MWEB GameZone writer, Delyth Angharad, takes a look at the cost of making money to game quality. She focuses on Electronic Arts and Activision as the two worst culprits in the video games industry.
There are no thoughtful ads in Video Games, EA. Leave them be.
I think the only type of games that can gets away with it would be sport games, having those sponsors ads on the side like on real life.
But don't put freaking Doritos ads in Star Wars or something, it breaks the immersion. If it is a pop-up ads, then big no.
EA coming back for the crown of being perceived as the worst company in gaming.
One of my favorite series is the THPS franchise, and it was packed with ads, but it didn't bother me. Posters for skateboard companies, JEEP, and Nokia phones. It did sort of fit in with the game world, but that was the past, these days ad would be intentionally intrusive or unskippable loading screen type of imagery. Ugh, I know EA would do it in a horrible fashion. Screw them.
Microsoft's Activision subsidiary announced today that it is opening a new game development studio to take advantage of the huge talent pool growing in Poland. It'll be the second Activision studio based in the region, joining Infinity Ward Krakow, although this studio is, in fact, not working on Call of Duty.
The details for multiple future Call Of Duty games appear to have leaked, including a follow-up to Advanced Warfare.
Great read and I agree with Del. Over the past few years we've seen a steady decline in game quality, it's all become so generic and mass friendly - money focused. Companies that used to make games that you wanted to play over and over don't anymore.
I also think that this is the reason why we have seen so many famous names in the Industry leave triple A to form Indie Studios. Unless the big studios wisen up I also predict that Indie will be where it's at.
Nicely put together article, but at the end of the day, the thing that will sway these guys is who is putting down money for the product.
CCP Games went through something like this with their Incarna expansion for EVE Online - it sucked, people stopped subbing , management paid attention, heads rolled, the company changed its direction, they are in a better place now overall. It can happen, but the scale is larger with EA and Actiblizz, so numerically, something drastic has to happen.
Hardcore gamers would blame casual gamers for the "money-driven" decline in quality.
EA did publish Mass Effect. I think that it comes down to how much crap a developer is willing to take. Some companies crumble quicker than a stale cookie, others are stronger :)