The video gaming industry made great strides this year. What’s next?
Here are Mashable's predictions for 2011.
"The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn’t finished.
This week, Xbox began offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax, which it purchased in 2020 for $7.5 billion, according to people familiar with the company’s plans. Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way.
Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said.
Game Pass has not seen the massive growth that Xbox boss Phil Spencer may have been hoping for."
"Speaking about the closures more broadly, Booty said that the company’s studios had been spread too thin — like “peanut butter on bread” — and that leaders across the division had felt understaffed. They decided to close these studios to free up resources elsewhere, he said"
So what you're saying is...you bought all these studios and you guys can't run them.
Jesus.
Reports are suggesting that Game Pass will be getting a price hike soon and that Call of Duty may not be added to the day one offering. I honestly have a hard time believing this but it does beg the question why exactly did GP fail? I think the answer is that it just didn't get the growth that it anticipated. Jim was right but I wish he wasn't because at the end of the day, its gamers, devs and other front-line workers who have to absorb the blow for Spencer and team's miscalculations.
For all the armchair executives who were calling for Sony to release its big-budget AAA games on PS+, the same exact thing would have happened at PlayStation. Game Pass has killed Xbox. Congrats.
"While the 20 year anniversary edition of Nordic Game, NG24 Spring's homepage on 21-24 May in Malmö, Sweden, is getting closer, the organizers announced that more than 150 speakers are now lined up for the show." - Nordic Game.
The gaming industry has drifted away from offering full-fledged games to putting unfinished titles that are jam-packed with microtransactions on the market.
It's not the fault of the gaming industry. Gamers were told what was happening, were warned about where this would lead, did nothing, and now are acting like it's the fault of publishers that they kept buying these games and investing in MTX. If only those gamers at that time felt as strongly about these things as they do Helldivers 2.
This is what amazed me the most when playing hours upon hours of stellar Blade version 1.00.00 no bugs, no crashes, no sudden drops in frames, no screen tear, no falling from the world, just a complete package on a game under 50GB.
I think Korea will play a major role in gaming in the long run , because they're releasing banger after banger.
Still pretty common to find if you stay away from the AAA publishers, in the last 10yrs ive probably only bought like 3 games combined from EA/ACTIVISION/UBISOFT. Even now i still buy games that work right out the box perfectly fine. Just recently got like 6hrs into Alone in the Dark, and not a single sign of any of that bs, really enjoying my time with it.
And we as gamers have to accept our role in that. Constantly never being satisfied. Constantly demanding more while paying less. Constantly demanding better frame rates, better graphics, more modes and faster faster faster…. Then review bombing the product when a demand isn’t met. Meanwhile those same demands are making games more difficult, complex and more expensive to create than ever before, on shrinking timelines that burn out employees and make their lives miserable.
You wanna know why so many games get delayed? Cuz the original release dates weren’t realistic to begin with, but you can’t tell a gamer their game is further away than they want to hear. Some dev or game designer will be threatened physically. That builds even more pressure and rushing. We are officially squeezing water out of rocks and still complaining about that how hard you have to squeeze the rock be just waiting for rain. Most of the time we take it out on the developing studio, when it’s the publisher making the calls.
All you need to do is read the comments on most websites and social media to see how toxic, entitled and petty the gaming community at large is, and realize how that transforms into impossible expectations on the parts of game makers.
This is one battle that gamers have never won, hahaha. They were parading recently for their "win" against Sony. Where's the energy for this one, guys? LMAO!
Well i hope Sony and Google team up to fight Apple, if they try to enter the console market.
1. Journalism will sink lower than you ever thought it could.
2. People on N4G/Internet will keep talking sh!t.
3. There will be more articals w/ a (?) in them than you thought could be possible.
4. "Top 10 hottest girls in gaming" articals will continue to dominate the front page.
5. I`ll lose a bubble.
6. PS3 conspiracies will rise to a new level on N4G.
7. MS will try to convince/brainwash you into believe Kinect is for the Hardcore gamer.
2011 prediction: Gaming will become even more detached and distant from what it once was and what it should be about.
And why do you all care so much about Sony on this website? Is this a Sony affiliated place? I don't get why everytime someone says something negative about Sony fifty people shoot up from their chairs to tell the person who said it why they're wrong.
Why do you people care if Apple enters the industry? It might actually do some good. You ever think about the positives of Apple entering the market opposed to the negative? I know, I know it's because you probably think it gives more developers more of a chance to leave Sony and start making exclusives elsewhere, right?
Sad. The day the industry has a set standard of player is the day the industry will be put back into perspective. It is that day that the only thing that matters will be the game itself and not the hardware because the hardware will be industry standard and set. No one will get burnt on the game they buy unless the game just flat out sucks for everyone involved; not just the system they bought it for.
Kinect will be dogged even when quality hardcore games come out and sell millions. Sony will delay 5 exclusives till next year, fans will claim its about time and quality, you can't rush perfection...the games will release and score 80-85. Sony will then release SHIPPED numbers of said games and people on n4g will lap it up and claim it is all the same...Wii will continue to dominate and yet articles will continue on how it is doomed and on the decline even at 90 million sold. Microsoft will increase Live again and fans will claim you get what you pay for(my foot)...pretty much like every year
new console will be announced from someone for sure.....dammit, how i hope so!
This gen is crawling along