The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

[itsamoose]

But yeah. I guess the take-away from that was to offload non-critical processes to remote systems. I'm not exactly sure how that works out on the financial side though.

I don't know for sure, but I think the main issue with cloud computing and real time applications is rendering. Input might be an issue as well, but I think the ping times are low enough to where that isn't really as noticeable and hasn't been for some time. In terms of finances, I would imagine it only becomes a problem when the cloud is rendering the image because now your servers need all kinds of graphics power, which means increased network traffic, a higher latency, more expensive servers, and more power consumption. If the telecom companies eventually get their way and are able to charge different rates based on the type of traffic, I think that would be the end of cloud based gaming.

[Dewar]

The benefit that Titanfall had, and the benefit of the cloud in general, is that a server was spun up on demand when there was a match to play. This makes the server infrastructure expandable and, more importantly over the life of the game, contactable. So older games don't cost as much to maintain the server infrastructure for the few people left playing.

[Merus]

The Guild Wars franchise also relied heavily on cloud computing. The first game ran, essentially, entirely instanced except for towns. The second game uses a more elaborate version of the same concept to essentially eliminate shards, except in its gigantic battleground mode where it's basically an account flag. Players in a region can play what WoW calls "cross-server", but it also means that come patch day, they run two different versions of each map until players patch, and the patches are delivered through cloud-based CDNs (thus avoiding the port forwarding that WoW players have to do). Running on a CDN means that the developers only have to pay for the tech to get the patch files out to hundreds of thousands of players on patch day, not on every day.

 

The first game is on automated maintenance and runs so cheaply that NCSoft have allowed it to survive indefinitely; the second game has had probably 6 hours of downtime over its three years of life.

[Henroid]

Ghost Trick has been pulled from the iOS store. Oh, and also people's purchase history.

http://www.destructoid.com/ghost-trick-s-been-pulled-from-ios-completely-even-for-those-who-bought-it-314081.phtml?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[syntheticgerbil]

Argh, I will never go digital if I can help it!

[Bjorn]

I wonder if you could sell people digital insurance?  That if at some point they lose access to digital goods paid for, their insurance would compensate them for the lost goods.

[Gaizokubanou]

Well money is pretty 'digital' and banks offer insurance for those so why not I suppose?

[Dewar]

I wish that I had the money to hire ridiculously expensive lawyers to argue about ridiculously inconsequential matters like this. We'd see how an EULA stands up in court.

[Henroid]

I've never been that concerned about digital goods disappearing. I mean not to say it doesn't suck, afterall I'm still whining my ass off about City of Heroes' closure (fuck you NCSoft). But I'm 30 years old which is old enough I guess to remember a time before instant gratification and the insane - yes, insane - assumption that all consumer activity must be protected. Video game enthusiasts in general, from what I observe, have the hardest time with buyer's remorse. Yes, it is a terrible feeling, but it happens, nobody owes you shit.

 

I dunno the timetable as far as Ghost Trick going from available to taken away from everyone, but if it's measured in years that lessens the blow. Not by much though because the App Store is still functional so, truly, this is a moment where I shake my finger at Capcom. They have weird views on how to treat their fans over the last couple years.

 

---

 

In other news the Star Wars Battlefront beta must be underway or something because people are flipping out about the game's recommended system requirements. And I'm right there with them; for some reason EA recommends 16GB of RAM for Battlefront.

[SecretAsianMan]

Capcom has stated that they only pulled Ghost Trick to make some fixes and plan on putting it back, including for the people who already purchased it.  So it's not just gone forever, at least theoretically.

[SecretAsianMan]

There could potentially be a strike among unionized video game voice actors coming.  The SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actor's Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) is taking a vote to see if the strike will take place.  What the union wants is backend bonuses for top selling games.  That means royalties on games that sell over 2 million copies.  Other considerations include stunt pay for stressful vocal sessions, having stunt coordinators available during motion capture, and more transparency about auditions so the actors know what it is they're auditioning for.  Some of the bigger names that have voiced their support for the strike include David Hayter, Ashly Burch, Phil Lamarr, Wil Wheaton, and probably the biggest name Jennifer Hale who is in basically every game with a female voice.

 

The results of the SAG-AFTRA vote are in.  96.52% voted in favor of the referendum, the minimum requirement was 75% in favor.  Keep in mind this does NOT mean they are now on strike.  The vote was an authorization by the union to allow the board to use the possibility of a strike as a bargaining chip during negotiations.  It will only come to that if an agreement can't be reached and the board decides to declare a strike.

[Gaizokubanou]

Good for them, I hope the mere possibility of strike is enough bargaining power cause strike is hard.

[Henroid]

Couple things via Gamasutra.

 

First, Pokemon Go's developer has 20 million dollars for development, with an additional 10 million each time it hits particular milestones. The money is coming from Google, Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company (which I keep forgetting is a separate entity from Nintendo). That is... huge money, as far as I know, for development. Since this is going to be a mobile app, my expectations are goddamn huge now.

 

Second, everyone remember Vivendi? Activision's corporate owner 'til a couple years ago? They're investing heavily in video games again. No outright buyouts, but they've invested plenty in Ubisoft and Gameloft.

 

Now, the French multinational, which also owns the Universal Music Group, has purchased a 6.6 percent stake in Ubisoft and a 6.2 percent stake in Gameloft. That represents 7.36 million shares of Ubisoft stock at a price of 140.3 million euros ($161 million) and 5.24 million shares of Gameloft stock, for 19.7 million euros ($22.6 million).

Gameloft has apparently hit super bad times? I just learned via this article that they've been closing a lot of studios. I don't hear much about them from people I know or across the net because they don't necessarily strike that critical-acclaim chord.

[Merus]

Gameloft's business model was to crank out shitty phone games for a non-discerning market, and that market got a whole lot tougher in the last ten years. They weren't good enough to make a Candy Crush, and not ruthless enough to make a Clash of Clans.

 

I am surprised Niantic has so much money to throw around but I'm guessing that's because of Google. Admittedly they're essentially making an MMO: it needs a server, it has a wide variety of platforms, it's got multiplayer, and unlike most MMOs it has to be good on day 1. That's not cheap.

[Henroid]

Next-gen rumors are already flying with intensity. This time it's all centered on Nintendo.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/16/nintendo-nx-reportedly-has-industry-leading-tech-and-2016-release-date

 

Various outlets are reporting on rumors of Nintendo having a 2016 release date for their next console. Supposedly it has "industry-leading" tech (which to me doesn't have to mean horse-power but everyone is treating it that way). The one thing that's confirmed is that dev kits are already out and being used. Some news sources are claiming that the next Nintendo console is a hybrid of handhelds and traditional home consoles. But again, that could be a TOTAL misunderstanding of something like a newer version of the Wii U's primary controller.

[Merus]

It would be smart for Nintendo to try and port their handheld ecosystem to the home console. Launching another dedicated handheld device at this point probably wouldn't go amazingly well for them, and their achilles heel in the home console space is that they don't have an ecosystem of developers like they do on the DS.

 

There's enough meat on the bones of marrying a handheld to a home console with a shared ecosystem that Nintendo, if their firmware is significantly better than it usually is, could clean up. Rumours were swirling that Apple was intending this for the Apple TV but they botched the implementation, and Sony has had 'cross-play' with the Vita and the home consoles for a while, except the audience for the PlayStation and for the Vita are pretty different. Miiverse feels like a v1 of a great idea - even in its limited state, it's adding a lot to Splatoon and Nintendo seem to be able to shepherd the community more effectively than Microsoft ever managed.

 

I think Pokemon Go will be a really good indicator of what Nintendo are planning. If it's integrated with Miiverse and Nintendo are using it to create a multi-platform brand, like what Disney does except not lame, Nintendo will be able to use their scary deep back catalogue to provide something different to Sony and Microsoft instead of creating something that's like their stuff except not as interesting. It probably won't help them grow the home console ecosystem but honestly I can't imagine anything Nintendo could do that would grow that.

[Griddlelol]

I really want Nintendo to do well. They have so much potential right now - I couldn't agree more about Miiverse being a "V1" of a good idea. They just don't seem to be able to speak to anyone outside of a demographic they're not really aiming for (20 - 40 crowd).

 

I good hand-held/home console ecosystem would be right up my alley. I love the off-TV play of the WiiU, and if the NX was a handheld that could work on TV also, I'd snap that up. It's my perfect system. 

The "Industry leading tech" sounds like Nintendo speak for "A new gimmick" rather than a load of horse power. They just really need a way to spin it. Too many people judge a console on its numbers, but it's such an incredibly shallow way to judge it.

[Henroid]

Until this past month (Battlefront and supposedly Fallout 4), hardware needs for video games have been on a slow increase over the last few years. The one exception has been HDD space. So it wouldn't be hard for Nintendo to out-do the current competition on that front. But yeah, it is true that for two console cycles Nintendo's concept of brand-new or leading tech has changed from raw ability of normal processes to having something different going on entirely.

 

I'm actually kinda hoping that the 2016 date stamp is just a misinterpreted announcement date rather than launch. I just bought a Wii U, damn it.

[Professor Video Games]

Considering that report also said dev kits were just going out now, a 2016 release seems pretty crazy.

[Justin Leego]

Yes, 2016 IR / PR release sounds like a better bet.

Depends how similar it is to existing architecture though? If part of it is essentially a beefed up, HD 3DS in a console box with the option for multiple display-controllers?

[Henroid]

One thing I'm waiting for is the day a console manufacturer just goes, "We're building the console into TVs directly."

[Merus]

One thing I'm waiting for is the day a console manufacturer just goes, "We're building the console into TVs directly."

 

This seems insane to me.

[Bjorn]

I thought Sony tried that with one of their TV lines years ago...

 

Checked, and they did!  I don't think it lasted very long, and it was a PS2 after PS3 was already out, so...who knows what they were thinking?

[Gaizokubanou]

Maybe they had crapload of unused PS2 hardware laying around in some warehouse...?  It is indeed really bizarre.

 

Kinda interesting how I instantly think that is weird, while PCs built into monitor (not as portable devices) is fairly normal now so who knows, consoles are becoming more and more like a PC and TVs are packing more and more hardware so perhaps that day isn't too far off?

[Merus]

People buying monitors with their computer is relatively common, whereas TVs are expected to last at least a decade and can be used separately to a console. People balked at buying a PS3 at $599; imagine if they had to buy a new television as well! Imagine if you were $400 more expensive than your competitors because your television had a console in it that a fraction of the marketplace cares about!

 

TVs that can run basic apps already exist, and they're a nightmare of incompatible specifications; adding a console to the mix would just add another one, one that wouldn't see game industry support because you can't put the console in two televisions. But it exists because those apps are really useful - manufacturers couldn't convince people that a DVD player built into a TV had any point at all.