How much has Sony lost? (Picture: Damian Dovarganes)
The Tuesday letters page tries to create an accurate definition for RPGs, as one reader celebrates the 20th anniversary of Boktai.
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Future celebrations
So I guess it’s all over now, eh? Microsoft has got its way and now controls the biggest third party publisher in the world and all of their games. Sure, Call Of Duty will be multiformat for 10 years, but I’m sure they’ve already figured out the potential loopholes to give themselves an advantage over Sony.
I’m against the deal but I don’t think Sony has come out of this very well. They’ve looked very unprofessional and kind of crazy the whole way through, and now they’re just meekly agreeing to everything even though they haven’t got any choice anymore.
PlayStation has lost and Xbox has won is the only thing most people are going to get from this and that’s not a good vibe for Sony. Maybe nothing much will change in the short term, but Game Pass sure will and it looks like all the red tape will be over in time for Christmas, and for Microsoft to make its big push.
This is definitely a milestone for gaming but I doubt anyone will be celebrating it in the future, except those that directly made money from it.
Toluse
15 love
I truly cannot understand the hate that Final Fantasy 15 gets. (Yes, I mean 15, the one with Noctis and co.) So much so, I remember playing it all those years ago and thinking it was such a triumph. It’s a fantastic game. I loved the combat, the exploration, and enemy variety was great; and I even especially enjoyed how the story tied in with the movie.
I thought the little crew were all very identifiable and likeable, and it was great to see them all have some level of input with the combat system. Fishing and cooking with the gang are smaller, but equally fond memories! But then, I wasn’t involved in gaming forums back then, and the only other experience of Final Fantasy I had was playing 7 as a child.
Maybe this fresh set of eyes, allowed me to enjoy it as its own standalone product. Yet, every time I see a comment of the new entry, they seem to include a dig towards 15. And how it is of course better. Personally speaking, 15 set a very high bar for me. So I’m not at all surprised the new entry hasn’t quite hit the mark. (Although, I’d still love to play it and will likely enjoy it in the future). That’s just my twopenn’orth anyway.
Mr K
Cutting corners
With some devs suggesting that AAA game development is now taking so long (five years) and perhaps becoming unsustainable, I wonder if all the talk of new AI has caught their interest and will become a factor? I mean, AI is already used right (e.g. No Man’s Sky), but recently it seems to have taken on a new impetus.
Would Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom have been the same game if a machine had taken a larger role in creating it? Fundamentally two very different games, but I still wonder about where AI is going next.
Perhaps even Bethesda could use it to tackle the jank, thereby reducing development time.
r-s-w
GC: AI is already being used in games, primarily for generating art, but it’s likely to become prevalent in all areas.
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My definition
What’s a role-playing game? I used to think a role-playing game was a turn-based Japanese role-player and the closest I’ve had to that recently has been Final Fantasy 7 Remake, so I look forward to the next episode. Now I class a role-playing game as anything where I can upgrade abilities.
I’d say my favourites of recent times would be Days Gone, I only completed this last year (I think) but absolutely loved the first few hours of the game on hard mode as I had to be aware of petrol levels for my bike and I was severely underpowered so had to avoid zombies. That feeling of being on the edge soon faded as I became overpowered and then it became a fun exploration but with nearly zero danger.
All I am looking for nowadays is a challenge.
I’m a big fan of anything with permadeath but I suppose it has to be within reason.
I’ve just started playing Chorus the open world space shooter (still a role-playing game) and I’ve put that on permadeath mode which I think is a mistake as I’ve explored and put too many hours in and know I’ll probably lose it all on some boss later… but that does add something – I’m scared to die! Nothing but 100% concentration will do.
I just want an immersive experience with a challenge. Roguelites are fun but they never have the production values and immersion levels of decent action adventure games.
TommyFatFingers
GC: Our definition for a role-player would be any game where stats solely, or predominately, dictate the success of your actions in-game. That manages to include everything from Dark Souls to Dragon Quest, while excluding the likes of Days Gone and Zelda. We don’t recall whether Chorus has stats but the much more obvious genre designation is space combat simulator.
Delayed response
Boktai, one of the finest Game Boy Advance games, is 20 years old today (Monday, 17th July).
I have the sequel (but haven’t played it yet) and Lunar Knights is my favourite DS game.
I’d love a new Boktai/Lunar Knights Game still using the solar sensor gimmick but if they didn’t use it, maybe use the consoles’ internal clock instead.
LeighDappa
GC: Why haven’t you played the 19 years old sequel? That seems odd.
Low hurdle
Now they have cleared the FTC hurdle, how can Microsoft charm the CMA? CMA’s in-depth review of the acquisition poses the final hurdle, though Microsoft hopes an amicable resolution can be reached. The CMA has provisionally blocked the deal over concerns it could substantially lessen competition in gaming consoles, multi-game subscription services, and cloud gaming services.
Activision Blizzard’s titles, like Call Of Duty, are considered important competition drivers by the regulator. To assuage the CMA’s concerns, Microsoft could guarantee multi-year timed exclusivity for future Call Of Duty content on PlayStation. This would allow Sony to profit from new Call Of Duty titles before they hit Game Pass. Microsoft could also share data illustrating Game Pass subscribers tend to play titles on multiple platforms, minimising fears of platform withdrawal.
By demonstrating good faith efforts to mitigate competition risks, Microsoft may convince the CMA to approve this historic $69 billion gaming industry merger. Gamers can ultimately look forward to Activision Blizzard’s acclaimed catalogue finally landing on Game Pass.
The merger also promises investment into new IP that could bring innovative and genre-defining franchises. While regulators rightly scrutinised its competitive implications, pending CMA approval, this deal now seems primed to usher in a new era for players and the gaming landscape overall.
Anon
GC: The CMA already sounds like it’s caved and is just looking for an excuse to okay the deal and move on. If they don’t, Microsoft will just get round them by selling games through a third party.
The skin of its teeth
Good news, The Forgotlings game by the Forgotton Anne developer has been 100% funded on Kickstarter, it’s only happened today (Sunday, 16th July). I wasn’t sure if it would make it but thankfully it has.
You have until 5.09pm BST on Monday to back it, to get a digital copy or physical copy.
Andrew J.
More: Trending
The game plan
The Microsoft buyout of Activision will ultimately be bad for gamers and choice. Microsoft makes a loss on every console that it sells, and it clearly lost the battle with Sony regarding the PlayStation 5 and Xbox. The goal for Microsoft is not to make Call Of Duty exclusive to Microsoft, but to make it exclusive to cloud streaming.
If Microsoft takes gaming to the cloud and it has a dominant position in cloud already (more dominant than Sony and Nvidia, and not Amazon Web Services) it means that the GeForce Now service and Sony are not going to be in a position to build datacentres all over the world, to compete with Microsoft Azure.
Ultimately, Call Of Duty will become a cloud streaming exclusive. It has been argued that cloud streaming is cheaper than buying games itself, but this is extremely misleading. In 2019 I purchased a RTX2080 and received Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare free with the card. Playing Call Of Duty has cost me nothing in the subsequent four years. Compare this to paying £25 a month for cloud streaming.
Opponents of this view will argue that with cloud gaming I no longer need to purchase an expensive GPU but the counter argument to that is that I own the GPU and can choose to sell it if I wish. Paying Microsoft £25 every month is like paying rent, you own nothing. The logic of the CMA decision to block the buyout is the same as the EU decision on Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer in the 90s and 2000s, in that Microsoft are significant in one market (cloud) and they can extend this dominance to cloud gaming.
I appreciate that Amazon and Google are big in cloud but neither of them are attempting to buy Activision. The EU decision is the 90s and 2000s was to prevent Microsoft using their dominant position in the OS market to take this and dominate the browser and media player market. I know how that ended but gaming is more important than the browser market. By then, allowing Microsoft to take the world’s number one gaming platform, Microsoft will be in a position where it can leverage its market share in Azure to stamp out competition in gaming.
Microsoft Azure revenues have contributed to it becoming the second richest company in the world, according to market cap. PC sales are also doing badly. Surely cloud gaming damages PC sales even more. What affect does this have on PC makers? I think the real risk is that in 15 years, the only way to game wil be by using Microsoft Azure and consoles will go out of business (apart from Nintendo which plays to a different market).
If Microsoft controls gaming then it becomes this horrible middle man between the developers and the customers, just like supermarkets in the UK where they control prices and farmers are put out of business. All gamers should oppose this buyout of Activision.
Anon
Inbox also-rans
It’s ripened flint! Oh Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom makes me chuckle.
Chevy Malibu (PSN ID)
It strikes me that physical games are going to be one of those things that people don’t realise how useful they were until they’re gone. Especially when more and more game disappear forever when their servers are shut down.
Bronson
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Marbon, who asks what is your favourite type of role-playing game?
With Final Fantasy 16 just out, and Starfield set to be one of the biggest games of the year, the role-playing genre is as popular as ever, but few people enjoy all the many different types. It’s not just a case of Western and Japanese style role-players, with many other sub-genres, including action role-players, tactical role-players, and variants like dungeon crawlers, roguelikes, and massively multiplayer online games.
Which do you enjoy the most and which particular game do you think is the best example of its type? Which sub-genre do you wish was more prevalent and how would you like to see it evolve in the future?
Please note: Due to an error, the above Hot Topic description only ran on a limited number of days last week, so we’re re-running it this week. If you’ve already written in there’s no need to do so again, as we’ll use your letter this weekend.
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The small print
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You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
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The Tuesday letters page tries to create an accurate definition for RPGs, as one reader celebrates the 20th anniversary of Boktai.
