Video Games [ARCHIVED] Video Game • Page 221

I dunno, I just feel like every second you spend in that world, every corner your turn that reveals new and more grotesque carnage, is constantly reinforcing the message that this society does not and could not work. Just because the elevator is the only time the message is explicitly handed to the player doesn't mean the environmental storytelling isn't also reinforcing it throughout the rest of the game. I don't think the themes of agency and meta-commentary on video games in general is the central message of the game, I think that it has multiple central messages, which is why it's so brilliant. They're woven together and feed into each other.

 

E.A. and Activision, Activision more so, are in weird places. That of course is troubling/interesting, because there aren't actually that many AAA publishers out there. Apparently most of those Activision layoffs were support staff, and a lot of the funds freed up through them are meant to be use to fund an increase in game development, which, if true, is at least somewhat positive, because Activision doesn't actually release that many games anymore.

 

Activision has the money to fund more games but the powers that be wants maximum returns on the investments which is why Call of Duty reigns supreme over there. Is Skylanders still a thing? I remember thinking that was like plastic crack for kids.

 

This is true, but the point many forget is that they're still selling bucketloads of them in key markets, to the point were the Xbox One has in some ways done better than the 360. I nevertheless think that they will pivot, I just also think that this pivot will still include some kind of Xbox (as an option, not a requirement) for those that want it. If you see the PC as a serious alternative to a console, which it isn't to many, this is of course already the case, as all Microsoft games now come to PC on day one with cross-buy.

 

It's kind of insane that Activision can still find places to cut costs considering how it basically only publishes new CoDs and WoW expansions anymore.

 

They actually project CoD to bring in less every year from now on. Beyond that, they don't make/release all that much anymore, especially now that they cut Bungie/Destiny loose. Hence why they want to invest more in development, or so they say.

 

Possibly they had a lot of staff left from more busy times

 

Right, and these cuts were from the eSports and marketing divisions that they are clearly de-emphasizing in general going forward. I'm just commenting in general that them still being able to come up with anything to cut is almost morbidly impressive considering how diminished their publishing portfolio is.

 

If that actually happens though, it would be big change for the market. We already had few options, basically only three if you don't count the PC, and once this happens none of them will be comparable anymore. It will be a very different landscape. It might to lead so some good but could also be bad.

 

They have Overwatch too but who knows how long that game is gonna hold on to popularity. I’ve noticed a bit of a dip in people talking about or playing that.

 

Speaking of what EA is doing differently vs. Activision, Apex being so polished and fun gives me a lot of hope for Jedi: Fallen Order. Not that I didn't have faith in Respawn as a dev team, I 100% did, I'm just even more looking forward to it now.

 

I think they were too bloated for what they have become basically. Now they can allocate that money into actually making some games, which is good. However, before anyone comes after me, that doesn't excuse how they went about it, and it also doesn't excuse the executive compensation, as they clearly mismanaged the company in the last few years.

 

E.A. has made some odd decisions, especially in terms of their release schedule, but overall it isn't even remotely the shitshow that Activision is.

 

They clearly put more money into eSports than they wound up needing to, and they're moving away from it now, so I get why they did it, but yeah it was still an absolute scum move in the execution.

Also, yeah I would like to think they're going to allocate that money into developing games but I also doubt it a lot. It'll probably go into increased executive compensation. There's just no reason for them to change the course when they're still boasting record profits on the backs of basically just CoD, WoW, and, to a lesser extent, Overwatch.

 

That's exactly it, it just reinforces what it explicitly says early on. It handles environmental storytelling in the same way Fallout 3 does. You know exactly what happened the second you step foot into the world, and it continues to show you things that reinforce what you've already been told. The moral of the story is explicitly said to you in the first hour, and everything else in that world just points to that statement and says "see?" In that regard, I don't think the game does a very good job of showing instead of telling at all.

I think that's why the endings of Bioshock have always been so controversial. Clearly the bad ending is just nonsense, but even the good ending doesn't give any sense of closure to the thread that the game opens with--Ryan's monologue about "who is entitled to the sweat on you brow" or whatever.

 

It's a shitshow for different reasons, but at least EA has a diverse portfolio of staple franchises and still experiments with different things (like their small-scale publishing efforts on games like Unravel and A Way out).

 

Right, they actually make and release games, even if they shit the bed in the process lmao

 

Pretty sure Kotick stated on their earnings call that Overwatch has "plateaued," so those returns are diminishing as well.

 

Right. ActiBlizz at this point is basically one step away from Konami: game publisher in name only, money-making machine in all other aspects. Only at least Konami admits that all they want to do is make pachinko machines.

 

They did say they would in the earnings call, which means they should stick to it at least to some extent. It's one of the reasons their stock went up a little despite them missing their targets pretty thoroughly (despite "record profits") and them admitting to the slow death of CoD and Overwatch. They have do to something, or they'll run into trouble next year.

 

I honestly don't know what can save Call of Duty as a franchise at this point. They tried every trick in the book: progressively more futuristic settings, experimenting with movement mechanics, going back to "boots on the ground", doing WWII again, making a Battle Royale, tinkering with the series' usual time to kill in standard PVP, etc. I think it's just run its course and will just steadily decline into nothingness from here on out. It's weird to think that the industry has just kind of shrugged and moved on from what seemed like an unsinkable juggernaut just a few years back.

Will be interesting to see how Modern Warfare 4 or whatever it is this year is received when it gets announced.

 

Yeah. Some will do better than others and it's still a valuable franchise and will be for a while, but they have to find a replacement for what CoD used to be for them, soon.

 

They’ll re-release MW2 and print money

 

Sure, but they'll at some point will need a game that is like MW2 was in 09. That or become Konami, but unlike Konami which has always been diversified, they don't really do that much other stuff, so they're in a more difficult position (unlike Konami, which is doing quite well).