The Great Video Game Business and Financial (In)Stability Thread

LeapingGnome wrote:

Should corporations be allowed to pick and choose what laws they want to obey?

The article doesn't describe anything like that happening. It says Apple removed the app because they themselves made the decision to do so, and the reason they give is nonsense ("it was used to commit crimes" could be said of anything from airdrop to iMessage).

I imagine that Apple in particular is sensitive to any disruption in the manufacture of their products, all of which happen to be made in China.

Nevin73 wrote:

I imagine that Apple in particular is sensitive to any disruption in the manufacture of their products, all of which happen to be made in China.

Bingo.

"I'll take globalisation for 100, please Alex"

LeapingGnome wrote:

So the objectors are saying instead of removing the one app from the store they should just shut down the store, removing ALL apps and access and support? It seems obvious which option helps Hong Kong citizens more right now.

no, let the government force them to do it, so the blood is on the government's hands, not theirs. Then the court of public opinion is focused on trashing the government and not the companies.

Ah, so people believe Apple removed the app from the store without the government asking them to. Is there any evidence to support that?

That sounds like a motte-and-bailey argument. The initial claim was that Apple had to remove the app, or else leave the country's market entirely, and people are replying that that's not the case. Nobody's saying the government didn't ask them to remove the app. We're saying that Apple made the decision.

garion333 wrote:

Blizzard's official response.

Blitzchung (the guy getting banned for supporting Hong Kong) responds to Blizzards response. Seems like a nice guy overall. Maybe he should write Blizzards responses too.

Yeah, what I got from the Blizzard response is that Blizzard's president is full of sh*t.

Apparently Ubisoft just announced that they are delaying a bunch of their games for further polishing. I wonder if it has anything to do with GR:Wildlands very lackluster reception.

Or next gen cranking up next year.

polq37 wrote:

Apparently Ubisoft just announced that they are delaying a bunch of their games for further polishing. I wonder if it has anything to do with GR:Wildlands very lackluster reception.

They mentioned in an earnings call that both Wildlands and Div 2 are underperforming.

There was a pretty strong consensus Division 2 was a lot better than its predecessor but they still made some serious mistakes with it.

I didn't play Breakpoint or Wildlands but the streams I watched of Breakpoint made it look like a boring microtransaction hellscape.

The bigger problem for Ubisoft, one which I don't expect them to acknowledge, is that by releasing big open-world GaaS titles almost exclusively, they are competing against themselves for people's time and MTX revenue. Even if you like the Ubisoft open-world formula which is almost a meme at this point, there are only so many of these games you can play.

Yeah, I own the Division 2 and part of the reason is because they've discounted it so damn quick.

In positive Ubi news, they just announced their latest (Nov 13) free update for The Crew 2, and the teaser looks quite good. They’ve also outlined what’s ahead for ongoing support of The Crew 2 over the coming year. Likely they learned from the first Crew game, which, thanks to robust support, made more money in its second year than the first year after release.

It's shocking to me that Ubi came right out and said that making live services game sequels is hard because the new game has to be perfect and differentiate itself from the prior game.

Ubisoft's track record of supporting their games, even the ones that don't have a great launch, has been great these past few years, there's no denying that. Rainbow Six Siege is a success story and they even tried with For Honor for a year or more, god bless 'em.

You're confusing Wildlands with Breakpoint, which is part of their problem.

ranalin wrote:

You're confusing Wildlands with Breakpoint, which is part of their problem.

I don't know who this is supposed to be directed at, as nobody had mentioned either in several posts.

Middcore wrote:
ranalin wrote:

You're confusing Wildlands with Breakpoint, which is part of their problem.

I don't know who this is supposed to be directed at, as nobody had mentioned either in several posts.

Directed at me. My screw up. I meant to say Breakpoint.

Although, Wildlands is another example of an Ubisoft game that launched to a pretty bad reception and apparently became better after some major patches and made more money in year 2.

Still, it feels like something went really wrong with the project management for Breakpoint.

Human Head Studios, makers of the original Prey, has officially shut down as an independent developer, but the majority of the staff seem to have joined a new studio owned by Bethesda called Roundhouse Studios.

https://www.humanhead.com/update-hum...

They made this announcement one day after they released what they are now calling their last title as Human Head, Rune II, on the Epic Games Store.

Obviously the optics for Rune II's release here are not great and it's not at all clear whether there is any future support planned for Rune II under the Roundhouse aegis or whether it's just been thrown out the door before they closed up shop.

That is huge, but changing their culture is more important than reparations for current employees. I’m not saying it’s either/or, just that it would be best for everyone if they don’t continue treating women poorly and then end up attempting to make up for it with money again. The money is nice, but it doesn’t reverse the psychological effects.

It’s possible that some women in the industry have just developed emotional calluses and have become used to it, and that makes me really sad.

garion333 wrote:

Riot settles lawsuit and is setting up $10 mil fund that pays out to any and all female employees from the past or present. That's nuts. I hope it helps change things around the industry.

A traveler from the future told me it doesn’t. I gave her my shocked face.

I had a very close friend growing up who's fairly high up in Riot, and every time I see this story I wonder if he's one of the culprits or an internal force for good. He was the kind of guy where even knowing him well I'm not 100% sure.

My favorite comment:

Riot was valued at $366 million in 2011. It’s earned roughly $20 billion ever since being bought by the Chinese. (Forbes)

To put that in perspective: Riot is spending less than .001 of their overall revenue to pay back women who were sexually harassed at the company, and helped them earn the $20 billion they’re sitting on.

While at the same time of not actually paying out more than a pittance to these women who have lost their jobs for whistleblowing, been forced out, and those who have been harassed, they are not removing the people from power who have been a part of this consistent attitude towards women for the last decade.

Yeah the face-farting crotch-slapping executive is still there. He was given a brief vacation, but he's back.

SUPER message to send the troops. :thumbsup:

Ex-BioWare bosses are making an RPG set in 'a new sci-fi universe' with the Magic company

Early days (they're still building the team), but I'll be following this with interest.