Comments 684

Re: CD Projekt Red Reports Third-Best Year of Net Profit without Releasing Any New Games

ThomasHL

Elsewhere they've also got breakdowns of platform splits and physical media versus digital media.

The majority of their sales for The Witcher are on PC (43%) followed by playstation (38%) in 2024. You can see the absolute collapse of Xbox - they had 23% of Witcher 3 sales in 2015 and only 8% by 2024.

When the Witcher 3 launched in 2015, 21% of it's consoles sales were digital. When Cyberpunk launched in 2020, 75% of it's consoles sales were digital.

Three caveats to the last one 1) It was 2020, so COVID, way less people going to stores 2) This doesn't count people who bought second hand copies 3) Console sales were terrible generally at launch because the game ran terribly

Re: Japan's Game Industry on Impressive Rise as Western AAA Development Struggles

ThomasHL

Development costs = staff wages * man hours to make the game.

People look a lot at the second bit of that (time to make game) but not so much at the first part.

Warhorse Studios pays their senior artists $20,000 a year - and that's fine because $20,000 is a nice salary in the Czech Republic. If people's salaries are 7 times lower, the game costs 7 times less to make.

Japan's salaries have been pretty statistic for a long time, which has helped keep Japanese development costs lower.

I suspect similarly, you'd find development costs in the UK haven't risen nearly as much as the US.

Even CD Projekt were helped with their start by much lower salaries in Poland back in the day

In the end, it might be uncomfortable for studios in the richer nations, but globally we're going to see more and more companies in less rich regions make great games. Tech skills are universal now, you can make a great game anywhere.

Re: Massive PS Store Spring Sale Brings a Crazy 4,500+ PS5, PS4 Game Deals

ThomasHL

Children of Morta complete edition is £5.50.

This is a beautiful co-op roguelike that's my go to game with a friend. The co-op is offline based, but that's even better because with share play you can play it online even if only one person needs to own a copy.

Fun combat, great characters, heaps of heart

(it's already on Extra if you have that. But I found I was only using Extra for Morta, so it was cheaper just to buy it)

Re: Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System Created to Combat the Used Games Market

ThomasHL

I recommend checking out the full interview. They've got a really interesting perspective. They talked about how dangerous it is to work directly on tie-in games (because the film directors/producers can and do kill the projects if it doesn't fit their taste).

They mention how clueless execs can be (a WB exec asked for some bullet points explaining the plot of Lord of the Rings - even though LotR was one of WBs most successful properties owned).

And they talked about how important it is to keep teams together and how hard that is. She says she actually stepped down when WB asked her to make a second round of redundancies because she wasn't prepared to do it again. And they used the distraction of her stepping down to delay the redundancies until WB got out of the tight spot and didn't need to make them.

Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows Broke PS Store Sales Records for Ubisoft

ThomasHL

@themightyant just to be clear, what I was implying is that it's crazy to make such a big outcry over a game before it even came out.

I agree that we don't know sales figures and it's fine to wait on them, but the fact of the matter is some people declared the game a failure before anyone had even played it, and that was silly then, and it's silly now.

Re: Saints Row Team Thrown Under the Bus: 'They Didn't Know What They Were Building'

ThomasHL

@lazarus11 that's mostly just wages though. The average household income in the Czech Republic is $11,700.

In the US it's $80,600 dollars. If it costs 7 times more to employ someone, the game is going to cost a lot more.

(Incidentally 60 million times 7 is 420 million).

Warhorse studios pays a senior artist $20,000 a year. No-one in the US is going to accept that.

That's why more and more game development is getting offshored to countries with lower wages.

Re: PS6 Could Be the Only High-End Next-Gen Console, As New Xbox Touted to Be a 'PC in Essence'

ThomasHL

This is all about the details. Consoles already are 'essentially PCs'. The question is all about exactly what they do that is more PC like.

Running windows would be big. But even then how locked down is it? What's the interface like? Is this the only 'Xbox'? Are they going to do time exclusives?

There are variations of a "console for your TV" that I'd be very interested in. But if so I want access to Steam and mods, and it has to work well with a controller.

Re: Cities: Skylines 2 PS5 Still Under Construction, Structural Issues Still Need Fixing

ThomasHL

I don't think it's that weird that Skylines 2 would struggle to run over other games. Comparing it to Kingdom Come is apples and oranges. It's a super detailed simulationist game, that will push CPUs as hard as it can.

The total number of NPCs KC is running AI for at any one moment would fill like half of one street of Skylines. They're doing different things.

In an ordinary hack and slash, if you want to free up power you can just drop some pixels or cut some NPCs and it doesn't make a difference to the core gameplay. In the skylines the game is the NPCs route finding, you can't drop it.

Re: Poll: Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Essential Games for March 2025?

ThomasHL

I'm a little burned because I bought Veilguard full price. But objectively it's a much better month than they normally have.

Not everyone is going to enjoy Veilguard, but hopefully this is a chance for the people who would enjoy it to give it a try. It's not a top tier RPG, but there are plenty of game not at the top tier which are still enjoyable.

Re: Suicide Squad Bombed So Bad, It Basically Took Wonder Woman and Monolith Down with It

ThomasHL

Quidditch flopping doesn't get talked about enough. Warner Bros were talking about needing to focus more on the core-st of core IPs, and focusing on live service over single player.

But their live service game with their most valuable IP still flopped.

People want very specific things from franchises. People want to go to Hogwarts, not play a sport game that was never meant to be a workable sport. You can't just slap an IP on something, and force a particular type of games and expect it to work.

Re: PS Plus Essential PS5, PS4 Games for March 2025 Announced

ThomasHL

I've really enjoyed Veilguard. I can see it's faults, but it's so far away from the trainwreck that it's made out to be. There is some cheesy and middle of the road writing, but there are also some great moments. Emmerich in particular is a top notch Bioware companion.

Tips for anyone playing it: the start is slow and the weakest part, once you recruit the Warden companion it picks up. If I played it again I wouldn't do as many side missions before I'd got everyone unlocked

Re: Assassin's Creed Shadows' 'Canon Mode' Makes Fans Ponder the Point of RPG Options

ThomasHL

I give zero ***** about whether Assassin's Creed has a canon either way.

I don't make choices in RPGs because I believe I'm scripting the games official events or anything. I make choices because the act of deciding is interesting.

Even with games with bigger consequences, I don't mind if the developer wants to make some route canon in the sequel. I'd rather they tell a good story in the new game than hamstring themselves by only being vague about the past.

Re: Yoshida: I Played The Last of Us Online And It Was Great

ThomasHL

This always the trick to when a publishers says they're "hands off" "leaving them their independence" etc. There are more subtle ways to change a company than laying down the law. You can let your desires be known and people will try to match them. You can make sure the hiring choices for the top posts are people who want to do what you want.

Re: Magic: The Gathering's Final Fantasy Crossover Boasts Truly Epic Artwork

ThomasHL

Small correction to the article: 'Apparently, each deck of 100 cards "will be a fully draftable, Standard-legal set"'

Should be: 'As well as each deck of 100 cards there will be a fully draftable Standard-legal set'.

Magic has a number of sets a year. These have about 260 cards, and are a bit like "Seasons" in game. One of the main game modes revolves around a group of people taking it in turns to draft cards from a pack, and then use those to make a deck and play against each other. That's the draftable part.

The cards in a set then go into a bigger card pool where people can make decks out of any of the main draftable sets released in the last three years. This is the "Standard-legal" part.

These 4 100 cards decks, are just an accompaniment to the main set. They're a fixed set of 100 cards that you don't need to open packs for, designed to be played in the most popular multiplayer format of the game (Commander)

@nessisonett there's a standard set as well as these decks, so the other games will probably get references there.

Re: Tides of Annihilation Looks Like PS5's Next Big Thing in Outrageous Extended Gameplay

ThomasHL

I would never have guessed the VA was British, she was Dick Van Dykeing so hard.

I'm also not convinced it's possible for someone to know what a car is, and think a pram might be one.

The platforming and 'puzzles' look clumsy too, and I'm sad that washed out grey is making a comeback in games.

But I enjoy seeing how other countries depict Britain, so I'd probably play it for that alone. Mordred? Sign me up.

Re: Backed by Sony for Years, Shuhei Yoshida Explains Why WiLD Was Cancelled

ThomasHL

@DrVenture69 plenty of Indie and AA devs have chucked ideas that never came together, you just don't hear about them as much because they don't have big E3 trailers.

And for small indie devs whose games never came together you might never have known they existed in the first place - because they never released a game or released a terrible game and closed down.

An indie developer recently described the game development process as about learning how to scrap ideas that don't work as efficiently as possible.

Re: Poll: Would You Buy a PS5 Mouse Accessory?

ThomasHL

Developers wouldn't implement it. We've known for a while now that gyro aiming is better than straight analogue stick aiming, but only a handful of games on PS5 support it.

Plus a mouse on a sofa is really awkward, and I'm not convinced the Switch will solve it.

I'd love to see someone invent some kind of mouse-like substitute - like the Steam Controller - that takes off on console, but an actual mouse isn't it.

Re: Hi-Rez Studio Suffers Significant Layoffs, Drops Everything But Smite 2

ThomasHL

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare The future of gaming is safe. Tools exist for almost anyone to make a game now at any budget.

There will always be people who want to play videogames, and there will always be people who want to make videogames. Even if all the money got drained out of the industry games would still get made and played.

The videogame crash itself wasn't as big as it is made out to be. It was 2 years, and it only happened in the US. Games kept selling fine in Canada, Japan and Europe. Mostly it was about US retailers being reluctant to stock games and consoles after some high profile flops. We're not reliant on retailers like that any more (or consoles)

But whilst gaming is safe, the people who work in it aren't. Videogames will keep getting made, but the less people might make them, or they might make less profit. It's always tough in creative industries because so many people want these jobs, and the finances don't necessarily support that.

Re: Hogwarts Legacy 2, Expanded First Game Both Reportedly in the Works

ThomasHL

I'm sure it will be one of the best selling things ever, but I kind of feel like they've already done the thing with the most appeal: make the full Hogwarts region that you can explore.

People wouldn't be nearly as interested in a game set somewhere else (see response to Fantastic Beast films). And yes, they can make the mechanics better, but the mechanics aren't why people checked it out in the first place.

Maybe more customisation options? I could see that

Re: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Player Count Dwarfs Every Medieval Battle in History

ThomasHL

@EfYI Polygon were just being polite not outright stating it. It's a bit of a petty reason to hold back review copies, and picking and choosing your reviewers is not a good thing even if you have an excellent game.

People are making way too big a deal of this. The developers don't want to be involved either way. They just want to make games. And i got to read up on some legitimately interesting history pieces at the time because of the discussion

Re: Report Investigates Why PS5's Store Is Still Drowning in 'Eslop'

ThomasHL

Valve took the right approach and put in the effort, and it's paid off for them.

The solution isn't curation, but really good tools for discovery. Steam used to be overwhelmed by junk, but now it's good enough that indie devs say they don't even need to market games for Steam. If you're game is good, people on Steam will discover it. If the game isn't good, it quickly vanishes.

That's why every new indie trend starts on PC these days, and eventually gets ported to consoles.

Re: Capcom Wants Players to Go Wild Together in Monster Hunter Wilds

ThomasHL

They better make it co-op friendly then, unlike every other Monster Hunter game released.

If I want to play with a friend I want to be able to jump in and start playing with a friend. Don't tell me "One of you hadn't played X amount of hours of single player story missions so you can't do the fun stuff together"

Re: PS3's Most Bizarre Game Will Have Its Own TV Show

ThomasHL

The worst Quantic Dream game. The story was a mess all the way through, David Cage was being peak David Cage, and I found the control scheme to lack the magic where Heavy Rain managed to find the exact button prompts that "feel" like bending under barbed wire.

This is the game with the wacky child soldier sidekick level.

Re: Xbox Boss Wants to Beat PS6 on Hardware Capabilities, Not Necessarily Games

ThomasHL

@Bionic-Spencer I think this generation is proof that the One / PS4 generation wasn't "the one Microsoft can't afford to lose". The Xbox Series S / X is trailing well behind its previous generation. Lots of people who did have an Xbox last generation with their built up Xbox libraries who should be 'locked in' according to Spencer, have switched away from Xbox.

People care more about what they can play that's new, and what their friends are playing, than they do about preserving their digital libraries.