60°

The Pacific Cinematic | Part One | Call of Duty: Vanguard & Warzone

Secrets that were buried underneath #Verdansk are now coming to light.
Warzone is going to the Pacific!

100°

Monetization in Gaming Is Getting Insane

Trevor Walker said: Well, here we are again. Every time I think I’ve said all I have to say about this topic, another studio falls into the same cycle. Monetization in video games seems to be getting more and more out of hand. If you’ve played any AAA title in the last 6 years, you’ve surely seen it. Battle passes, exclusive skins, and sometimes pay to win features have spread throughout the gaming industry like a plague, and we need a cure. Badly. I never thought I’d see the day, but the first game that comes to mind is one that holds a special place in my heart.

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victorMaje9d ago

You need a cure. Here it is:

1. Don’t buy the game.
2. Don’t just not buy the game, announce it!

Announce on every social media/chat/discourse/streaming … platform available & imaginable that you will not buy the game that is coming out & state the reason that we all know. Then advise others to do the same.

Once you’ve announced it, announce it again for the next game by the same dev that you will not buy their future product either, because of their past dealings with consumers.

3. See 1.

PRIMORDUS9d ago

I don't sub to anything digital, games, movies, TV shows, etc. I just take what I want for PC for the unbeatable price of $0.00 🤣 But I sometimes buy the occasional game, but as for the others I mentioned yeah ok, haha paying for a streaming service to watch shows, movies, etc man GTFO lol

jznrpg9d ago (Edited 9d ago )

I know many people who don’t buy MTs or support gaas. But unfortunately there are just as many people that I know who do and they don’t care about it. Companies won’t stop doing it until the vast majority don’t buy anything. Some GaaS do it better than others but most are looking to make as much MT money as they can get away with and there’s too many who don’t mind it at all

anast9d ago

Reviewers can prioritize monetization schemes in their reviews and give companies low scores based on severity.

Chocoburger8d ago

This is one of the reasons why I've been focusing more on older games from PS3 & X360 all the way back to the NES.
Rarely can a modern big budget game garner my attention, because its just the same stale concept over and over again. Open world, busy work, grinding, where your job is literally to be a trash collector (constantly picking up endless resources off the ground), the entire industry has been copying Ubi-junk, and I'm just not interested.

Add in the fact that games are clearly releasing in beta form (sometimes very early beta form!), then there's randomized gear you have to pick up and upgrade, then all those boring skill trees to fill in, which is the laziest form of fake game progression imaginable.

Then there's the nasty business model of paying an extra $20 just to play an unfinished game 3 days early. Disgusting behavior, and anyone who supports those companies are actively making our industry worse.

The game industry has never been perfect, but its also never been this bad either.

120°

Call of Duty Warzone Let's You Experience Today's Solar Eclipse In-Game

Call of Duty Warzone players will see today's solar eclipse happen in-game, which is kind of a neat thing to do by Activision.

Seraphim14d ago

We're afraid that for a few hours today you may actually go touch grass, we can't have that. Activision

230°

Despite Negative Reception, Call Of Duty: Vanguard Has Sold Over 30 Million Copies

Call of Duty: Vanguard has sold over 30 million copies, a milestone confirmed by the game's former social media strategist.

DarXyde15d ago

That's the thing about Call of Duty: it gets panned online, but still sells gangbusters.

Begs the question: is the online community complaining truly a vocal minority, or are people just unprincipled? Both I'm sure, but to what extent?

VENOM OF SINS15d ago

It's all about the hive mind, and I'm no exception to it. We buy each installment pretty much every year, regardless of the next installment being an improvement or not. Sad to say, but it is what it is.

Lexreborn215d ago

People know what they like, it’s really that simple. The people who play CoD love CoD and unlike the minority gamers they will support it regardless.

The vocal people online will make sure a game burns they don’t like without even trying it. But, the CoD crowd will buy the game PLAY it and give feedback that goes towards their games growth.

And as long as they can get online and shoot people they will continue to support it.

CPTN MITCHELL15d ago

Cod is not the same anymore, I didn't buy this one or mw3 and I no longer care about the franchise... People complain about Spider-Man 2 as being a copy paste but cod is the same game every single year and they're ok with that.

Lexreborn215d ago

@cptn you further validate the point, people who enjoy it keep playing, and people like you who don’t stop. But 30 million is greater than your displeasure of the game.

And if they like it, they’ll keep playing and paying.

anast15d ago

Most of them are young people that look up to characters like Dr. Disrespect.

Tacoboto15d ago

"are people just unprincipled?"

I mean... You're on this site. You've seen the discourse over COD, how awful it is, yet how aful Microsoft was for taking COD away from PS gamers, despite not once saying they wanted to do that.

Another similar one - fans of BG3 since day one refusing to buy Alan Wake 2 because it doesn't have a physical edition. Or anyone calling 30fps unacceptable but is enjoying DD2. Or anyone complaining about bloated open world games yet is complaining about shorter, focused narratives.

Neonridr14d ago

they haven't taken CoD away from PS Gamers.

WiiU-Dude15d ago

I've said something like this many times. When something is huge...it could be music, video games etc, it is fashionable to start the hate. I have loved every iteration of COD. Each has it's own merits. I have enjoyed them all and have never had a problem proclaiming it even when people heckled me. Oh well. People gonna hate.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 14d ago
RhinoGamer8815d ago

Just like Madden and Fifa (FC), the audience is conditioned to buy every year by EA and ATVI.

VersusDMC15d ago

Why talk about Vanguard? It was still the best selling game of that year. And at a 70+ metacritic.

Modern Warfare 3 last year was the 2nd best selling game of the year(been awhile since it wasn't 1st) and at a 50+ metacritic.

It would be cool to see the sales for all the call of duties to see if there's a trend and to compare.

jznrpg15d ago

I have only bought 2-3 CoD’s ever and the last time I bought one was at least a decade ago. The only reason I bought it back then was to play with my Son who was still in high school. I got some copies for free here and there from friends but I would only play the campaign. I’ve been burned out on PVP since Battlefield Vietnam on PC , Planetside stuff like that. I do enjoy PVE if done well but I doubt I’ll ever play a PVP game again unless they do something totally different than what’s been done before and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

I have friends that buy every CoD and I ask them why do they still play after 20 years of the same game? Most of them say because of their online friends or real life friends that play it. Not because the game is good or it’s better than the last.

TheColbertinator15d ago

Battlefield Vietnam was so much fun

ocelot0715d ago

Maybe because people pre ordered it. I have pre ordered every COD since COD MW 2019. I enjoyed mw and cold war. Didn't play beta to vanguard I just pre ordered it like 2 days before release and regretted it a few days after release as it was bad.

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