“We’ve gone too far. The slow-motion blood spurts, the impalement by deadly assassins, the knives, shoulders, elbows to the throat… I think we’re just appealing to an adolescent mindset and calling it ‘mature’.”
These are the words of Warren Spector, the industry icon and respected designer behind Deus Ex and System Shock. Does he have a point? Are games really obsessed with graphic violence?
The BNBGAMING Roundtable panel discusses.
"This is GSD figures, which tracks all digital game sales from most major publishers (Nintendo data is absent), and physical game sales in all major European markets."
"The No.1 selling game in May this year was EA Sports FC 24, followed by Grand Theft Auto 5. F1 2024 races in at No.3. The PC release of Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut sends the PlayStation game up to No.4."
"11.6 million PC and console games were sold across European markets in May. Compared with the same five week period in 2023, that's a drop of nearly 17%."
"Hellblade 2, System Shock Remake, and the Rogue Prince of Persia all missing out on the Top 100."
I need an xbox fan to explain to me how Hellblade didn't even enter the top 100 since Game Pass doesn't effect sales and you guys are all just using the service as a trial to buy the games later.... /s (for sigh)
Also tell me again how 3.5 M sales first month for FF was bad...
If Microsoft didn't buy the developer this could have been a multiplatform game and if they wanted they still could have got it day 1 on Game Pass.
If I worked at Ninja Theory I'd be sprucing up my resume right about now.
Think it's pretty obvious to most that Hellblade 2 was a flop, it was setup to fail by skipping playstation and being sent to die on gamepass, especially on a platform where they openly mock playstation 'movie games', this being way more movie than any PS game.
But in defense of GP and HB2:
If the Game Pass strategy is continuesly working out and drawing in new subscriptions, wether monthly nor yearly ones, then lower box office sales ARE the logical consequence.
I sure wouldn't have expected HB2 missing even the Top 100, but if I would have wanted to try it out, I would have rather subscribed for a month than buying it.
I understand what Microsoft is trying to do with game pass.
But I guess the point is that this game had a five or six year dev cycle, the revenue this game needs to generate to cover the cost of it's creation is high. There is a zero percent chance that Hellblade 2 brought in enough subscribers to offset the loss of sales or pay for it's creation and the continued developmental costs of other game pass games in development.
Keep in mind as I recall this game didn't even make it into the top 20 most popular games on the xbox platform. And on Steam it was equally if not more unsuccessful with very low sales and player counts..
This is the whole problem and why Microsoft is closing studios and putting games on other devices, they aren't generating enough profits to maintain developmental costs.
" I would have rather subscribed for a month than buying it."
Well yea, that's how everyone thinks, that's the problem $9 vs $50 so Microsoft needs to attract 5 people to game pass for every single sale. But it's more complicated because they also have to pay for things like the monthly games they add to the service as well as continual developmental costs.
it's a sustainability problem.
@Einhander1972
No worries, I get you.
I personally dislike the GP model, too, because I view it as a useful tool to lock games behind licensing agreements you never know when they will get expired, forcing you to pay for it again.
I just wanted to point out that HB2 was, if anything else, heavily played through GP, otherwise it would have entered the charts.
So lower rankings in the charts could in fact just mean a game is (well) received over GP.
Going forward, it's one of the most interesting things to watch in the following years how Microsoft will be able to hold up to the effect GP has on box office revenue.
I am thrilled to see how the Xbox brand will evolve around this with their next hardware iteration.
Looking at the recent hardware sales news, you can bet their heads must be steaming right now to come up with a proper strategy around GP.
My take is that you can bet Microsoft will be going or at least heavily evaluating becoming a full 3rd-party-publisher, even with their biggest IPs.
As of now, I can't see any other way how they would be able to keep the GP sustainable pumping out AA-AAA games day one.
Many of them with development costs well above 50 or even 100+ million USD. And subsequent support work going into them over years after release.
I feel like, you have a rational view of the issues, and I also "get you".
Just one thing I disagree with, though you say could so I assume your just being optimistic or glass half full.
"I just wanted to point out that HB2 was, if anything else, heavily played through GP, otherwise it would have entered the charts. So lower rankings in the charts could in fact just mean a game is (well) received over GP."
I don't think that is what happened, the game didn't even crack the top 20 on xbox's own ranking system. That is my opinion on the performance of the game.
I'm not sure there is a path to sustainability, game pass is a bit like an ouroboros the more people adopt it the more it canabalizes the platform and the industry over all.
"I don't think that is what happened, the game didn't even crack the top 20 on xbox's own ranking system."
Ouch.
I did not know that. Sorry if you had mentioned it before, I must have overlooked it.
Well, what can I say.
HB2 wasn't meant to be for everyone, but leading up to its release it got definitely hyped like it was by a part of the Xbox community.
I am saddened for Ninja Theory, I bet they would have had a bigger success if they still were 3rd party.
But I have to say that HB on its own was probably never created to be a system seller, but rather fullfilling their own vision of creation. Which in fact is what videogames are all about in the first place.
I wrap it up.
Indiana Jones and COD incoming - wonder how their numbers will look like.
It's exciting, I mean it truly is, to see GP effects on so many titles still coming up. especially on the juggernaut that CoD is.
Here we go.. too much barking about EA CEO getting a big bonus when the same ones are buying his games. So pathetic
Interesting that EAFC 24 still made top sales, considering it was the free game on PS+. Unless that counts as a purchase?
Hellblade has always been overrated, even the original. Just because a game does something different, doesn't make it amazing. Great graphics and a unique experience... that's really it. That doesn't make up for the rest. Gameplay is terrible, puzzles are terrible, no replay value, extremely short.
The original was only $30, so it was more acceptable. But the sequel brought nothing new to the table.
Eurogamer: "Xbox's Matt Booty has spoken more on the closure of Tango Gameworks earlier this year."
I call BS on this. All metrics were met apparently or was that another lie. There's something deeper happening within xbox's management
He is referring to this tweet by Greenberg which Spencer retweeted.
https://twitter.com/aarongr...
Wood is arguing that MS was either lying then when they claimed the game was a success or they are lying now by giving excuses for shutting down the studio.
What part irks you sir? My opinion that xbox has a management problem or stating xbox heads said metrics were met and the game was a success. They closed the studio that released one of xbox's most successful new ips in a very long time. There's a lie somewhere don't you think or are you the eyes wide shut type
I think we all have an inside scoop at this point. MS has lied so often that we all know what to expect from them.
I don't know that he's lying. The heads at Xbox tend to be forthcoming in painfully indirect ways.
The article notes the exit of Shinji Mikami which I also believe was a factor, but Arkane is a different situation.
Perhaps the issue with everyone's assessment is that, because they closed around the same time, everyone assumes the reasons are the same.
Occam's razor here: Tango lost its value to Microsoft with Mikami out and Arkane just dropped the ball spectacularly.
All being said, Booty is clearly lying about one thing: the notion that anything mentioned in this interview was done "out of respect for the staff" is a bold faced lie. They closed the studio while the staff were on vacation in Japan.
Miss me with that, Booty.
You said "I don't know that he's lying."
And later you said:
"All being said, Booty is clearly lying "
Are you ok?
Spare me the pedantry.
I'm very clearly talking about two different things:
When it comes to telling you about the future or actions taken broadly, they're indirect, but technically not lies. The go-to example is Rise of the Tomb Raider "coming exclusively to Xbox One in 2014." That wasn't a lie, but if you don't read between the lines, you'll think that's a lie. More recently, they tout new Xbox "hardware" which is incredibly ambiguous. It's sketchy, and intentionally vague, but calling it a lie is a bit too heavy handed. In reality, they say things in a way to get you to draw incorrect conclusions and they can blame you for misinterpreting.
I'm saying I don't know how much of what Booty is saying is truthful, intentionally vague, etc.
But on the very specific issue I cite (i.e., wanting to be respectful of staff), he's being dishonest—and it is very clearly a footnote to the broader point being made.
I shouldn't have to explain that in such explicit detail, but clear enough?
‘Best lineup in Xbox history’ advertised during holiday season -cancels Scalebound and Fable after holiday season.
Not a lie. They had a good lineup. They just flipped the scripped after holiday season sales. What they advertised isn’t what the customer receives. Bait and switch
I recall seeing interviews where Shinji Mikami said he had no involvement in the development of HiFi Rush, it was a European guy who directed the game I believe.
So even if its true that Shinji leaving was a loss, closing the studio still doesn't pass the sniff test to me. They shut a great studio who had just put out Xbox' best game in years which had no input from Mikami.
MS can't help but lie, they always have, scummy company.
The gaming media better get on board with these sort of articles as MS buying up the industry means you guys won't get review copies or exclusive news unless you push the MS narrative.
The MS narrative "it's everyone else's fault."
WARNING ⚠️ SARCASM AHEAD WARNING ⚠️ sure they have an awful management with sexual harassment and embezzlement of funds so let’s close the studio we just purchased and leave games in the table. END OF SARCASM
( insert here a comic strip of guy thrown out of window for suggesting firing the management )
Elden Ring's manga has been put on hiatus so that the artist can play the DLC.
I feel there is a nice balance and variety of games for fans of violent and non violent software