I couldn't find a bonesaw sharp enough in the whole of San Fransico (can you believe that?), so I had to use a coat hanger. It's taking forever...Ukomba said:I don't think the advice you gave at the end of the video is very helpful.
But surely the market has already started to show that this practice isn't sustainable. I mean isn't Battlefield and Medel of Honour's constant attempts to copy Call of Duty's success evidence enough of that? Besides, I don't know how well Dead Space 3 did, but I'm sure it failed to capture the Call of Duty audience.Living Contradiction said:The thing of it is, publishers don't usually listen to a single voice on the Internet. They've got passels of marketing folks, business grads all, who study the industry, research the consumer, tailor their product to earn the most money from the most people, and then realize that someone has already done that and it's called Call of Duty.canadamus_prime said:Don't misunderstand me. I agree with everything he said. What I meant was that he must be getting sick and tired of having to say it because Publishers refuse to listen.
For the Internet to have an effect, it has to really scream and the message usually gets lost amid the raging. "Stop copying the AAA market! You're killing yourselves and ruining the medium! Stick to what you're already good at!" screams the Internet. "Stick to what you're good at!" hears the publisher and proceeds to tune out what is clearly an uninformed opinion advising stagnation. Such opinions have no place judging a highly-paid, well-educated marketing team that spent years doing costly research to advance profits. It's the Internet. There will be others out there who will offer support.
Jim's been consistent in his message and, one day, he will probably be proven right. Dark Souls 2 will crash and burn because of its hubris, taking hundreds of jobs with it, and the once-highly paid, well-educated marketing team will be out on their butts wondering how it all went wrong. There will be plenty of people to say "I told you so" but I imagine the message from Jim will be "What did you expect?" As Jim pointed out, this is where it starts. Dark Souls 2 might just become the textbook example of how not to do it, something that the video game industry apparently needs to realize that AAA business practices do not work anymore.
I'm in a very similar position. Being another Skyrim-phleb, I'd much rather stick to that and let Dark Souls concentrate on pleasing their own fans. Now they've added solidarity towards the Dark Soulites on my list of why I'm not picking up their Dark Souls II.Proverbial Jon said:I really, really did just want to play Tomb Raider
You know what, I'm the sort of person Namco Bandai are marketing Dark Souls 2 to. I haven't played Dark/Demons Souls because they're not my sort of game but I played the shit out of Skyrim. But I'm so sick and tired of genre games being homogenised that I steer clear of anything that is made to appeal to everyone.
I love fantasy games but I won't support you for this Namco Bandai.
Fair points, Fappy. Fair points.Fappy said:I don't think what you quoted in the video was quite damning enough. You are making some safe assumptions, but they are still just that: assumptions. Skyrim is referenced many times in this video and, interestingly enough, it's one of the best counterpoints to your video I can think of. TES started off as a super niche franchise. Hell, I didn't even know about it until TES III: Morrowind debuted on the original Xbox. In every TES since Daggerfall they have worked to widen that "net" and bring in as many new fans as possible.
While I believe Morrowind to be the best in the series, I recognize Oblivion and Skyrim are still great games that have not yet abandoned the things that make TES games great. There's a right way and a wrong way to widen the net. Yes, Bethesda's made some mistakes in this regard (over reliance on voice acting, hand-holding mechanics, etc.) but overall I would say that they're doing good work. If a niche game can garner new fans without losing its soul... more power to it.
I think it's too early to say that Dark Souls 2 will drop the ball, but I can certainly see where you are coming from. As you've sited, there are plenty of franchises who've recently done the same thing and failed miserably.
As always,
Thank God for Jim.
Or because publishers (in any industry) don't really listen to critiques, reviews, or video rants especially. They listen to the customers' wallets.canadamus_prime said:Don't misunderstand me. I agree with everything he said. What I meant was that he must be getting sick and tired of having to say it because Publishers refuse to listen.DVS BSTrD said:He's getting really anal about homogenization and unrealistic expectations.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?
Yeah, that's the part I don't understand. Surely the market has already shown that that practice isn't sustainable.irishda said:Or because publishers (in any industry) don't really listen to critiques, reviews, or video rants especially. They listen to the customers' wallets.canadamus_prime said:Don't misunderstand me. I agree with everything he said. What I meant was that he must be getting sick and tired of having to say it because Publishers refuse to listen.DVS BSTrD said:He's getting really anal about homogenization and unrealistic expectations.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?
Most likely, he would probably stop if it weren't for the fact that game developers still seem to want to climb onto the horse and ride it, to stretch the metaphor.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?
He's making a good fist of it at leastDVS BSTrD said:Yeah, it's really gotten out of... hand.canadamus_prime said:Don't misunderstand me. I agree with everything he said. What I meant was that he must be getting sick and tired of having to say it because Publishers refuse to listen.DVS BSTrD said:He's getting really anal about homogenization and unrealistic expectations.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?
Which is why he's probably getting sick and tired of having to flog it.TWEWYFan said:Most likely, he would probably stop if it weren't for the fact that game developers still seem to want to climb onto the horse and ride it, to stretch the metaphor.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?
Not necessarily, for instance the Battlefield and Medal of Honor games. They don't have to necessarily match the success of the original, they just have to be successful enough to make money. The very nature of publishing and even entertainment development is an incredibly risky gamble with large sums of money, even with something like Kickstarter, people are still paying through the nose to make something that will presumably be purchased enough to make that money back. Just like with any gamble, you don't want to go the riskiest way possible (i.e. focusing on a small niche market and hoping its popularity expands), you want to take the least risk, the way the market is trending. Now ironically enough, that sometimes means they'll never see one of the formulas for success: drawing in people to a niche with a well crafted niche game. But then I remember all the JRPGs I've gotten into because I've heard one was super awesome (none) and it's obvious that's not exactly a sound method of success when you're gambling with your life's savings.canadamus_prime said:Yeah, that's the part I don't understand. Surely the market has already shown that that practice isn't sustainable.irishda said:Or because publishers (in any industry) don't really listen to critiques, reviews, or video rants especially. They listen to the customers' wallets.canadamus_prime said:Don't misunderstand me. I agree with everything he said. What I meant was that he must be getting sick and tired of having to say it because Publishers refuse to listen.DVS BSTrD said:He's getting really anal about homogenization and unrealistic expectations.canadamus_prime said:Jim, you must be getting sick and tired of having to flog that dead horse eh?