@nessisonett Had no idea what a 2:1 is, so I had to Google it. It sounds like a good grade though! Nice!
At first glance I thought you said you got a “2.1” as in that was your GPA. What we use is called the “Grade Point Average” which is a 4 point scale, where a 2.1 would be pretty abysmal and barely passing. Glad it’s not that! 😂
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@RogerRoger It's going great thanks. We have finished painting our bedroom, just waiting on wardrobe to be fitted before we get our carpets down and new bed in. Started the second room yesterday, hoping to at least have both bedrooms done before Xmas and get started on my library.
Got the PS5 set up and have been playing Yakuza 6 all day so that's been nice just to relax and get lost in the Japanese underworld.
@colonelkilgore Unfortunately it might be a game that slips through the cracks for us — we're really busy behind the scenes at the minute. But never say never!
Reading some of the news articles recently I can’t help but be perplexed about how convoluted “success” in the game industry can be…
CEO remarks how disappointed they are with Saints Row, which is still consistently charting in the top 10. Then executive remarks how thrilled they are with success of Tina Tina’s Wonderlands alluding to greenlighting more like it, a game that seems mostly forgotten after 5 months and even on release was greeted with “haven’t we seen this before?”
Babylon’s Fall, high profile live-service game (the kind of game Sony says it plans to spend a substantial portion of its future assets making) made by a developer known for excellence in gameplay and published by a major entity (surely this will print money…right?) — has completely been shut down and is literally being given away 6 months after it cost $70.
Yet somehow Dreams still carries on, over 2 years after release and probably in development and maintenance now for 10 years (!), still not ported or changed to free-to-play (is anyone still buying this? And how much capital is being poured into keeping it alive?)
Games that are well-received by critics and by fans are losing money — like Guardians of the Galaxy and destined to never be revisited with a sequel. How is that game not successful? I mean, I get it, it’s not GOTY material, but surely it’s as good as (thinking of something by the same publisher…) Life is Strange?
All the while, tripe like Stroke the Dog gets a sequel, Stroke the Cat. 😂
There’s no accounting for taste, apparently. I’d never deny anyone their preferences, but sometimes there seems to be very little rhyme or reason behind what succeeds and makes money, and what flops.
I am not privy to budgets, assets, and the inner workings of gaming business, but I still think there is way too much that doesn’t compute in this industry. And this isn’t even bringing in the wild card of subscription services.
@RogerRoger The comments about Tomb Raider underperforming actually came to my mind also. I was perplexed and bothered by them when they were spoken years ago, because the series reboot was on a lot of people’s GOTY lists and it seemed fans were well pleased with the game.
I agree — unreasonable expectations is much of the issue. Businesses hitting some arbitrary profitability mark can create goals so lofty that even wildly successful games fall short.
Ah well, I’ve never had much of a business acumen, and I shall die poor because of it I’m sure. But hey, you can’t take it with you.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution@RogerRoger I know it's easy for us to scoff at Square-Enix being disappointed with Tomb Raider 2013's 4.5 million sales figures, but that game allegedly cost $100million to make, so it was not enough to break even at that point. Although it eventually made a profit, it's worth pointing out that later sales were for heavily discounted copies of the game. Even where a game makes its development budget back, the question for a publisher will surely become "would that $100million have been better spent on other, less risky, but potentially more profitable projects?" Some projects are woefully mismanaged, wasting time and resources, and that's absolutely on producers and managers, and others have entirely unrealistic expectations to begin with. Gamers themselves are arguably part of the problem, because of the demand for detailed, technically proficient visuals and motion-capped cinematics in modern AAA games.
@RogerRoger Embracer seem more interested in buying up studios and IP than actually releasing quality software, so who know what they expect. 😂 There's no question that Crystal Dynamics and the other old Eidos studios lost money, so we'll see.
@mookysam Yeah, you raise some valid points. I look at Tomb Raider and I see a well made game and AAA quality, but I don’t know that it looks far and away more expensive to make than its peers, like Assassin’s Creed games at the time or Uncharted. Those games sold better so it’s maybe not a perfect comparison, but maybe the inFAMOUS games or Batman Arkham games — all considered wildly successful. So there seems to be clearly production management issues at Square-Enix, with the way they throw around their assets, money, and IP. I mean for goodness sake— Babylon’s Fall… what in the world is going on there? Especially after they sounded off about how much money they’ve lost on Avengers. Then they go and do it again with another live-service debacle? Perhaps Avengers taught them it would be best to cut bait quickly rather than try to nurse the game along on life support. And yet… Final Fantasy XIV exists.
With Guardians of the Galaxy it was really weird how quickly the game was discounted. If memory serves, I saw it’s price plummet within the first few weeks of release and way before I heard about it being a failure. So I wonder, if they would have just had some patience and let word of mouth work for them if they could have recouped more revenue rather than putting it on a fire sale so quickly and calling it a disappointment. And yet, I’ve been wondering why they keep the struggling Avengers behind a paywall, when it seems like F2P might give it some life. At least it’s on PS+ now so I plan to give it a whirl soon.
Square-Enix just frustrates me. They produce really good games in general. But for every delightful surprise like Life is Strange or Nier Automata on top of consistent heavy hitters like FF, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, etc… there’s a Balan Wonderworld, Babylon’s Fall, The Quiet Man, or a fumbled Chrono Cross Remaster. Forspoken is making me nervous too.
Anyways, not complaining. It’s not of my concern how S-E or any of these companies run their business, but it’s just interesting how executives are discussing the financial performance of their games lately.
@Th3solution No Man's Sky is another one. How is that game still making a profit, given the resources which are presumably being poured into its various updates? Always baffles me.
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Th3solution Tomb Raider took over 4 years to make, so I wonder if the scope of the project kept changing, or if there were numerous prototypes that led to development being restarted multiple times. Something, somewhere was amiss. The money poured into it was certainly abnormal given average AAA development costs were around $20million on the 360 and PS3. BioShock Infinite is another one. I absolutely adore the game, but it seems to have been in development hell, with the consoles of the time holding back its technical scope. It's not unusual for content to be cut and things to change, but it ended up causing long delays and the game being quite different to initial trailers and previews. It just goes to show how important good project management is and proper allocation of funds. No idea what went on with Babylon's Fall though. It looks like a disaster on every level, and Sony execs are probably feeling a bit silly given they paid for exclusivity. Square-Enix are releasing a huge amount of games over the next few months, and surely they will not all sell well. Hopefully they've learnt their lesson and budgeted appropriately.
Yeah, with Guardians of the Galaxy, it's weird just how quickly it (and other games, like Far Cry 6) were discounted last year. It wasn't even given a chance at full price. Things do seem to be written off very quickly, and publishers almost go into headless chickenesque panic mode if sales expectations are not met. I think I once read that most game purchases occur within the first week of sale, so perhaps that tiny window really is make make or break for most AAA games.
@RogerRoger It's an incredible package at this point. My kids are still playing it and I wouldn't mind a playthrough myself, but I'd need a good month or two set aside for it, with minimum distractions. In fact I'd need to naff off to a tropical island, as you put it.
Anyone who buys the game now is getting a ridiculous amount of intergalactic bang for their buck. Perhaps the updates are fuelled by a sense of duty to fulfil the promise which sold so many copies in the first place. If that makes sense.
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@Gremio108 NMS was made by around 10 people and from what I can see it’s sold around 800,000 in 2016 alone, bringing in $43 million. Apparently development costs were under 10 million. God knows what it’s made 2017>date but you at least have to assume it’s $100+ including PC, Switch, Xbox?
Ultimately they’ve supported it as a result of low development costs and I assume Sony covered all the advertisement at launch?
any chance the vote your favorite ps4 games thread could be sorted alphabetically at the bottom instead of just numbers to better find your games to vote on? I was just thinking about what mine were the other day and then saw this and wanted to contribute.
Watched Federer’s last match. Proper emotional stuff, he’s been around my entire life. I always preferred the more boisterous players when he was first dominating but I appreciated his style of tennis a lot more as I got a bit older. One of the greatest of all time for sure.
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