Hello friends,
Today is June 27th 2024 and I hope youāve had a great week š
In todayās news:
š® Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still coming
š® Dead Rising Remaster
š® AAA Mobile games are not having the best days
š® State of Decay 2 Devs deserve more recognition
š® Dr Disrespectās backlash story
š® Why do AAA Games Take So Long?
š Personal Update
All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ā²ļø
Letās dig in!
Does anybody remember it? Itās a game that was teased almost 10 years ago on E3 2017 by Ubisoft. It gained some traction and people (such as myself) rejoiced to see a new instalment in this kind of forgotten game world. After that, weāve seen an early gameplay footage and then nothingā¦
The game went into a long hiatus with only slight mentions being shared with the public. For example, there were multiple news stories about restarts and team changes over the years, and almost everybody assumed that this one was dead and buried already.
But with the Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition hitting the shelves this week, Ubisoft finally decided to break the silence and say that:
Yes, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in development, and we cannot wait for you to discover more about Jadeās past in the 20th Anniversary Edition
So, itās great news for the fans, though Iām sure that after almost a decade of development, it doesnāt look at all like the initial concepts and trailers. So weāll have to wait and see some new announcements, gameplay reveals and details as we havenāt heard much besides that itās āstill comingā.
Have you played the first game? What do you think about the sequel?
And another game in the long line of recent remakes and remasters. Capcom announced this week that they are working on a remaster of Dead Rising, a 2006 game that is arguably the best in the series.
If you havenāt played it, hereās the deal. Itās a third-person zombie shooter with a twist. The story revolves around Frank West who is a freelance photographer and photojournalist who has covered many world events, wars, and other big stories. Looking for the next big scoop, he stumbles onto some strange events happening in the small town of Willamette, Colorado and discovers a zombie outbreak.
The most interesting thing is that once you get into the game, you have a fixed timer of 3 in-game days. During these days you need to uncover as many details behind whatās happened as possible and get out of there alive. Itās a bit annoying at times just because so many games let you explore the world freely without putting any pressure on you, but it all makes sense in this plot. Oh, and also, it allows you to craft all sorts of stylish weapons to dismantle any threat that stands in your way. For example, you can combine a chainsaw with a two-sided paddle and mow through zombies with a double chainsaw.
I havenāt played the latest two games in the series, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one back in the day. And Iāll be looking forward to this one!
Do you remember that commercial posted by IGN when the iPhone 15 Pro was hitting the shelves?
Well, it turns out this was a great concept, but nothing more. According to the recent numbers shared by mobilegamer.biz, these games bombed fascinatingly hard.
All these premium games have the same concept, you play a free trial version of the game for a bit and then you hit with a progression paywall that you can pass only by purchasing a game in the App Store. According to reports, Assassinās Creed Mirage, for example, has been purchased 3000 times with 100k in downloads. RE4 has been purchased 7000 times with 300+k in downloads. And let me tell you, itās not a great conversion rate.
Itās worth speculating that with numbers like this, whatās the point of porting these games? None of the games displayed in this commercial are designed to be played on a mobile phone, even if we are talking about the latest iPad. I mean, I played first-person shooters on my iPad and let me tell you, itās not a great experience.
Letās crunch some numbers. The latest iPhone that can even run these games costs about 1.5-1.7 CAD. PlayStation 5 can be bought for about 800. A 24-inch monitor you can buy for about 300-400 and itās not even the cheapest one. These games have almost the same price tag in both the App Store and the PS Store with the latter one having regular sales and giveaways. I wasnāt always great at math, but it doesnāt make a lot of sense however you look at it from a gaming perspective.
Iād suggest to these studios to not waste their time and if they want to do a mobile game to consider doing one that is designed to be played and experienced on mobile.
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A story shared by Insider Gaming. It's a story about Undead Labs granting a fanās wish by adding his late father in State of Decay 2.
The whole recap is shared by a user on Reddit:
So my dad died a few years ago and I'm one of the many who are obsessed with this game. So... I sent the devs a message asking to put him in the game. And they did what they could, which means just adding his name to random survivors. 3 years later and I found HIM. not just his name. But his traits, everything about him. This will always be my forever community.
I think Iāve already mentioned that Iām a big fan of the series. Well, big is maybe a wrong word, but I like it very much and Iāve played through both the first and second one quite extensively (about 40+ hours each). But Iāve started respecting these guys even more now. IMHO, after things like that, devs deserve real recognition.
Itās a great example of how gaming companies can show their fans that they really care. A simple gesture like this can go a long way in the community and Iām genuinely glad for the fan who got to this point in the game and shared this touching story š„²
This news probably won't rock your boat if you donāt know who this guy is. But this is extremely popular individual that gained a lot of traction during the battle-royale era playing games like PUBG and Fortnite. He was frequently compared to Shroud who really popularized the genre on Twitch and was one of the faces of said platform for some time. He is probably one of the most successful streamers, both in terms of financials and popularity. Until this weekend, apparently.
You see, he was permanently banned on Twitch in 2020. And for a long time, no one knew what actually happened. The only thing that was known is that both Twitch and Dr just parted ways, but nobody pursued any legal action or otherwise. But we know now.
Cody Conners, a former higher-up at Twitch, suddenly decided to share some details of this departure on June 21, claiming that Dr Disrespect got banned because he āgot caught sexting a minorā and trying to āmeet up with her at TwitchCon.ā And thus began a huge sh*tstorm for a famous streamer that is still not over.
Following these events, Disrespect decided to take an indefinite pause in all his streaming activities and take a step back from all the publicity. Nobody know what exactly is going to happen later, but I doubt that itās the last time we are seeing him on screen.
If you want to know more, Kotaku kindly summarized the whole thing.
Iāve watched a couple of his streams but never really got his overconfident and co*cky persona, and Iām not really Twitch kind of guy. But this news is just disgusting. Because of all the hush-hush thatās been going around his departure from Twitch it just makes sense and he is not really denying these allegations which makes the whole thing even more disturbing. But itās not the first time a really famous person got their skeletons revealed to the public and most definitely not the lastā¦
Quite an interesting video dedicated to game development.
Mark Darrah, an Executive Producer in Bioware whoās been responsible for most of the Dragon Age games and is currently working as a consultant on the new Dragon Age: The Veilguard has shared a bit of details about why AAA games take so long to make, why the early announcements and so much more.
I wonāt dive into all the details, as I think that anybody whoās interested in game development or always frustrated that the games take too long to hit the market, this video is just for you.
The answers may surprise you š
For a person whoās never worked on a AAA title, I found a lot of interesting insights and things to think about. As a fan of Dragon Age and a Producer, itās great that some of the veterans of the industry donāt shy away from sharing their knowledge and experience with the younger generation. The highest recommend of all!
My vacation is progressing smoothly and a bit non-productively. But Iāve managed to catch up on a lot of work-related activities that Iāve been putting off. And Iām thinking about putting one of them into a post.
For example, as part of my personal development, Iām creating a skill matrix for a Producer that my manager will use to grade me and then we will discuss the steps I need to take to improve and grow as a Producer.
Also, we are planning to see the latest A Quiet Place movie tomorrow, so thatās exciting! š¶
This is all the news I have for you folks today.
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Have a great week!
Alex from Gamedev Relay.