It came with this barcode scanner you could use to scan various barcodes, which would give you pieces to build your own dinosaur fighter thing. Seemed cool, and I scanned the heck out of barcodes … But never got to see the fruits of my labor 😔
Sick! I tried the beta for this out and was very impressed. Game has been great for a while but the controller support for me is pushing it even higher
There’s really not a ton you need to know going into riven story wise. I’ll keep it vague if you care about spoilers but it takes place right after the first game is done and it’s basically a brand new mission a character sends you on, and he explains it at the beginning. Puzzle/ gameplay wise however I would definitely recommend playing Myst first. Riven is quite a bit more difficult/ obtuse than Myst, and can be frustrating if you don’t know what you’re getting into. Myst is a better starting point imo
When reading opinion pieces, especially ones on topics that I am passionate about, I try and keep a level head and not let the fact that it’s written in a publication I enjoy inform my opinion too much. That being said, I thought this was a well done look back at so many of the things the Xbox brand has gotten wrong over the years.
In today’s fast paced world I think it can be easy to forget stuff like lionhead’s closure and especially the PR releases that were said at that time. The similarities in the pr releases to the recent closures and lionhead’s closure were interesting to see.
I find myself overall agreeing with this piece and it’s conclusions. I do feel the author’s idea of why entertainment companies exist to perhaps be a little idealistic (although I am admittedly pretty jaded on the industry and capitalism as a whole at this point in my life). They claim that entertainment companies exist “to provide that entertainment.” Sure I think creative leads and the devs (especially in the games industry) are there to provide entertainment that they are passionate about. But idk if I can ever see a period where the publisher was in it for the art, despite what they may say. My jaded view is it’s always been for profits. That being said, while reading this and having that view in the back of my head, I did start to question myself a bit. Why is Xbox struggling so hard? I mean if every publisher is in it for the same reason, (profit in my mind) why is Xbox struggling so much with having a clear path. Sure the industry as a whole has been struggling this past year or so, but Xbox seemingly has been struggling for a lot longer. While not a huge Sony fan, they have provided a large list of really excellent games. Sony is of course in it for profits, but they seem to have had more success in getting quality games out the door.
Idk the piece made me think about the whole thing more and I’m not really sure where my thoughts are going to settle. I do know that I really think this shouldn’t have happened. Despite the state of the industry, Microsoft had $20 billion in profit last quarter. I see no reason why this needed to happen.
Idk id argue it is surprising. Say what you want about the performance of these games financially, but these studios were bought by one of the wealthiest companies in the world. Sure maybe the games weren’t a huge hit, but like… So? You have money. One flop and they’re axed? Xbox said they want to be bigger in the Japanese market, yet they closed their only Japanese studio. A studio with a bunch of talent and training that is gone now. Xbox has a huge problem bringing studios up and getting good output. Their best exclusive (at the time) of 2023 is now without a developer. Why not eat that cost? Yes I get a lot of studios are closing right now but that shouldn’t be happening at a company like Microsoft. But line must always be going up I guess
There’s a statement on this ign article that says arkane Austin will have devs go to other studios, but nothing on the tango front. They’re just closing it.