General Gaming News.

[Chimpzy]

This looks delightfully stupid. I approve.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Take-Two bosses get $25m performance-based bonus for their management firm, despite sacking 550 people

Zelnick and Slatoff have received a $25m bonus for their management fund after sacking 550 people from Take Two Interactive.

www.videogamer.com

And this is why no one invites you to the parties, T2!

 

[Dreiko]

Now I'm hearing Concord cost 400 million to make, instead of the initial 100 we had heard. Also it had a culture of "toxic positivity" where they would prohibit criticism. Well, that certainly explains things.

But damn, just imagine how many good games coulda been made with all that money. This is a really huge hit for Sony. This is something they likely intended to be a top tier performing mega-hit thing with such a monster budget. I just can't grasp why anyone would think that after seeing how the game turned out in the end. Whoever is financing this stuff has no clue about gaming and is some empty suit.

 

[Chimpzy]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...ft-s-next-game-console?srnd=homepage-americas

In theory, buying Activision, with its popular titles across Xbox, PlayStation, PCs and phones, helps Microsoft on all these fronts. But if Bond is going to pull off this transformation, she's going to have to navigate her division through some pain first. Microsoft has already cut more than 2,650 games jobs this year, with a quarter of the cuts announced in mid-September. These are part of industrywide job losses totaling 11,500. Its gaming unit is operating under a challenging set of revenue and profit goals, according to people familiar with Xbox's business, who declined to be named while discussing private financial matters.

A challenging set of revenue and profit goals, huh? You really think so?

Anyway, expect more firings and cancellations every time a quarterly review comes up and those goals weren't met.

 

[BrawlMan]

is some empty suit.

More like all of them being empty suits.

 

[Ezekiel]

Microsoft spends 1 billion dollars a year to bring third party games to Game Pass

https://insider-gaming.com/microsoft-game-pass-1-billion-third-party/

Imagine the twenty awesome exclusives they could make every year with 1 billion dollars. No wonder they're last.

In a monumental report covering the state of play for Microsoft and Xbox, Bloomberg dove deep into the impact of the Game Pass subscription service. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea and it has garnered a mixed response from developers over the years, but one staggering statistic in Bloomberg’s write-up reveals just how invested Microsoft is in the platform.

It was said that the tech titan spends $1 billion annually to pull third-party games onto Game Pass, often parting ways with millions of dollars just to put pen to paper and get the deals signed.

In the gargantuan report written by Bloomberg’s Dina Bass and Cecilia D’Anastasio, everything from the recent clash between Microsoft and the CMA to the potential of a handheld Xbox device was explored.

At one point, the conversation, which was focused majorly on Sarah Bond’s Xbox presidency, turned to Game Pass. In a retrospective, we got a glimpse of how the subscription service surfaced with a humble library and a low price point before becoming a massive effort that weighed heavily on Microsoft’s coffers.

It was a paradigm shift for Microsoft, standing up something that would see value trickle in over time rather than relying on that one supersized launch to rake in a substantial payday. That’s what Sarah Bond alluded to, touching on the alteration in the operating model:

There’s a difference between managing a network effect and maximizing the value of a single game.

Bloomberg then mentioned that Microsoft spends a whopping $1 billion a year bringing third-party games into the Game Pass ecosystem, which has been modelled recently as a ‘Play Anywhere’ system that transcends simple home consoles.

Game Pass was also a major adjustment for publishers. To sweeten the deal, Microsoft now spends $1 billion a year getting third-party games on the subscription service.

The largesse has been more than enough to win over small publishers, to whom it offers flat fees of millions of dollars upfront to include their titles, along with a portion of subscription revenue and the promise of exposure they couldn’t count on getting otherwise.

Owing to inflation, Game Pass has recently increased in price, and the games that take pole position in the library chop and change, but there’s no doubting the power it has as a subscription-based product. That notion is set to improve, too – next month, the first Call of Duty game will grace the service in the form of Black Ops 6.

It already incorporates titles from the Ubisoft Connect and EA Play services, making it a seriously stacked offering for gamers worldwide, and it’s getting better all the time.

Sarah Bond and the rest of the crew at Xbox have immense faith in the product, and with a seeming desire to move away from console gaming, it’s only a matter of time before a seamlessly connected Game Pass experience is the firm’s foremost focus.

 

[BrawlMan]

Microsoft spends 1 billion dollars a year to bring third party games to Game Pass

https://insider-gaming.com/microsoft-game-pass-1-billion-third-party/

Imagine the twenty awesome exclusives they could make every year with 1 billion dollars. No wonder they're last.

They're selling at a total loss. Why even bother?

 

[FakeSympathy]

They're selling at a total loss. Why even bother?

I just cannot understand Phil Spencer’s goal here; Seriously, where is he going with all this? Game Pass may have had some success initially, but not when it became their main business model. He’s not letting first party game development, xbox console sales are hitting south pole, and nothing he ever push for works out.

Actually, I should be asking why tf are MS execs letting him doing all this? If they are all about increasing their bottom lines, surely they would’ve noticed how shitty his leadership is

 

[hanselthecaretaker2]

Take-Two bosses get $25m performance-based bonus for their management firm, despite sacking 550 people

Zelnick and Slatoff have received a $25m bonus for their management fund after sacking 550 people from Take Two Interactive.

www.videogamer.com

And this is why no one invites you to the parties, T2!

That would’ve been $90,909.09 for each of those canned. They probably figured it was too much so just said fuck it, fired them all and gave it to themselves. CEO logic checks out.

 

[Gordon_4]

Not surprising, its just a continuation of the route they started with DA:I, where you couldn't customize the AI behaviour.

Its a lot easier to have big cinematic moment the less the player can interfere.

That sort of micro-management made sense in the janky heap of shit that was Origins combat - seriously that game played like WoW with a worse global cool down - because the AI was bone headed and stupid. It makes less sense to use it in action RPGs, which is what DragonAge has been longer than it’s been a CRPG.

 

[Dreiko]

They're selling at a total loss. Why even bother?

Maybe he's trying to do the amazon thing of operating at a loss until every competitor shuts down. Thing is he's not competing with mom and pop corner shops here but giants like sony and nintendo who have way more good will than MS has had in the last decade +, so I seriously doubt they'll be able to pull it off.

 

[Chimpzy]

So a little while ago the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive up and quit. Someone did some digging

Inside Annapurna Interactive's Mass Walkout: Internal Politics, the Surprise Remedy Deal, and Why It All Happened - IGN

Earlier this month, the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out the door in a group resignation. But while some of the circumstances around their departure emerged in the reporting, one pressing question was left unanswered: why? IGN has pieced together a somewhat complex answer.

www.ign.com

TLDR: it's the nepo baby's fault

 

[Dreiko]

So a little while ago the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive up and quit. Someone did some digging

Inside Annapurna Interactive's Mass Walkout: Internal Politics, the Surprise Remedy Deal, and Why It All Happened - IGN

Earlier this month, the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out the door in a group resignation. But while some of the circumstances around their departure emerged in the reporting, one pressing question was left unanswered: why? IGN has pieced together a somewhat complex answer.

www.ign.com

TLDR: it's the nepo baby's fault

What game did these people make? I have no idea who they are.


edit: Oh it's the Stray people. I had my eye on that one but never got around to playing it. Heard good stuff.

 

[Chimpzy]

What game did these people make? I have no idea who they are.


edit: Oh it's the Stray people. I had my eye on that one but never got around to playing it. Heard good stuff.

They're, or rather were, a publisher, not a developer. Specialised in indies. One of the most prominent, alongside Devolver.

 

[Dreiko]

They're, or rather were, a publisher, not a developer. Specialised in indies. One of the most prominent, alongside Devolver.

Oh I see, I don't follow many such publishers, the main one that comes to mind is 505 cause they published Eiyuuden.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

They're, or rather were, a publisher, not a developer. Specialised in indies. One of the most prominent, alongside Devolver.

They also apparently tried to break into TV and film. I had no idea they were the ones behind Nimona.

 

[BrawlMan]

They also apparently tried to break into TV and film. I had no idea they were the ones behind Nimona.

Me neither. I wanna physical version of this movie already!

 

[Chimpzy]

They also apparently tried to break into TV and film. I had no idea they were the ones behind Nimona.

That's the parent company, Annapurna Pictures. They were originally a movie/tv production company, that diversified into game publishing, which is how Annapurna Interactive came to be.

 

[Xprimentyl]

If any one of you sums of bitches tries to pretend to even suggest you might know someone who may have known this, I'll call you a liar to your face. You're welcome.

 

[meiam]

That sort of micro-management made sense in the janky heap of shit that was Origins combat - seriously that game played like WoW with a worse global cool down - because the AI was bone headed and stupid. It makes less sense to use it in action RPGs, which is what DragonAge has been longer than it’s been a CRPG.

There was no AI, that was the point, you made the AI. As far as action RPG, I wouldn't classify any of them as such, DA:I was still an RPG, just not a very good one. But it was a far vary from something like say the last FF, dark soul or darksider.