Video Game Discussion Thread vol. 2

[MillionX]

some things caught my attention on Steam lately

AKSUN:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3129360/Aksun/

 

Torii: Beyond the Gates

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3933180/Torii_Beyond_The_Gates/

 

Flux Heroes

https://steamcommunity.com/app/4358420/

 

Grim Trials

 

[RegH81]

I've never played a Baldur's Gate game but the Enhanced Editions of 1 and 2 are over 60% off on the eShop until July 1st. So I'm tempted to give them a go.

 

Also, my steelbook of the Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives today.

[Camacho]

5 hours ago, DoctaMario said:

Makes me wonder if mobile gaming is going to become more of a thing especially in non-1st world places with PC and console costs continuing to climb like this. Either that or people will just hold onto their old stuff a lot longer and newer consoles and games will have a tougher time selling.

Current hardware is already so powerful that imagination and development costs are a much more limiting factor than hardware horsepower. I think the industry having to sit on it for a while should be a good thing.  

[DoctaMario]

3 hours ago, Camacho said:

Current hardware is already so powerful that imagination and development costs are a much more limiting factor than hardware horsepower. I think the industry having to sit on it for a while should be a good thing.  

I agree with you, especially about the last part, and I don't think this will be a big deal in wealthier countries where a lot of people will pay whatever for a console they want. But I also imagine you'll have younger people coming up in places when those things are considered somewhat of a luxury who can't afford a console and will just get used to gaming on their phones, especially with the increase in power phone hardware has seen over the years making it less of a thing to run console qualify games. Will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

[Hecatom]

Kotaku: Xbox Compulsion Games reportedly shutting down, Arkane Studios could be the second studio

 

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Update 1:15pm ET: According to one source at the studio, Compulsion leadership is in 'negotiations' with Microsoft over the studio's fate, but the details of these negotiations have not been disclosed.
 

Xbox is planning to shut down Compulsion Games, developer of Peabody Award-winning South of Midnight and We Happy Few, Kotaku has learned.

It is unclear how many individuals total will be impacted; the studio's LinkedIn page says around 90 individuals work there, though Kotaku understands the actual total to be higher, and multiple individuals have now posted on social media looking for work. Just two months ago, the studio's talent lead was posting job listings on LinkedIn for the studio, advertising work on a "fascinating, intriguing, brand new IP."

This comes just days after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty published an open email to the company revealing Xbox's recent financial and logistical struggles, amid reports that mass layoffs were expected to begin in the coming weeks.

 

 

 

Arkane is reportedly the second studio being shut down by Microsoft:

 

Quote

Some employees who spoke to me are higher up within the studios, and have said there is "real concern" that they're next based on the messaging from the company.

 

 

[Hecatom]

 

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Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan is leaving the company, just 18 months after taking on the role.

The former Rare studio head took on the Xbox job, which saw him oversee all of its first-party studios, in November 2024.

However, as per The Game Business, he will leave Microsoft this week, and studios will report directly to Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty until a replacement is found.

The move comes ahead of expected significant layoffs across Xbox, amid comments from CEO Asha Sharma and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella that the gaming division isn't profitable enough.

In an email to staff, Duncan wrote:

"When I stepped into the role of leading XGS 20 months ago, my purpose was to serve our studios, our teams, and the people making our games.

 

 

[Hecatom]

https://thephrasemaker.com/2026/06/15/ea-has-filed-new-trademarks-for-ultima/

 

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/ea-has-filed-new-trademarks-for-ultima.1698097/

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There are two fresh trademarks for Ultima this week, one filed under "Class 041" and the other under "Class 009. What does this mean? Well, Class 041 protects Ultima as an "online computer game", while Class 009 encompasses "downloadable video games".

Are We Getting a New Ultima Game?


 

That's the reason this isn't a standard renewal; They're protecting more than last time, and more than they need to. Basically, they've updated the filing to protect the IP in the modern gaming landscape. So does this mean they're planning to bring out an online Ultima?

Well, Ultima's other trademark in Class 02 (toys, games, and playthings) has been updated over time, yet it still has the filing date of August 30, 1985.

However, the 041 and 009? They're completely new. EA has gone out of its way to file new trademarks for an IP with no mainline games since 1999 (and last seen with a quick-dying iOS game in 2013).

 

[Wellman]

I hate how it seems modern financial bullshit is wrecking studios that produce good games.

 

Instead of just asking teams work better or on budget, they say fuck it, maybe take a tax write off and shutter the whole studio. A waste of talent that may not even return to the industry after whatever experiences they encountered with modern game development 

[Hecatom]

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What’s happening with Microsoft is just the beginning of a massive bloodbath for studios owned by publishers. Don’t Nod, Quantic Dream, but also a lot of layoffs expected in many very well-known studios.

It’s going to be a catastrophe.

 

 

Quote

And if Microsoft really interests you, I'd take a look—if I were you—at what's going on at ID Software, Bethesda Studios, but also beyond Microsoft, BioWare...

The echoes I've been able to pick up tonight are far from encouraging. This is really just the beginning.

 

South of Midnight and The Outer Worlds 2 had $100m dev+marketing budget each - sold 1.5m combined

 

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7472408267743404032/

 

Edited June 16 by Hecatom

[Hecatom]

31 minutes ago, Wellman said:

I hate how it seems modern financial bullshit is wrecking studios that produce good games.

 

Instead of just asking teams work better or on budget, they say fuck it, maybe take a tax write off and shutter the whole studio. A waste of talent that may not even return to the industry after whatever experiences they encountered with modern game development 

 

I partially agree with you.
In that once financial retards entered the picture and corporatism took over, the industry has started to spiral down the drain.
But at the same time, there are endemic problems in most western game dev studios that go beyond that.

Leaving any political subject aside, we have devs that are just bad at what they are doing.
Poorly optimized games, with terrible written stories, plagued with technical issues at launch that are simply unacceptable.
All while taking over 5 years to develop due both poor management + bad developers due most of the good ones leaving the industry due the terrible work environments.
Dev teams bloated to ridiculous degrees making it necessary to have even more bloated management teams making the whole process as inefficient as possible, all while also having to deal with crap like what microshit loves to do of outsource most of its workforce so they are not forced to pay employee benefits.

Is a 2 punch combo, of corporatism/terrible managers + incompetent bloated workforce.
Many dev teams are just too big and expensive.

Add that for some reason many devs are fixated on postmodernist shit, to subvert expectations making games for no one.
Games that fail to resonate with the public, most of those studios mentioned above made games that were meh at best, costed too much and a combination of not many people buying them plus being on gamepass made it so they would never recoup costs.

 

And this is without going into the whole GaaS problem.
Where studios be willingly or imposed, are trying to enter into a market where the bar of what they need to offer at launch keeps getting higher and higher, since the success of your game not only needs to offer something interesting, but something that makes someone say, yeah, I am gonna jump from this game where I spent hundreds of hours + money and start all over.
Is as some other people said, a matter of an attention economy, where the value proposition is more than just make an interesting game.

And lastly, the entertainment industry as a whole is plagued with terrible managers.
You see this in games, movies, tv series, etc.

Budgets are always going overboard, movies are being re-shot beyond what is reasonable, game dev cycles are being rebooted.
Lack of direction on what the projects should be, filming/developing time taking longer and longer.

Is just unsustainable.

Tangent
Add that this fixation of high fidelity photo realism graphics over stylization adding to hurdles that fuck the games.
Just look at MK1, that shit over 200gbs, because those turds cant make the game modular so once you are done with the fucking story, you can uninstall all the crap you no longer need.

Edited June 16 by Hecatom