Sherbytes: Industry News Megathread, v.1

[Valhoven]

The first game was interesting but it was sort of meh overall. I played for a bit 2 hours and put it down.

I also only played it for a couple hours and stopped – but more so because I found it ridiculously hard and I got tired of having to rerun near every set piece over and over. Not sure what is was with that game but I was having so little fun after the aesthetic wore off that I turned off and never on again.

 

[Valhoven]

Titanfall 2 – one of the greatest MP experiences ever made – turns 7 years old today:

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[rikwebb]

FromSoftware are recruiting on a large scale for multiple upcoming projects

From Software's mid-career recruitment online information sessions will be held sequentially in December 2023 . The purpose of this briefing session seems to be to "recruit development staff for multiple new projects." The official website says ``Massive Recruitment,'' and the job openings listed on the site are wide-ranging, as shown below.

• game planner
• system planner
• game programmer
• R&D
• graphics system
• server engineer
• character designer
• background designer
• character 3d graphic artist
• background 3d graphic artist
• effects artist
• UI artist
• motion designer
• cinematic artist
• technical artist
• sound designer/composer
• Production progress
• PR/promotion person (advertisement)
• Graphic designer (advertising/WEB)
• sales
• Equipment management and application management assistant
• QA department manager candidate, title manager and support
• In-house IT system construction and operation (infrastructure charge)
• Sound assistant (part-time job)

https://jp.ign.com/games/71483/news/

https://careers.fromsoftware.jp/jp/career_special.html

 

[Valhoven]

Mercs (now on a lucrative deal with Kick) letting subscribers know that Twitch paid him a monthly flat fee (called an MG or 'minimum guarantee') and didn't see sub money directly. While not unheard of, payout and how subscription revenue works is unclear to many users in the space who often feel a personal connection with streamer (and in many cases too vice versa):

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“For a long time now, and I don’t know how you are going to feel about me telling you this. I got paid a fixed amount no matter what, you know what I mean? So when someone comes in the stream and they gift a hundred? They are just, I mean I don’t, you know what I mean? I appreciate that love, but that’s not mine. No, I am serious! Because you get a certain amount, it’s called an MG. But with on the Kick deal, I get all of my sh*t off of my dashboard. You know? It’s still the same appreciation but I am sure you guys can imagine, like, it’s a little bit different,” he stated, interacting with the chat. ​

 

[Sycho Sid]

Mercs (now on a lucrative deal with Kick) letting subscribers know that Twitch paid him a monthly flat fee (called an MG or 'minimum guarantee') and didn't see sub money directly. While not unheard of, payout and how subscription revenue works is unclear to many users in the space who often feel a personal connection with streamer (and in many cases too vice versa):

​

“For a long time now, and I don’t know how you are going to feel about me telling you this. I got paid a fixed amount no matter what, you know what I mean? So when someone comes in the stream and they gift a hundred? They are just, I mean I don’t, you know what I mean? I appreciate that love, but that’s not mine. No, I am serious! Because you get a certain amount, it’s called an MG. But with on the Kick deal, I get all of my sh*t off of my dashboard. You know? It’s still the same appreciation but I am sure you guys can imagine, like, it’s a little bit different,” he stated, interacting with the chat. ​

Would be really nice if there was a streaming platform that was not a cesspool like Kick or slimy and cheap as fuck like Twitch

 

[rikwebb]

Kadokawa (From Software's Parent Company) posted thier FY2023 Q2 results:

* Armored Core 6 sold over 700k units domestically in Japan
* Still no date for the Elden Ring DLC but development is going smoothly
* They want to aggressively invest in the dev of Mobile games using their IP's
* Looking forward to expanding the scope of their own in house publishing

https://ssl4.eir-parts.net/doc/9468/ir_material_for_fiscal_ym13/143593/00.pdf

 

[Valhoven]

New contender in the F2P-BR space: The Finals.

Gameplay is FPS movement-focused with enviro destruction. All platforms.

Open beta ongoing, running until 5.11. Lots of chatter about it amongst Apex Legends community and elsewhere.

 

[Valhoven]

Verge reports Microsoft revoking Game Pass subscription perk for employees outside gaming division starting January 2024; Spencer however looking into it after complaints, he responds:

 

[Valhoven]

New contender in the F2P-BR space: The Finals.

Gameplay is FPS movement-focused with enviro destruction. All platforms.

Open beta ongoing, running until 5.11. Lots of chatter about it amongst Apex Legends community and elsewhere.

Game's pretty fun; played about 1-2h last night.

It's kind of like a heist game in that you rob vaults, then make a runaway with the cash. Next, you deposit it in your own vault while opposing team(s) try to F you up and steal it back.

Graphics and lighting are super good, which isn't the case for many of these games, while gameplay is fluid with fun verticality and a jump pad + quick climb, mantle.

24h remain in open beta.

 

[rikwebb]

Verge reports Microsoft revoking Game Pass subscription perk for employees outside gaming division starting January 2024; Spencer however looking into it after complaints, he responds:

Phil works fast , already been resolved

 

[Valhoven]

Phil works fast , already been resolved

Nice. No reason to pull that, IMO. Microsoft has deep pockets; let ride internally for some goodwill, morale.

 

[Valhoven]

Amazon's $1 billion cloud deal with Microsoft includes 550,000 licenses for corporate employees and 1 million for warehouse workers.

The move represents a major reset of the relationship between Amazon and Microsoft. The two companies are bitter crosstown rivals and are fighting for dominance of the cloud computing market. Now, Amazon is becoming a major cloud customer of Microsoft.

A person familiar with Amazon's operations said the company stayed off of the cloud version of Microsoft's 365 products because they didn't previously want to save anything on a competitor's cloud.

(…)​

Full read here.

 

[Sycho Sid]

Phil works fast , already been resolved

Smells of PR bullshit to me.

Something to make Phil seem like a good guy after all that leak stuff reminded people that he is really just a businessman at the end of the day (which he obviously should be), not your little gamer buddy like he pretends to be.

 

[Valhoven]

New contender in the F2P-BR space: The Finals.

Gameplay is FPS movement-focused with enviro destruction. All platforms.

Open beta ongoing, running until 5.11. Lots of chatter about it amongst Apex Legends community and elsewhere.

Game's pretty fun; played about 1-2h last night.

It's kind of like a heist game in that you rob vaults, then make a runaway with the cash. Next, you deposit it in your own vault while opposing team(s) try to F you up and steal it back.

Graphics and lighting are super good, which isn't the case for many of these games, while gameplay is fluid with fun verticality and a jump pad + quick climb, mantle.

24h remain in open beta.

Now closed, developer publishes thank you and GG to all ca. 8 million players who took part in the open beta.

Good turnout all-around. Feedback being reviewed.

I think I’ve seen hints this sees full launch in December so I’ll keep an eye out for when goes lives. Again, will be F2P.

 

[Valhoven]

Microsoft hoping to take advantage of AI in newest endeavour:

“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” explains Haiyan Zhang, general manager of gaming AI at Xbox. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”

The multiplatform AI toolset will include the AI design copilot for scripts and dialogue, and an AI character engine that can be integrated into games and used to dynamically generate stories, quests, and dialogue.​

 

[Valhoven]

Fortnite still crushing it in BR space. This weekend saw 44.7 million users logged in to play and 100+ million hours played worldwide over Saturday and Sunday.

Additions to the game include resurrection of an OG map (the lush island one; I forget the name) and a mode called Zero Build, which is Fortnite PvP sans building mechanic for a simpler, more classical BR experience.

Eurogamer report here for more.

 

[Valhoven]

GTA6 official announcement set for this week with trailer in tow, says Schreier on the latest with R* Games.

 

[rikwebb]

GTA6 official announcement set for this week with trailer in tow, says Schreier on the latest with R* Games.

Official Confirmation , lines up with the Game Awards pretty much

 

[Valhoven]

Henderson confirming Assassin's Creed Red is AC's long-awaited series ode to Japan.

In an unconventional move, game protagonist will however be an African male named Yasuke (by historical accounts, a RL sword-bearer and African retainer to Japanese Samurai like Oda Nobunaga), not a Japanese char as many expected.

Many are saying Ghost of Tsushima swept in, did Japan justice, and already scratched that long-time itch, that this game fairly or unfairly will be heavily compared to the former. Image available:

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More from Insider Gaming here.

 

[Valhoven]

Sony and Nintendo team up to produce live-action Zelda film:

Nintendo & Sony Pictures announce a new live-action The Legend of Zelda film

produced by Shigeru Miyamoto & Avi Arad, directed by Wes Ball
co-financed by Nintendo & Sony Pictures
theatrical worldwide distribution by Sony Pictures​