Nirav from GL writes: "If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?"
'If the big companies dictate what games can be created, I don't think that will advance the industry.' -Shihei Yoshida
🙄 same guy who said 80$ is a steal lol and according to him M$ shouldnt put good on a services🤣 wtf
Talks about "innovation" while all his previous company is focused on is GaaS and Remasters. Smh.
This guy is a walking contradiction.
This makes no sense at all.
What does his PREVIOUS company have to do with him and his statement??
Did he have a say on what they are doing? Could of sworn that was Jim Ryan’s fault?
Subscription services have f***ed the movie industry and it's work force, caused massive studio buyups by companies like Disney consolidating huge parts of the industry under one roof and have creatively sterilised the IP's they've gobbled up. The same thing is happening to gaming, MS being the main greedy piggy.
I get what he's saying, but I don’t think we need subscription services to see a lot of the problems he's pointing out. All we really have to do is look at the gaming industry over the last two console generations. Even without subscriptions, the big AAA publishers have already been moving in a direction where almost every game feels like it's built from the same template. It’s all about streamlined, safe design choices that are meant to appeal to the widest possible audience. At this point, you could probably ask an AI to make a AAA game from a certain publisher and it would spit out something pretty close to what they’re actually making.
Now, about the whole “walled garden” thing... that’s not some future problem, it’s already here. Consoles have always worked like that. Their entire business model is based on controlling what gets released on their platforms. Sure, maybe they’re not as locked down as the extreme examples people bring up, but the end result is similar. If you’re not making the kind of game the platform holder wants, you’re probably not getting through the door. We’ve seen it with Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, even Valve does this in its own way with Steam. So yeah, the issue isn’t new or exclusive to subscription services.
Would a subscription-only future make that problem worse? Sure, it definitely could. But I don’t think we’re heading in that direction anytime soon. Unless physical hardware truly becomes a thing of the past and everyone switches to streaming games, I just don’t see subscriptions becoming the dominant model. They’ll stick around as an option, but I doubt they’ll take over completely.
Now, what will take over completely is digital media, and that’s a whole different issue that’s going to hit us a lot sooner. PC and mobile are already basically 100% digital, and that makes up around 70% of the gaming market. The remaining 30% is consoles, and even there we’re seeing the shift. Sony’s removing the disc drive from boxed consoles, Nintendo is releasing just one super expensive 64GB cartridge for their new system, which means almost all third-party publishers will end up going digital and Microsoft is mostly digital already. You either get a digital-only or a physical box with disc that only acts as a activation key. So yeah, that future’s already knocking on the door and the damage will be enormous.
Right, because then you can’t sell individual games at $80, which is an incredible value for the consumer!
I find this statement quite telling. Apparently a certain fan base wasn't buying games at $60 or $70 dollars either. That's why the Gamepass model exists with day and date. What was the excuse then?
We as gamers want it all but don't want to pay for anything. Well, I take that back. A good chunk of them. You don't have to buy a game at $80. Wait for to go down in price. Most gamers have a massive backlog. Play those games until the one you wants drops and n price. Simple
Dragon Age star Alix Wilton Regan has given her personal response to the backlash faced by last year's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and blamed the "mixed reactions" on people who "wanted to see the game fail, or wanted to see [BioWare] fail".
Blame everyone else...yeah...great stance
Gives off that "if you didn't like it then you are clearly one of those bigoted trolls" vibe
There's not much to talk about, Bioware made a s****y Dragon Age game which was heavily dumbed down compared to their previous games.
Yes its true, some trolls were hating on it because of some silly reasons but the rest of people who actually had constructive criticism were lumped into those very same trolls to silence them.
Make anyone who actually has some valid things to say look like bad people so their criticism and opinions are automatically invalid. It's a PR move that has been going on for years, even Hollywood does it with films, it just causes fans to be at each others throats while the spotlight is taken off the games flaws and it becomes all about toxic fans. The developers then sit back, stir the pot while they get away with whatever they've done with their bad product.
@-Foxtrot hit the nail on the head. For me, and many many others, it had nothing to do with transgender inclusion or whatever.... it was the dumbed down gameplay from previous titles that turned me off! It's cowardly to hide behind the social issue backlash and refuse to accept feedback on the actual game from the rest of us. We simply did not like the new gameplay.
So who's fault is it? Probably happened at the highest level, "let's make a dragon age dumbed down so that a larger audience will enjoy it, which will make us a lot more money!" Except... that backfired. Rpg gamers want deep rpg gameplay.Word got out that it wasn't.
The problem is that we’ve wanted a true successor to DA:Origins for years and never got it. Lorian literally learned from you and now makes your games better than you.
Don’t blame us for the fact that you know exactly what to make and choose not to every single time.
Be happy you sell what you do on name alone. BioWare was my favorite company for so long…
Exactly. People are hiding behind their real reasons bs...everyone knows this game was targeted before it could be properly judged..ie before it was even released people decided to trash it.
People originally hated the color pallette me included but I waited and wanted to look past the color scheme and what I played was solid. The characters aren't everyone's cup of tea ok I understand, but certain characters had a depth like identity struggle and navigating the world as their true self. Ok I like that character dynamic personally. I can go on but about what I liked in detail but anyway. People chose one thing to hate and ran with it and justified the reason each time leading up to release. DEI! Oh like mass effect dei same sex marriage? Where's the outrage for that all those years ago? Unwarranted amount of hate for stupid contradictory reasons. If you don't like for honest reasons ok cool respects but if it's bad faith then yeah not cool.
Now Minds Eye. I had to do some investigating. The studios biggest marketing promotion is from the creator of GTA Leslie Benzie already set themselves up for very high expectations. I know it's a way to get eyes on the game. You also have to deliver a experience that's at least on par maybe better with past GTA games. The pre orders went out with out gameplay or no real incentive to pre-order. So get your money now up front before we show anything. The "leak" and streamer showing "excitement" for the game. While comments are saying the game looks mid or at very least middling or skeptical comments. No deep dive gameplay just over a week away from Launch. They're already making road maps and promises already before the game even releases which also not a good sign. I dont hate for no reason if I see a game that looks weird I say something or I could be all wrong and the game could get a 80 meta after all. though I think it's gonna get a 57 meta personally.
There is literally dialogue of a character explaining how they need to pay reparations to another character in the form of doing push ups because they “misgendered” them. The dialogue in the game is hyper tolerant woke BS
It’s not the same as mass effect, not even close
@PanicMechanic Not how the scene played out. Isabela establishes that she made her crew do push ups if they fucked up, ( jobs, missions, anything,etc...) She misgenedered Taash and starts doing them on her own, Taash is confused until she explains it.
Now is Taash still badly written? Yes
It’s honestly frustrating to see what happened with Dragon Age: Veilguard. This is an established IP—fans knew what they wanted: a true sequel in spirit and tone to Dragon Age: Origins. Instead, Bioware overhauled the identity of the series so much that it barely resembles what made the earlier games great. Characters changing drastically, tone and gameplay shifting too far from the original formula—it just doesn’t land, and frankly, I’d argue Veilguard doesn’t even surpass Dragon Age 2.
If this had launched as a new IP, maybe expectations would’ve been different. But slapping the Dragon Age name on something that feels so disconnected only makes things worse. And once a game gets hit with that "agenda-driven" label—fairly or unfairly—it’s incredibly difficult to shake the stigma.
What makes it more frustrating is the tone from some developers. Telling fans, “This might not be for you” or “Don’t buy it if you don’t like it,” then turning around and painting criticism as toxic or bigoted when people don’t buy it—it’s not a good look. Open, respectful dialogue with the community is how the industry moves forward, not deflection or gaslighting.
Look at Black Myth: Wukong, or the excitement around Expedition 33. These games are succeeding on the merits of gameplay, world-building, and focus—not by leaning into polarizing narratives or identity marketing. Players just want well-made, fun, immersive games. It’s not that deep
They never wanted to see it fail or the game fail, they wanted to see a good game with a good story that was in line with the original. They knew we weren't going to get this so they openly criticised everything about it. AND they were proven correct. The game sucked and failed in every way. Maybe you should have listened to the fans in the first place.
Perhaps people just wanted a proper Dragon Age game, not a Disney inspired Dragon Age, with awful writing.
This game was changed from a live service to a single player game quite late in the development, I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did. The writing and the direction was screwed by EA marketing teams.
Then you had all the anti-woke psychos set loose by heavily politicised streamer grifters. How people take their directions from those nutters I will never know.
how are they grifters? are you just parroting what other people say or do you have proof
Do you have proof that they're not?
I mean just look at Rumble who are funded by people like Peter Thiel and JD Vance or Turning Point USA training right-wing influencers and and paying troll farms to brigade and mass comment right-wing talking points on social media and streaming platforms and then you have the management group Today Is America that manage over 200 influencers and creators to spread right-wing sentiment to their young audience.
Like I said, grifters.
Please feel free to look up anything I've stated.
wrong. it isn't a good dragon age game. as someone who's never played a dragon age game. I like it with no previous bias/ history. but I understand those who don't like the turn. But it's not a bad game (cheesy lines aside), it's fun to play
Plus: how Kepler plans to be the A24 for games, and why a follow-up to Clair Obscur won't involve a big studio expansion
***If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?***
None if you stay in an arena of corporate driven metrics. And this is what happens when you allow publishers to buy up massive amounts of studios and IPs. There's only so much internal competition and the focus in the end will remain on those who look best on a spreadsheet.
Players can be so driven by what is best for them and only see what is put right in front of them. But that's not what is best for them. They are being lied to constantly, as seen by Microsoft's ridiculous praise for Hi-Fi Rush and Phil's lies about Redfall prior to release and how big of a supporter of both studios he has been. But, instead of thinking "wait, this corporation wants me to think this way, should I be listening to them and believing them?" players eat it up and go "OMG, did you hear what they said! They're just like us and they know what's best for the industry."
And because of this single-mindedness of the majority of gamers, we are where we are now. Massive layoffs. Massive studio closures. Games that we were told were representative of the core values of said corporations shelved and studios behind them shuttered. The truth is coming to bear because the truth all along was only what the numbers in an excel spreadsheet told the corporate suits.
If you truly want what is best for the industry, what is best for developers, then you need to support Indie games, support developers that maintain control over their IPs and direction, support boutique publishers who only exist to help Indies make it out the door and don't own the IP. Stop supporting major corporations with your money or you devotion. Stop playing their games, and I don't mean video games, but their marketing, their double speak, their guy without a tie who says things you want to hear PR, their future of video gaming concepts as if we were hurting for new ways to play games other than installing/downloading and playing them, and especially any slogan from them that gives the impression that they are for you, the consumer. They are not. You're merely a value on a spreadsheet.
This should not be surprising to any of you. We have been saying for MONTHS that Game Pass is not sustainable and that these acquisitions will come at a massive cost to the industry. People refused to grasp the difference between buying and investing in a developer like Insomniac or Housemarque, and buying the entire publisher. People refused to accept that spending billions to acquire the biggest publishers in gaming means you have to RECOUP those costs, and you aren't going to do it without consolidation, focusing on core IP that sells, creating revenue streams via ownership and releasing on other platforms, and closing down studios that are superfluous to the budget requirements. You will not recoup those costs by investing in risky new IP or creative new games and studios.
No, people cheered Microsoft on like they were delivering GOTY titles to their door and pouring money into the industry to grow Indies and triple A projects.
You are getting what you deserve. You take the consequences of the practices you supported.
Layoffs happen. Some games don't succeed. Everyone has seen it happen. Happens even to the winners.
This, however, is goddamn shambolic and if you can't see it now then there's no helping you and you should keep enjoying the "value" of Game Pass while contributing nothing to this industry.
I've never seen the developer of one of the best games of the year get axed before.
Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2, I can see them going independent again. There's more to come from MS.
But hey, at least we get Call of Duty free on game pass*
*eventually?
They know what they are doing. If 'you' treat them like "good 'ol simple minded folk", then 'you' are relieving them from blame via ignorance. They knew that they were going all live service, streaming and mobile a long time ago, The Oracle tends to see the obvious. While companies patronize gamers like they are children, which most of them are, may be confused for stupidity, they are also not so stupid they don't understand the decisions that they are making toward the overall direction of their company.
*None of their games were even close to competing for GOTY. They paid for names to be mentioned.
Xbox survived it's first gen by pure luck halo became a hit and it was huge followed up by halo 2 which had one of the biggest marketing campaigns I can remember seeing in the early 00s we had guys in master chief outfits on the sidelines of state of origin as a promo it blew my mind.
Then the 360 fell under the excellent leadership of Peter Moore and outpaced the PS3 for the first three quarters of that generation the only time anyone has ever done that.
Since losing Peter Moore it's been a rapid decline and buying up the industry stank of a desperate move along with the idea of gamepass itself stank of desperation to me no one was buying the X1 they needed something to get people interested and here we are.
I would happily lose gamepass if Xbox could go back to the 360 era style of focused heavy hitters and solid games.
The championing of consolidation they did was disgusting and what's happened as a result is proof they never had gamers or the industry at heart they need their ROI and that's all they cared about big daddy ms has signed a number of blank checks getting them here and it's coming to collect on their debts