@ant2967 @aussiemuscle And Gamespot is owned by Cnet, which is owned by CBS. So this is clearly a television station. Why can I not get NCIS here? Duuuurr.
Your statement makes no sense and shows your lack of education. Developers can use either service (Origin or Steam) and they do not agree that EA or Valve get any sort of creative control. They don't agree that EA or Valve become their publisher. They are simply using a service owned by EA or Valve.
@ant2967 They varied. At the beginning they were around 50. They raised to about 70, then went back down again. This was back when it was much more expensive to make video games too. There wasn't mass development and finding talent to make them costs you a lot.
Now you pay 70 dollars only to have to buy day 1 DLC for another 5-15 to get to play the complete game. Yet somehow, those same programmers are getting paid less and getting treated worse. Its also much easier/faster to make a game start to finish and there are production centers that streamlined the distrobution process.
People do have short memories, but you are lacking perspective.
@ant2967 @aussiemuscle You really have no clue do you? Steam is not a publisher. They aren't involved in anything that defines "indie". How did you get to become a member of a gaming website and know so little. Steam and Origin are distribution services like Gamestop or Amazon. EA is a publisher. If you have a big publisher, you are not indie, because EA has a say in what you do. Which goes directly agaisnt the definition of independent (you know, that thing indie stands for)
@ant2967 @Reaverking @RoadStar1602 Grats, they used some PR because ME3 was getting destroyed by the community. Again, 15 years ago, that update is free every time. This generation is so brainwashed with everything should cost tons of money so getting something for free is a godsend. Also, Sony and Microsoft are considering stopping used games because of the pressure that publishers are putting on them as well.
I'll give you an example. Bioware was making games just fine before EA bought them. They were 'paying the bills' as you put it. It wasn't until they decided to get greedy and go for an MMO (which needed EA's funding) that their game quality started to decline.
You look at Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect 1, Knight of the Old Republic, they also had most of Dragon Age 1 developed before EA took over. Bioware was hitting it spot on every time. EA bought them and then game quality started declining. Dragon Age 2 was a shell of its predicesor, used to cash in. The Old Republic was rushed to the extent that it was unplayable at release. The list goes on.
@deedaw EA had nothing to do with any "revolution" that you think Medal of Honor caused. Steven Spielberg directed the story, Peter Hirschmann wrote it, and Dreamworks Interactive developed it. EA didn't make the revolution. They just bought the company that made the good game and took credit.
People need to realize that publishers do nothing but fund things, they rarely 'make' anything. But their funding generally comes at the cost of degrading a series over time to cash in. If you didn't know. Medal of Honor is on its *14th* game in the series. I can tell you for a fact, that half of those 14 were bad cash grabs.
Games are supposed to be fun. 15 years ago, games got free updates. Level editors and community based mod kits were released on day 1 (for free). And they were still fun and creative. They were also still profitable.
Then big companies like EA and Activision swoop in. Buy up the successful ones. Nickel and dime everything. (No more updates, you have to pay for DLC). No more community mod kits (Can't have those, then the community could entertain themselves instead of buying 15 dollar day 1 DLC), and rush developers (destroying their vision and creativity). Like it or not they are destroying the industry as most of us grew up on.
Now its just a cash farm where people line up to give them money for very little innovation, and an overall lesser product than it used to be.
Indie developers do very little of that. Most of their games are between 5 and 20 dollars and support themselves on small DLC packs afterwards. Even if you get every DLC they release for a year, you'll pay less than for 1 game you get from EA, and the game is generally just as good. If you don't like it? Okay, you spent very little money on it. Don't like an EA game? Well you blew 60+ dollars. Oh yea, that same company is trying to prevent you from even being able to trade in and recoup money on their bad products.
Investment into what? Call of Duty 237, using the same weapons, guns and mechanics that the last 236 of them had? I'd rather gaming NOT be mainstream and go back to being creative rather than just a money farm where stupid people hand corporations money without thinking.
Criminals in general are a minority in America. Are you saying we should trust and like them because they are a 'persecuted minority'? EA and Activision have proven time and again that they care nothing for the customer, just the bottom line. They have destroyed many great game developers to line their pockets.
They have already proven themselves guilty. Unfortunately we can't lock them up.
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