100°

Publisher Defends Negative IGN Review Of Their Game, Shoots Down 'Supposed Conspiracy'

Game publisher Paradox issued an unusual statement this morning, defending a negative IGN review of their newest game while shooting down conspiracy nuts who believed that IGN’s criticism was influenced by outside factors.

2955d ago
OB1Biker2955d ago (Edited 2955d ago )

Conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories, conspiracies, conspiracies, theories, theories...
IGNorance is know conspiracy.

2955d ago
120°

Valve facing £656,000,000 lawsuit over claims Steam is ripping off players

The owner of Steam has been accused of overcharging 14 million PC gamers in the UK and 'shutting out' competition in a new lawsuit.

Dan507h ago

Overcharging? Have these people never heard of sales?

just_looken6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

"Valve, the owner of Steam, is being sued for £656m over claims it is abusing its dominant market position to overcharge players.

The collective action claim has been filed with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal by digital rights campaigner Vicki Shotbolt.

In the lawsuit, Shotbolt accuses Valve of ‘shutting out’ competition when it comes to buying PC games and DLC, which has led to 14m people in the UK being overcharged for PC games as a result.

The claim is seeking up to £44 compensation for every UK player who has bought a PC game or add-on content from June 5, 2018."

____________________________

So they are trying to take the apple/sony/xbox approach were there is only one store without ever using a pc for gaming.

Anyone with a ounce of pc gaming knowledge knows steam did nothing when competition and the launcher war happened but now every publisher that had there own launcher with games only available on that platform are slowing coming back to steam.

This "lawsuit" should be directed to launcher's like rockstar's as they have games only available on there like the gta collection or ubisoft with xdefiant heck epic launcher exclusive games. There is no grounds in which steam has locked down content to there platform except there own games though there are disc versions of those except half life alex.

Pc players still have the best choice on game buying with multiple launcher's and site that offers keys like my fav humble bundle but on the same platform we have the worst drm along with those 3rd part launcher's that need to run in the background.

anast5h ago

How about suing them for the game files that the customer should own?

Goodguy015h ago

Steam allows 3rd party apps (which I hate) and...we all know that egs is the one that keeps buying exclusivity lol. A lot of devs and consumers rely on steam hence it's very heavy support.

paulust20023h ago

If I get 44 pound from them I'll only be spending it in the steam store...fucking absurd ..one of the most ethical companies out there and largely due to them not being a public offering imo

220°

Obsidian CEO responds to worries Xbox could shut them down, too: 'I'm not worried about tomorrow'

A gray cloud loomed over this year's big summer game showcases: Over 16,000 game developers have lost their jobs since 2023, many of whom were casualties of success at companies that reported huge profits this year. One of the largest cost cutters has been Xbox, which in January cut 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and in May shut down four studios: Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games. The closure of Tango was taken especially hard, as the studio was still basking in the light of Hi-Fi Rush, a critical and commercial success by all of Microsoft's metrics.

SimpleSlave21h ago(Edited 20h ago)

I mean, you should be. Because we now know and understand that even if Avowed is a hit it doesn't mean the studio is safe.

I hope that they're able to buy out their own Studio, like Toys for Bob's did, maybe some of their IPs as well, and go the Larian Studios route instead. We still need a sequel to Alpha Protocol after all. So here's hoping for the best.

Listen to your leaders, rather, good luck!

Einhander197220h ago

Ok, fair enough.

As much as we all want another Alpha Protocol only Sega can make that happen.

porkChop19h ago

Honestly, it would be pretty cheap to get the IP rights from Sega. They've done nothing with it and weren't interested in a sequel. But I'd be fine with just a spiritual successor that builds on what they were trying to do with AP.

SimpleSlave19h ago

@Einhander19721h
It's all good.

But to be fair, while SEGA does own the IP and Published the game, it was Obsidian who created the IP and helped bring it back from the dead. So it's only fitting that they should be the ones to work on a proper sequel. And hopefully with a proper budget this time around.

My point is that I want them to stick around for this to happen. But on the current position they're in, things are bleak is all I'm saying.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 19h ago
shinoff218320h ago

I would imagine. They've been around for awhile.

Hotpot18h ago

Well I mean, even if he's actually worried there's no way he'll say that publicly..

just_looken17h ago

na this team tossed out the outer worlds grounded that both made money and they have outer worlds 2 on the back burner sense 2021
https://www.pcgamer.com/the...

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 12h ago
Lightning7720h ago

Of course they're gonna feign confidence. They're about to release a game so they wanna look strong as possible. I know for a fact they're deathly afraid, I would be to and they absolutely should be.

I'm afraid for them right now. MS can't be trusted.

GamerRN7h ago

How come no one is interviewing PlayStation studios with the same questions? They had a significant amount of closures as well.

Strange 🤔

Pixykont6h ago

It's now everyone's fault that you don't understand the nuance of the situation? Typical fanboy

PRIMORDUS20h ago

Keep supporting MS people and Xbox, they clearly do not care as you can see with all these closures. You want to hurt Xbox and MS just boycott their next console.

BeHunted19h ago

Sony has closed down more game studios this generation than the number of new IPs they've created

Moegooner18h ago

Sony didn't buy studios, just to shut them down. Smart ass

porkChop19h ago

If we boycott everyone that closed down studios we wouldn't own a PS or Xbox, and would only play indies on Steam.

PRIMORDUS19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

If we boycott and let them know the reason why they would have to listen. Stop closing game studios they should have never been closed to begin with. I keep saying this but MS is worth 3 trillion!! They do not have to close anything. They will make money no matter what even without closures.

Aloymetal4h ago

'' You want to hurt Xbox and MS just boycott their next console.''
100%!! But to be fair, most gamers around the planet can see right through MS's BS and most don't care about xbox so no need to tell them what it's obvious. We can safely say that they've been ''boycotting'' the green brand for a long, long time. The proof is in front of everyone's eyes every time their hardware sales figures are published.

Nacho_Z20h ago

You have no choice other than to crack on and hope for the best.

phoenixwing17h ago

Glad someone gets it. What is doom and gloom going to accomplish for the studio? Nothing. That's why he said what he said.

Darkegg7h ago

This is a spiritual or philosophical statement from the developer. Being worried is in itself a negative feeling that isn’t healthy. Live fully in the present moment and accept what comes. Reality is all about impermanence and the law of nature (transient).

Personally, it’s an industry I’m slowly backing out. When it comes to wholesome practices and quality life, video games fit into the “I can live without this”. Given how employees life is (generally), how they are treated, and contributions to personal health .. it’s nice to have video games in the right moderation but I equate it to other industries how the ethics of the operation is lacking at the expense of “at all costs”. The extremity of that idea is demonstrated from top of the hierarchy down. Maybe some of us care, many of us don’t, and some feel it’s pointless due to the insignificance at the microscopic level (what is the value of a singular action against millions). Only we can choose and control our own action.

Reaper22_19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

I'm not worried at all. Obsidian are are awesome devs and I'm looking foward to Avowed.

Show all comments (41)
320°

Tango Gameworks employee shares pictures from the Xbox studio's final day

The Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush studio has closed its doors.

Read Full Story >>
videogameschronicle.com
Einhander197223h ago

This shouldn't have happened.

Who's next..

tay870120h ago

Ninja theory. Others will follow as well. The smaller studios MS owns should all be worried. Maybe MS will try and release some of their games day and date on ps5 to save some of these studios.

jznrpg16h ago

I can see Ninja Theory. At least Tango made a game that was reviewed well. Ninja Theory spent a lot of years to release a tech demo that didn’t do well at all.

repsahj13h ago

I get it that Hellblade 2 is a boring game, but I hope they are not the next to be closed.

ABizzel14h ago

@repssahj

Ninja Theory is likely on the chopping block too. They released Bleeding Edge which bombed, took 4 years to release Hellbalde 2 which doesn’t seem to be doing well, and still have Project Mara in limbo. They’re high on the chopping block.

MS was likely expecting their God of War / Uncharted quality game from NT based on Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, DmC, and to an extent Hellblade 1, but NT hasn’t delivered since Hellblade 1 which was 7 years ago.

Sonic18812h ago

And Obsidian after Avowed releases

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
Petebloodyonion22h ago

I rarely agree with you but on this I do!

PRIMORDUS20h ago

3 trillion MS is worth, yet they do this, well Phil the shit bag did. No studio needed to be let go, when you are worth this much.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2h ago
anast22h ago

Sad, but I see characters and posters of either less than average or barely average games.

LoveSpuds21h ago

Have to disagree here duder, with respect. Evil Within was a good game and the sequel was fantastic, as was HiFi Rush. I'd concede Ghostwire was pretty average but regardless, shuttering a studio which just put out MS best game in donkeys years was complete shithousery on XBox' part.

Einhander197221h ago(Edited 21h ago)

Microsoft paid 8B to buy Zenimax then fired well over 1000 people from Zenimax between the time they closed the deal and they announced these shut downs.

People talk about the 1900 they fired most recently, but that was only one wave of three sets of layoffs from their gaming division so far this generation totalling around 5000 people this generation. Not counting the dozen plus studios they canned last gen including Lionhead the original Fable developers.

anast19h ago

By every real metric HiFi was an average game. I don't see an Evil within poster in the thumb, which is a shame, because if they threw their weight behind that IP, they might have still been around.

LoveSpuds18h ago

I don't understand how you can say it was average in every metric when it garnered the reviews it did?

romulus2317h ago

Hi-FI Rush sits at an 87 on Meta with an 8.8 User Score. By every real metric that matters it's better than average and it's definitely a game made by a studio that should not have been shut down.

Fonsecap21h ago

Working people paying the price for leadership bad decisions, so unfair...

Show all comments (27)