General Gaming Thread - 2022

[JasonM]

https://www.pcgamer.com/embracer-group-to-acquire-crystal-dynamics-eidos-montreal-and-square-enix-montreal/

Embracer Group (FKA. THQ Nordic) has acquired Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square-Enix Montreal for $300 million.

Getting themselves (but not limited to) the Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief franchises. And most importantly, Gex .

Embracer has gotten themselves quite a big group going. They already own Gearbox (Borderlands), Volition (Saints Row), Coffee Stain (Valheim, Satisfactory), Piranha Bytes (Gothic, Risen, Elex), Saber Interactive (KOTOR Remake, Shadow Warrior, Metro).

We can only hope that with new management, they'll be looking to finally getting us the third Deus Ex title in the Jensen trilogy.

[Ruki]

Only for 300 mil. That seems cheap for Tomb Raider!

[JasonM]

4 minutes ago, Ruki Returns said:

Only for 300 mil. That seems cheap for Tomb Raider!

Honestly surprised at the price compared to some of the other takeovers of past years. But Square-Enix never did seem to fully commit with the IP's, like sitting on Deus Ex after Mankind Divided and having Crystal Dynamics develop an Avengers game whilst  Eidos-Montreal developed the third Tomb Raider title instead of CD.

I'd honestly say that Square Enix didn't really know what to do with those two developers in terms of general strategy, and none of those IPs sold well on the Japanese market. Apparently Shadow only moved 60 thousand units in Japan (out of 1.74M global PS4 sales). Whilst those numbers are nothing to shake at, Square-Enix still has a strong focus on the Japanese market.

So globally 300M is definitely not making a profit for them but it's also not a number they'd scoff at for a significant cash injection, but might fit well enough in Square's business plan as they're restructuring their subsidiaries.

[RPS]

1 hour ago, Ruki Returns said:

Only for 300 mil. That seems cheap for Tomb Raider!

If I recall correctly, there were actually concerns about Eidos/Crystal Dynamics long term because the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex games were not financially successful. The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy games were also not successes.  

I had a friend who worked for Eidos Montreal. They loved the company, but they too were worried long term about what the longevity of their job looked like. 

[Bobfoc]

Sadly, Square remains very keen on getting into NFTs.

[OctoberRaven]

Ironic that Square Enix gets rid of their cyberpunk dystopia franchise en route to becoming cyberpunk dystopia villains.

 

At least hopefully we'll get Deus Ex: David Serif's Sudden Yet Inevitable Betrayal out of it.

[Skummy]

On 28/04/2022 at 15:32, Ruki Returns said:

Sounding like the Bugsnax DLC doesn't add too much which is unfortunate. But it and the original game are available on gamepass now! So go get it!

It's an extra couple of hours gameplay, some quality of life improvements, and a tiny bit of customisation, not bad for free DLC at all.

[gunnar hendershow]

I mean Square could've pivoted to making pachinko machines and slot machines. Look on the bright side.

[tristy]

6 hours ago, RPS said:

If I recall correctly, there were actually concerns about Eidos/Crystal Dynamics long term because the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex games were not financially successful. The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy games were also not successes.  

I had a friend who worked for Eidos Montreal. They loved the company, but they too were worried long term about what the longevity of their job looked like. 

Tomb Raider (2013) topped out at around 3.5 million copies sold, but they thought they'd get 5-6 million.... in four weeks. To put this in perspective: The Last of Us released that same year, and sold SLIGHTLY more (like 30k). Nobody is out here saying Last of Us wasn't a success, probably because Sony didn't have unrealistic sales goals for it. I get that Tomb Raider is/was an established IP and maybe they were banking on that to sell more copies, but 5-6m in a month is kind of fucking insane.

Avengers is in the same boat, it was on the best selling games of the year list in 2020. It ranked higher than stuff like NBA 2K21, Mortal Kombat 11, Tony Hawk 1+2 Remake and Miles Morales. And it was ONE spot below Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

Is it that these games weren't financially successful, or that Square had too lofty expectations? They thought Sleeping Dogs could sell 3 million copies - not to knock that game, it's great, but that's crazy talk.

[Bobfoc]

1 hour ago, tristy said:

Is it that these games weren't financially successful, or that Square had too lofty expectations?

I think it's mostly the latter. The three games so far in the rebooted Tomb Raider series have sold a total of 38 million copies, which is more than the entire collection of Gears of War and Mass Effect games put together. I don't recall anyone ever saying that those games were commercial flops.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Tomorrow morning at 11AM EST on the AEW Games Twitch channel, they'll be showing a sneak peek of the AEW console game.

[OctoberRaven]

That's, um.... that's not exactly a stinging put-down there, Milla-Rage.

[The Kraig]

FIFA and EA have parted ways (kind of).

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/may/10/electronic-arts-ditches-fifa-ea-sports-fc

And suddenly...there was hope. FIFA asking for $1 BILLION is a bit ludicrous.

[King Ellis]

Let Konami have it just for the inherent confusion it would cause.

[Ruki]

I played Pathfinder: Kingmaker when it first came out, and it didn't really click for me (I don't do with RTS or RtwP combat). But since the update gave it turn based combat, I am really digging it and got much further than I ever did before. 

[gunnar hendershow]

30 minutes ago, King Ellis said:

Let Konami have it just for the inherent confusion it would cause.

Can't wait to play FIFA Slots at the casino!

[OctoberRaven]

Saw this for the first time in City of Heroes Homecoming's new content

[RPS]

I bought Street Fighter IV because I was craving a fighting game. Fighting Games are so good. Like a gaming comfort food. 

[Maxx]

I gave Frostpunk a try since its on gamepass and that game can be a total time sink.   And my citizens can be REALLY ungrateful.

[tristy]

Citizen Sleeper is really fun if you're into roleplaying games like Disco Elysium. Not much in the way of actual gameplay, outside of moving up and down the overhead view of the space freighter you're on, and picking jobs, conversations, hacking gigs, etc.  And it's dice based. But the artwork, sci-fi "cyberpunk" setting, immersive text based descriptions of the world and scenarios you get yourself into... it's pretty good. And it's on Gamepass (also on PC/Switch).

They also did Genesis Noir, if anyone tried that out on Gamepass too. If I get to try some of their other games, and they're like this one and GN, they might be one of my favorite studios - up there with Annapurna Interactive.