I would say, with 10th gen and xbox handheld, that they would for sure learn their lesson....
But I remember when xbox 360 launched with two different skus and people lost their effing minds. Not understanding what they would get and not get with their new xbox. Eventually, they did away with two different ones. A great article on game informer, lol but that was in magazines in 2005.
Nah, they will have two skus 10th gen, and I am sure their will be problems and parity problems, with their handheld. Doomed to repeat itself, it is a quote xbox, considers a challenge.
My point of my comment was that,... the games above that are being cancelled,.... all that time money, resources, and collective talent... will have almost NO chance of working on a Days gone 2, or Bloodbourne, Kings Field, or Enchanted Arms, or hell a Elden Ring sequel or like game. Those developers would love to create their games, and games we all love to play, but... that is not where the money is.
Those games above are poor performing, and poor outlook investments. They will takes those people, and assets and either down size them, or since they have already dipped their toes into gatcha games, move those resources towards other live service gatcha laden projects. No reason to drag a Elden Ring developer who has never touched a live service game, and bring them over to one, nor vice versa.
Developers and publishers always have a dozen irons in the fire at any given time and at any given stage of completion. Some games may be stuck at 50% forever and just languished to die, or reincorporated into something else. IF THEY had the financing, they could easily get a game up and running very quickly and out the door within a few years. But no developer can afford to have all its workers on just one project, they have to diversify. And no developer makes a game with its own money, ... with all of its own money, that would be suicidal.
So it all comes down to investment funding blocks that publishers put up, investors -like with movies, or any entertainment media, want an investment that is making the most money currently. They may invest millions only for live service games, or a Fortnite like game, and nothing else. Some will invest openly, as long as it gets a certain return, that is very rare now.
BUT YES, you are very correct, all of the xbox and ps, and even Nintendo have an overall decreased amount of IPs/games this gen. (I can only imagine the games we could have had), because all of the publisher money is pointed towards a live service mobile gatcha game instead. And they do not care if they all succeed, just as long as they make money at the end of the day. And Whale hunting is so lucrative right now.
It is like Las Vegas in the 60s, but for children.
@afromakka: Do not get me wrong, this is good news. Those games and their direction is cancelled, also that the developers keep operating. Which... hopefully means better quality and quantity of serious games like single player narratives. But sadly.....
-Honor of Kings: The highest-grossing mobile game in 2023, with $1.58 billion in revenue . Yeah I never heard of it either.
-Dungeon Fighter Online, beat 'em up game is the highest-grossing video game in terms of nominal gross ($22 billion as of 2023).. ugh I am going to throw a bit.
-Fortnite over $5-6 billion per year, for several years now.
The majority of the gaming industries investment funding is targeted towards these live service, gatcha of some kind. With the tech bust, and gaming investment bust, these are just games with poor performing, poor outlooks, having their funding moved towards better looking live service games.
liver service games in 2023
Currently working on a title delivering live services to its players 65%
Intend to release or transition a title to live service model 30%
Have no plans for live service in any upcoming title 5%
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Griffin Gaming Partners says that 95% of game makers are developing or maintaining a live service game.
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Makes me sad. During the 7th gen of gaming the gaming industry targeted FPS and bro games like crazy, a concentrate like never before. But it was still only %50. I would explain, publisher investment blocks, and more. But, the best way I can explain it, is that the gaming industry is still obsessed with live service games like TV was with reality tv shows in the early 00s but times 1000.
Everyone knows this many live service games will not all hit. The pubs and devs know, but investors are only asking and giving $$ out for them. It may be a couple of generations before this sickness ends, but sadly todays young children are 'groomed' early on with gatcha gambling mechanics.
It felt to me.. at least. When the first Horizon game that came out 8th gen was just wonderful, while not unique it had a interesting take on a certain open world game, action game, etc using a rock paper scissor like elemental combat, various melee, and shields. Again, while not new, still a great take.
But with Horizon West - still an amazing game, with a story that worked very well enough. Both long, and the VR was good also.
But by the time Horizon West came out, there was a couple dozen games very similar to it. It just did not feel exciting and new. I enjoyed it, though, great production value and solid combat.
@gatsbythepig: Yeah, it is kinda silly now to do so.
Many years ago, once a game goes gold, it is printed off somewhere (usually Mexico) and then shipped to stores all over the country/USA in order to sale the games all at once. Even with careful planning the logistics of burning say 500k to 1 million games, printing the manual, jewel cases, boxing them, and shipping them to where they needed to be was very hard. Why there were shortages. And it made since to pre-order because it would take a while to supply all of the launch demand at once.
But now most games are sold via online stores, so products can send all of it to, Arkansas ahead of time. Shipping, and logistics is easier, as is manufacturing the initial batches. Of course digital, has reduce all of this down even more.
And since pre-order bonuses are basically all digital now, there is no difference between a regular copy and bonus pre-order beyond some print with a code, inside the jewel case.
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Sadly, my biggest reason for never pre-ordering anymore.... terribly broken games that are not quality tested. I have long since gotten past FOMO, and waiting for reviews or at least a patch or two, seems to save me time, frustration, and money. We all could name off a few dozens games, that were released in just terrible conditions, or worse so disappointing that my $60-70 could have been best sitting in my credit union earning %4, then at a Walmart, Amazon store.
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One last thing, I so miss the swag you could get for preordering from certain stores back 5th -6th gen. EB, Babbages, Toys, ah the good ole days. I still have a clock from Chrono Cross. Large cloth maps from Lunar silver star/ grandia, t-shirts from resident evils, and jewelry from powerstone. The competition was fierce, and it was great for gamers.
@girlusocrazy: I think all pre orders at amazon, walmart, newegg, gamestop are subject to change if the manufacturer changes the MSRP and this information is listed in tiny writing with pre-orders somewhere on those sites. I read an article about these preorders before. If the price is lower, you are issued a refund, if you paid full price ahead of time. If the price is higher, order gets updated, and must be paid before it ships. And subject to cancel, if for some reason the product gets cancelled.
I mean these online stores have had decades to figure this out.
I would like to see more CC functionality, from the eagle causing 'distraction - (decreased player aggro, decreased avoidance, increased hit/ crit) Also give the player more to do like, having the pet target certain classes, when they are marked, it allows the player massive increased damage at %50 aggro for short bursts only. Then the pet will pick other enemies also. Which means you have to be careful to not break cc and gain aggro. Also mobs that have fallen into traps, you can have the pet target the mobs for a % of damage, without dispelling the traps.
Would like to see more for other classes, this spec really needed some love.
@YumeriaYumi: I feel labor should fight for all it is worth. AI will eventually replace voice actors, and just like the industrial revolution, assembly lines, and computerization, it will move the work force in vastly new directions - for the good. But often times on the backs of that labor.
The biggest thing with labor strike right now, is who is accredited for their work (when an ai is trained on say Jennifer Hale's body of work and used in a video game), who gets credit, who gets paid, and can that person take their past body of work and use that for pay negotiations later on. See in Japan, any worker in certain fields was not allowed to use their past body of work as a negotiation for higher pay elsewhere. A company would claim all work and only acknowledge that they worked for them. That was just, how they felt, a worker was part of a company, and their work was not individual. It also kept pay low even amongst high demand.
Here in the states, workers do have rights over their body of work, and laws on the book in regards to it. They as creators, artists, developers,- had better fight for what they are now, in order to direct the future of their fields. AI will change all work as we know of, it will get rid of many jobs, it will create just as many more. Better to get to a position of steering then, being dragged along.
Just because an inevitable object is coming at you, doesn't mean you are without any control, do not lay down and let it roll over you.
@girlusocrazy: It's handles come down abruptly at 90 degree, which causes more stress and pain on your wrists. The shape is similar to the 8bit DO, the original DUKE xbox controller, and the dreamcast in ergonomics. I have no idea why they are using this, unless they are using the 8bitdo prefabs or wanting to save on material. If you compare this to the 9th gen xbox and PS5 controllers where the handles come down from the body at 30 degree ish angles the widths are 5/8" to 3/4" greater.
Put your hands like your holding a controller, thumbs up, in line with your wrists. Now move your hands outward or inward and see what shape and stress is being put on your wrists.
For young kids, or very skinny people you may not notice or care, but over the years its adds wear and tear. At middle age, carpal tunnel advancing pain.
There is a Power A that is built just like the xbox x controller, that is wireless with back paddles, that is decent enough for around $40- 70- the build is pretty good. usb/bt/plug. Works well for PC, and Nin, not sure on consoles.
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