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It is kinda funny considering FFXIV famously launched as a disaster and they spent like a decade desperately turning it around and ended up actually succeeding.
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May 5, 2022 15:58
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Ghost Leviathan posted:It is kinda funny considering FFXIV famously launched as a disaster and they spent like a decade desperately turning it around and ended up actually succeeding. Because Final Fantasy is kinda, you know, Square's biggest and most famous IP. Letting 1.0 sit there and taint the brand would have been a bad decision. The suits can't really justify that kind of investment on a brand new IP when they can just kill it and try again with another new IP down the line.
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May 5, 2022 16:05
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Destiny 2 is still a mess to be fair, even if it's extremely popular
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May 5, 2022 16:06
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BisbyWorl posted:Because Final Fantasy is kinda, you know, Square's biggest and most famous IP. Letting 1.0 sit there and taint the brand would have been a bad decision. Pretty much, yeah, I said the same thing in another thread. They couldn't afford for the game to be a failure, so the only option was to keep hammering away at it til people liked it.
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May 5, 2022 16:11
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Yeah, the producer and director who took over FFXIV after it's dismal launch has pretty much said that they went through all the effort to re-work and re-launch the game because it's a numbered Final Fantasy. If it was called something like "Final Fantasy: Eorzea Adventure Online" or whatever, they probably would have content to fix up and improve 1.0 and hope it found an audience. But since it was Final Fantasy XIV they basically made a whole new game instead. The cost of doing that probably did influence the ridiculous sales targets for Square's western studios though. Trying to make up for all they spent making the game twice. Veotax fucked around with this message at 16:24 on May 5, 2022 |
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May 5, 2022 16:20
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Squeenix royally hosed with People Can Fly quite recently. Outriders launched in a rough spot and needed some post launch TLC, but it was never intended to be an actual live service. It got the patches it needed and it’s big expansion is set to launch at the end of June//July… But AFAIK People Can Fly weren’t ever given access to the sales #! They have no idea how many people actually bought their game! Can you imagine how hard it would be to develop and update a multiplayer game without knowing the population? Squeenix have been treating their Western devs like dogshit and 2nd class citizens, even when a game is well received and gets good press.
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May 5, 2022 16:22
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Bust Rodd posted:Squeenix royally hosed with People Can Fly quite recently. Outriders launched in a rough spot and needed some post launch TLC, but it was never intended to be an actual live service. It got the patches it needed and it’s big expansion is set to launch at the end of June//July… I've never played it but isn't Outriders a Co-Op game? It seems inconceivable to me that the devs wouldn't have access to matchmaking and (if applicable) server data at least if that is the case even if the actual sales numbers were never explicitly stated. I guess if all of those components were entirely handled by a completely separate team, but that would introduce a whole host of additional issues that would boggle my mind. Like imagine controlling patch deployment or fixing multiplayer bugs in that scenario lol. But even us proles using steamcharts can get a rough overview of how big a playerbase is, albeit only on one platform.
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May 5, 2022 16:32
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Potsticker posted:This is what I'm really hoping the Dune survival game being made by the Conan Exiles people turns out to be. All dune media apart from the movies will treat the failsons work as on a par with his dads, because his dad is dead and can't control it.
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May 5, 2022 16:45
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Insurrectionist posted:I've never played it but isn't Outriders a Co-Op game? It seems inconceivable to me that the devs wouldn't have access to matchmaking and (if applicable) server data at least if that is the case even if the actual sales numbers were never explicitly stated. I guess if all of those components were entirely handled by a completely separate team, but that would introduce a whole host of additional issues that would boggle my mind. Like imagine controlling patch deployment or fixing multiplayer bugs in that scenario lol. But even us proles using steamcharts can get a rough overview of how big a playerbase is, albeit only on one platform. I have no idea about any of that, I’m just going off what the People Can Fly devs have said about how lovely it is to be kept in the dark, to be told that the game is well received and a success but to not be given sales figures.
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May 5, 2022 16:55
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Insurrectionist posted:I've never played it but isn't Outriders a Co-Op game? It seems inconceivable to me that the devs wouldn't have access to matchmaking and (if applicable) server data at least if that is the case even if the actual sales numbers were never explicitly stated. I guess if all of those components were entirely handled by a completely separate team, but that would introduce a whole host of additional issues that would boggle my mind. Like imagine controlling patch deployment or fixing multiplayer bugs in that scenario lol. But even us proles using steamcharts can get a rough overview of how big a playerbase is, albeit only on one platform. Potsticker posted:This is what I'm really hoping the Dune survival game being made by the Conan Exiles people turns out to be.
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May 6, 2022 00:21
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Spice Wars is kind of a hybrid of a 4x and RTS. I like it but I think I would've enjoyed it committing fully to either genre more.
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May 6, 2022 01:43
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Did we talk about this yet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6LYBW8cH4c
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May 6, 2022 02:15
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Ratios and Tendency posted:Did we talk about this yet Not sure what a bog standard game announcement has to do with industry dysfunction and legal issues surrounding workplace problems.
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May 6, 2022 02:39
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Rarity posted:At this point the only employees left at ActiBlizz are the lawyers Only people not just printing out resumes all day, anyways
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May 6, 2022 03:05
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Monthly reminder to not give blizzard your money
IncendiaC fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Oct 11, 2022 |
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May 6, 2022 03:50
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Here’s a new write up about Square-Enix & Outriders, it’s so weird. Apparently the game sold well enough that it surpassed Square’s expectations, but still not enough to actually turn a profit. The devs at People Can Fly aren’t sure if the game will EVER even turn a profit, but it’s also one of the only western IPs they didn’t just sell. https://www.tweaktown.com/news/86023/outriders-didnt-make-profit-in-2021-people-can-fly-confirms/index.html
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May 6, 2022 06:17
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Weird, but it's getting an expansion I guess. I hope that does well enough because I do like the game.
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May 6, 2022 06:44
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SubponticatePoster posted:
There's multiple Dune games, yeah. The RTS one just had a beta or early access launch or something. A friend was having a good time but said there's still a ways to go. EDIT: Mokinokaro is right and there's a lot of 4x elements to it, too.
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May 6, 2022 12:58
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Maenad posted:Their latest bid might be worse. I can't believe the NFT market is collapsing even after the good news that you can use multiple slurp juices on a single ape
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May 6, 2022 19:10
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https://twitter.com/imranzomg/status/1522620639789543424
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May 6, 2022 19:24
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Potsticker posted:There's multiple Dune games, yeah. The RTS one just had a beta or early access launch or something. A friend was having a good time but said there's still a ways to go. It's made by the French company who did Northgard, and is very much like that but with a few twists. So yeah, a 4X RTS hybrid thing.
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May 6, 2022 19:44
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Mokinokaro posted:Spice Wars is kind of a hybrid of a 4x and RTS. I like it but I think I would've enjoyed it committing fully to either genre more. We already have Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. Why try to build on perfection? 
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May 6, 2022 19:45
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DarkSol posted:We already have Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. Why try to build on perfection? 
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May 6, 2022 20:07
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DarkSol posted:We already have Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. Why try to build on perfection? Because you can't drag-select in that game. (It was a total banger, tho)
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May 7, 2022 11:36
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https://www.fanbyte.com/features/the-hopeful-beginning-and-abrupt-shuttering-of-funomena/ The People Make Games video already made Hunicke and Funomena look super bad - and this sounds even worse (especially the forced crunch, low morale and how personal info was weaponized against employees): quote:One source relayed a story where they left a virtual meeting saying they would not be able to work after hours that night, prompting Hunicke to loudly joke to the rest of the attendees that the employee “probably can’t work as hard because their marriage is in trouble and they need to take care of that.” The source said they closed the meeting window on a freeze frame of Hunicke laughing at her own joke.
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May 7, 2022 12:43
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kirbysuperstar posted:Weird, but it's getting an expansion I guess. I hope that does well enough because I do like the game. It's kind of in an odd place because they pushed it as a Destiny-like but it's more of a singleplayer experience with co-op and one endgame MP activity. It's also got servers like a GaaS but no microtransactions whatsoever to get steady income (which is where games like Destiny make their money.)
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May 7, 2022 12:48
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I have a lot of unprocessed angst about my personal experiences on the academic and theory side of game development I was one of the founding fledglings at new york university's game design program, before it was even a program, really Every single person was a loving shitshow of a bad, bad, bad person, staff and student alike Except for frank lantz, he gets a small pass And Ian bogost, too (he gets a medium-to-large pass) Jesper juul is personally responsible for me saying gently caress this, I'm out and just getting a doctorate in a different field instead Just ugh
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May 8, 2022 04:11
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I used to post with Frank on the old man Murray boards back in the day, glad he was ok.
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May 8, 2022 08:47
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i really, really loved glitch, this one stings 
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May 8, 2022 10:03
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Bust Rodd posted:Here’s a new write up about Square-Enix & Outriders, it’s so weird. Apparently the game sold well enough that it surpassed Square’s expectations, but still not enough to actually turn a profit. The devs at People Can Fly aren’t sure if the game will EVER even turn a profit, but it’s also one of the only western IPs they didn’t just sell. "Turn a profit" is a really weird framing here (I understand it's not your framing). Outriders has certainly turned a profit, just not for People Can Fly. Most games published with the "traditional" (though increasingly-rare) model won't give a royalty check until the royalties earned by the developer surpass their advance. The formula might be ((Gross - <agreed-upon costs>) * (royalties percentage)) - PCF's advance. Depending on where things like marketing & distribution go into the formula, the publisher can make really just a shitload of profits before the developer sees a dime. It's insanely common for that to just never happen- most developers back in the day were living advance to advance. That's become less common because most developers get set up, make one game, and then get bought. Or they figure out their own funding and take all the profits or at least start getting royalties immediately after the marketing is paid for. Or they're indie and publish through steam. PCF is probably pissed because they don't know if they're close to seeing a royalties check or not.
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May 8, 2022 22:27
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drat, the Wattam folks.
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May 9, 2022 07:14
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Apogee founder comments on the DNF leak and the culture at the time. https://www.apogeeent.com/devblog/dnf-truth SCOTT MILLER, APOGEE FOUNDER posted:Looks like someone leaked a build of Duke Nukem Forever from 2001. Anyone expecting much of a playable game will be disappointed. The game's brilliant trailer from that period definitely over-represented what was actually playable in the game. I hate seeing people in management complain about heavy understaffing. Like dude, you can hire more people and pay existing employees better, or find out why people keep quitting. I don't think Duke Nukem really has a place in today's cultural landscape.
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May 11, 2022 07:32
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Heran Bago posted:Apogee founder comments on the DNF leak and the culture at the time. There’s another video I can’t remember that tracks the history of the various DNF development teams pretty well (the Wha Happen? maybe) with footage and interviews of when it was like ten people in a house desperately trying to keep it going but as far as I remember this video by the 8bit guy of all people (big Internet Dork himself) actually does a pretty good job of explaining why 3d Realms at the time had a fair amount of difficulty recruiting and keeping employees: https://youtu.be/mXSdikcUuo0 It wasn’t the management being creeps, it wasn’t bad pay, it pretty much came down to location and incredible competition for game developers at the time.
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May 11, 2022 07:42
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It's interesting that the most misogynistic and disgusting part of Duke Nukem Forever 2011 (the alien hive) which caused a huge controversy on release isn't in the leak of the 2001 build or even referenced in the files. That seems to be something unwisely added in a later build, probably around the time they wanted to crib from Half-Life 2's physics puzzles.
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May 11, 2022 08:04
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I could 100% see Randy Pitchford stumbling into the offices post-acquisition and going "What we really need in this game is a big wall of tits you can slap around!"
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May 11, 2022 08:20
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Heran Bago posted:Apogee founder comments on the DNF leak and the culture at the time. I imagine they couldn't just hire new people due to Broussard insisting on adding new features and restarting development over and over again was chewing through their budget like crazy. Also I feel like Duke could definitely fit in the small-scale boomer shooter revival we've been having the last couple of years. Instead of it being a small episode in DN3D World Tour (gently caress you Randy), just make a whole new Build game like the new 3D Realms did with Ion Fury.
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May 11, 2022 08:38
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A shooter with lots of "immersive sim" style interactables and constant references and jokes? I can't imagine that being popular nowadays.
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May 11, 2022 08:47
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Heran Bago posted:I hate seeing people in management complain about heavy understaffing. Like dude, you can hire more people and pay existing employees better, or find out why people keep quitting. People like to feel like their work matters. When you just get thrown in the deep end with no end date and unclear expectations it's really miserable. You would think you'd be happy to just show up and get a paycheck but inevitably 'This is hosed and there's nothing I can do to fix it' ends up being a huge drag.
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May 11, 2022 08:53
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The leak shows a game with a lot of potential, the actual nexus point seems to be the choice to switch to a new rendering engine that required reworking all the level and art assets they had created up until that point. If they hadn't done that and instead went with the design they had then maybe we could have had a fairly good Half Life/Deus Ex influenced Duke instead of the Halo/COD aping trainwreck it became. It was mismanagement at the top. Scott and George slinging poo poo at each other and everyone under them explains a lot.
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May 11, 2022 09:16
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I don't quite agree that Duke is dated and wouldn't work today. Aspects of Duke 3D and definitely Forever, sure but those games are the ones which introduces the dated and problematic stuff to begin with, Forever way moreso than 3D at that. Remember, the first Duke Nukem game characterized him as an 80s action hero goofball who got mad when an evil cyborg scientist tried to take over the world and stopped him from watching Oprah, then he kicked the mad scientists rear end so hard the villain had to time travel to the future to escape from Duke's wrath and Duke followed, like the Terminator but in reverse. There was nothing misogynistic about that, it was just cheesy dumb. That aspect of him would still absolutely work today. He just needs a development team who aren't full of shitheads.
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May 11, 2022 09:18
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