Forbes contributor, Eric Kain weighs in on game reviews and whether or not the gaming media has been corrupted by big business.
MSI celebrates the 20th anniversary of Monster Hunter with this unique bundle that features a matching RTX 4060 Ti and game controller.
Companies, particularly public companies like Microsoft, need to grow.
i mean its pretty simple, they spent close to 30 billion in acquiring activision, they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen.
its just shit that because of MS's miscalculation alot of people lost their jobs.
This is exactly what many people said would happen including the CMA and FTC. Lies lies and more lies and they allowed a $69 billion buy out to happen.
gold,
You can't be serious, right?
Do you think that MS thought they would make 80bill in a year & Half? They haven't even released titles under MS yet, lol.
But in fact, that A/B revenue is already paying off, look at the last earnings call. That $80 billion is long-term money, my guy, no sane person/company would think they would make that back in any short-term situation, it's a long-term investment.
Let's play silly then. If MS's reason for laying off staff and closing studios was due(which it really was not) to the A/B deal, tell me what Sony's reason was for past studio closures, the recent 900-person layoffs, closing Sony London, shutting down Dreams, and closing Japan Studio? Zipper? Psygnosis? cuts at all their internal studios.
Keep in mind, you are claiming MS's reason is because of the A/B deal; please explain Sony's reason.
this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt.
and of course not, but im pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. they didnt, and closed off some studios.
its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case.
(It really was) due to the Activision Blizzard deal and the loss of physical sales due to gamepass. You keep bringing up Sony in all your posts about this, stop deflecting and trying to change the topic, this is about MS and what they are doing.
once in a while you see someone too invested in their make-believe console war that everything happened has to be connected to said war…
a bit of banter between fans is normal, this crusade you’re doing now isn’t.
Wow idiotic. You bring up very old closures not that there haven't been recent ones from Playstations, but, seriously stop deflecting. This has NOTHING to do with Playstation.
Does Playstation got $3 trillion behind them and daddies wallet? No they don't so stop making a fool of yourself.
Xbox has never been profitable really and they just keep losing money so between their worst hardware sales, terrible 3rd party sales and now terrible 1st party sales.
Gamepass numbers that are no longer being announced shows their numbers after 3 years of missed targets has flatlined. Plus their recent gains up to 34 million were ONLY because they folded Gold members in too. Absolutely take your idiotic rhetoric out of here. Keep on topic without deflecting.
How dare you mention Sony! Everyone here knows when Sony closes a studio and lay off workers it was the right thing to do. Even when they bought Gaikai and fired almost everyone it was the right thing to do.
Gamers can be such hypocrites sometimes.
Drake,
"this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt."
You are correct that it's not an MS Vs Sony Topic, but when exaggeration and imagination mix from a one-sided social group, similar examples are needed to ground radical thoughts; in this instance, the example was that shutting down 3,4,5, even 6 studios during a restructure/ buyout/acquisition is not some anomaly(it can suck) that has to be dissected or spell doom and gloom.
"But I'm pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. They didn't, and they closed off some studios."
But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue.
"its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case."
The fact that they did make money, kinda throws this out the window, and besides, you don't wake up and say, hey let's close a studio, you look at the output, you look at the dev as a whole, the long term and short term, you weigh it against all other studios and goals, you keep key members, ect..then you close if they are the weakest links...which by MS analysis they were.
Again, I will make a small Sony comparison, just so some of you can understand and see past the bias; Insomniac, ND, and Bungie have made some of the best games ever created, yet Sony saw fit to cut jobs in every of these studios, even tho Insomniac & ND are the biggest producers of PS games, leagues ahead better than Tango and Arkane, yet, they saw cuts, mind you, while being the TOP produces of PS first party. They were told to cut costs, and more jobs may be on the line, and Bungie is being threatened by a hostile Sony takeover. Put that in perspective, as I know that layoffs and dev closures are different, but if the best of the best is getting cut off, it is less than surprising, that lesser studios are closing.
@Cheva,
My response fits well with your comments as well. You even went on to prove that the dev closures are not just due to A/B acquisition. Then you point out Sony has less money than MS, inferring that MS should keep devs open that they see as lesser earners, while Sony having less money makes it okay to close them. lol...it doesn't work that way.
im not reading all of that. u have ur opinion, i have mine.
thats rly it.
but this aint sony vs ms.
You're trying to compare a 100 billion company to a company that has 3 TRILLION worth. SIE has to live or die on their own. And in turn, PlayStation has helped the main company again and again. Sony has to balance out what is working and not working in the company.
While Xbox has Daddy Warbucks footing the bill to keep the platform afloat. They have been bleeding money from Nvidia hardware in the OG Xbox, the RROD fiasco, the attempted 2013 DRM nonsense and the lies about being the most powerful console in the world and the losses of paying out millions to prop up a service hoping it catches on with enough subscribers to justify its existence.
They're not comparable if Xbox isn't allowed to live or die by its actions. It's subsidized. Revenue isn't profit. And if they were profiting on their own, they wouldn't be closing developers. If they were profiting, they wouldn't need Daddy Warbucks spending 80 to 100 billion buying up 3rd party publishers to sustain a loss leading platform.
They stopped announcing game sales, stopped announcing hardware sales, stopped announcing game pass subscribers, they are putting games on their competitors platforms but you're telling us that they are doing great even after killing jobs and closing developers at Xbox.
Stop drinking the Kool aid. You're drunk.
Again at which point did Playstation have a $3 trillion company shift the market with a giant purchase?
"But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue."
Lol. No they didn't. Increased revenue was ONLY due to adding Activision Blizzard revenue in. Growth was only 1 percent. It's idiots like you that have no idea what they're talking about is why Xbox isn't better than it is. You guys just make excuses continually.
If Xbox got so much profit then why did they stop announcing hardware numbers? Why did they stop announcing Gamepass numbers? Oh right because they're NOT profitable. Their sales in every category has dropped off the face of the planet. It's why Spencer will be closing more studios and canceling upcoming projects too.
I am pretty sure MS knew this would happen and this was part of their plan. I mean if anyone with half a brain can see this happening I am pretty sure a multi billion company like MS knew this would happen
The whole strategy in buying Beth and Acti/Blizzard is for
1. Buy established games they can have under xbox because they have done a horrible job in building their portfolio internally for the past 15 years
2. Following from 1, try and boost xbox competitivenss against a dominat PS which MS after 3 tries still can't crack
3. Follolwing from 2, try and weaken Playstation dominance by taking out these massive multiplats from the PS
4. Following from 3, try and profit off from the PS domiance with selected games they will still have on the PS to make money like COD
5. Obviously get the IP's by buying them instead of creating them which again as I mentioned in number 1 they have been woeful in doing
None of these had anyting to do with keeping all the devs they accuried. MS has always been very shitty to Devs under them. Look at what happned to Bungie for example.
I believe MS in court truely mean it when they said they had to do something because PS was just too dominant. This was their last roll of the dice.
And from the looks of things. It has not panned out as MS had hoped. PS5 is still as dominant as ever and xbox is still behind. Worse still their MP's they got is not irreplaceable as they thought. Starfield? lol!. There have not been any major shift in momentum in this console war in their favor so now its time to start cutting their loses and it starts with the most expensive cost for any company. People.
for a comparison, sony laid of a bigger % of it's staff this year than ms, it's what companies sadly do nowadays. If you think with GP and Bethesda + acti aquisition they were looking for quick cash, you couldn't be more wrong. It hasn't even been a year, "they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen." shows you have 0 understanding of how a business operates.
They are going to use AI for a large portion of the game development process. Upper management need bonuses and the shareholders need more money. So, people will lose their jobs.
Maybe they were already using AI to make business decisions, which would explain why they closed Hi-Fi Rush's studio, then said they need more games like Hi-Fi Rush not long after that announcement.
They shouldn't have bought any studios. Some is okay...but they went on a shopping spree...stupid
The better question is why did Microsoft buy publishers for a service they were subsidizing they knew couldn't support.
And why are so many websites trying to make people feel sorry for Microsoft instead of truly criticizing the fact they are closing studios and killing jobs that would have been fine if Microsoft themselves hadn't gotten involved.
Quit feeling sorry for Microsoft and start feeling sorry for the industry and the all the gamers who are actually losing out.
THIS IS MICROSOFTS FAULT.
The first thing that happens after any major acquisition or merger is a consolidation of the whole new portfolio, which includes cutting any excess, bloat or portfolios that don't fit the larger MO of the big boy. So far, it's been par for the course with Microsoft and that's why gamers have been so against this acquisition. Tango Gameworks is the beginning. You think Microsoft wants to pay to keep small timers like Ninja Theory in business?
There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest that Microsoft will improve any of these studios, but plenty to suggest that they will get rid of what they don't need and hold onto the IP. The real agenda of the acquisition was always to acquire The Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. that will create millions in passive revenue stream for Microsoft regardless of where the games release. Microsoft simply wants their cut.
Because of Games Pass Microsoft has no interest in investing in new IP which is risky and requires creative talent they can neither nurture nor manage. Game Pass has also not grown in the way Microsoft expected it to, even post acquisitions. Therefore the logical thing to do, without serious money makers to release, is to cut as much cost as possible.
Nvidia is allegedly testing GPU coolers to handle up to 600W for the 50 series, reigniting discussion of melting 16-pin connectors.
I believe so because a lot of people gave it a great review, and a lot of people even though they claim to hate it are still playing it so Bioware needs to look into that as these people complaining as full of crap! Usually if you don't like something you stop entirely or trade it in for something else.
i really recommend people read this article. the title is kinda misleading, because it's a take on the overall state of journalism in the gaming industry. it's very insightful.
Not the fact that they are positive, because the game does deserve great reviews, but the fact that pretty much 95+% of reviewers never even said the ending was controversial, IN ANY WAY... they mention plot holes in any other game, but not even a single mention of ONE plothole in the ending?? you would have to be blind to not notice at least 2-3(out of the 15+)
I think ME3 has been the game that proves just how much influence a publisher can have over reviews, i would probably even bet there was some kind of NDA about the ending on most sites
I think we live in a time of scarce original ips, sequel after sequel, with a few games garnering most of the attention. Couple that with an exponential increase in technology and reviews become extremely difficult. Do u compare a sequel to it's predecessor or other games out now? What if there r none like it? What if it is extremely popular. Did it use the tech available in the right way. Is it held back by dying consoles? Is it so popular that u must overlook some flaws. Is it alot of fun but doesnt look great? Is it phenomenal but have a controversial aspect such as the ending? Did it stray too far or not far enough? Were expectations too high?
For mass effect 3, it may not be for everyone, but u cannot deny how amazing it is? We had such high expectations, so high, in fact, that we lose sight of what bioware has given us in this trilogy. If u loved it, u will be hard pressed to find something contemporary. Those who hated the ending only did so because they loved the game so much and cared so much about their character. They did a pretty good job with the story. We got to see everyone. There was alot of closure. Rpg elements did return, though not enough for many. They made it more vertical. They added a more than adequate multilateral. They didn't skimp. It deserves nothing less than a 9, an 8.5 if u hold it against all ur own expectations and thoughts that have brewed for years. I give it a 9.5, with all said and done...but then, who am I, and how did i weight my review. I didn't. I'm just sad it's over and any game that makes me as happy as mass effect has deserves nothing less.
Maybe I missed it cause I skimmed, but I think the real reasons are not being touched on. Personally I believe there were two key factors...
1) Does anyone remember when Eurogamer (thats the site right? I tried to block it out) gave Uncharted 3 a 8/10.
For most games a 8/10 is a good score. Many games score very low or cap off at the 6 or 7 range. Despite this, many users protested this score. N4G was littered with editorials on the subject. So one person thought it was less than perfect and that required 10+ sites to write long winded articles about it? Really?
If any site mentioned Mass Effect 3 had plot holes, N4G would have defended the game by saying "when the plot is this expansive you have to expect a few errors. Maybe if the reviewer didn't hate so much he could look past a few errors." A comment like this would get like 35+ agrees and maybe a few bubbles. When people see that maybe the reviewer was right, they won't recall the one guy who accurately protrayed the game, they will recall the 10+ guys who didn't and make it about every reviewer being wrong.
2) The far more likely answer is deadlines. The Mass Effect games are pretty long and some sites might get a review copy 4 days before release. Obviously once the game is out the review isn't as important, so many people are pressured to finish the game in whatever span they have it. Many gamers took around 50+ hours to actually beat the game and ALL THE PROBLEM ARE AT THE VERY END. Naturally not every reviewer is going to make it that far, which surly sucks, but how many games have a DRAMATIC shift in quality?
In the end, some gamers just like to follow trends. Ninja Gaiden 3 gets a 3/10 from IGN? The reviewer is a noob. Other sites give it a 5 - 7? They're clearly not realizing how bad it is. Some people need to accept that reviewers are just gamers who tell you their opinion with facts. No one is going to agree 100% of the time and no on can predict the next thing N4G hates... I am sure next next month there will be a new fiasco and we will forget about this.