Is it just me, or are most video game companies stupid?

[Rydian]

So I was reading this article (I suggest you check it out before reading the rest of this post), where Valve yet again points out how most other video game companies are Doing It Wrong™... and it hit me. Valve isn't some genius company. They don't work miracles. They just use a little fucking common sense.

My point being... where does that leave other companies? It leaves most of them looking like total dumbasses that get their ass lit on fire, and instead of just sitting in a bucket of water they fan the flames.

Let's point out some sadly-common acts.

• Companies refuse to release a game in some major countries, and then complain people in those countries are pirating it.
• Companies price a game at $60 and refuse to lower it, then complain that people are buying the competing $25 game four times as much instead.
• Companies place crazy-restricting DRM on their PC titles, and then complain that people crack it.
• Companies ask fans what game they'd want made, and then ignore it and make other shit instead.
• Companies release a model of their current system that can't play some of it's own damn games, then complain that people aren't buying it.

It's like nobody in these companies ever went out to actually talk to their customers. Valve's data merely echos the kind of things gamers have been saying for years and years, but even with all the statistics and proof you still have big companies making ass-clowns out of themselves by trying to stick to the same damn methods that have been proven not to work time and time again.

Sometimes I honestly wonder how some of the big video game companies manage to stay afloat with all these bad-publicity decisions and an apparent lack of understanding of their own damn market... so I started thinking about it. Something we need to remember is that many game/publisher/console "companies" don't make the top games, they're fed the games by other companies.

Let's look at some of the top PS3 games for an example (as it has a wide audience).

• Grand Theft Auto 4? Rockstar.
• CoD: MW/2? Infinity Ward.
• Metal Gear Solid? Kojima/Konami.
• CoD: WaW? Treyarch.
• Assassin's Creed? Ubisoft.

Going on down various lists of top PS3 games (Uncharted, Resident Evil, Killzone, Fallout), Sony's only a publisher for a few of them. The few games that make top lists and have something to do with Sony in production (such as LittleBigPlanet) are often made by a subsidiary.

My conclusion is that without them being fed these games for their system, they'd have a lot less say and power in the gaming world.

What do you all think?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

So I was reading this article (I suggest you check it out before reading the rest of this post), where Valve yet again points out how most other video game companies are Doing It Wrong™... and it hit me. Valve isn't some genius company. They don't work miracles. They just use a little fucking common sense.

My point being... where does that leave other companies? It leaves most of them looking like total dumbasses that get their ass lit on fire, and instead of just sitting in a bucket of water they fan the flames.

Let's point out some sadly-common acts.

• Companies refuse to release a game in some major countries, and then complain people in those countries are pirating it.
• Companies price a game at $60 and refuse to lower it, then complain that people are buying the competing $25 game four times as much instead.
• Companies place crazy-restricting DRM on their PC titles, and then complain that people crack it.
• Companies ask fans what game they'd want made, and then ignore it and make other shit instead.
• Companies release a model of their current system that can't play some of it's own damn games, then complain that people aren't buying it.

It's like nobody in these companies ever went out to actually talk to their customers. Valve's data merely echos the kind of things gamers have been saying for years and years, but even with all the statistics and proof you still have big companies making ass-clowns out of themselves by trying to stick to the same damn methods that have been proven not to work time and time again.


Sometimes I honestly wonder how some of the big video game companies manage to stay afloat with all these bad-publicity decisions and an apparent lack of understanding of their own damn market... so I started thinking about it. Something we need to remember is that many game/publisher/console "companies" don't make the top games, they're fed the games by other companies.

Let's look at some of the top PS3 games for an example (as it has a wide audience).

• Grand Theft Auto 4? Rockstar.
• CoD: MW/2? Infinity Ward.
• Metal Gear Solid? Kojima/Konami.
• CoD: WaW? Treyarch.
• Assassin's Creed? Ubisoft.

Going on down various lists of top PS3 games (Uncharted, Resident Evil, Killzone, Fallout), Sony's only a publisher for a few of them. The few games that make top lists and have something to do with Sony in production (such as LittleBigPlanet) are often made by a subsidiary.


My conclusion is that without them being fed these games for their system, they'd have a lot less say and power in the gaming world.

What do you all think?

Oh my God...I think I love you...


I agree WHOLE MUTHA FUCKING HEARTEDLY. I don't understand how no one else has noticed this, or how long it's taken something like this to come out. It's so ridiculous and absolutely stupid that I just can't even.

 

[DinohScene]

Game companies now a days only focus on making a big fat profit from their games.
Today most games are if not only multi-player based.
Single player only games are rare these days.

Games are being mass produced and released quickly after each other so the quality of a game is spiraling down hill.

Minecraft for example is a game which is relatively cheap (€15 at the moment)
The possibilities are virtually ENDLESS.
It has a great multi-player.

Something that is worthy of being bought, yet people pirate it because they don't want to spend a single dime on a game.
Notch keeps on developing and it's getting better and better

COD MW2 for example.
Imo the single-player sucked.
Multi-player is nothing more then a collection of 13 year olds crying and cursing.

Something that is not worthy of being bought. yet people buy it because it's fantastic.
The company notice the big profit they made and come up with another game.

Same dumb single-player.
Same multi-player collection
People buy the game and they can make tons and tons more resulting in even more shittier games.

Note that this is MY OPINION!!!.

 

[DarkStriker]

Agreed. I gladly pay any games thats worth it. Have to be online to play offline games? Go drop youself down that cliff because that backfired you and i will so take a ride on my pirate ship.

 

[DinohScene]

Agreed. I gladly pay any games thats worth it. Have to be online to play offline games? Go drop youself down that cliff because that backfired you and i will so take a ride on my pirate ship.

I actually love paying for games that are worthy of being bought, Then it has to be the special edition or Limited collectors Edition.

Stupid thing that you have to have a connection to the servers to play an offline game indeed.
Some people don't always have an Internet connection.

 

[DarkStriker]

Agreed. I gladly pay any games thats worth it. Have to be online to play offline games? Go drop youself down that cliff because that backfired you and i will so take a ride on my pirate ship.

I actually love paying for games that are worthy of being bought, Then it has to be the special edition or Limited collectors Edition.

Stupid thing that you have to have a connection to the servers to play an offline game indeed.
Some people don't always have an Internet connection.

Battlefield is a total let down. I have to be online to play single player? AND THEY EVEN MADE IT ALL ON A BROWSER. God dammit. And i even bought it on release just to find out that their activation server is down. GJ EA! Thats the last game from you if ME3 requires internet to play.

 

[Orsted]

Its really stupid things like DRM and the overall poor quality of popular games (CoD) that make me fear for the future of gaming of a whole. I personally will buy any game that's worth it, hell I per-ordered the limited edition of Skyward Sword but it looks so damn amazing.

 

[Terminator02]

So I was reading this article...
What do you all think?

I completely agree that legitimate users need to be rewarded as opposed to punishing the piraters (pirateers?). The fact that DRM even exists that punishes legitimate users at all just seems incredibly unbelievable, and I don't know what any of the publishers who are doing that are thinking. I think basic DRM to prevent discs from being copied or installed on multiple computers is all that is needed, along with multiplayer only being accessible to people who actually buy, I think that is plenty incentive. Plus, once they start adding more and more DRM techniques, like needed the disc to be inserted, or this always online bullcrap, it's just hurting their customers and leaving a negative impression on all of the gamers who buy that game.

In fact, we had a similar discussion on the latest temptalk, how customers should be rewarded for buying instead of piraters punished (or in temptalks case, used games buyers). Also we had the discussion on how the legitimate system has to be more convenient than piracy, which game publishers seem to think is a stupid idea so they go ahead and place restrictive DRM all over the place, leading to more people pirating the game just so they can actually play the game whenever and however they want.

On the topic of publishers, I'm not sure I follow what you're trying to say. I think that you're saying that since the people who insert the DRM aren't actually developing the game, they don't know what's best for consumers. I believe this is true, but you seem to be going in another direction, saying that the publishers would have less say and power in the gaming world if they developed the games themselves.

Sorry i don't really follow your second point, but I completely agree with the article you linked to and your first point, whoever decides what DRM should be in games is incredibly misinformed/misguided.

 

[chyyran]

I agree completely, customers should be rewarded, instead of pirates punished. Though, I personally will continue to pirate my games (if possible) for financial reasons, until I can get a job.

Of course, I'm not old enough yet, so that'll take a while. Though I did muster up enough allowance money to by HeartGold just for the PokeWalker (Big Mistake) Meanwhile..

 

[Terminator02]

This was originally an edit to my first post, but I went off on it:

I also dislike all of the senseless hate on CoD just because it somehow makes you a more legitimate gamer. It's like in any niche market where a certain product gains mainstream success, and then half of the core audience completely rejects the game simply because it's expanding the horizons of the niche to the mainstream. I'd like to have an argument about CoD that consists of more than:
1. the game sucks, the multiplayer is garbage
2. they're milking it dry, it's the same game every year
3. everyone who plays it is a stupid bro gamer/13 year old who doesn't know what real games are

All of these arguments are made over and over, and as a core gamer myself, I can fully say that the game does not suck. It has fluid, tight controls and fast paced action, and it's great fun, especially with friends. Also, the singleplayer is a quite good with tons of cinematic moments and a decent story (that mainly serves to take you to consistently new environments.)

While I do agree that it is being milked, you could say the same for every sports game, tons of mario games, and even all of the professor layton/pheonix wright games. You think that all of them are the same, but thats what everyone says about anything that they have no idea about.

I don't really play that many JRPGs and to me all of them are the same. You could tell me about how the battle system is slightly modified and the stats and leveling up is different, and how all of the enemies and characters are new, but I'd just see another generic JRPG with another turn/action point based battle system where you have to grind to get up to level to beat bosses, spend skill points on different abilities, and walk/sail around a giant map.

In each edition of CoD, they are consistently adding new features to try and keep it fresh. In MW2, they added customizable killstreaks, deathstreaks, many more attachments, many more sidearms, tons of new guns, completely new maps, a slightly revamped graphics engine, end of round killcams, and just general refinements to the game. To you, that all probably sounds like, who cares? That's just some minor feature, but to the people that actually play the games, this is all key stuff. If you got offended when I generalized all JRPGs and feel like you need to type up a response of how the games actually do change significantly, you feel exactly how all CoD players feel when people who don't play the games or understand them generalize them and call them all garbage.

And generalizations of who plays the games based on a small, annoying minority is stupid, plus the mute is there for a reason, if they annoy you, mute them. And play with some friends and voice chat, it makes it a much better experience.


As a closing thought, if you don't like a specific game/genre, don't hate on it when you don't even understand it. It's like music, you can like your own genre, but at least have some respect for the music that isn't of your personal taste.

 

[xxNathanxx]

I don't really play that many JRPGs

That's the problem. You're defending your own 'side' when you do not know what the other 'side' is like. I have played every single CoD and a bunch of JRPGs, yet I still believe CoD is a terrible series. The difference between, e.g., MW1 and MW2 is neglegible compared to the difference between, say, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII. But whatever, I don't like shooters that try to act overly realistic anyway, so my point is moot.

@Rydian: I agree.

Also, unrelated: the forum looks better when logged in, though it reminds me a bit of Facebook. :/

 

[Terminator02]

I don't really play that many JRPGs

That's the problem. You're defending your own 'side' when you do not know what the other 'side' is like. I have played every single CoD and a bunch of JRPGs, yet I still believe CoD is a terrible series. The difference between, e.g., MW1 and MW2 is neglegible compared to the difference between, say, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII. But whatever, I don't like shooters that try to act overly realistic anyway, so my point is moot.

@Rydian: I agree.

Also, unrelated: the forum looks better when logged in, though it reminds me a bit of Facebook. :/

I have played JRPGs, just not many, and my analogy wasn't exactly perfect, JRPGs would be more equal to the FPS genre in general. Final Fantasy is sort of more like a Battlefield, with lots of spinoffs released in the interim between the big releases that have many more significant differences.

I was just trying to get a fairly large analogy that a lot of people could relate to, as opposed to if I only compared it to one other series.

 

[Hells Malice]

The only thing that comes to mind when you mention stupid companies is Bamco.

I'm considering subbing the words "stupid" and "retarded" with "Bamco" in my everyday vocabulary.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Games are selling more than ever, despite higher game prices, higher console prices, and a so-called "tough economy".

Whatever these guys are doing, they're goddamn geniuses.

 

[Terminator02]

Games are selling more than ever, despite higher game prices, higher console prices, and a so-called "tough economy".

Whatever these guys are doing, they're goddamn geniuses.

Just because the market is expanding and gaming is becoming more mainstream doesn't mean their policies are the sole catalyst.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Valve. Are. FUCKING. AWESOME.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Games are selling more than ever, despite higher game prices, higher console prices, and a so-called "tough economy".

Whatever these guys are doing, they're goddamn geniuses.

Just because the market is expanding and gaming is becoming more mainstream doesn't mean their policies are the sole catalyst.

I think the fact that they're able to make gaming more "mainstream" and make it grow at such a rate while increasing prices proves my point exactly.

They're assholes in our eyes but they're making the money at the end of the day.

 

[Terminator02]

Games are selling more than ever, despite higher game prices, higher console prices, and a so-called "tough economy".

Whatever these guys are doing, they're goddamn geniuses.

Just because the market is expanding and gaming is becoming more mainstream doesn't mean their policies are the sole catalyst.

I think the fact that they're able to make gaming more "mainstream" and make it grow at such a rate while increasing prices proves my point exactly.

They're assholes in our eyes but they're making the money at the end of the day.

I'd argue that it's more the public just accepting videogames as a form of entertainment than it is of the companies convincing more people to play the games. I think it's more that games are becoming a regular form of media along with TV and Movies, and children are growing up with it as a regular thing, and the market is expanding.

I think it's more of a social change, what have publishers done to make consumers accept videogames as a regular form of media? All they do is get advertisements for their respective games in front of people so that they are actually aware of games so that they buy them. This doesn't bring in more people to the gaming world, it just gets those already in there to keep on buying.

 

[Nimbus]

Yes Guild, but let me bring up a valid point, that may contrast and bring a valid argument to your position.

The problem I see, is that now that companies know people will pay huge amounts for stuff, they'll want to charge even more. There is a limit to how much they can charge before stuff becomes affordable. Guess what happens when these games become too expensive to afford at the rate they are making them. Yes, It certainly wont keep growing if that happens to ever be the case.

As for Genre's, I have my own opinions.

Personally, I hate the CoD series. Not because it's a typical FPS, but because of the lack of parental guidance and the lack of age limit's for on-line play. I dont want my ears to literally get R3APed by some 5 year old who thinks he's so awesome because he can talk shit over a microphone. Kinda the same for Halo in this case.

Perhaps the same could be said of all Online Games.

I've played some JRPG's which I think just plain sucked, others I have loved to pieces. Same with WRPG's. Hell even plat-formers share this fate with me as well.

Also, another valid reason behind this, is perhaps many newcomers are as "Red Demoman" said once "so cock-sure, Prancin' aboot with your heads full of eyeballs!", that they are blind to learning how to play any of these games well, and that frustrates those that have learned to play them so long ago. Yes we all were newbies at one point, but the difference is, back then most of us were willing to learn. This new generation doesn't share that willingness, and is severely disappoints me, because it leads to them abusing otherwise fun glitches, or even to the point of hacking for gain.

I also believe that the Gaming Industry is not putting enough effort into making original games, and not those shitware ones either or one's that rely entirely off of gimmicks, or have crap storyline.

So yes, as I stated before, you are right about the market expanding. However, charging more for every new game that comes out, to the point eventually where nobody will be able to afford them, will actually cause it to shrink back to where it was before, or at least this is my belief on the matter. None of you have to agree or disagree with it necessarily.

Oh and I would hardly call these companies genius in any way personally, but don't let that insult you in any way. I have my reasonings behind this, and I'm not obligated to share them unless I desire. Some people probably already have the same thought as I do anyway.

 

[the_randomizer]

This thread got me thinking, and I hope what I'm about to say is on topic. DRM can be just as notorious as region locking and other so-called methods used to "control" piracy. And speaking of stupid companies, let's take Nintendo of America for example. We all know that games such as Xenoblade, The Last Story, etc. all have, or at least are in the process of being translated into English. While Nintendo intends to have all three released in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, etc, the US is the one that gets screwed over, as NOA has no plans of releasing it over here.

And Nintendo wonders why piracy is such an issue; we either have to pay extravagant import fees, or we do what people do best, download it via bit torrent. This is where it gets ironic, NOA doesn't like piracy or console modding, yet they blatantly refuse to do what its customers want the most; to release the games we want. Until companies like NOA changes and actually cares about their fans, download these games they will. It's in English, just change the region to NTSC and ship it across the Atlantic, that's all.

But, like all videogame companies, some bonehead (*cough* Reggie fils-Aime *cough*) doesn't seem to notice when people flood their company with letters. It's asinine decisions like this that prompted me to hack my wii to play any game from any region. I'll download these games if I have to. NOA is turning into Ubisoft when it comes to being apathetic.