DartLOD

@Dragon83 absolutely. It’s to combat the toxic positivity for the games that by and large people do not want. Since our money doesn’t seem to be landing the message maybe mockery will. Imagine if a company like Guerilla wasn’t wasting time on a guaranteed flop to make the next Horizon sequel or a new single player triple A ip?

@TrollOfWar name checks out

@Yor-sama but we crave more of that right? Said a small group of people.

Ok first Sons of Sparta is below the scale of triple A titles of even the first GoW. So no I don’t want more of this. Second, I do agree that the big budget games development times are ridiculous and should maybe be scaled back some. We don’t need the HYPER REALISTIC graphics in everything. That said, they need to be more strategic when committing to making a new game. Hence, the pushback for all the games like Highlanders, Marathon, Concord, etc. It stinks learning a studio is putting all their resources (time being the biggest resource) into games the majority don’t want to begin with. Lastly, this is the argument FOR AI (which is happening whether you like it or not and no amount of angry blogs are going to stop it.) That is, AI will help speed up development times for mundane, time consuming tasks during development. Not generating assets, writing the story, but simply back end coding and the like.

@PuppetMaster and still had nothing to do with my point. At least I know this is all on bad faith.

@PuppetMaster I denied nothing. I acknowledged them and they’re ancient news. My comments were in relation to the past couple of years of massive layoffs. Which have been written about extensively and you knew this. Not only did you bring up two 20 year old closures and an almost decade year old other, but they weren’t even extensive. In the present time, where all are, while many video game companies are experiencing layoffs, Capcom is growing.

@PuppetMaster haha oh come on. The most recent one of those was 8 years ago and the other two were 20 years ago. As of just a few months ago they are on a hiring spree and increasing wages by 30%. I don’t know if you’re just trying to argue to argue but this is wild lol

@cg_regan amen, brother I’m 41. Re2 in middle school, first licker I saw nearly made me go to the bathroom in my pants lol

Weird, just make a good action/thriller game that isn’t preachy, who’d have thought? Because of that no controversy in the lead up and boom you’ve got yourself a hit. The game was amazing and I hope a lesson was learned here. There is a reason you’re not hearing about layoffs at Capcom.

@Max_the_German ah yes the AC Shadows spin. I sure have egg on my face for saying it would fail….

@Dalamar you’ve hit the nail on the head for the broader market. All these layoffs are largely because these companies keep making games that people don’t want. For example, sites like this one, rubbed it in our faces that AC Shadows was not a flop. How’s it going for Ubisoft? Where is all the dlc for the hot selling game? Instead of insulting the customers maybe listen to them.

Oh so the game was actually good but a coordinated conspiracy made people think they actually weren’t having fun playing the game? Got it

@Logonogo It’s forced obsolescence. You used to be able to buy the physical disc and play the game you paid for. Almost all new games are not even optimized off the disc. It’s an inferior product. This is by design not a flaw.

@Bsb56 in the humblest way possible, I believe you’re missing the forest for the trees in what I’m saying.

@Ainu20 and I’m just giving you the “why” as in “why it exists”. It’s not complaining just to complain. There is a reason. You can agree with the reason or not. That’s totally fair and your personal preference.

@Ainu20 All of them also had a bunch of negative comments attached to them which was the very point of your post saying how exhausting it is? You, as did many, liked them. Also, a large swath of gamers did not. You’re complaining about the ones that did not and I’m offering a reason as to why. Not debating you on whether they were good or not.

@Llamageddon I’m not arguing for what they do or do not deserve. I’m simply stating WHY there is a pushback on all these rumors/announcements. As admitted to the op I replied to.

@Ainu20 I’d argue that’s because these “new ideas” don’t sound like new ideas. Their “new ideas” are sounding stale since they keep swapping out the stars of the franchise for character’s that people just aren’t wanting to play as. “Hey you all loved Geralt of Rivia, right? Well we are making the Witcher 4 starring….Ciri!” Cool? “Hey you loved Joel in Last of Us right? Well here is a sequel and we kill him as you play as a new character that killed him!” Cool? Hades 2, Alan Wake 2, Ghost of Yotei, etc. And it’s not just one way gender swapping. If they announced Horizon 3 and the main character is going to be Erend…I’d puke. It would add insult to injury if said game was also a prequel.

I thought playing as Atreus was the quickest way to lose interest in a GoW title. If this is true then I was wrong. I couldn’t care less about any prequel story involving Faye.

This was DOA. Anyone with a brain knew it. Sony would never be able to support it from a software perspective. Just like PS Vita and just like PSP

And as a fan what would my concern do exactly?

@AdamNovice this is how people like Jason schreier have literally made their careers

@SuperSilverback oh phew haha

This may finally be the nail in the coffin. This studio’s games are beyond stale. I can’t imagine getting excited for it especially with the amount of time between releases is factored in.

@SuperSilverback I thought you were joking lol

@SuperSilverback that sounds worse than horrible

@opo02 100% if you don’t like the nature of gamers tearing down games then writing articles that set a stage of us vs. haters is fueling it. The same sentiment was used for Highlanders for like a week until the bottom completely fell out.

@LogicStrikesAgain you took the time to reply so I of course will respectfully read your entire post lol. I just wanted to clarify “universal praise” means the general masses. Of course, there would be outliers. I’d just point out there is a reason Ghost of Yotei was so successful for Sony this past fall. It was the only triple A first party single player title they released. I truly believe any title announced from Guerilla whether it be Horizon, Killzone or a new ip would’ve been met with little negativity. Certainly not enough to warrant a blog pointing out the negativity as this one has.

@LogicStrikesAgain it’s the sunk cost that people are fed up with. The cost being Time in this case. It’s not that it HAS to be Horizon 3 but literally anything that’s a AAA single player story driven action/adventure game (what Guerilla makes) would be received with almost universal praise. Bet.

@StitchJones Exactly! It’s one thing to take a gamble with low risk. When the risk is 4-5 years completely lost it’s not even close to worth it. Agains, not even a hard decision to make. Also, this is by far the best argument for (not that arguing is necessary cause it’s happening regardless) AI to help development time. Not to generate assets or write stories but to offload time consuming procedural tasks. These development times are unsustainable and just flat out dumb. The ROIC isn’t worth it. Three years should be the max for most games. Unless it’s something just truly epic like a GTA but those are the exceptions and not the rule.

Of course there is backlash. These studios are investing all of their time on premises that go against the value prop that is the PS5. Horizon is a single player story driven franchise that apparently takes forever to make. When it takes 5-6 years, at best, to make one and then you reveal the whole studio is making…this, you get a backlash. These decisions are not, at all, hard to make and yet these studios keep putting a stick into their own bicycle tires. It’s the reason this generation is basically considered a lost generation at this point. Exceptionally long development times combined with studios making games that the general audience doesn’t want at all.

He’s not best known for his journalistic skills…

Phoebe Waller Bridge being the show runner doomed this from the start. Amazon has already messed up LotR and WoT. What’s another franchise to go ahead burn to the ground?

@Artois2 and? You’re going to un buy the game you loved?

@8bit4Life yeah except it helped make the game you loved? Such a ridiculous temper tantrum over this

@DennisReynolds except people aren’t mad and they’re trying to manufacture outrage. So these articles are already being flamed.

What an ironic rousing endorsement for AI. The most beloved game this year benefited from AI. Consumers don’t care about awards. It’s marketing

I think y’all are on about your last leg with the engagement on these articles. It’s not going anywhere and people really don’t care that much either. The development cycles for these games have grown to ridiculous proportions. I mean we are watching a remake of a game made in 1997 take over a decade to be completed, split into three parts. That’s asinine. AI will speed up redundant processes to the joy of most gamers and developers.

@Ainu20 from your post to bloggers ears. This is manufactured by the big game media. They career on this stuff. It’s the bulk of what people like Jason at Bloomberg hone in on. Like someone posted in the ND crunch article. Try working at a job like farmers who provide the basic food we actually need, they work crunch all the time to harvest. It’s called work and these are hardly people working in terrible conditions for a peasant’s wage. It foments toxic discourse that I thought we were actually against.

@LogicStrikesAgain it’ll be seven years if they even make the mid 2027 release date (they won’t)

Also I don’t understand this parasocial relationship media/comment sections have with these studios. It’s 100% optional to work at these places and if you disagree with the way they function then leave. They’re in air conditioned buildings with great amenities and employee benefits. Relax and stop letting the writer from Bloomberg career off of “hey these guys are working more hours for a few months”

There is still a huge chance of it not even coming out altogether. They’ve got to stop announcing these things when they’re vaporware.

Really like the last minute virtue signal in there to make it look like this was somehow selfless. The guy clearly wanted this to be a source of income, couldn’t make it happen, decides to leave but sites Elon as the reason. If you think for a second they’d have left money on the table over Elon then I have a bridge to sell you.

My memories are not fond of either console. The hardware themselves were amazing! The support from Sony was nonexistent and made the purchases of both seem worthless.

@nessisonett This is satire, right?

Umm, Bungie has always been lousy with their communication especially when it comes to Destiny. How is this any different?

@zupertramp You wouldn't have this game nor would this comment exist without the internet. Is this pedantic? Yes but your comment was pointless anyways so no harm.

@Cherip-the-Ripper umm it could still have the September 1st date and your statement would still be true. This game is a certifiable flop in the making.

@Americansamurai1 right, which is why there is no mention because they have to build a fake argument (straw man) to win an argument no one is having. That’s why the running meme is TLOU: Remastered Remaster. The way they’re handling this is making me believe in all the ridicule that’s been levied at them for the past couple of years. Shameful.

@Titntin I'll give you major credit for the contrition. 99% of people would just double down and move the goal post. Good on you for having character, sincerely.