This article originally ran under a different banner/website in January of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! GATHER ROUND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! Now while I have always tried to strike a balance between positivity and negativity, I don’t shout on a soapbox to spread joy and cheer. The video game industry, especially of late, seems more interested in bringing about its ultimate demise rather than creating artful narratives or experiences. 2018 was certainly a great year to be a self-proclaimed prophet, shouting that industry is bringing its own doom through excessive greed. So rather than cover the games I found dreadful, I rather cover news stories from 2018, that made me shout with all my might THE END IS NIGH!!!
Loot Boxes
I have always felt loot boxes were blatantly anti-consumer. I wasn’t really on board with the narrative that they are gambling, but with numerous countries performing studies, I was prepared for an open-minded discussion on the industry’s favorite way to make money. Many studies concluded that while loot boxes don’t fit the traditional definition of gambling, they do employ many psychological tricks that slot machines use: bright lights, exciting sounds, and rushes of dopamine. On top of that Britain, released a report that child gambling has quadrupled over the past two years. With all these studies and statistics coming out, the gaming industry would obviously drop the loot box obsession and find another way to make money, right? No, of course not. While some publishers have steered away from or patched them out entirely, numerous other publishers have actively doubled down. A Trials Rising developer belittled player’s concerns about loot boxes in a motocross stunt game published by Ubisoft. 2K Games begged Belgian players to ask their government to allow loot boxes in NBA 2K18 and NBA 2K19. Of course, EA refused to let go of their gold mine, Ultimate Team mode, and decided it was willing to take the Belgian government to court to protect their revenue stream. The gaming industry is willing to throw away any goodwill among gamers or government officials, to merely bank on a couple of “whales”. They are doubling down on a pair and I certainly can’t wait to see them lose out to a flush. I truly hope the loot box bubble pops in the face of all these publishers.
Sony and Crossplay
2018 was an amazing year for Sony. God of War and Marvel Spiderman worked to highlight Sony’s strong single-player library. Add to that The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Horizon Zero Dawn, the PlayStation 4 has a solid library that can’t be ignored. What also can’t be ignored is Sony’s cockiness. In the same year that Microsoft and Nintendo try to make consoles less exclusive; Sony, on the other hand, would like to have complete control on par with an abusive spouse. Not only did Sony continue to block mods for Bethesda games and continue to be against crossplay for games like Rocket League and Minecraft, but Sony also decided to lock Fortnite accounts to the PlayStation 4. With the E3 announcement that Fortnite would be available on the Nintendo Switch, many players learned they couldn’t play Fortnite on the Switch with the existing accounts they used on their PS4s. The reason for this was that Sony, the leader of the console race, was clearly afraid of losing their audience. After tiredly saying they were working on a fix, listening to feedback, and saying Fortnite is better on the PS4, Sony conceded to allow players to unlock Fortnite accounts and has opened crossplay between PC and PS4. While being a controversy with a possible happy ending, I still think this highlights both Sony’s arrogance and complete lack of confidence in PlayStation 4, you know the console leader for the current generation. Disappointing Sony, very disappointing.
Studio Shutdowns and Working Conditions for Developers
There was an alarming number of studio shutdowns throughout the year. Some of the big ones include Runic, Capcom Vancouver, Boss Key Productions, and Telltale Games. Even though EA shut down Visceral Games in October of 2017 it still feels fresh in my mind. With an almost Thanos-like snap, studios and jobs within seem to be turning to ash right before our eyes. With minimum job security and crunch atmosphere still a rampant problem with the games industry, I wouldn’t blame someone looking at Rockstar bragging about their employees working hundred-hour weeks and think about a different career path. While I have considered pursuing writing careers in the past, I am extremely hesitant about it now. Slowly others might start to feel the same until we reach the point where studios can’t staff enough employees to finish projects. While I’ll admit this more a long-term problem, it is certainly one that can’t be merely swept under the rug. I for one, don’t want to see this future, where Rockstar and CD Projekt Red can’t hire staff due to their history of being a toxic employer. We as gamers, need to start demanding companies take care of their developers, writers, managers, and even esports teams. Looking at you Blizzard.
Activision’s Infection of Blizzard
Speaking of Blizzard, let’s talk about Diablo Immortal. While the explosion of outrage that a mobile game announcement caused could be seen as the big controversy, I believe it is the tip of the iceberg. Ever since Mike Morhaime stepped down from Blizzard, the company has felt like it is desperately trying to fit in with the cool crowd Activision hangs out with. Hearthstone and World of Warcraft seem more grindy than ever. They also seem to be doubling down on Overwatch, their loot boxes, and the OWL itself. Of course, we also have the tone-deaf announcement of Diablo Immortals at Blizzcon. Why is Blizzard taking cues from Activision all of a sudden? Well with Morhaime moving to a strategic advisory position and former Activision Investor Relations, Amrita Ahuja, named Blizzard CFO, Activision has placed key leadership within the company pushing the message cut cost. With Activision boiling down to publishing Call of Duty and remasters of older titles, they are partly depending on Blizzard to bring in the bucks on par with 2017 Overwatch loot box sales. With this constant focus on shaving costs on some of the bigger titles, Blizzard developers have turned to develop smaller less stressful mobile games. Hence, Diablo Immortals and the likely chance we will get a Pokemon Go styled World of Warcraft mobile game. Sure, Activision has had a couple of their CFO’s leave, including Ahuja, but I fear the damage has already been done. The cancerous Activision has consumed as much as it can and leaves Blizzard as a husk of its former glory. Bungie has clearly figured that out and was able to find a way to break free from Activision’s talons. I hope they share their secret with Blizzard employees. Still, I shudder to think what Activision-Blizzard has in store for 2019.
Fallout 76
While it is fairly common to watch a publisher twist and mutate a franchise to conform to the latest gaming trend, I don’t believe any other franchise has been as big of a nightmare as Fallout 76. Bethesda, almost seeming like they were dared to top the Diablo Immortals disaster, decided to strip away the studio’s strengths like unique characters, memorable world-building, and brilliant storytelling, to highlight that they had no clue what they were doing. The list of things wrong with Fallout 76 is longer than Saint Nick’s Naughty list: embarrassing pop-in, broken lighting, awful textures, barebones quests, obnoxious survival mechanics, unstable servers, worthless pvp, and just a void of content in general. Fallout 76 just comes off as a desperate cynical attempt to be another me-too live service. The story doesn’t stop there though. Fallout 76 is a runaway train attempting to derail itself and crash into the local orphanage, as Fallout 76 continues to provide more grievance for Bethesda. Bethesda was caught falsely advertising multiple special editions. I am sure many of you hear about the nylon bags being made out of canvas, but Bethesda also advertised a dark rum in glass bottle resembling a Nuka-Cola bottle, only for the makers of the rum to reveal that the rum would be bottled in a normal glass bottle and have a cheap plastic “Nuka-Cola” like-shell. In the attempt to fix to nylon bag issue, Bethesda ended up leaking personal information about anyone who had ordered nylon bags. Bethesda also denied refunds on Fallout 76 which they could do since Fallout 76 is not on Steam but Bethesda online storefront. I personally look forward to more publishers pulling that stunt. Bethesda also took a book out of Bungie’s playbook with nerfing experience, and not telling anyone, getting caught doing it and exclaiming the tired “we are listening to feedback” response. The Fallout 76 microtransactions have laughable prices and many players stated the holiday microtransactions were outrageously priced. Finally, to top it all of, some players were able to datamine files that confirm my suspicion: LOOT BOXES ARE COMING TO FALLOUT 76. Shitshow doesn’t even come close to describing the mess Bethesda has created. Once the market leaders in single-player storytelling, Bethesda has shown their complete incompetence to the point where I would stand on my soapbox and yell stay away from Elder Scrolls 6. In all seriousness though, don’t preorder Elder Scrolls 6. After this embarrassment, I wouldn’t be surprised if running Elder Scrolls 6 will cause a player’s PC or consoles to melt right before their eyes. Bethesda, seriously, shape up or ship out. This is frankly unacceptable.
MY FOLLOWERS!!! It brings me no joy to be shouting about the gaming industry’s doom aboard my soapbox. Well, maybe it brings me a little joy to be pissing on the shoes of these mega-corporations, but I would rather be singing the praise of a recent game that I enjoyed. I would rather be helping people find games they would enjoy, but alas, I cannot turn a blind idea to all the sloth and greed infecting the gaming industry. If the industry demands to march to its slow and painful demise, you can assure I will be here. Proudly atop my soapbox. Picket fence sign in hand. Shouting with all my might that the end is truly nigh.