219 réponses à ce sujet

[streamlock]

Then why in the bloody hell did they spend over 3/4 of a billion dollars in cash and stock buying a company like Bioware!?

Oh yeah.....KotOR online.

Of your going to make big overarching decisions like not greenlighting any SP only games, do the world a favor and add the following....

Do not green-light any MOBA/DOTA style games
Do not green-light any tower defense games
Do not green-light any WoW like games using WoW like pricing schemes

The world needs more of those like I need a hole in the head. Two words-"Market Saturation"

[TwylaFox]

Oh, it gets SO much worse....

I happened to be flipping through EA's job postings and came across this:

Career Opportunities: Producer (11103)
What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Um....   Am I the only one who sees about umpteen bajillion things horribly, horribly wrong with this?

Modifié par TwylaFox, 26 septembre 2012 - 10:42 .

[Dominus]

What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Baldur's Gate to Farmville.
Neverwinter Nights: Legend of Zynga.

[Ozzy]

lmaoooo

[PaulSX]

since most people like multiplayer games, I guess major publishers can not do pure single player games from now on except for some big brands of course, even your beloved Valve was done with Single Player games. 

[Naughty Bear]

Dead Space 3 just looks actionised it's pretty upsetting. Well Mass Effect 3 is the last EA game I'm buying. I'll get DA3 when it's in a bargain bin at Game with a deal of 2 for the price if one.

[Naughty Bear]

suntzuxi wrote...

since most people like multiplayer games, I guess major publishers can not do pure single player games from now on except for some big brands of course, even your beloved Valve was done with Single Player games. 

Difference between Valve and EA is that Valve attempt to make multiplayer good. EA just tack it on for the sake of it and for that simply amazing online pass.

[PaulSX]

Naughty Bear wrote...

suntzuxi wrote...

since most people like multiplayer games, I guess major publishers can not do pure single player games from now on except for some big brands of course, even your beloved Valve was done with Single Player games. 

Difference between Valve and EA is that Valve attempt to make multiplayer good. EA just tack it on for the sake of it and for that simply amazing online pass.

Good or Bad is subjective.

[Addai]

TwylaFox wrote...

Oh, it gets SO much worse....

I happened to be flipping through EA's job postings and came across this:

Career Opportunities: Producer (11103)
What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Um....   Am I the only one who sees about umpteen bajillion things horribly, horribly wrong with this?

That sounds like a caption contest.

[A Crusty Knight Of Colour]

TwylaFox wrote...

Oh, it gets SO much worse....

I happened to be flipping through EA's job postings and came across this:

Career Opportunities: Producer (11103)
What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Um....   Am I the only one who sees about umpteen bajillion things horribly, horribly wrong with this?

[Brockololly]

TwylaFox wrote...

Oh, it gets SO much worse....

I happened to be flipping through EA's job postings and came across this:

Career Opportunities: Producer (11103)
What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Um....   Am I the only one who sees about umpteen bajillion things horribly, horribly wrong with this?

Yeah...not surprising but then again, BioWare doesn't even have the Baldur's Gate/ D&D license do they? Why in the world would they get it back just for a mobile/social game that likely ends up simply pissing off people than it would bringing new people in?

[Karlone123]

All gaming developers and publishers want to make money, gamer opinion depends on how well the game turns out and how the makers and publishers are portrayed in the media. They all want to make money, that's one of the reasons they went into business and not for the goodness of their heart.

We may dislike them for being or appearing to be greedy corporations that will sell lower-than-value games in order to gain profit. So no matter of gamer opinion, profit overules all.

[Addai]

Karlone123 wrote...

All gaming developers and publishers want to make money, gamer opinion depends on how well the game turns out and how the makers and publishers are portrayed in the media. They all want to make money, that's one of the reasons they went into business and not for the goodness of their heart.

Yeah, I don't think anyone believes that gaming companies are in it out of charity.  That's not really the issue.

I heard a talk this weekend on why some companies succeed while others with similar characteristics don't.  One of the things the speaker identified was that customers are moved not just about what you do, but why you do it.  That is not to say that some companies don't want to make money while others do.  It's about the corporate culture of some companies, how they understand and communicate their vision.  The companies who successfully sell people on the "why we do what we do" get a loyal, addicted customer base.

I don't think anyone can say that EA does what they does because they love gaming.  Some of the employees no doubt do, but the company credo is not "make the best games."  It's more like "get away with putting as little into games as possible to score as much cash as we can."  There is a tragicomedic side effect that they seem not to understand why people play their games or what their customers want- at least not the existing customer base.  Maybe there is this holy grail of potential customers who want the shoddy stuff they're putting out.  If so, more power to them.

[TwylaFox]

Addai67 wrote...
I don't think anyone can say that EA does what they does because they love gaming.  Some of the employees no doubt do, but the company credo is not "make the best games."  It's more like "get away with putting as little into games as possible to score as much cash as we can."  There is a tragicomedic side effect that they seem not to understand why people play their games or what their customers want- at least not the existing customer base.  Maybe there is this holy grail of potential customers who want the shoddy stuff they're putting out.  If so, more power to them.

Hardly surprising that their overall market value (adjusting for inflation) is the lowest it's been in nearly 25 years.

[Gatt9]

suntzuxi wrote...

since most people like multiplayer games, I guess major publishers can not do pure single player games from now on except for some big brands of course, even your beloved Valve was done with Single Player games. 

Actually,  that's generally not true.  There are some outliers,  like Call of Duty,  but generally single player games outsell multiplayer games.  Blizzard even acknowledged not that long ago that the majority of people playing Diablo 3 were playing Single Player.

Companies like to claim that Multiplayer is the dominant form of gaming,  but they're just hiding the real reasons they're saying that.

-If people buy the game for multiplayer,  they're less likely to trade it in,  increasing their revenues since the majority of console players play used game (Source: http://www.gamespot....s-study-6343451 )

-If people buy the game for multiplayer,  the Publisher gouges the gamers with DLC designed around forcing most people to buy it to compete,  increasing revenues.

-The Publisher can make short, weak, single player modes.  If they even make single player,  if they don't then they can eliminate AI costs and writing costs too.  Increasing profits.

In short,  the whole thing is the Publishers trying to convince people that Multiplayer is the only type of game to have because they think they can maximize revenue if they can get people to stop wanting single player games.

The reality is,  most Gamers either aren't interested,  or are interested only in multiplayer with a select group of people,  because open multiplayer is rampant with offensive behavior.  Few people are willing to pay for someone to abuse them.

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever,  almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Modifié par Gatt9, 27 septembre 2012 - 12:42 .

[Morroian]

Addai67 wrote...

I don't think anyone can say that EA does what they does because they love gaming.  Some of the employees no doubt do, but the company credo is not "make the best games."  It's more like "get away with putting as little into games as possible to score as much cash as we can."  There is a tragicomedic side effect that they seem not to understand why people play their games or what their customers want- at least not the existing customer base.  Maybe there is this holy grail of potential customers who want the shoddy stuff they're putting out.  If so, more power to them.

This is probably a good point, compare EA to say Zenimax who do appear to be committed to making good games as well as successful ones.

Modifié par Morroian, 27 septembre 2012 - 02:51 .

[xsdob]

Naughty Bear wrote...

suntzuxi wrote...

since most people like multiplayer games, I guess major publishers can not do pure single player games from now on except for some big brands of course, even your beloved Valve was done with Single Player games. 

Difference between Valve and EA is that Valve attempt to make multiplayer good. EA just tack it on for the sake of it and for that simply amazing online pass.

How do they make multiplayer good? 

All they seem to do is make their fans make the dlc for them and than rake in all the profits. That and sell you hats.

[slimgrin]

TwylaFox wrote...

Oh, it gets SO much worse....

I happened to be flipping through EA's job postings and came across this:

Career Opportunities: Producer (11103)
What happens when you take BioWare’s blockbuster, critically acclaimed titles — like Baldur’s Gate, the Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age and Mass Effect — and reconceive them for social gaming?

Um....   Am I the only one who sees about umpteen bajillion things horribly, horribly wrong with this?

Bioware's commitment: bringing the casual RPG experience to...

Modifié par slimgrin, 27 septembre 2012 - 03:41 .

[Allan Schumacher]

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever, almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Say what?

[Dominus]

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever, almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Best Selling Video Games. Let's see...

Halo Series. PGR. Counter-Strike. Madden. Dead or Alive 3. Call of Duty. Gears of War. Minecraft.
Mario Kart. Super Smash Bros...

It goes on further, but I'll leave it there.

[Xewaka]

DominusVita wrote...

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever, almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Best Selling Video Games. Let's see...
Halo Series. PGR. Counter-Strike. Madden. Dead or Alive 3. Call of Duty. Gears of War. Minecraft.
Mario Kart. Super Smash Bros...
It goes on further, but I'll leave it there.

That same link, let's see for PC:

• The Sims 2 (20 million)[184]
  
  • The Sims 2: Pets [expansion pack] (5.6 million)[185]
  • The Sims 2: Seasons [expansion pack] (1 million)[185]
• The Sims (16 million shipped)[186]
• Half-Life 2 (12 million; may include sales on other platforms)[187]
• StarCraft (11 million)[188]
• Battlefield 2 (11 million)[189]
• Diablo III (8.8 million)[190]
• The Sims 3 (10 million)[191]
• Half-Life (9.3 million,[26][27] may include PS2 version)
  
  • Half-Life: Opposing Force [expansion pack] (1.1 million)[26][27]
• Minecraft (7 million)[192]
• Guild Wars (6.5 million in North America, Europe, and Asia; includes Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North)[193]
• Myst (6 million)[194]
• SimCity 3000 (5 million; includes Sim City 3000 Unlimited edition)[195]

Top three are single player. Of the twelve listed in the article, four (that is, a third, or 33%) are multiplayer focused (Starcraft, Battlefield 2, Diablo III, Guild Wars), whereas the other eight are single player. Guess chosen platform does have an impact on player preferences. Or rather, player preferences influence his platform choice. Or it could be that while other platforms are more a product of their times, PC is a constant that covers the whole era of videogaming.

Modifié par Xewaka, 27 septembre 2012 - 09:30 .

[TwylaFox]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever, almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Say what?

To be more accurate, one needs to distinguish between true multi-player games and single-player games which had multi-player crammed into them (usually by compromising or outright crippling single-player gameplay).  If you really want to see the effects of EA's bad decisions, just look at the reviews on Amazon for Madden 13: (cumulative between xBox and PS3)

• 5 stars ~ 102 (14.1%)
• 4 stars ~ 78 (10.8%)
• 3 stars ~ 31 (4.29%)
• 2 stars ~ 87 (12.0%)
• 1 star ~ 425 (58.8%)
• Total ~ 723 reviews

You don't even need to flip through the numerous "I just wish I didn't give EA my money and waste my time thinking I could play this till next August", "It's sad when last year's version (which was nothing more than Madden 11 with an updated roster) is better than this disaster", and "This is the worst madden game i have ever played!" reviews to understand (as one reviewer put it) "the game is simply not fun".

But I'm sure EA is just going to say "Oh, look!  Madden 13 tops the charts in video games!" rather than factor in how many people bought the game expecting the same quality of gameplay as the previous titles.

[hoorayforicecream]

Xewaka wrote...

DominusVita wrote...

You can see this in practice by looking at a list of top selling game series ever, almost none of the top games are multiplayer.

Best Selling Video Games. Let's see...
Halo Series. PGR. Counter-Strike. Madden. Dead or Alive 3. Call of Duty. Gears of War. Minecraft.
Mario Kart. Super Smash Bros...
It goes on further, but I'll leave it there.

That same link, let's see for PC:

• The Sims 2 (20 million)[184]
  
  • The Sims 2: Pets [expansion pack] (5.6 million)[185]
  • The Sims 2: Seasons [expansion pack] (1 million)[185]
• The Sims (16 million shipped)[186]
• Half-Life 2 (12 million; may include sales on other platforms)[187]
• StarCraft (11 million)[188]
• Battlefield 2 (11 million)[189]
• Diablo III (8.8 million)[190]
• The Sims 3 (10 million)[191]
• Half-Life (9.3 million,[26][27] may include PS2 version)
  
  • Half-Life: Opposing Force [expansion pack] (1.1 million)[26][27]
• Minecraft (7 million)[192]
• Guild Wars (6.5 million in North America, Europe, and Asia; includes Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North)[193]
• Myst (6 million)[194]
• SimCity 3000 (5 million; includes Sim City 3000 Unlimited edition)[195]

Top three are single player. Of the twelve listed in the article, four (that is, a third, or 33%) are multiplayer focused (Starcraft, Battlefield 2, Diablo III, Guild Wars), whereas the other eight are single player. Guess chosen platform does have an impact on player preferences. Or rather, player preferences influence his platform choice. Or it could be that while other platforms are more a product of their times, PC is a constant that covers the whole era of videogaming.

Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and Minecraft all come with strong multiplayer support and did so from day 1. You cannot say that they are single-player only games without being disingenuous. A large number of Half-Life's continued sales came because people wanted to play Counter-Strike, which was the most-played multiplayer game online for years.

[LiquidGrape]

If you read his statement in a more elaborate context without putting a very particular slant on the discourse, you'll find that what he proposes is actually fundamentally no different from PC-darling Valve's policies.

They wish to provide a service.
Although when it's EA providing it, it is apparently an evil service.