40°

If Game Studios Made Movies

Well, it’s been a weird couple of years for the entertainment industry, hasn’t it? After the video game industry collapsed in 2018 due to the astronomical development costs and Atari’s failed ET reboot, the few companies that weren’t driven immediately bankrupt decided to turn their attentions to film. Were they a success? Well, lets look back at some of my reviews of these films.

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thelatenightgamer.com
170°

Bethesda Game Studios developers form 'wall to wall' union

The Fallout and Elder Scrolls developer is a union shop now.

porkChop6d ago

That's good to see. For the last 5-10 years every spring the gaming industry has seen mass layoffs after reporting record profits. It's disgusting. This industry needs more unionization to offer some protection to the people who make these games possible.

DarXyde5d ago

Many industries need unions.

Michiel19894d ago

that's the price you pay to conduct your business in the land of the free. Stuff like that doesn't happen over here

coldfire9844d ago

Unions are rarely if ever good for the consumer. Often good for the worker but not for us consumers.

Christopher4d ago

Yes, consumers no longer benefit from overworked and underpaid labor, aka decrease in overhead that allows them to sell goods made at a lower price. Kind of the reason things are made in China rather than the U.S. Well thought out.

But, now hear me out, what if the 'good to see' comment wasn't about being a consumer but a caring, apathetic fellow human being who wants to see people get paid what they're worth and not just get laid off all willy-nilly when the suits need to make their books look good for the FY reporting and make more money for shareholders who don't do any of the work either?

MrDead5d ago

It's too late for Tango and Arkane Austin but fingers crossed that this will help. MS could have a friend in the White House soon though, and his thoughts on Union's should be worrying all in the US.

MeteorPanda5d ago

GOOD. Stop taking it in the ass from shareholders "we want a space game" but our fans want elderscrolls "YES BUT SPACE IS HUGE LOOK AT STAR CITIZEN!"

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60°

Blizzard offers free PC Game Pass trial and fans suspect that more games will be added

As per some Reddit users, Blizzard has sent Game Pass trials to new users, sparking speculations about new titles coming to the Pass.

390°

FTC Calls Xbox Game Pass Price Hike 'Exactly The Sort Of Consumer Harm' It Tried To Stop

Despite losing its lawsuit seeking an injunction to freeze Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard in July 2023, the FTC appealed the decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. While it awaits a final decision from those justices, the FTC’s been filing additional evidence to support its claims that the merger would hurt competition in gaming and hurt customers, including a letter from earlier this year after Microsoft laid off nearly 2,000 employees across the newly acquired teams.

lelo2play8d ago

FTC never heard of inflation. Did they expect Gampass to remain the same price forever?
Would be funny if Gampass remained at 10€ fifty years from now...

Einhander19727d ago

"Microsoft insists Game Pass prices ‘will not increase as a result of Activision merger"
https://www.videogameschron...

"It says a price rise “would be counter-productive as it would increase subscriber churn rates”

7d ago
lelo2play7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

"Game Pass prices will not increase as a result of the Merger"

Gamepass wouldn't increase in result of the merger... but it doesn't mean it wouldn't increase due to other reasons, like inflation, extra expenses, etc. Do you expect Gamepass to remain the same price forever?

All other online services have been increasing prices.

boing17d ago

I cancelled my Ultimate sub after the announcement, so they were right. And yet, they still did it. That is so MS.

Einhander19727d ago

Inflation is down since they made that statement.

They also call into question the 2000+ people Microsoft has fired from the developers they bought.

And again, this is contradictory to what Microsoft said they would do.

They lied in court.

Reaper22_7d ago

Lol...they never said gamepass wouldn't increase and they never said it would because of the merger. And even they did it's their right to do so. So what's your point?

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 7d ago
Inverno7d ago

So we blaming this on inflation now? Lol ok

lelo2play7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

Sony and other streaming services (Netflix, HBO, ...) have been increasing prices and altering their services. Do you expect Gamepass to remain the same price forever?
Others can increase prices and alter their services, but Microsoft can't?

Hypocrite much!

DarXyde7d ago

Absolutely.

Ego inflation.

IRetrouk7d ago

Lelo, they upped the price last year, along with their xboxs......

waderae7d ago

I believe they call it mental gymnastics.

Profchaos6d ago

Exactly let's not forget this deal was done under the same economic climate this was predictable yet they maintained they would not be increasing prices yet now the merger is done they increased prices and split tiers to avoid further scrutiny.

This is and always has been how Microsoft do business deflect blame and increase profits

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 6d ago
andy857d ago

Inflation doesn't double something in a few months.

anast7d ago

You are correct. It's actually lower. It was around 7% in 2021 and now it's around 3%, which is ideal.

REDDURT7d ago

Dude they are lying. That inflation low keeps getting silly and silly.

gold_drake7d ago

inflation aint the same thing as to lock stuff behind a paywall that was previously not. lol

Hotpot7d ago

*activate clown vision*
*everything looks exactly the same*

KwietStorm_BLM7d ago

Yeah you're right. It's just a coincidence that this happened after spending billions of dollars buying up the industry. And closing studios. And firing thousands of people. All while barely being able to give away Xboxes. It's all because of inflation. LOL

XiNatsuDragnel7d ago

Fanboyism bro this is pure fanboyism, it's bs we all know it so stop defending Microsoft.

thorstein7d ago

You said it all, my friend, you said it all.

jznrpg7d ago

But inflation has gone down in the U.S.

ChasterMies7d ago

Except $/mb of broadband, $/mb of storage, and $/compute power only gets cheaper over time. As Microsoft’s overhead has gone down, it’s prices have gone up.

1Victor7d ago

@lelo: “FTC never heard of inflation. Did they expect Gampass to remain the same price forever?
Would be funny if Gampass remained at 10€ fifty years from now...”
I see you got the industrial size chapstick truck from Microsoft and put it into use already.
Add one more backpedaling to Microsoft and Phil rhetorics

VincentVanBro7d ago

Look in the mirror. You’re a clown 🤡

shinoff21837d ago

Gamepass price was going up regardless of inflation or not and you know it. Hey atleast you guys have an excuse to ride for a little bit

7d ago
PRIMORDUS7d ago

Need I remind you of how much MS is worth? There was no need to let anyone go or any studio. MS are just cancer and should leave the industry.

+ Show (15) more repliesLast reply 6d ago
7d ago Replies(1)
GamerRN7d ago

Apparently it's ok that they raised PSN prices, but Xbox can't compete?!

The "Standard" is just a rebranded Xbox Live. Not expected but not crazy since they didn't really have a proper entry level subscription to match PSNs entry level.

IRetrouk7d ago

Xbox raised their prices last year too though, their entry level was core or gamepass console.

-Foxtrot7d ago

The whole "Bu bu but Sony" thing with the PSN doesn't take into consideration Microsofts whole argument to the FTC during the entire Activision merger court case is that they wouldn't raise prices due to the merger, nothing would change.

Sony never said shit about raising prices and the like so while we can think it's scummy the FTC won't have an issue with it because the argument wasn't towards them, they never swore against anything.

If the Activision merger never happened and Microsoft raised their prices as a standard thing, like Sony with the PSN or even how Netflix has done it with their subscription it would have been business as usual.

GamerRN2d ago

I'm so tired of the Sony defense team. Pay off me thinks a lot of these comments come from Sony shills

RhinoGamer887d ago

All the judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just got a free windows 11 upgrade!

badz1497d ago

Err...W11 upgrade was always free

GamerRN7d ago

The price hike just brings it closer in line to PSN, yet it still has greater value. The standard sub matches the lowest PSN sub.

FTC trying to seem relevant. Claiming their multi million dollar case was to stop a $3 dollar price hike is a stupid argument and embarrassing for them.

Einhander19727d ago

PS+
$80 per year cheaper
More total games
Retro Games - Added monthly
VR games - Added Monthly
Ubisoft + Classics
4 k Streaming of nearly all games including ones you own digital not on the service. (xbox 1080p series s)
Sony Pictures Catalog
Anime from Crunchyroll
Full Game Trials with Trophy Support

GamerRN7d ago

PSN absolutely does not have more total games. I have PSN Ultimate or whatever it's called.

They don't get day one exclusives.
They don't even have Last of Us 2 Remake on there yet! Or Last of Us Part 1!!
You get Ubisoft classics, so does Xbox. But w Xbox also get EA games!
VR games don't matter to me, but Xbox also gets PC games that don't matter to me.
Both have classic games.
Streaming means nothing to me, it's still a failed concept, Digital Foundry tests it often, and it's not there yet for "serious gamers". The lag is intense!
Sony pictures and anime are neat, I'll give ya that.
Full game trials are cool, but Xbox gets the full game day one, so.... 🤷

I haven't had a good game in PSN since HellDivers, this year has been dead.

Honestly, once Xbox starts dumping all these exclusives on to GamePass, it's gonna be a flood of great titles

Einhander19727d ago

It's $80 cheaper, you're paying $240 a year in hopes of getting Microsoft games, and things aren't looking great on the development side of things beyond all the stuff they started 5 years ago. There is no guarantee that some of these studios will even exist going forward.

No, game pass does not offer Ubisoft Classics, and you only need Extra unlike EA Play which requires Ultimate.

And it doesn't matter what you don't want, xbox isn't offering it for people who do. Those things add value for a lot of people.

What digital foundry found was that PS+ Streaming was vastly superior to xcloud.

Full Game Trials include 3'rd party games.

PlayStation get's "good games" all the time that aren't on xbox,GranBlue Fantasy Relink, Final Fantasy, Helldivers, Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, Zenless Zone Zero, Pacific Drive ect. every week something new comes out or is announced for PlayStation that's not on xbox.

And you're bragging about day one but that keep proving to be unsustainable. That's why studios got closed, 5000+ people got fired, games got ported to PlayStation, the reward system got gutted, prices were increased multiple times and those new games got removed from game pass and paywalled to a more expensive tier.

MrNinosan7d ago

@GamerRN
I guess you don't subscribe to both services.
PS+ Premium has close to 1000 games.
GPU has less than 500.

GPU doesn't come with Ubisoft Classic.
However, the do have EA Play instead.

GamerRN3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

I pay 120$ a year by using cdkeys.com for GamePass Ultimate

And I definitely have both... My main gripe is PSN extreme or whatever it's called is u don't have all the 1st party stuff I want. That being said I just started up Death Standing Directors cut (terrible game, cool story)... I really want Last of Us Part 1 and Part 2.... Other than that, I don't think I have access to Ubisoft games? Where do I access those? Are there any good ones? The menu system is very confusing trying to go to classic games, PSN collection, etc etc etc

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3d ago
TheColbertinator7d ago

The FTC should give up. Microsoft owns the US Government and then someday the world and all its useless masses.

Eonjay7d ago

When they run out of fish of course!

The_Hooligan7d ago

So long and thanks for all the fish lol

S2Killinit7d ago

Sounds strange coming from a MS die hard.

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