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

Chairman_Mao wrote:
polypusher wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

or the entire Hollywood film industry.

You're probably not, but it sounds like you're saying that makes it ok, that people should accept a worse thing because there's an example of anyone having it worse, rather than fighting in the other direction.

heh sorry I definitely meant that it sucks and should be fought against, it just sadly isn't a new thing. If anything the film industry, with decent unions/guilds, does better than the gaming industry in that regard.

Right. In the movie Shakespeare in Love was winking and nodding not to subtly at the movie industry in that scene (and others).

NYT offered a fairly glowing overview of Stadia today, as part of an article about getting into games while you're stuck at home.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I feel like pretty much anything with a release date after, say, March 31st has a good chance of being delayed. Especially if it's being made by a studio in America or Europe. The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Avengers, Halo Infinite: all those seem like good candidates for delays.

It may even be an open question if the new consoles launch this year.

The Last of Us has been delayed due to COVID. No new release date at this time. Turns out you can't hard crunch remotely.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Turns out you can't hard crunch remotely.

Oh, if the schedule whips at development studios could, they'd figure out a way to make it happen.

This game has already been delayed multiple times without the mandates of remote work. Maybe it just wasn't ready. Or maybe there are early telltales of AAA games coming out during a recession not showing good signs.

I think for The Last Of Us in particular it's likely as much about the marketing/hype hit, and the content of this specific game, as actually getting the game finished.

While something like Animal Crossing might have been the perfect quarantine game I wonder if something like The Last Of Us might push the other way, with people just not in the mood for playing something so dark, depressing, and close to the world we are currently living in. If I was Sony I'm not sure I would want to take that chance on what should be one of their biggest releases of the generation.

If it was simply a question of subject matter, why was Iron Man VR delayed at the same time?

Yup it's more about where it was in their pipeline as well as the shape of their pipeline. e

ClockworkHouse wrote:

If it was simply a question of subject matter, why was Iron Man VR delayed at the same time?

I agree with this, I think Iron Man VR is being delayed entirely because of remote work/testing issues.

Q/A for most companies now is really challenging. Some companies run 3 x 8 hour shifts per day on the same console dev kit. Cannot do that in a work from home scenario.

Its QA, Quality Assurance. Q/A is... Questions and Answers?

Edgar_Newt wrote:

Q/A for most companies now is really challenging. Some companies run 3 x 8 hour shifts per day on the same console dev kit. Cannot do that in a work from home scenario.

Well, at least we know Bethesda's releases won't get delayed.

That beeping you hear is a fire truck backing on up into this thread.

New World is delayed

That beeping is the f'ing battery low chirp coming from an under construction house nearby for the past 3 days! [/vent]

Under construction places are usually pretty open, can you just go over there and disable it or replace the battery?

Or smash it to bits with a big hammer?

Tomorrow is Jason Schreier's last day at Kotaku.

In his farewell, he dropped this gem:

I don’t think it’d be productive to spend too much time on the reasons I’m leaving, which will probably be obvious, other than to say this: When I think about what happened to Deadspin, bile builds in my throat. After October 29, 2019, it became clear to me that I could not work at this company for much longer.

Read the linked article. It's an eye-opener.

Schreier was the only thing left of value at Kotaku. Aside from him I think the last article there I read was a guide to beating the Marauder in Doom Eternal, which I only read because I was astonished that someone was getting paid to reiterate information the game's tutorial already gives you the first time you encounter one.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/xaQe6pb.jpg)

So... a developer at Naughty Dog got fed-up with the studio over payment issues and workplace problems, so they uploaded pivotal cutscenes from The Last of Us II and the game's entire script. Sony has since suddenly produced a release date for the game (June 19). Wow.

That's a crime, right? If so I hope the person who did it gets prosecuted.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

So... a developer at Naughty Dog got fed-up with the studio over payment issues and workplace problems, so they uploaded pivotal cutscenes from The Last of Us II and the game's entire script. Sony has since suddenly produced a release date for the game (June 19). Wow.

Damn. That definitely deserves a "wow".

Nevin73 wrote:

That's a crime, right? If so I hope the person who did it gets prosecuted.

To treat your employees like dirt so they try to torpedo your project? Nah. Totally legal.

I'm not a big fan of corporate types but there is usually legal recourse for contractually obligated payment. But to try to ruin the work of hundreds of other employees out of spite isn't the answer.

That's a proper rage-quit. NDA breach isnt criminal but the person will probably be sued by Sony. (and hopefully counter-sued by the person if there were real payment issues but that's probably not going to balance well in the worker's favor in the two suits.

Wow. Not good all around.

That is pretty sad, as it could easily hurt his former colleagues.
On the other hand... hey, maybe accept unions to allow your unhappy employees to get help and support so they dont explode. I guess these cases might be necessary steps toward it happening.

Dang, if it's some kind of cunning plan to make people sympathetic to Naughty Dog, it's working on me.