The Microsoft culture tends to squash true innovation, says CNNMoney.com's John Dvorak. That's the upshot for the enterprise about today's news that Halo developer Bungie, acquired by Microsoft in 2000, is splitting off to become an independent company again. The Web is ablaze with news reports on the split, but the most interesting piece of the Bungie/Microsoft story was Dvorak's analysis.
"Part of the reason the product is so good is that Bungie Software, acquired by Microsoft in 2000, pulled itself away from the corporate compound in Redmond, Wash., and moved into its own facilities. It even established its own key-card security system to keep other Microsoft folks from gaining entrance. I'm convinced that the way Microsoft is currently managed, this kind of isolationism is the only way a successful product can be developed at the company. This is largely due to a corporate culture based on micromanagement and meddling."
He says that product after report gets ruined by such micro-management (pun intended), and offers, as one example out of 100, the "checkered history" of FrontPage.
To be fair, Dvorak calls out the fact that this is hardly a "disease" specific to Microsoft. IBM nearly killed itself off in the 1980's from the illness. He predicts that Google is sadly also heading down this path.
With so many games fighting for players' attention and interest losing out over time, time sink games are at risk of eventually losing steam.
It was worrisome to begin with.
It's a niche genre with only a handful of hits that can stand the test of time.
Only a few will catch on. You need a perfect storm to be successful in GaaS and a bit of luck on top of that. But a potential cash cow will keep them trying and some will go out of business because of it.
Helldivers 2 manages just fine…
Keep production costs low… don’t just make custscenes until the mechanics and enemies are perfected first.
Make so much content that you can drip extra content for years, and the game already feels complete without them.
Most importantly: make weapons, enemies, levels, and mechanics that will stand the test of 1000 hours. This might require more devs embracing procedurally generated leveled, which I think separates Helldivers 2 from Destiny’s repetitiveness.
Nameer from eXputer: "Some exceptions aside, I don't think the battle pass is a net positive for gaming with how they're implemented in most live service titles."
I like the way Helldivers 2 does battle passes. It allows you to make purchases on each level of the battle pass and gives you the option of choosing which item to unlock first. The more purchases you make using medals the further you progress. There is no timer and you can earn medals towards purchasing stuff via personal orders and Major orders.
I haven't played much live service games that have battle passes but I remember some games that have battle passes where you progress through it linearly using an exp system. What makes it really bad is that the battle pass will have like 50 or more levels with the cooler stuff being closer to the end. They also have an in-game shop that sells exp boosters so you can reach the end of the pass before it refreshes. Everyone ilse will have to grind their way through.
battle pass in fortnite is perfect; buy one and it buys the rest for every other season as it gives you more money than the first cost. so 8.50 and season ends with you getting 13.00, it pays for the next and you have some pocket change to save up for cash shop. All of which is optional
Sony is taking actions as video by Moore’s Law is Dead, has been issued with a copyright claim.
And people say it's all fake because Sony haven't said anything 😂 conveniently forget the PS4 Pro was only announced 2 months before release.
Just announce it already! I want to preorder one asap. But in reality they don’t want to lessen PS5 sales until Pro is ready to launch so I understand the business part of it. September is probably when they announce it with an early November launch like the PS4 Pro
I would take that video and upload a torrent of it, fuck that copyright bullshit. If your going to do something that has a chance of being taken down, make a torrent first share it. Then Sony or any other company is helpless and you can laugh in their faces, taunting them to try to take it down 🤣
As much as the PS4 Pro didn't represent a major % in the playerbase, announcing a 'better' model will hinder sales from the 'base' model. They are right, business-wise.
I approve this only because of Dvorak's old high opinion of the Amiga. It's been a bit of love'n'hate with him, for me, but at least he's coherent and literate. I do believe this is the first mention of Dvorak on this site. Like... Wow.
"Roofpig! Most unexpected."
I think this is before the big divorce. if this was posted before all the other big announcement posts than this will be BIG NEWS, but other than that....meh.
Bungie did say they never meshed with MS work culture and stayed independent even when they were a first party dev. But other than that I disagree.
Well hes right about though, Corp.'s which include MS do tend to kill innovation. This is good and bad. Its bad because well thats obvious, but its good for share holders and people with any sort of investment in the company. Innovation cost money, and usually its leads to nothing.
But this allows smaller companies to rise and repeat the cycle. All empires fall sooner or later.
I love john have followed him for a long time.