110°

Activision Patent Shows Manipulation Is Now Core Design

The recent patent by Activision for a system that manipulates matchmaking to drive microtransactions is worrying on many levels.

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Community2379d ago
Nodoze2379d ago

The AAA game is well and truly dead. While there are a few hold outs that are still producing quality software that is not milking customers at every turn, it is now the exception and not the rule. SAD.

2379d ago
opinionated2379d ago (Edited 2379d ago )

I trust activision more than I do the people who broke the story, “fake rape” rolling stone. A trash magazine.

Getting my ass kicked isn’t going to make me buy loot boxes. Seeing some fancy gun skin isn’t going to make me buy loot boxes. It’s not some complex mind manipulation algorithm, it’s a basic marketing ploy. It’s not even implemented, it’s just a patent. If you want to demonize publishers for shutting down studios that have never made a bad game in their existence? I’m with you. If you want to fabricate your own reality to mesh with your anti-corporation/anti-capitali st political beliefs then I think you’re a fruitcake.

FPS_D3TH2378d ago (Edited 2378d ago )

A vast majority of gamers and internet commentors are fruitcakes when it comes to their entitlement and opinions lol

opinionated2378d ago

I would love it if publishers sold and traded studios like baseball players. Unfortunately it’s not like that, it’s “give me your IPs and gtfo”. I hear it constantly, “greedy assholes!” Lol. Yes, welcome to the business side of your hobby. These publishers have always been like this, EA especially. What has changed exactly? Besides the high pitched squeal of a small segment of the gaming community.

ZombieKiller2378d ago

It's always been their core design...they STARTED season pass on console. Lol a little late to the party...

530°

Xbox's Phil Spencer considers PS5 and Nintendo Switch players part of the Xbox community

This is Spencer's mindset after the Activision Blizzard acquisition closed

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Vengeance1138170d ago

What a horrifically toxic person, im sure in his mind Microsoft already acquired both Sony and Nintendo and they are all that's left in gaming.
Can't wait for 2027!

sparky77170d ago ShowReplies(15)
Eonjay169d ago ShowReplies(6)
darthv72169d ago

so... people who express positivity are toxic in your view? That's basically what you are saying right now. I know its easier to hate but it takes real strength to remain positive in the face of negativity.

As for him living rent free in your head... that will be $9.99 now.

Eonjay169d ago

This comment proves my earlier comment. There is nothing wrong with you. I have surmised that you are a developer and you are not dumb but in order to claim to be 'down with the Xbox' YOU have to become toxic yourself. He did not say anything you are implying. That's a toxic lie. Spencer is not expressing positivity. THAT is a toxic lie. People are not supposed to be positive in the face of consolidation that will lead to a worse situation for all of us. Ignoring that is TOXIC.

darthv72168d ago (Edited 168d ago )

^^man i wish i were a developer. I'm just an average joe who tries to be upbeat and optimistic even when the chips are down.

Petebloodyonion168d ago

@Darthv72
The spirit of Orchard looms over you!

fr0sty168d ago

He sees the writing on the wall, and knows that Xbox GamePass will eventually appear on both Sony and Nintendo's systems.

Gamingsince1981168d ago

It has to get on ps and Nintendo or xbox is dead by 2027, that's why. Xbox NEEDS gamepass on everything or they are out of business in 2027.

fr0sty168d ago (Edited 168d ago )

I don't see why people are disagreeing, Phil said it himself that if GP subs don't dramatically increase by then, Xbox is toast. Logically, the only way to pull that off is for them to go third party, as they aren't just going to magically start selling a ton more consoles. Even a new exclusive Bethesda IP hasn't even started to turn things around for them. They have not far from 100 billion dollars to recoup from all these purchases, and their shareholders will be out for blood soon.

Zeref168d ago (Edited 168d ago )

Can't wait to have all those Sony exclusives on my Xbox and on GamePass when MS acquires them 🔥🔥🔥

Shane Kim168d ago

The possibility of GP ending up on PS is much higher.

Gamingsince1981167d ago

Lol Xbox is going to be only a publisher by 2027 they won't be buying playstation, they need playstation more than anything to survive 🤣 you are trolling or dumb take your pick. Xbox is done, welcome to the future where xbox is a publisher releasing games on everything and playstation and Nintendo carry on as usual.

GrmpyolGamer 168d ago

He lives rent free in your mind

TheEroica168d ago

You should probably cry more about your inner bias.

itsmebryan168d ago

@Vengeance
What happens in 2027?

Vengeance1138168d ago

Xbox exits the gaming industry as Phil said if they don't get over 100M subs on GamePass by then it's not worth staying.
This number ofc being impossible as GP only has 25M subs now.

PhillyDonJawn168d ago

Vengeance the courts showed Xbox is more profitable than PS. So that make no sense

Gamingsince1981167d ago

@phily

No it didn't 🤣 Mandela effect in action in your world huh, Sony breaking records month on month year on year , xbox "we are a publisher by 2027 because no one is buying gamepass" yeah sounds like it's going well over at xbox. You are a clown 🤡

neutralgamer1992168d ago

would we be happy if he had come out and said screw nintendo and playstation? so what the heck do we want? MS have the money to buy and publishers are willing to sell. We have cult like fanboys on this site who will defend their box and brand even if their brand is doing wrong by gamers. Until we mature as a community greed with continue to rule supreme

i am so glad i am now a PC gamer. This nonsense has to stop. I have multiple store fronts offering competetive pricing and the ability to use cheat codes in my single player games to enjoy without all the MT

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 167d ago
MrDead170d ago

He wishes he had a community of gamers. I guess buying the market and banning gamers from games seems like a community for him, now everyone is as miserable as an Xbox owner

crazyCoconuts169d ago

Maybe he's foreshadowing a future where they're no longer making exclusive games... where the Xbox hardware is like... not as important?

MrDead169d ago (Edited 169d ago )

No longer making games? They never made games in the first place, thats how ms made the Xbox the least played platform. All they're doing now is buying up an industry and dictating who is and isn't allowed to play, gamers have got nothing from MSs deals except for less options for where to play and two publishers no longer competing.

Godmars290168d ago

MS has never seen Xbox hardware as important. Never.

It why they didn't buy vital parts for OG Xbox.
Why the 360 was rushed causing RRoD.
Why 1st edition XB1 was built around Kinect, and technically crippled as a result.
Its why they're talking more about streaming than Series X while not really talking about how Series S sells better. Is hindering the more powerful system.

Even when MS honestly tried making games, PC specs where more important than their own console. Alan Wake - that quantum game/TV I'm not bothering to recall - and that cop game - I'm also brain farting on - all where first shown on bleeding edge PC rigs, and subsequently failed to live up to first reveals for being built down to the consoles they should have been built for.

Phil/MS might be claiming a win because he bought an industry position Xbox has failed to earn, but if MS lives to type, then all that's going to lead to is disappointment and denial.

crazyCoconuts168d ago

@God, i couldn't disagree more. It wasn't until XB1 that MS started leaning into PC and cloud.
Up until then, getting you on Xbox hardware so you buy games via their platform was the ONLY business model that existed. Of course they saw their hardware as important. The OG Xbox had built-in ethernet and was quite a bit more powerful than it's rival PS2. The RROD wasn't on purpose in the 360. The Kinect was a hardware play to gain superiority in the way Nintendo did with their controllers. Now that they have pulled in PC and have expectations around Cloud, maybe they're pivoting their investments to a sector they think they can "win" in, but that's a relatively new concept.

Abear21168d ago

I believe they said it’s more about Gamepass on everything under the sun and that sub model, a possible future without consoles. Now they own most of the industry, crazy!

168d ago
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italiangamer170d ago

Does this guy ever shut up with this blatantly fake and cheesy attitude?!

shinoff2183170d ago

Phil's on hallucinations again

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400°

So, Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard. How will this affect the rest of the industry?

The deal is done. Activision Blizzard is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft after two years of regulatory investigations.

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MrDead190d ago

Well no new games are coming out of these acquisitions, this is about control over the industry and IP hording for a subscription service. Seeing what a disaster subscription services have been for Hollywood I can't wait for MS to bring the joys of that to gaming.
This entire endeavour is to line the pockets of a handful of extremely wealthy people, they'll dump it as soon as they've sucked it dry or wrecked it.

Outside_ofthe_Box190d ago

If this doesn't help to up subscription services for Microsoft by the allotted time frame then nothing. Otherwise a shift to sub-services being the primary way we game and the consequences that come with that.

BeHunted190d ago (Edited 190d ago )

Microsoft now has 35 Game Studios, while Sony has 14 Game Studios. This is huge.....

190d ago Replies(1)
purple101190d ago

and yet...nothing that compares to, even - ratchet and clank in terms of fun, anyway

Barlos189d ago

Microsoft aren't interested in the studios they buy, they want the IPs.

ChasterMies189d ago

More isn’t always better, especially when Microsoft has such a poor track record of handling its own exclusives like Halo and Gears of War. And now Microsoft is in a position where its games are competing with its other games. Developers will be let go. Franchised will die.

Profchaos189d ago

And all they can produce is average content for their all you can eat buffet of games instead of allowing these studios to craft evergreen titles

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isarai190d ago (Edited 190d ago )

I mean the only thing that has happened so far with these acquisitions is a noticeable downgrade in quality and value in the games produced under MSs management. The only undeniable banger released, Hi-Fi Rush, they really didn't give a sh!t about, just shadow dropped it with quite literally zero marketing. Even to this day the only things I've heard about it have been from word of mouth. So probably just more of that 🤷‍♂️

Lightning77189d ago

"they really didn't give a sh!t about, just shadow dropped it with quite literally zero marketing."

Yeaaaah that's not at all what happened but hey let's just make up things because it's N4G and that's what we do around here.

So sure let's run with that.

isarai189d ago

https://www.ign.com/article...

Literally the trending term regarding it's release by pretty much anyone that covered it. So who made up what now? 😂

Flawlessmic189d ago

I mean he's not wrong lighting, they did drop it with zero marketing lol

I remember shadow drop was the word of the month and how there should be more shadow drops

189d ago
Crows90189d ago

Or you could enlighten people with your superior knowledge...but sure let's just run with not actually making a point.

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Stanjara189d ago

They really don't know what people want...or do they????

Lightning77189d ago (Edited 189d ago )

You literally just killed your own argument. It went viral, internally so they shadow dropped it.

Not MS didn't care about the game and didn't want to market it.

Congrats at killing your own argument.

@crows I make way more points than anyone here. Isarai literally just took down his own argument so read his link.

isarai189d ago

No i didn't LMAO don't know how you came to that conclusion. If it went viral internally, why not drop, at the very least, a trailer and some banners for the game? That game dropped with nothing. Not like MS don't have the money. Even after launch I really don't recall seeing any official marketing for it. Again, if they cared about the game, even minimal marketing would show that.

Also, THAT is not my point, but a sidenote to my point. My point is so far MS has shown nothing but poor management excluding the one game. Every other game has launched with a ton of cut corners, disappointments, and/or caveat to get some fun out of it be it microtransactions, waiting for a roadmap of updates to fix it, or ignoring blaring issues.

KwietStorm_BLM189d ago

It went viral internally? What does that even mean? LOL you still haven't countered anything that was said, because you can't reute facts. I make more points than anyone! Lmao

Lightning77189d ago

@Kwiet just read the freakin article isarai linked it for godsakes.

"That's how it actually built up within Bethesda...Some people had played it and they spoke about it to their other [colleagues]. They're like, 'Did you see that game that they're making there?' There's this weird sort of viral positivity to this just playing this game, and Game Pass just felt like an excellent opportunity to let something...lose that skepticism immediately by just playing it and people just talking about it."

It was a positive reception internally and was Skepticism if it was an actual good game or not. A surprise drop that paid off. So I ask again where did MS say didn't the game was crap and didn't care about marketing it like isarai?

Again he owned himself.

I'm talking to 12 years olds I swear... I have to be. Y'all are actual children.

isarai189d ago

Bro stop, you're just making yourself look stupid 🤣😂

" where did MS say didn't the game was crap and didn't care about marketing it like isarai"

First off learn how to construct a sentence, damn near had an aneurysm trying to read that.
Second, I literally called the game "an undeniable banger", quite the opposite of "crap"
Third, MS didn't "say" anything, and that's the problem. Ironically you proved what I'm saying. Despite it "going viral internally" MS for whatever reason still didn't have any confidence in it. Instead they looked at something obviously good with "skepticism", and so didn't market it as not to dump more money into it. They actually cannot see something great sitting right in front of them.

Lightning77189d ago (Edited 189d ago )

"viral internally, why not drop, at the very least, a trailer and some banners for the game?"

Why does it matter? It had over 2 million players and Tango even opened up new posistions and expanded the studio. Complaining for no reason.

"Again, if they cared about the game, even minimal marketing would show that."

Nintendo dropped Metroid Prime remaster from GameCube with out advertisement I guess they "didn't care"about that game also right? Btw that game also turned about to be a success. So where does it say MS didn't give a shit about Hifi like you claimed?

Sometimes just releasing a game is better than over hyped ad campaigns. Yes they even advertised the game afterwards through ads on social media Xbox store etc. You're not winning this argument so might as well stop while you're ahead.

As for the rest your comment your taking about Redfall. What Microtransactions? Forza or Redfall doesn't have Microtransaction? Question why do you make up things?

isarai188d ago

"Why does it matter?" ... So when you've been proven wrong, you just say it doesn't matter? 🤣If it doesn't matter why are you so hellbent on proving otherwise? I couldn't have asked for a funnier argument. And if you want the answer to that go back and read my comments, learn to read and do your own research. Figure it out.

Profchaos189d ago

Been seeing this for years since Crackdown 3 was one of my earliest realisations that the quality wasn't there and gamepass with simply a dumping ground.
Sure they may have one big game per year that receives a little extra love but happily shive something like halo infinite out there to be picked apart for a few weeks by the masses

Lightning77188d ago

"First off learn how to construct a sentence, damn near had an aneurysm trying to read that.
Second, I literally called the game "an undeniable banger", quite the opposite of "crap"

I was multitasking. This how it all went down.

You said "Hi-Fi Rush, they really didn't give a sh!t"

You linked an article that went completely went against your little theory in fact they said it was a positive reception internally. I asked where didn't say MS didn't give a crap about the game?

"Third, MS didn't "say" anything, and that's the problem."

Ok cool so clearly did give a damn about the game. Btw the shadow drop was 100% on Tango.

"MS for whatever reason still didn't have any confidence in it."

Not enough confidence they showed it off at the xbox direct and dropped it that same day? Again it was Tangos call to do so not MS. You don't have any facts just the typical "MS is bad 100% of the time because so that must be it!" Argument. Yeah it's not gonna fly and you'll have to try harder than that.

Lightning77188d ago (Edited 188d ago )

"Why does it matter?" ... So when you've been proven wrong,"

Proven wrong about what!? You didn't prove Jack. You were concern trolling about hi fi not having marketing and said MS didn't care about the game. In which I not only showed you where you were wrong in your own post, that you linked, you decided to make up claims that MS didn't care about the game. In which again they made a whole direct about Hifi and dropped out that same damn day hence "shadow drop" and it was Tango who made that call.

One last time and keep up. I said why does it matter in the grand scheme of things when the game was a success regardless of marketing? Context is everything.

It's a K. O. I told you were losing this one.

Smart of you to avoid the microtransactions comment. You knew you were wrong.

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170°

Nintendo Briefed Activision on Switch 2 Late 2022, Performance Discussed

Nintendo briefed Call of Duty maker Activision on its upcoming hardware in December 2022.

"Closer alignment" to PS4 and Xbox One.

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Old McGroin219d ago (Edited 219d ago )

Thought I had read somewhere that it might be close to Xbox Series X and PS5 in terms of visuals. That it had been shown running that Matrix Unreal 5 demo. If it's closer to Xbox One and PS4 then that's extremely disappointing already.

Destiny1080219d ago (Edited 219d ago )

its going to be closer to a PS4, 1.84 teraflops, but has a few new tricks up its sleeve, 12 gigs of ram / dlss 3 / raytracing / SSD

Number1TailzFan218d ago (Edited 218d ago )

It's going to have a bit of a rough time with next gen third party games. The current gen machines are already having trouble with UE5 upscaling from 720p and still having fairly big FPS dips here and there.

I'd rather devs work with the hardware limitations to make sure games run at least a fairly solid 60fps, like by downgrading textures etc.. Instead of pushing the consoles beyond what they're capable of like they do now with a locked 30fps or 60 with big dips. DF also stated similar in their newest video.

I think first party games have a chance of looking nice and running well on the new Switch as long as they don't overdo it.

Old McGroin219d ago

OK, for the people downvoting, can you at least explain why you are quite happy for the Switch 2 to have similar visuals to a console released 4 years before the original Switch, which is itself a 6 year old console?

Neonridr219d ago

it's a handheld, imagine how much it would cost to have a portable PS5/XSX in your hands. You see the prices on things like the Ayaneo? Not to mention the abysmal battery life on something like the Steam Deck?

a portable PS4 would look amazing to be honest.

Profchaos218d ago

It's a handheld at its core there is no magic toggle or hidden GPU in the dock and it will have a 5 hour battery according to Nintendo's prioritys

Neonridr219d ago (Edited 219d ago )

I would expect it to maybe surpass the PS4 a little in terms of performance, but DLSS will give a nice visual bump to their titles.

Jin_Sakai219d ago

Having DLSS and Nvidia’s stellar Ray Tracing performance will be huge. I expect Switch 2 to run most 3rd games available on PS5 and Series X. Nintendo’s first party games are really going to shine. I can only imaging what they will pull off.

RaidenBlack219d ago

I am thinking somewhere between PS4 & PS4 Pro level base perf just from the SoC and then DLSS 3+ giving the boost its known for on top of it + the 12GB memory & SSD aiding in.

Jin_Sakai219d ago (Edited 219d ago )

As far as actual hardware it will be nowhere near PS5 and Series X. DLSS will play a huge role in getting resolution and frame rates in line with PS5 and Series X though. Nvidia is also much better with Ray Tracing so I expect Switch 2 to great in that regard.

Profchaos218d ago (Edited 218d ago )

It's going to be using NVIDIA tech to get the most out of the system so dlss 3 etc it should be fairly competent but I'm thinking the truth will be somewhere in the middle of last gen and current gen.

Still we all know what Nintendo can do on old hardware Luigi's mansion 3 had an art style that made it look like a ps4 level game on what was essentially 7.2 gen hardware seriously that game could stack up to some current gen efforts

ZeekQuattro217d ago

The animations in LM3 are top notch.

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Hofstaderman218d ago

I wouldn't mind having a handheld with PS4 fidelity.

Profchaos217d ago (Edited 217d ago )

I never understood why Sony didn't do this since a ps4 handheld seems like a perfect wim for them

fsfsxii218d ago

nintendo holding back the progress of the industry as per usual