GTA Online – bigger than GTA 5? (pic: Rockstar Games)
The Monday letters page thinks Far Cry 7 should be more like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, as one reader thinks the Suicide Squad rumours are true.
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Online hit
As we all await for more news on GTA 6 I got to wondering, why is GTA 5 still in the sales top 10 every week? I really don’t think it’s for the story mode, as iconic as it is, but instead it’s fairly obvious that it’s primarily GTA Online. People are buying it to see what the fuss is about for GTA 5 but primarily they’re buying it to play GTA Online with their mates (so much for free to play, eh?).
So does that make it the most popular video game in the world, not counting Minecraft and Roblox? I think it does. You may think it’s a minor point but saying GTA 5 has sold a billion copies is not really giving the whole story. It’s GTA Online that’s driving sales and the real reason many of the purchases have been made.
Not only that but GTA Online is what’s stopping GTA 6 from being any quicker, because Rockstar doesn’t want to release a sequel when the original is still selling by the bucketload. Like I said, GTA Online is the biggest game in the world, which is crazy really when you consider how old it is.
Jefferson
Eternally disappointed
As appealing as it sounds to have Nintendo make adult rated games I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, for all the obvious reasons people can think of. I bet there are people at Nintendo that would like to do it but oddly we never hear about people leaving Nintendo to set up their own studios so I guess that sort of thing is frowned upon.
I also think the boat has long since sailed on Eternal Darkness. The original is so old you’d need a remaster to remind anyone of what it was and I really don’t think it’s aged that well. Nintendo probably could make an excellent sequel but I’m sure they feel there are much better uses of their time.
Maybe if the current survival horror boom is proven to make money, but somehow I doubt it will. Or at least not to the degree needed to make something truly big budget.
Benson
Saying nothing, speaking volumes
I think it’s pretty obvious Suicide Squad has been delayed. If it hasn’t been it would take two second for an official announcement to deny it and that would be that. No doing that means, at the very least, it’s not as simple as saying ‘no’.
My predictions: they’ll get rid of the always-online element and paint the big purple weak point indications a different colours. And that’ll be it.
Needless to say I don’t think that’s going to move the dial for everyone and someone sensible probably should have put this out of its misery several years ago, before it ever got to this stage.
Kernel
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History repeats
Just wanted to say how much I’m enjoying Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Feels to me like a cross between Nioh and Sekiro, but more arcadey and with some magic thrown in. The star of the show is the combat, which is fantastic and up there with the best for me, and there are some excellent bosses. The flag system is great too and provides a real incentive to explore each level fully.
As GC mentioned though, the storytelling is weak and there is far too much loot, which is a shame as it was a common complaint with Nioh. Overall though, I’m having an absolute blast with it and would wholeheartedly recommend to fans of Nioh and Sekiro, or any fighting game really.
Mud
GC: We’ve had a rash of game’s not learning anything from their predecessors lately. The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR and Octopath Traveler 2 were just the same.
Far Cry from Zelda
If you ask me, the problem with Far Cry is that it got too obsessed with the story, when the real reason people like it is the freedom of the open world. I think taking a leaf out of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild’s approach would be a much better idea, where you’re just let loose in the world and probably won’t get round to any of the story stuff for dozens of hours into it.
They kind of went in the opposite direction for Far Cry 6 though and I think that’s one of the reasons it wasn’t as possibly as they expected. I don’t imagine they’ll go that direction for the next one but if their big idea is to just have more of the same but with better graphics, or make it free-to-play, I don’t think it’s going to fly.
Benjy Dog
Subscription driver
I hope you are all well.
Like most gamers I have been following the Microsoft/Activision/PlayStation wrangling. This sort of thing has gone on for time eternal. It might be the first really big one in the games industry, but many other industries have seen this sort of thing go on all the time. Just look at the motor industry, there might be lots of brands but they are nearly all owned by a few big players. I digress.
This last week I was playing Call Of Duty on Xbox. After a couple of games I went for a mooch, in the name of research, to see who I had been playing to look at their gamer scores. There had been some very good players in the lobby, so I clicked on a few to see their scores and what else they play and how long they had been on Xbox Live. What I discovered was quite an eye opener when taken in the context of the takeover.
There are just so many Xbox players who have a very low Gamerscore, have played very few games, and have been playing for a few years. A bit of a deeper search – this is all public knowledge I’m not some weirdo – is they spend an awful lot of time on Call Of Duty and it’s not the campaign, looking at the achievements. Around 40 days was fairly common. Let that sink in: 40 days! The game has been out for 141 days as of today. By my simple maths says that’s 3.5 hours a day. Holy cow!
I don’t own Call Of Duty on my PlayStation, so I can’t compare the stats for that but you can rest assured that Sony know exactly how much time its players spend on Call Of Duty and this is the crux of their arguments against this deal, in my opinion. It’s not just about the console sales. You have to take into account subscriptions to PS Plus. If gamers are following a similar pattern on PlayStation, as they are on Xbox, that’s a big revenue stream Sony could lose. I own a PlayStation for the Sony games, particularly the single-player ones. I drop in and out of PS Plus; when I see something pop up on PS Extra I’ll join for a month or so.
Sony have a big portfolio of single-player games that do not require any subscription to play. Gran Turismo, with its always online, caused a fuss with its requirement to have a subscription to be able to play it. It even put people off buying it, if the letters here are to go by. I currently cannot play my copy, not a problem as I’m working through God Of War. So my question is where would Sony get the subscriptions from? Fortnite doesn’t require a paid subscription, so would that change that landscape again to get those subscriptions back?
Maybe a Hot Topic question. What would you do to counter the Activision acquisition if you were the CEO of Sony? Sony would have 10 years to solve this problem.
Dirtystopout
GC: You make a good point. Sony was talking just the other day about how Call Of Duty accounted for more hours played, on average, than any of their own games.
No sex please, we’re gamers
It’s always strange to be reminded that video games feature almost no sex and yet levels of violence that hard to comprehend at times (thinking of you Mortal Kombat). I’m not surprised to find out there won’t be any bedroom gymnastics in Starfield, but at the same time it’s pretty lame.
Is everyone in the future celibate? Or are they just massive prudes that don’t like to talk about that sort of thing in public?
Kuju
Stop while you’re ahead
I know Capcom has already said they’re not doing but I really feel that if they are going to do another remake it must be Code: Veronica. Nobody likes or cares about Resident Evil 5 and 6 and I don’t know what you’d do about the portrayal of Africa in 5, which I can’t believe got a pass when it first came out.
Overall it is a half decent game but it leads to Resident Evil 6, which is absolutely awful, so I would just stop at 4. Code: Veronica might not be as well known but it is the real Resident Evil 4, in terms of story, and has a lot of great stuff in it. If they don’t do that I’d still rather have Revelations 1 and 2 remade than 5 and 6.
Overall though I agree it’s probably just best to move and call it a day. Maybe remake Resident Evil 1 when the next generation hits, so that it seems worthwhile, and that’s it.
I like the idea one reader suggested of having two sub-franchises, one in first person and the other in third person, but whatever works really. I just want great Resident Evil games and that is not 5 or 6.
Parsons
Inbox also-rans
Most times the reasons I cease playing games owes to the fact that I wait for new games to become cheaper to buy, which takes a long while before they do.
Adie Gregg
I used to love Little Big Adventure as a kid, so I’m ecstatic to hear it’s coming back. I’d love a sequel too but just a remake would be great.
Cubby
This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Grant, who asks whether you’ve ever dreamt about video games?
That doesn’t mean daydreaming about an imagined sequel or remake but a game that has had such an effect on you that it’s ended up in your dreams. It doesn’t have to be a nightmare but what games have you dreamt about and why do you think they made it through to your subconscious?
Was it because you were playing them a lot or because their story or gameplay had a profound effect on you? Or do you find it inexplicable that they turned up that way?
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The small print
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The Monday letters page thinks Far Cry 7 should be more like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, as one reader thinks the Suicide Squad rumours are true.