240°

I've Lost All Hope For Hogwarts Legacy 2

Saad from eXputer: "Despite the success of Hogwarts Legacy, WB's decided to focus on live service and I've lost all hope for a potential sequel."

banger8842d ago

Let's just chalk this game up as a fantastic one-off, and WB can go f******* rot in hell.

Notellin40d ago (Edited 40d ago )

No, David Zaslav and everyone in the WBD executive office is scum and deserves the absolute worst.

DarkZane40d ago

It was actually pretty repetitive. I got bored after a few hours and forced myself to finish.

mudakoshaka40d ago

Thank you! Beautiful facade but no real depth to the game.

-Foxtrot40d ago

I'm hoping with the layout and foundation already done now they can spend their time in the sequel to refine things and give it a lot more depth so things don't feel repetitive.

Profchaos41d ago (Edited 41d ago )

I have no idea how eceutive teams can look at both Hogwarts and suicide squad next to each other and go hey our critical and commercial darling was a fluke suicide squad was the real success they just didn't know it.

Seemingly there's some weird ego involved someone wants to be proven right

--Onilink--40d ago

I mean, not to necessarily give them any kind of credit, because they clearly have some pretty dumb ideas… but the reality of AAA development has meant basically all big publishers have had to look at Live Service games in one way or another to try to cope with increasingly bigger budgets and longer development times.

The 5 years it took to make HL (with no doubt a massive budget) cannot be hard to manage when they are also expected, by gamers AND shareholders, to come up with several quality releases each year, just look at how much complaining (warranted or not) there has been about Sony’s first party release drought (with Sony also going through their own Live Service issues)

I cant really fault them for trying to find a sustainable and profitable live service game or two that helps keep their quarterly and yearly numbers looking good while they would, ideally (and this is where they appear to be going wrong), using that time and money afforded by their live service games, to fund their big non-live service projects.

Espangerish40d ago

For this reason the industry needs to move away from so many 50+ hour long AAA games and focus on high quality but shorter stuff. Obviously they would sell at a reduced price too (don’t want £70 12 hours games) but you know what I mean hopefully!

HarryMasonHerpderp39d ago

They look at charts. One of them is how much money live service games make and the other is how much money single player experiences make. Hogwarts may have sold really well but it's a drop in the ocean when compared to an on going live service game if you manage to get a hit.
Personally I don't understand why so many people dump their money into live service games and I find it super sad that they're so popular. The kids absolutely love them.

Profchaos39d ago

I agree I'm the same I don't understand the appeal I've never wanted to pay for cosmetics I've always felt that should be included in the game but kids love them

Think thats the thing about getting old you aren't garunteed to know why the next gen loves something you hate I guess my parents hated the music I listened to growing up maybe this is the same thing

Ironmike40d ago

I bought thought it was okay first 10 hrs then boy did the repeative gameplay kick in

scorpio_204940d ago

Yep. The castle was so fun. The overworld was just like every other overworld. They should have doubled down on the castle/student stuff.

The game overall was mid.

GhostScholar40d ago

They will realize that live service games die pretty much as soon as they begin and then they’ll stop and we may still get a sequel.

Zhipp40d ago

For sure this is what they're thinking.

DOMination-40d ago

If you strike gold with Live Service, you have guaranteed mega-income for years. If you fluff it, then you just have a single player game. This is the way publishers who don't really care about gaming see it.

I don't agree with it btw - but this is why it is how it is. Publishers see no downside - just up-sides and dollars.

glennhkboy40d ago

PUBG, APEX, MW & numerous mobile games show that IF publisher can make a popular live-service game, they will have a cash cow in their hand. That's why publishers keep trying.

GhostScholar39d ago

Yes, IF it’s popular. Of all live service games, something like 3 percent are “popular”

Kyizen40d ago

If Hogwarts was a live service game you wouldn't need a part 2.

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110°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto1d 16h ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger881d 11h ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb198121h ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein20h ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.

290°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv721d 14h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle1d 1h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188122h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio22h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7717h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga1d ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv7211h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

neutralgamer19925h ago

Darth

30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with

also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam

shinoff21831d ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga22h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan18h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit11h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2317h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7217h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

Chevalier6h ago

@Darth

You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.

"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."

61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%

https://www.mesaonline.org/...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 5h ago
purple1011d 3h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos1d 3h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-16h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac1d 2h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad1d 2h ago (Edited 1d 2h ago )

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1011d 1h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos1d 1h ago (Edited 1d 1h ago )

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic1d ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead17h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 17h ago
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90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

Read Full Story >>
blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS1d 11h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.