There have been two hot topics in 2018. One is crunch, the idea that companies are forcing or leaving their employees little choice but to work 80-hour days. The other has to do with delays, as a lot of titles slipped into 2019. These may seem like separate topics, but the two are quite connected. Basically, we should be hoping and pressuring companies to avoid and abolish crunch, even if it means delays of anticipated titles.
Intercept Games, the developer of space sim Kerbal Space Program 2, appears to have been shut down by parent company Take-Two.
As part of previously-announced layoffs, Take-Two Interactive is closing Intercept Games and Roll7.
I loved Rollerdrome and was looking forward to a Rollerdrome 2. 😐
Don't want to be melodramatic but as far you can be upset over video-game news ... bit heartbroken.
I feel like there's a trend of well made games like this going largely ignored by the gaming audience. It's quite frustrating. I hope the devs form a new studio but I suppose they'd have to start again from scratch.
"I feel like there's a trend of well made games like this going largely ignored by the gaming audience."
Yep. I'd love to know how many of us actually bought this game, rather than just getting it on Gamepass or PS Plus. Probably a shockingly low number. Steam concurrents topped out at 419.
I know it's anecdotal, but when I think of my favorite indie games, I still largely think of titles that came out in the 2009-2015 range. Maybe with less competition it was easier to stand out then, but I just felt like at that time there was more recognition of the really great indie games that were worth your time.
Olliolli 2, olliolli world and rollerdrome are some of my favorite indies of all time. This industry is disgusting lately.
it's not industry's fault, it's the consumers fault. Audience just wants to play shooter/Battle Royale etc...
No. It's the publisher's fixation on profit margins. They only want the most profitable of products. It's greed.
I wouldn't blame consumers entirely either. If shooters and Battle Royal is all we're given then it's all we've got to buy. If the AAA industry wouldn't follow trends so obsessively it'd be better varied.
There is fault to go around. Some of it is on consumers for sure. We whine constantly about live service games, but then we play them anyway and ignore better smaller titles.
But publishers and platform holders bear some responsibility too. You hear stories come out from indie devs who had big hits in the late PS3/360 to early PS4/XONE window who can barely move units now, and some of that is definitely failure to advertise and poor discoverability. During that era I felt like I reliably heard about the worthwhile indies, and now I don't.
Then there is the game pass effect (and PS Plus to a lesser extent). So many consumers have now been trained to expect to get indies with their subscriptions, they don't want to pay $20-$40 for them anymore.
When voting with one's wallet goes wrong. I prsonally have no problem with AA or indie games. Often times those are some of the best experiences to be had in gaming. Unfortunately a lot of gamers thumb their noses at indies however. There are success stories but there are just as many casualties or at least it feels that way sometimes.
Has anyone actually taken a look at the economy? If you're really looking to blame someone for layoffs and closers, then maybe blame the people at the top making the bad decisions tanking the economies.
It's like some of you live in a little bubble oblivious to what's going on around the globe.
If the games made money the studios wouldn’t be closing. Blame consumers for not supporting “indies”
I've got to disagree with the comments blaming consumers. Yes that is a part of it but by and large the money men are closing studios and sacking staff to increase profitability. Let's not forget the obscene salaries they're on compared to the people who actually make the games. Take 2 are not short of cash, this didn't have to happen.
The thing is, some of the Indie devs closing are really independent. In other words, we can blame Take 2 here, but who can we blame other than the consumers when a fully independent dev shuts down because their games aren't selling? There is an answer to that question, it just isn't greedy publishers, even if they are the most fun to blame.
Last year, Take-Two president and CEO both got paid 72M combined as a bonus. They could have paid the 600 employees they laid off 60K a year and still get half of that (36M). Strauss' compensation alone is 578:1 compared to a T2 employee's.
We created the industry by our purchasing decisions/actions. The industry is slowly imploding. At some point we may be left only with safe mainstays (COD, Fortnite) and franchise/movie tie-ins (Indiana Jones, Spiderman, Batman, Star Wars), along with a contingent of very low budget indie stuff if it can turn a profit.
Sad.
I loved Olli Olli.
I wanted to like Rollerdrome a lot more than I actually did. Shame about the studio though
Watch the Batman: Arkham Shadow teaser trailer for the next game in the Batman: Arkham franchise, releasing exclusively on the Meta Quest 3 in late 2024.Evil stalks the streets. Gotham City is in danger. And you’re the only one who can save it. Check out the teaser for the upcoming Batman VR game.Tune into Summer Game Fest 2024 on June 7 at 2pm PT/ 5pm ET/ 10pm BST/ June 8 at 7am AEST for the official Batman: Arkham Shadow world premiere reveal from Camouflaj and Oculus Studios, in partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC.
Nice to see some VR games following Batman Arkham!
Was a huge fan of Batman Vr on PSVR :)
Quest 3 only is a letdown.. need to see what the experience will be like.
Looks like Ratcatcher will be the main villain in this game.. you gotta love thos rat waves in VR. Was already too much with A Plague Tale Requiem…
Also gives hope WB is not giving up on Arkham series.. hopefully a Rocksteady full blown Batman game after the suicide mission they just got..
I would not be surprised if a PSVR2 version is announced after.
If there's none, It would mean that devs truly believe that PSVR2 is dead.
And really loved Plague tale Requiem (feel bad about the ending)
"If there's none, It would mean that devs truly believe that PSVR2 is dead."
Not really. It would mean Meta pad for exclusivity.
Regarding PSVR2 dying don't believe the FUD, it's healthy, has a lot of great things coming, and won't die for many years.
But that being said it looks like a great game.
@Babadook
Not every company uses Sony's tactics of paying with the idea of removing content from others platform
case in point of Meta releasing a " Free" update PSVR2 patch for Beat Sabers while publishing games like Starwars Tales from the Galaxy.
But since we should not listen to the FUD how about listening to the devs of Rec Room the most popular social VR app about the PSVR 2 version of the game
"No current plans to bring RR to PSVR2. We’ve looked into it, it’s a non-trivial port, and we haven’t found a way to make it make economic sense. In an ideal world we would love to bring RR to PSVR2, but we just can’t justify the cost based on the numbers. Sucks I know, but that’s the truth.”
https://www.roadtovr.com/re...
Shame that something like this won't be on psvr2. Sony really has to step up on this front. There's a bunch of neat and nifty games out there for it. I'll end up getting one once I get caught up buying all the rpgs I've missed these last few years. Anyway I can't justify spending money on this with only a couple major vr titles. Re4 doesn't cut it for me since I was never a huge fan of the game. To see this batman as an exclusive, unless I'm wrong. Sony gotta pump something up
Sadly Camouflaj was acquired by Meta in 2022 when Sony allowed the psvr Iron man game to be ported to the quest, but given the amount of cash meta is losing never say never…..
It'll be a timed exclusive the VR market is far to small to have true exclusives unless meta or Sony shell out millions of dollars to develop them exclusively.
Extremely common for VR studios to run very lean staffing wise take smaller projects and aim for mobile, and psvr2 and possibly PC.
Probably also why so many VR games get released so buggy to
What if Gotham Knights was a direct sequel to the Arkhamverse and was a battle for the cowl storyline, but the the traditional fighting mechanics while still being coop optional? What if SSKTJL wasn't set in the Arkhamverse and a wholey elseworlds story? What if this new batman game wasn't just VR cobblygook?
All vr games need to be muliplatform. In order for the medium to grow we need as many hands on the software as possible. Dick around with exclusives once vr as a format it's established and the general public perception is more accepting.
I don't think delays are good either.
Why crunch happens is due to bad management. Delays are usually a sign of that, too. Sure you can look at delays as in "they're trying to polish the product with extra time", but I find delays are usually a result of them not making deadlines, not that they are finished with the game and will use that time to make it better...
80 hour days?? Dont think thats possible.
Red dead 2 or duke nukem forever
Why being stabbed is bad and getting shot is good.