80°

Microtransactions Cannot be Justified

Instead of fostering the free-to-play market with their own competitive titles, the big names decided to tear the free-to-play model apart and incorporate the spare parts into their own games. Unfortunately the only parts that they utilized were those that contained microtransactions.

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leviathyn.com
madpuppy4062d ago (Edited 4062d ago )

Reviewers are going to have to start basing games partially on the "rip-off level" of micro-transactions. whether they are crucial to completing a game "super rip off" or give an unfair advantage in multi-player "rip off" (skill is superseded by how much money your willing to pay for all the advantages.)

All these new ways Developers and Publishers are trying to bilk their already loyal, paying customers is so disillusioning, they are slowly killing gaming.

maybe what we need is another crash in the gaming industry like what happened in the 80's, have everyone reorganize and get back on track seeing what the customer really is,... the most important part of the industry.

baraka0074062d ago (Edited 4062d ago )

sure they can, they make money. I wish people were smart but that's another topic ;) lol got a disagree before my comment loaded you trolls are quick :P

MysticStrummer4062d ago

Of course they can be justified. It's funny that they have Dead Space 3 as the picture, since as far as I can tell all that DLC just helps out people who are too lazy to play the game correctly, earning their weapons and suits. That's not something I'd ever buy, but there's nothing wrong with selling shortcuts to people who want them. What sucks is when they sell you the end of the story you thought you already paid for. Microtransactions are fine in theory. It just matters how they are used by the devs. Shortcuts and cosmetic changes are fine, though I'd say Trophies/Achievements should be disabled if you buy a shortcut.

220°

EA Hopes to Use Generative AI to Drive Monetization and Make Development 30% More Efficient

Today Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson provided a look into his ideas for the use of generative AI in the company's development processes.

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techraptor.net
thorstein42d ago

I wonder what the next buzz word they'll slap in front of AI to make it sound exciting next? "Generative" as if it's creating its own content. Lol.

Cacabunga41d ago

EA is already dying a painful death..

peppeaccardo41d ago

i have a better idea .. why the whole exec team doesn't get replaced by chat bots ?

just_looken42d ago

Though i agree the ai thing is already in other forms of media there have been ai translations/scripts/voice over and even full ai commercials aired on tv. Ubisoft has created a ai game creator story/vo/music except the building of the game

The new unreal engine has auto terrain creation tools

In the world of greed in which it is winning without any major blow back ai is our future.

everyone want's biden dead on the mic or a criminal instead of a woman and now we are getting ai everything because no one will stop watching/playing ai created media.

GamerRN41d ago

Maybe they should just focus on making good games?

Just a thought...

Kiryu199241d ago

Exactly EA are just pure evil. When they are beating Bank of America to be voted the worst company to work for that’s saying a lot

Good thing I don’t buy their games day one and wait for deep deep sale years after launch (the select few games I am actually interested in)

Gaming is making so much money yet the greed of these companies is never ending

CEO’s and people on board making millions yet cutting jobs to those who are actually making the products

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 41d ago
Knightofelemia42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

EA is still a shady shitty company even with or without the help of Skynet. All they will use AI for is new ways to milk loot boxes and come up with the same sports title with a different year on the label. They are one company I truly do hate with a passion. They single handedly ruined some great franchise with their death touch. ME, Dead Space, Alice Returns, Dante's Inferno.

Stuart575642d ago

EA layoffs followed by 'Generative AI to Drive Monetization'

I knew it. Wonder what AI salary looks like? Nothing.

ChasterMies41d ago

I having a feeling that most of the layoffs in the industry are based on the idea that AI will do the same job for less.

DarXyde41d ago

Very likely, yes.

Made worse by the fact that the execs aren't changing their compensations.

My deepest fear at this point is that we are now in the capitalism endgame.

At this point, we really should just burn AI to the ground. Executives cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
How are those people expected to support families if everything gets automated?

Barlos42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

And take away creativity, and people's jobs as we've been seeing. Got it.

No thanks. I want my games created by people, not AI.

CobraKai42d ago

Exactly. If or when games start becoming more AI than people, im done with gaming. AI and companies like EA can suck donkey d***k.

just_looken42d ago

Though i agree remember this is no ps3/360 era were we got up to 3 games in one generation from on developer like gears/halo/bioware/sony/ms

The people today are pro esg/sweet baby for the most part AAA gaming is imploding right now.

We should be stepping back re evaluate everything as a whole this year xmen 97 written/directed by a woman that is nuts and its also being made by a group reshaping bodies to be less sexual like wtf. A dam famous cartoon from the 90's is being rebuilt with millions spent to be worse in everyway.

Gaming/movies/tv shows made today are worse than what we had 7years ago ai won't change this but that ai is also being made by these groups so either way we are screwed.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Eonjay41d ago

Don't be of afraid of women. Sexy characters in games and movies still exist. Got my Stellar Blade on preorder!!! Everything all the time doesn't need to be sexual...that's stupid, childish and dull.

Chocoburger42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

EA doesn't want to lose their title of worst gaming company ever, always trying their best to remain the champs!
What's sad is that they have so much potential to be a decent publisher.

SSX Tricky / SSX 3
Def Jam Vendetta / Fight for New York
NBA Street
NFL Steet
Mirror's Edge
Bad Company
Burnout 3 / 4 / 5

Remember when EA used to be awesome? It's all over with now. Unpolished, if not out-right broken games these days. Endless monetization and gambling in their sports games, and let's not forget wasting hours of your life trying to unlock characters or equipment using "surprise boxes!"

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430°

Naughty Dog’s Next Game Is “Really Ambitious” And Will Be “Really Hard” To Create

Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

H944d ago

"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough

helicoptergirl43d ago

Members of the team don't have to crunch anymore

helicoptergirl43d ago

According to people who work there

H943d ago

So the people who remained in a studio that had tons of workers quiting and others laid off said that they don't have to crunch, and you are just believing that

frostypants43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

They absolutely will wind up having to crunch. Happens at the end of almost every software project development cycle, especially with release date pressures. It's part of the job. Obviously they aren't in a crunch when they aren't in that late phase. But it's wishful thinking if they think they won't see that stress again. Druckmann himself seems to be aware of that.

helicoptergirl43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Yes I believe them. The people who want to crunch can do it. The people who mentally and physically can't, don't actually have to. Some have young babies at home. Things have changed since the Schreier report.

rlow143d ago (Edited 43d ago )

@helicoptergirl
It wishful thinking to think some workers can choose to crunch or not to do so. That’s akin to people you work with saying they don’t have to do work they don’t like and you’re the one that has to take up the slack. That’s not how things work. Especially if your the person assigned to a specific task that has to be completed for the development to move forward. It’s a team sport when it comes to making a game. As with most things in life. Now that they are a smaller group, it’s even more important for everyone to pull their weight. Peace

helicoptergirl43d ago

@rlow that was exactly the mentality before the exposure and it was talked about and reported on. It's different now. You know, sometimes things and attitudes just change for the better. They knew they needed to change and they have and they're not stopping trying to make the creative environment as good as it can be.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 43d ago
Tristan198243d ago

When someone pays another person to do a specific job in exchange for a certain rate of pay, it's called work.

H943d ago

They didn't sign to crunch and neither were they paid for it, people were hospitalized in Naughty Dog

MatrixxGT43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Exactly most of these people wouldn’t last a season in the trades.

-Foxtrot43d ago

I f******* love how many people are doing a complete 180 on their views of crunch culture despite the awful stories reported on over the many years just because we’re talking about NaughtyDog

You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about

“They signed a contract…it’s called work…that’s life…it’s a job”

I mean really guys, if this was EA you’d be having a field day

I bet you any money if any of these guys regardless of studio went in and said to their superior “Listen, don’t feel like the over time tonight, I’ll just stick to my normal contracted hours if that’s alright” I highly doubt they’d be given a warm response

Crows9043d ago

@h9

Actually yes they did. If overtime is mentioned...that's crunch.

Christopher43d ago

@Tristan1982: The problem is crunch is because of the inefficient management and sudden changes in projects. ND made major story changes based on some feedback, that results in months of rework, redesign, etc. And none of those changes were built into the project from the get-go, so they still have to meet a deadline.

@H9: One person. And they did sign up for crunch, ND is notorious for hiring people who don't mind it. That's the problem, they tell you who they are, people just aren't listening. And, they did get paid, just their QA level of people are paid shit, which is an industry issue for something so freaking important. And people wonder why we have such broken games at launch. Because companies don't want to pay to deliver as long as people will buy enough to get them past first few months of patches and then re-release a major patch with an expansion to get people to come back.

@-Foxtrot " You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about " -- N4G home of 'hold my beer' on that alone.

CantThinkOfAUsername43d ago

The kindda guy to guilt trip others into overwork or tell them to be better slaves ('employees'). Exactly what corps like. How does it taste?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 43d ago
anast43d ago

They get paid and they signed the contract. It's not a slave factory.

Shane Kim43d ago

Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people.

jwillj2k443d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Assuming you have a job, how would you feel working 80 hours a week for the same pay? You’ve not experienced crunch otherwise you wouldn’t be speaking like this.

senorfartcushion43d ago

As somebody who has crunched before. No, it wasn't my choice, no, you couldn't handle it, and no, you don't work in a better industry than I do.

Markusb3343d ago

exactly, get the game out before PS6 and if it takes crunch, or over time which you get paid for, get on with it

anast43d ago

"Assuming you have a job"

Assuming I haven't worked more for less, I suppose. And yes, I do.

"Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people."

I feel awful for the people that fought for the workers and got stuck holding the bag and lost everything.

"no, you couldn't handle it, "

You mean "I"

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 43d ago
Christopher43d ago

I really hope this isn't management BS stress. I get wanting to put the best out, finding the best new ways and concepts, and ensuring your design is just top notch and not wasteful and fulfilling, but when I hear some manager talking about this my first thought is "Are these jerks changing paradigms on a regular basis that's making people play catch up and redo work to meet their new goals?"

43d ago
Kiryu199243d ago

They lost so many great experienced talented people over the past 5 years

anast43d ago

Burnout is real. I even had to change my job because of it.

Markusb3343d ago

as if you dont get paid for crunch, get on with it,

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 43d ago
Stuart575643d ago

That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.

Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.

S2Killinit43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

From the article:

“Working on this new game, it’s really ambitious, parts of it are really hard,…”

That is the actual quote. They are already working on it.

LucasRuinedChildhood43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Yeah, a lot of people push fake narratives about NaughtyDog and misquote things. That quote is very straightforward.

https://twitter.com/MitchyD...
Above is the complete debunking of a false story that still gets spread around all the time. And the bad faith actors doing it also only pin it on Druckmann for some reason and ignore Straley. They want to portray Druckmann as an evil schemer, even when the false story they're spreading doesn't align with their narrative. They don't care about reality ...

SuckerPunch doesn't get even 1% of this criticism and they haven't provided any update whatsoever on their next game, and it's a sequel not a new IP, so turnaround would be quicker. That's not logical.

Markusb3343d ago

probably 7 years out at this point after wasting all that time on factions

Stuart575643d ago

Also, just off-topic slightly but..

Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.

isarai43d ago

Nah, quite literally every industry around is having layoffs.

shinoff218343d ago

I work in manufacturing. Layoffs here to. Especially people with no skill. I feel bad for them more then anything.

isarai43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

I work in advertisement, Im being laid off in may despite being the 3rd best on my team of 15 just under the team lead and assistant team lead, and the assistant team lead is out next week. Yet the last two years we've all been congratulated for record numbers. Times are weird.

shinoff218343d ago

Game drought. Lol what. I can't keep up. There's so many dope games releasing. I gotta ask what do you play

Stuart575643d ago

Not Naughty Dog games, not this gen. You know, Naughty Dog? Who the article is about?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 43d ago
Brazz43d ago

I hope they remember to make it realy fun to play.

FunAndGun43d ago

I hope it's extra woke and really fun to play.

Kneetos43d ago

And then Sony will lay off 900 more staff to save costs

Christopher43d ago

Is this supposed to be a big gotcha after Microsoft laid off 1,900 and we're ignoring that? Let alone the over 16,000 other layoffs from Microsoft in 2023?

Kneetos43d ago

This is an article talking about Sony, no one said anything about Microsoft

And we should always be reminded of it like people are doing with Microsoft, Sony shouldn't get a free pass either

Christopher43d ago (Edited 43d ago )

Yes, and this article is 100% about Sony firing people.

ND says new game is ambitious - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony publishes new gameplay video - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony announces weekend sale deals - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!

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80°

EA And Sony Layoffs, Entertainment News And More Skewedcast

Gareth, Justin, and JoeyZ look at Layoff news for EA and Sony and reasons behind the downturn in the industry and more.