130°

Housemarque Reveals It Has No Plans For Live Service Or Free-To-Play Title

Ilari Kuittinen and Gregory Louden of Returnal developer Housemarque have revealed during an interview with Eurogamer at the studio’s 30th anniversary event last week that it has no plans to develop live-service or free-to-play games, “as long as people are buying premium games.”

kpgs1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 6h ago )

Why would they change? That's not where their expertise is.

Redgrave1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

Didn't stop Sony after acquiring Bluepoint, taking them from renowned remaster and remake quality and sticking them on a GoW live service title that never even went anywhere.

I can't speak to what gives Housemarque the ability to be different, but let's be thankful that they are able to do so in wake of current Sony.

Cellblock111d 5h ago

Well whats different about Housemarque which Sony also owns that they can tell Sony what they will and wont do but the others couldn't?

derek18h ago

That GoW live service game was the dumbest idea ever. I thought they were remaking Bloodbourne or a Demons souls expansion (covering that broken arch stone). Sony was really panicked after that abk/Microsoft news hit. I hope it was a side project for Bluepoint and that there's another one in the pipeline. That GoW game apparently never got off the ground.

Eonjay13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Blaming Sony for pursuing Live Service when the top 5 games every month by spend and engagement are live service games is illogical. Gamers are telling Sony where to invest so there is a real disconnect between what is said online and what people actually play. Who should Sony listen to? Clearly the logical decision is to listen to people actually playing games and whether we like it or not Sony would be in vioulation of it duty to its investors if it didn't try to pursue LS. People taking out their fustrations on Live Service games by attacking Sony and using it as the industry whipping boy does not fix the industry. You are just telling the rest of the industry that they can keep doing what they are doing because they aren't called Sony. All I hear people say is that they hate live service but every single month the top games are live service. You are all either lying or you don't know what you are talking about. Sony should pursue both SP and live service games.

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120°

OG Star Wars Battlefront devs were asked to make Battlefront 3 in just one year

Star Wars Battlefront 3 was in development at Pandemic Studios, but LucasArts wanted the team to make the game in just one year.

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videogamer.com
jznrpg8h ago

Need at least a few years for a bigger game like that and that’s probably not enough.

anast4h ago

They wanted something cheap.

Azurite7h ago

Remasters can take longer than that.

Dandizzle6h ago

not true, look up star wars first assault.

ZeekQuattro1h ago

Sounds about right. They were rushed while making the second game. Not hard to imagine that trend continued with it's ill fated follow-up.

280°

"Everything Happening To Bungie Is Because of Greed" -ex-employees

Ex- employees Hope Studio Gets "Consolidated Into Sony"

Former Bungie employees speak out in a new report, blaming greed and leadership for the studio’s troubles, and say full Sony consolidation is the best way forward.

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thegamepost.com
dveio1d ago

Interesting article, even with some actual names of the people voicing their thoughts.

I think that we've had enough similiar situations at other studios and publishers already, hell even completely different businesses, to know that OF COURSE it's always about hostile environments at work and the search for rather effortless profits than causing excitment with great ideas.

All deflecting statements, wether from managements or other people in charge, have always, literally always been untruthful. Always.

And it's so silly.

Nothing of this crap causes a nuclear war.

But all the people in charge act like everything is top secret f'n CIA like intel, trying everything to not stand up for their mistakes.

I mean it's pathetic, it really is. In the brand scheme of it all it's truly pathetic.

Obscure_Observer11h ago

All of sudden consolidation is now a good thing.

Eonjay10h ago

Right I actually agree with you here. Something doesnt' seem right almost like Sony wants them to look bad because it is trying to takeover. I can't figure out Sony's intentions here but they are already wholely owned so full consolidation means that they can bring in their own management. And honestly this is probably NOT what Bungie wanted.

Obscure_Observer9h ago

"Well the obvious answer to that is that it kinda looks like Bungie is getting torn to shreds without Sony's help. And clearly there is no way Sony is going to spend all that money and not step in to help steady the ship at Bungie because that would be a huge wasted investment."

Exactly!

Phil allowed Pete Hines to run the show at Bethesda and we got Redfall as result. Now that he´s gone and Bethesda reports directly to Matt Booty at XGS, things are definitely getting better!

It´s past time to Sony to take over Bungie and fire that POS Pete Parsons.

-Foxtrot8h ago

Sony has literally given these guys chance after chance, they gave them an extra BILLION to try and keep talent along with telling them to sort their s**t out

What else can they do here? They gave them free reign, extra money and they've spat in their faces.

If they took full control when they bought them they might have been able to salvage them.

TheColbertinator10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Bungie will be torn to shreds with Sony in full control. Another addition to the cemetery like Zipper or Sony Liverpool

Eonjay10h ago

Well the obvious answer to that is that it kinda looks like Bungie is getting torn to shreds without Sony's help. And clearly there is no way Sony is going to spend all that money and not step in to help steady the ship at Bungie because that would be a huge wasted investment.

MrBeatdown9h ago

Whatever mental gymnastics you just went through must be exhausting.

It sounds like you have some baggage from Microsoft's acquisition spree.

SimpleDad10h ago

Bungie was indie, so they depended on in game monetization. Sony makes money from other sources: music, movies, psn, ps hardware...

...so devs are hoping by full Sony consolidation they will cut down the monetization part, and make things easier for them...

...but keep in mind, Sony bought them because of their monetization and live service model and design, so much so they tried to make every Sony IP into a live service spinoff.

So I don't see much change in anything, for us consumers, if Sony takes full control.

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110°

Xbox May Update: Retro Classics Come to Xbox Game Pass, PC Gaming Updates, and More

A variety of new updates are available this month across the gaming platforms. Coming today, Retro Classics games are available to play for Xbox Game Pass members. Players who stream on the Xbox app on PC now have an additional streaming option with GeForce Now. Game Bar introduces quick settings, visual updates for Widgets in Compact Mode, and coming soon, Microsoft Edge Game Assist, an in-game browser that brings an immersive game-centric experience to Edge. And Xbox gift cards can now be redeemed for any amount via Xbox Rewards.

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news.xbox.com
darthv721d 14h ago

While i appreciate the gesture.... all of these retro classics have been made available everywhere else. I am hoping to see some other Activision properties make their way out of the shackles of the 5th, 6th and 7th gen. Licensing be damned... bring back the Transformers Cybertron games.

P_Bomb1d 5h ago

Love the Cybertron games! TF games have been shit lately. Would love to see that era revisited. I even did the multiplayer!

MrBaskerville17h ago

Is the retro classics for all consoles?

Obscure_Observer1d 9h ago

Metaphor on Gamepass just announced! O.o

Seriously, this is the best generation of Xbox ever!!!

We can´t catch a freaking break from awesome games arriving all the time!!!

Deathdeliverer1d 6h ago

It’s a HELL of a game. If you like JRPGs in the family of Persona, you will be in heaven… that is until you hear the various battle music…. then you’ll be somewhere BEYOND heaven!

babadivad8h ago

Just finished Clair Obscur. This should be fun.