It’s okay. The Fediverse assured me again and again it won’t matter how much Tencent owns of your company so as long as you “don’t think about them (Tencent)”. Whatever that means.
He can’t decide that and is purely speaking from a perspective of a (legendary) game dev with more experience than some studios have as a whole. He’s been longer in the game than almost anyone else for better or worse.
I’m doubtful of their GaaS promise after they already added premium skins to the game via twitch drops last month. Time will tell, but I know the gaming industry a little too well to just take their word for it.
Note that Larian essentially takes full ownership of anything you upload on their own mod Loader and that you can still install external mods despite claims from some players that you can’t.
I’ve seen some wild discourse on the Steam forums in recent days so let me remind you: It will take some time for some mods to be updated so stay patient.
You may also run into issues with the update itself even if you never used mods. Larian is aware and recommends a full re-download and installation which of course can be very frustrating. Maybe it’s worth waiting a couple weeks or months before jumping back into the game.
Luckily you don’t have to believe me because, as I said they essentially take ownership as they have stated here. There are very rare cases where this exception is the case or even possible. I mean this clause doesn’t start with ‘You own your mod, unless…’ for a reason. It starts with pretty much ‘You do not own anything unless…’. Larian are developers, not good samaritans. They’re hoping to get something out of this and given their next game will be even more expensive, I’m sure this little silver mine will come in handy down the line. Just taking a look at the mods that are trending tells you they take ownership of almost everything by default.
Why can’t the movie be for everyone like the game is? Why make it purposefully empty and soulless so only small children with a short attention span can enjoy it? Take some notes from the Lego movie. It’s not that hard.
That’s because these people learn the same cookie-cutter techniques at film school and start writing scripts in large groups right after getting their arts degree. Identity has been beaten out of them.
I‘m happy they got out to work on something better and less restraining. There‘s already a lot in their Original Sins games that couldn‘t be brought over to BG3 but I‘d love to see return in future games and there‘s so much more to come on top of that.
Anything accessibility related is merely glanced over at best to drum up good press for these corporations. They love to put it in promo material and act like they’re at the spearfront, but almost every step to make games more accessible are first taken by indenpendent developers, modders and hobby engineers.
Simply put, it’s not as important to them as they claim it is.
I recall Nintendo claiming they wanted to move away from mobile again a while ago but I didn‘t really believe it back then and I‘m still skeptical now. They‘ve received more criticism for their predatory mobile games lately so maybe that got something to do with it or it‘s simply not making enough money anymore to bother with it and they‘d rather get the devs working on something else.
It’s the current Steam publishing meta. A free demo will create traffic for the newly created Steam page of your game, resulting in more Wishlistings, which is usually the only way to be featured and seen anywhere before release for indie developers. And that’s how your Wishlistings really explode and you make a lot of sales. Getting a demo out is by far highest priority for game publishing in 2024.
MS usually buys competition to erase it so there’s nothing too surprising about this. And no, Bethesda and Blizzard won’t be treated very differently in the long run. That is after every material of everything the studios have ever worked on is fed into datasets to train AI for who knows what.
I’m a little surprised either of them have such a strong opinion about something EU related anyway, given it doesn’t affect them directly. Well I guess Louis is just really passionate about that stuff so it’s not all that surprising. As for Thor, maybe he’s using his online presence to kickstart a live service game himself? Obviously regulations are scary in that case. It’s a wild guess from my side but I think that would be on brand for him.
The industry’s effort to be more inclusive and diverse mostly comes from indie games, though. Of course AAA has long realized the potential to boost their image by copying some mechanics and ideas but let’s not pretend any of those CEOs on their high horses actually cares about inclusion. They’ll drop any efforts the very moment it doesn’t benefit them directly. But there will always be passionate indie developers pushing boundaries to actually help more people enjoy games.
Let’s not pretend like Blizz or Bethesda will see the end of this decade anyway. Their fate was sealed when they got bought. Still, unionizing was the best thing employees could hope for. Good for them!
I remember being very excited for the first one just to find it a little lackluster in the end and too cluttered with DLCs. Since then Frontier really has made a name for themselves as Paradox‘s little brother that litters their game with DLCs. Even as a fan of park sims, I‘ll pass on this one right away.
Fuckin Japan man. They just love their giga corporations way too much. Can‘t even have a single very successful indie studio in peace without throwing themselves at Sony.
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
Manor Lords is early access. At least one patch is to be expected. And of course the publisher is absolutely right. If my memory serves me well one dev developed the game all on his own so far and the challenge of meeting expectations after being a massive success is huge. Hiring more people to get developments going is likely necessary but expanding takes time. Some players have unrealistic expectations in general but even more so when it comes to small indie productions.
Article textNewly-restructured Swedish conglomerate, Embracer Group, will leverage AI models to bolster game production. As noted in Embracer’s annual report, the company has adopted a new AI policy package it claims has the capability to “massively enhance” its production process by “increasing resource efficiency,...
There already are a small number of games utilizing LLMs. Yes it‘s immersion breaking from time to time but the worst part is the credit system many of them use to pay for the API. If you go past your conversation limit, you‘ve got to pay extra.
At least I don‘t have to worry about Microsoft closing this studio soon. And not because I don’t think they wouldn’t do it. They absolutely would. It’s just that I wouldn’t care a bit.
They didn‘t show any of that so unless there‘s been an interview with more info, a new region and new pals and gear is pretty much all we know for sure. It also seems like they scrapped the dark comedy bits that put it on the map in the first place and go the „epic fantasy“ route instead like most anime style games. Just judging by the trailer and it‘s tone, I think they take this thing too seriously now.
What do you usually do when you don’t remember information that is freely available? I am talking about the very DLC featured on the Steam page. The one with an item bag that gives you more dialog options. The one that Larian made a big deal about not existing. Guess it worked considering there‘s even gaslit superfans in here refusing to admit it exists because it‘s somehow such a world shattering deal to them.
What a terrible unnecessary and emotionally loaded strawman argument. I actually own the DLC and love BG3 just as I love Larian‘s other recent games. You‘re wrong about it being just cosmetics too. And it was Larian who made a HUGE deal about not tolerating any additional, paywalled content when the game had it from day 1. And so you now make a huge deal about how it somehow doesn‘t count because Larian is based or something. Just accept that they lied there just like they lie about shareholders and enjoy the video game like everyone else without treating the devs like your holy absolute.
Anyone who played Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could probably guess that something went terribly wrong during development. Bloomberg now reports that the multiplayer bomb from a studio beloved for its single-player Batman: Arkham games was plagued by several issues leading up to its repeatedly delayed launch....
Most of the execs never tried their hands on a game including this one. They genuinely have no idea about the industry and thought they had a hit game on their hands based on a trailer or something. It‘s truly baffling yet so typical.
Competitive online games have been Valve‘s focus for well over a decade so it‘s in line with their portfolio. If anything, Alyx was an outlier they only did because they have a headset to sell it with. I think they know what they‘re doing. Sucks for you to not be their target audience though because they are pretty good at making games.
I get that record sessions are a huge hassle and simply paying VAs per AI-generated voice line is easier for everyone, but it somehow makes Paradox look a little careless to me.
Stories like these also set a precident. This is what voice ‘acting’ will be like for a moment before it becomes effectively eliminated because voice libraries will become diverse enough quickly and there will be no need for a single more voice actor to be included. It seems like VAs are basically forced to sell their voice to AI companies quickly to at least make a quick buck before they never get a job again.
There’s probably no stopping it, but that made this read all the more frustrating to me.
You forgot to mention they sold 30% stake of the company to the world‘s largest game conglomerate Tencent. They‘re also working on a supposedly much larger game than BG3 now and plan to release it within the next 4 years which means they will have to at least double their staff. Honestly, judging a developer entirely by a recent success isn‘t a good practice even when it‘s as massive as BG3. Most people who talk about Larian have a very warped impression. Even when their games are great recently, the tides can change rapidly in this industry.
Going by MS‘s track record the last couple decades, it‘s all business as usual. It‘s expected from them to eventually close everything down they incorporate into their ecosystem. Sometimes after draining it or letting it rot away, and sometimes sooner than later.
That makes much more sense now. I was also wondering why people didn‘t pick up on it earlier given the incredible popularity of this game. So of course people noticed it, but it just didn‘t make much sense. I can see why someone would shrug it off a messy bit of text that probably wasn‘t supposed to be there and will be removed or edited or something. Well edited it was… just not as expected I guess.
I‘m starting to get the impression people build them up precisely to watch them fall and kick them down. It‘s in our DNA, I‘m afraid. I mean the praise they get for the most mundane claims (and often they are just that) is ridiculous to the point they‘re becoming the developer version of the life of Brian. And deep down we‘re already anticipating to watch them bleed out at a cross.
To most of us, this is probably just a summary of events over the past year or so. But, it’s good to know that this sort of news is reaching non-gaming channels.
The „gamer“ label has become sort of redundant given the industry is much bigger than movies and music combined now. They‘re just consumers and no matter what silly decisions some of them make, they need protection from certain practices for the good of all of us. Just blaming a small portion of them doesn‘t help us out of any mess.
Alan Wake, Control developer agrees €15m convertible loan from Tencent (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Shigeru Miyamoto comments on AI, says "Nintendo would rather go in a different direction" (nintendoeverything.com) angielski
GOAT
Ubisoft Cancels Press Previews of Assassin's Creed Shadows (insider-gaming.com) angielski
Something must be going on at Ubisoft. They cancelled their Tokyo Game Show stream without any explanation as well.
Regarding the Future of Palworld (store.steampowered.com) angielski
"Modding is pretty big" says Baldur's Gate 3 director as over 1m mods are installed in less than 24 hours (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Kotaku being Kotaku (lemmy.today) angielski
At this point I’m going to Ladbrokes and betting against everything Kotaku promotes. They are like Jim Cramer of the gaming industry.
A Minecraft Movie | Teaser (www.youtube.com) angielski
One Year Later, Larian Reflects On Baldur's Gate 3's Success, Future Plans, And Canceling DLC: "Ever Since, We've Felt Better" (www.ign.com) angielski
A Prominent Accessibility Advocate Worked With Studios and Inspired Change. But She Never Actually Existed. (www.ign.com) angielski
Weirdest gaming story I’ve heard this year
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will end service in Nov 28 - but will transition to a paid offline app angielski
Source about the offline app thing: faq.ac-pocketcamp.com/…/36353725150489-What-is-th…
Black Myth: Wukong launches to almost 1.5 million concurrent players on Steam (store.steampowered.com) angielski
SteamDB chart showing 1.4 million people playing now
Steam adds new "Trending Free" tab to hide demos from new & trending angielski
Great change imo. The new & trending tab feels a lot more useful now that it isn’t 50% demos.
Krafton acquires Tango Gameworks and Hi-Fi Rush IP from Xbox (www.gamesindustry.biz) angielski
Louis Rossmann's response to harsh criticism of "Stop Killing Games" from Thor of @PirateSoftware (www.youtube.com) angielski
Overwatch 2 is finally bringing back 6v6 with tests to decide OW’s future (www.dexerto.com) angielski
Lol. After all these years they’re thinking of rolling back the 5v5 changes. To quote someone from Reddit:...
NCSoft president: "The games industry's evolution towards acceptance and diversity is ongoing" (www.gamesindustry.biz) angielski
From the article:...
Blizzard's World of Warcraft team has unionized (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Planet Coaster 2 : Announcement Trailer (youtu.be) angielski
Launch in Autumn this year. Gameplay trailer on the 31. July....
Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Aniplex, and Pocketpair jointly establish Palworld Entertainment (www.gematsu.com) angielski
Devs should not be "forced to run on a treadmill until their mental or physical health breaks", says publisher of Manor Lords, citing how gamers seem to be trained to expect endless content work now (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
Embracer rolls out new AI policy to 'massively enhance game development' | Game Developer (www.gamedeveloper.com) angielski
Article textNewly-restructured Swedish conglomerate, Embracer Group, will leverage AI models to bolster game production. As noted in Embracer’s annual report, the company has adopted a new AI policy package it claims has the capability to “massively enhance” its production process by “increasing resource efficiency,...
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Announcement Trailer (youtu.be) angielski
Paradox Interactive has completely cancelled "Life By You" (www.gamingonlinux.com) angielski
Very surprising. The game looked like it had a lot of potential and could’ve been the most popular sims alternative, but it’s suddenly been cancelled.
Starfield's latest update draws player ire by sticking a bounty hunting quest behind the Creation Club paywall (www.vg247.com) angielski
Palworld | Sakurajima Update Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Saints and Sinners Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Report: Warner Bros. Execs Thought Suicide Squad Would Make A Ton Of Money Despite Development Woes (kotaku.com) angielski
Anyone who played Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could probably guess that something went terribly wrong during development. Bloomberg now reports that the multiplayer bomb from a studio beloved for its single-player Batman: Arkham games was plagued by several issues leading up to its repeatedly delayed launch....
Ikea is now hiring: Make an hourly wage at its Roblox store (www.digitaltrends.com) angielski
I don’t qualify to play but seems like a smart tactic to get some real virtual world experience and possibly a job.
Images leak of Valve's next game, and it's an Overwatch-style hero shooter (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Though the way the leaker describes it makes it sound more like a 3rd person MOBA than a hero shooter....
Stellaris gets a DLC about AI that features AI-created voices, director insists it's 'ethical' and 'we're pretty good at exploring dystopian sci-fi and don't want to end up there ourselves' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Microsoft Closes Redfall Developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush Developer Tango Gameworks, and More in Devastating Cuts at Bethesda (www.ign.com) angielski
Affected devs:...
BREAKING: Microsoft has closed Redfall's Arkane Austin, HiFi Rush's Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda. | IGN (twitter.com) angielski
Helldivers 2 Players Express Frustration On Steam As It Will Soon Require A PSN Account (www.gameinformer.com) angielski
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/14764738...
The Divinity: Original Sin board game took 6 years to make because Larian was determined to do right by the series (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
How Greed Ruined Gaming (www.youtube.com) angielski
To most of us, this is probably just a summary of events over the past year or so. But, it’s good to know that this sort of news is reaching non-gaming channels.