GV writes: Last week’s Media Create sales in Japan should have opened the eyes of even the staunchest Vita supporter.
"The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn’t finished.
This week, Xbox began offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax, which it purchased in 2020 for $7.5 billion, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way.
Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said.
Game Pass has not seen the massive growth that Xbox boss Phil Spencer may have been hoping for."
"Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said"
So what you're saying is...you bought all these studios and you guys can't run them.
Jesus.
Reports are suggesting that Game Pass will be getting a price hike soon and that Call of Duty may not be added to the day one offering. I honestly have a hard time believing this but it does beg the question why exactly did GP fail? I think the answer is that it just didn't get the growth that it anticipated. Jim was right but I wish he wasn't because at the end of the day, its gamers, devs and other front-line workers who have to absorb the blow for Spencer and team's miscalculations.
For all the armchair executives who were calling for Sony to release its big-budget AAA games on PS+, the same exact thing would have happened at PlayStation. Game Pass has killed Xbox. Congrats.
"While the 20 year anniversary edition of Nordic Game, NG24 Spring's homepage on 21-24 May in Malmö, Sweden, is getting closer, the organizers announced that more than 150 speakers are now lined up for the show." - Nordic Game.
The gaming industry has drifted away from offering full-fledged games to putting unfinished titles that are jam-packed with microtransactions on the market.
It's not the fault of the gaming industry. Gamers were told what was happening, were warned about where this would lead, did nothing, and now are acting like it's the fault of publishers that they kept buying these games and investing in MTX. If only those gamers at that time felt as strongly about these things as they do Helldivers 2.
This is what amazed me the most when playing hours upon hours of stellar Blade version 1.00.00 no bugs, no crashes, no sudden drops in frames, no screen tear, no falling from the world, just a complete package on a game under 50GB.
I think Korea will play a major role in gaming in the long run , because they're releasing banger after banger.
Still pretty common to find if you stay away from the AAA publishers, in the last 10yrs ive probably only bought like 3 games combined from EA/ACTIVISION/UBISOFT. Even now i still buy games that work right out the box perfectly fine. Just recently got like 6hrs into Alone in the Dark, and not a single sign of any of that bs, really enjoying my time with it.
And we as gamers have to accept our role in that. Constantly never being satisfied. Constantly demanding more while paying less. Constantly demanding better frame rates, better graphics, more modes and faster faster faster…. Then review bombing the product when a demand isn’t met. Meanwhile those same demands are making games more difficult, complex and more expensive to create than ever before, on shrinking timelines that burn out employees and make their lives miserable.
You wanna know why so many games get delayed? Cuz the original release dates weren’t realistic to begin with, but you can’t tell a gamer their game is further away than they want to hear. Some dev or game designer will be threatened physically. That builds even more pressure and rushing. We are officially squeezing water out of rocks and still complaining about that how hard you have to squeeze the rock be just waiting for rain. Most of the time we take it out on the developing studio, when it’s the publisher making the calls.
All you need to do is read the comments on most websites and social media to see how toxic, entitled and petty the gaming community at large is, and realize how that transforms into impossible expectations on the parts of game makers.
This is one battle that gamers have never won, hahaha. They were parading recently for their "win" against Sony. Where's the energy for this one, guys? LMAO!
This weeks numbers were pretty bad as well.
Why do people expect?PSV doesn't have enough support/content.
No killer app for Japan= no sales. Graphics hoar games like Uncharted aren't enough. Unless you're an American game journalist.
PSVita is just about now getting a sales boost by the PS+ PSVita instant game collection.
I see PS3 users that are PS+ subscriber too jumping in at this very moment, as they see the free content for PSVita on their subscription without any extra costs for PS+. If they don't buy a PSVita they feel they're missing out on the content.
Even though the price still has to drop below 200, to get closer to the 3DS pricelevel and Sony needs to get Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy etc on board for Japan, Black Friday and Christmas sales will look a lot better with this PS+ support for PSVita.
And those saying 3DS does so much better in games, it does not. All it does is rehashing the same old 1st party Nintendo IP's that the Wii did too. And the 3DS hardware is rubbish compared to the powerful PSVita.
EDIT
@ Gordon
Go read on the Playstation Blogs with the PS+ introduction instant game collection for the PSVita, people on the spot saying they bought or are buying one because of this. People on N4G forums too, on other websites same.
You'll see the sales go up in upcoming sales reports. Oh and pricedrops are incoming. Sony is testing in small countries like overhere, a PSVita Wifi down from 250 to about 190, a PSV 3G down from 299 to about 215, a PSV + game and 4GB memcard for 225. Check the picture attached
Sony has invested A LOT into PSP. They still have to make more money from it, before they are finally done with it.
Sony also knows the schedule of (rather small) Japanese third party devs who are still working on PSP projects. I think Sony isn't really going to start pushing Vita until Q2 of 2013, at the earliest.
They even told Kenji Inafune (working on Soul Sacrifice) to continue polishing the game, when he reported to SCEJ that he actually could release the game in this Winter.