In a recent blog post before E3, I briefly discussed the use of Kickstarter as a platform to get games funded. I have to say, it was either a stroke of luck or intuition where it followed that Yu Suzuki and Sony have opted to use Kickstarter to make Shenmue a reality. I'm a humble fellow, so let's chalk it up to the former and move past it.
This, in my opinion, opens up some interesting doors as far as getting games made. We know now that Sony has made this year's theme at E3 "We hear you...and we're listening". An important distinction because hearing and listening are not one in the same, but people have waited some time for news on The Last Guardian. They delivered with a gameplay trailer and release window. People have been asking for even longer about a Final Fantasy VII remake based on the tech demo shown about a decade ago. At last, we're getting a remake. And lastly, Shenmue III, a game many of us have been waiting to see since Sega Dreamcast, is being funded. Even better, Sony is footing the bill and the game's Kickstarter campaign is being used as "proof of interest". After so many years, it's overwhelming to see so many fellow gamers who also still want to see this franchise brought to an end that involves some closure between Ryo and Lan Di.
Obviously, Kickstarter has proven itself as a powerful funding platform and Sony may have stumbled upon an incredible idea, if used correctly. Naturally, we don't want every developer and their mothers running to Kickstarter to bleed everyone of money. With some structure in place, PlayStation and Kickstarter could actually be a very viable solution for future projects.
So first off, we know that Shenmue III wouldn't be possible without this Kickstarter...however, the crowdfunding is being used first and foremost to gauge interest. Yu Suzuki himself doesn't have the funds at his independent studio to foot the bill for this project, thus Sony is picking up the tab. If you're wondering how much Shenmue III may cost total, just look at what it cost to make it on Dreamcast when game development was relatively cheap. I'll leave you to look that one up. It's staggering when compared to other games made in that era. Anyway, Kickstarter is being used here to ensure that neither Sony nor Suzuki are wasting their time here. There are still an awful lot of gamers interested in seeing Shenmue III, it seems. Thank goodness too because I was sick of seeing Ryo make appearances in other games with no word of what's happening for him outside of racing in that cursed forklift.
Anyway, I think Sony can use this to their advantage in positive ways; seeing as Sony is the king of niche titles, I think it would be amazing if they could fund low-budget niche sequels to some games using Kickstarter so it doesn't set any of the developers back. Games like Disgaea are great games, but Nippon Ichi never really makes use of the new hardware's power. Honestly, I'd be surprised if Disgaea 3 couldn't run on PSOne. My point is, with a bit of a budgetary nudge, who's to say they couldn't really make a top-tier AAA title? They already have incredibly low sales goals and I understand that they have other industries besides gaming they like to tap, but honestly, NIS mention that they are content with sales <200k. That's insanely low, but so are the production qualities. Games like Disgaea aside--and I feel like I mention this game in just about every blog--but why not use crowd-sourced funding toward rebuilding a franchise in preparation for sequels? That is, Sony could revive Dark Chronicle in the form of an HD remaster. Level-5 could crowd-source and use the money earned from the remastered sales and make Dark Cloud 3. If it doesn't make the crowd-sourcing goal, then you can probably conclude that the interest isn't there and Sony need not finance it (but I hope they do). It could inspire some complacency where Sony becomes Microsoft and Nintendo and never really fund projects that they don't perceive as profitable, but that is honestly what sets Sony apart and why I, and many others I'm sure, identify themselves as PlayStation gamers. Given Shenmue's history, this is going to be an incredibly expensive game and it may be for the best that it is approached with crowdfunding. But some other projects that probably aren't AAA sequels to big games? Sony could probably make some pretty decent games at an affordable price.
I also think, in Suzuki's case, they should use it to fund legendary developers who went independent to help them set up shop. Let's look at Hideo Kojima for example: if Kojima's spiritual successor to P.t. was pitched on Kickstarter, you have to wonder if it would beat Shenmue III's record. Of course, it wouldn't be an outright, crowdfunded project, but at the very least, it would help Sony to decide what their fans want and what they should be funding, all while securing exclusives in the process.
To reiterate though, it would be most unfavorable for every company to cash in on this, especially when they really don't need it. It's a strategy I think would work best for the indies and developers who've gone independent (Suzuki, Kojima, Inafune, and heck, even Platinum games entirely). Capcom is relying on remasters now, but if we're being honest, their current situation is one they've managed to bring on themselves with carelessness throughout the seventh console generation. I hope they find a way to bounce back, but no, they wouldn't be prime candidates to be recipients of crowdfunding ventures through Sony or any of the big 3 honestly. Of course, this could just be me being opinionated as always.
I know I have not explored the complete potential of Kickstarter's potential value to gaming, but this, I think, is a great start for them. I find this approach works best for Sony given that they don't exactly stress game sales the same way the others do (only if there's a marketing deal involved or it's a AAA game they need to sell well, really). I love how experimental the House of PlayStation can be and Kickstarter is a welcome strategy for certain types of games, if you ask me.
Thanks for reading and I'd love to know your thoughts. Game on, mates. :0)
The Final Fantasy VII Rebirth combat director has expressed that he wants the final part in the trilogy to offer players "even more freedom".
I love the game so far but please don’t make the final part a mini game fest
Everytime I get to a new part in Rebirth it’s “mini game time”
Hope ya don't mind me asking since it seems like you've played it, did it feel like a decent step up from the last game or was it more like the best from the last but more polished?
It makes Remake feel like a demo.
9.5/10 imo. And I think the “mini games” did a great job of adding variety to the gameplay. Purely optional as well.
Here's my thoughts
I think it's a big step up from the first instalment, I'm enjoying it way more.
I thought keeping it just in Midgar was silly, it felt dragged out and it didn't have much variation in terms of the scenery.
However with Rebirth, as soon as you get out of Kalm you have a big world to explore and it's great to just wander round and explore.
Now that I'm half way in though, despite still liking what I'm playing, the gameplay loop is now starting to slow down on me. I've got to a new region and I'm like "Yaaay...need to go and find those towers again, oh look another special beast marker, is that a bird I see in the distance? Better follow it to another Mako Crystal"
It's like....you know how Peter Jackson was only supposed to have two Hobbit films then Warner Bros wanted a third film so he stretched the second film out as much as he could so he could keep stuff for the third film making a trilogy? Yeah it feels like that, so these mini games are a part of that overall gameplay loop to keep us going and stretch the game out overall so they have something for the third and final game.
I personally think you could have had the first instalment get you out of Midgar and through to Grasslands / Junon and the second game finishes things off.
I had a weird cycle of love/hate for all the mini games as I played through. At first I really hated the seeming need to check all these boxes while exploring the grasslands. I didn't enjoy the Gilgamesh quest initially, and thought Queen's blood was fine but didn't want to commit to it. The side quests didn't really grab me either.
Then for some reason everything in Junon region changed my mind and I did pretty much everything. I liked most of the side quests, I actually liked playing fort condor (didn't care for it in the intergrade dlc). And my interest for completing these quests stayed pretty much through to Cosmo Canyon.
Then they added that horrible Lifestream memory/battle mini game and I started getting so burnt out of it all. I just wanted to do the story. I didn't do any side quests in neibleheim and beyond except for the summon. I abandoned Gilgamesh.
So what I'm saying is I would like the third part to go back to the focused progression from remake. Keep the mini games to the gold saucer. Start the game snowboarding if you want, but from there keep the story rolling.
That's funny you say that because I did everything in the Grasslands but once in Junon I started to slow down a little until Corel where by the end I was burnt out. I'm still currently going but I'm just doing what I can while things keep getting thrown at me.
I would have preferred half of these mini game side fillers / collectibles for some really beefy side quests that really adds onto the world of FFVII.
Sounds like they hadn't really figured out what they wanted to do with Remake and this one is more of what they thought of doing which is probably why they're dragging it out to make a trilogy. Disappointed to hear it has towers cause man do i hate towers lol. It's been a while since I've played the first and it'll be a while longer to play the sequel, but it sounds like I'll enjoy it. 7 really impressed me especially after being disappointed with 15, felt like Square finally realized that FF was THEIR big franchise again.
As long as it comes out on PS5 to have the entire series on one platform, do whatever you want
The combat is my favorite thing about Rebirth. Would be really cool if they can improve it even more.
I hope after FF7 Square will either give a new FF game the remake treatment. Or give some of their older titles a remake treatment like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, even Xenogears.
Wccf tech writes: "Kingdom Come Deliverance 2's scope was impacted by the Xbox Series S hardware limitations, as developers could only make a game that was 25% bigger than its predecessor."
This is the issue with things like this
Xbox Series X is apparently to MS the worlds most powerful console
However the Series S is obviously a limitation because it’s underpowered and developers have to go for parity.
So what’s the point of the world’s most powerful console if you are holding third party developers back? They aren’t going to push themselves if they have to think about the weakest console.
The issue wouldn’t be as bad if it was just Xbox but you are also affecting the PS version aswell
I think developers need to start just taking advantage of a console and if one of them can’t do X Y and Z then f*** them…why should the others suffer. What’s MS going to do? The bigger the franchise the least chance MS are going to tell them to f*** off. Baulders Gate 3 seemed to have stood their ground and suddenly their “strict” parity rule didn’t really matter. We suddenly got super optimisation efforts for the Series S that got things sorted.
I agree, and the sad part is use normal folk saw it the second they announced their plans.
Agree 100% this is why I didn’t want the M$ Monopoly, now PS5 version will be held back too.
If PS5 Pro comes out and Series S is still a thing it’ll be interesting what differences and what devs choose to do. Really hoping Rockstar pushes the PS5 pro with GTA6 and we get the best version possible.
More info from the author of the article, I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/ki...
Quote:
"1) I was told this info from the producer of the game Martin Klíma.
2) He specifically said the game will have only one mode.
3) And this mode is 4K 30 on PS5/XSX and 1440p 30 on XSS.
4) He said that the game is already running north of the 30 FPS cap so the performance should be stable on launch, much better than KCD1.
5) The limitation was XSS because of the 10GB memory. He said that's why they wanted to make the game 25% larger.
6) Speculation on my part: the output resolution is probably upscaled and the reason why there won't be a 60 FPS mode is because it'll most likely be very CPU heavy, like Dragon's Dogma 2 for example."
Doesn't seem like they're adding a 40fps mode on PS5/Series X for launch even if they can handle it.
I'd much rather have 1440p/60fps or even 45fps. Having just one, even with the Series S in mind, is disappointing.
Remember when xbots were adamant that the series s won’t hold back the gen?
Microsoft just needs to let go of the mandatory parity. Who cares if your grandma doesn’t understand that a game cannot be played on the S. It’s not like it she can buy you a physical game for it anyway. Before buying the game put up a notice that it only works on series X. If you’re buying for a friend-allow for a refund.
Bam. Everyone is happy. Most series s owners are for casuals that want Game Pass anyway and most likely don’t purchase most games.
If the developers want it to run on S, let them figure it out.
“During the event, the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 producer also revealed that on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the game will run at 4K resolution and 30 frames per second“
Another “creative decision” right? 🤦♂️
Since you're not an amateur and clearly know more than them, can you over there and help get the game running on the S without having to sacrifice their true vision. Us gamers would really appreciate you using your wisdom for good 🙏
Thousands of games run just fine on S.
But Kingdom Come is the game that can’t. Must be one hell of a game!
Thousands of games run on PS4 and on Switch. If developers want them to run on those systems. Fine. Those two platforms still get new games. Sony isn’t making studios also make a ps4 pro version, or Nintendo a wiiu version. Microsoft technically is.
If games like Alan Wake 2, GTA6, COD, hellblade all run on S, no excuse for this 100x smaller and 100x worse looking game to be held back.
Custom Controller Company HexGaming launched a Kickstarter campaign for their latest pro controller, Hex Phantom. - IS
what if EA use Kickstarter to start Jade Empire 2
I would love that
I don't know why people complain when they are buying the game for less than release price.
also KS can make a game bigger than what a publisher my fund, Bloodstaind is becoming much more bigger than any Castelvania game previously.
my dream KS project is a Sakaguchi successor to Chrono Trigger
I don't think it was a bad idea, just that it was poorly announced, and implemented. They should have been clear on details from the get go, they should have made the requested amount 10 million to demonstrate there seriousness, and they should have placed the Shenmue announcement towards the end of the show; it felt awkwardly placed and presented.
If it's a good series being realized I really don't care how it's done. As long as it gets done. I'm donating on a consistant basis to Shenmue 3 because they are offering huge rewards IMO. I'm getting a Ryo Hazuki leather F**King Jacket! Along with three different copies of the game, my name in the credits, and a few other extras. It's insane and no other game has fed it's fans this kind of fan service.
Now we need Valve to look at this and see what they can do for Half-Life 3.
Bioware needs to look at this and give us a true follow up to KOTOR. (I want to take my Exile character and meet with Revan on the outer rim to see where the story went next...and you know Kreia was deep in the force so she'll be back as some sort of after life force figure, Darth Sideous-like. Sorry SWTOR sucked/sucks. I tried to get into it a few times and it's trash.
2k Sports needs to look at this and fund a fully customizeable 2k football title. Just give us 2k8 and empty it out. No Gold, Silver, Bronze crap. Just give us the game and allow us to control the invented or ripped off leagues. Make a 2k share system for people to share customized leagues...number of teams, colors, logos, players, stadium editors, etc...just let the communtiy mod it into something that could actually beat Madden.
I'm done ranting but we need more of this. There is also PWX wrestling shich started out Kickstarter. The controls are tied very close to N64's Aki games. I've been supporting that title for years and they just keep getting it better. Eventually when it's finished I hope to see it available on Xbox Live/PSN/Steam whatever.
Kickstarter is a way to get things that gamers really want and I love it so far.
Next up on E3 Sony show. Holds out bowl "please sir can we have some more"
Everyone complaining about this kickstarter are morons. If you donate 29 dollars you get the full game when it comes out. So how the hell are gamers being ripped off?