Business and pleasure (Gaming)

by ManKitten, The Stugotz is strong in me., Friday, May 02, 2025, 09:23 (2 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I swear that the steam playercount charts are one of the worst things to happen to gaming since achievements. Who cares at all how many people are playing a game at any given time right now? Can you log on, find a match, and have fun? If so how does it matter at all?

The game developers care, and in turn the people playing the game who hope the game continues to be supported care. This is no longer the time of buying a cartridge, and that's the game you have. Pop it in and play it. Even games that aren't live service still have some sort of digital connection to the developer.

Marathon and Arc Raiders are both going to be $40 purchases (as far as the information we've seen). I still don't know if I want to drop that on either game, let alone both. I have to think that a lot of people aren't going to buy both, they will just get one of them.

Budgets for game development now are greatly outpacing their revenue, so live service HAS to be a factor. You know this. A few years ago you posted an article about Candy Crush or some mobile game, and how much revenue they made for Ad free, vs free with ads and it was a no brainer for them to remove the Ad free version.

Borderlands release date got moved forward. It was also scheduled for the same date as Marathon. Are they trying to get ahead of these games? Debatable.

And let's not forget the shadow of the juggernaut everyone is standing in...GTA6, which apparently will be $80+ late this Fall as well.