News from the lovely world of the Games Industry.

[Syt]

I don't get the discord message.  It says that the former President was ousted "and replaced by a status quo techbro board member."  But the replacement was Fredrik, who owns the company.  This isn't the replacement of one outside CEO by another outside CEO, it is the principal owner retaking over management.  That would also explain the tone of the company meeting.

Yes, it's one of the reasons why I take the comments with a grain of salt. The way I see it is Fred handed over to a new person who wanted to diversify the publishing portfolio with very mixed success and Fred took back over.

[Syt]

The powers that be fired The Escapist editor in chief Nick Calandra on Nov 6th.

In response all video creators of The Escapist, including Yahtzee and the crew of their D&D campaign "Adventure is Nigh" resigned and they're striking out on their own. It also means that Zero Punctuation is coming to an end after 16 years. --- and doing I guess the same under his "Fully Ramblomatic" brand.

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-67348861

Yahtzee/Nick talk about it here: https://youtu.be/KG2ttRgc5Zk

[Josquius]

Always wondered how The Escapist made their money.

[jimmy olsen]

Well, I guess Lamplighters League didn't pan out for Harebrained Schemes/Paradox.


Yikes.

This is the first time I'd heard of this game and '30s occult stuff is right up my alley.

[Syt]

In a few weeks, the industry's auto-fellatio that is the Game Awards take place.

The nominees are online: https://thegameawards.com/nominees

Unsurprisingly, BG3 is nominated in almost every category that is applicable.


The only one coming close is the new Zelda game with 5 nominations.

Meanwhile, and maybe surprisingly ...



Even Cyberpunk 2077 has 4 nominations (best narrative, best performance (Idriss Elba), best ongoing, best community support).

I sure hope Bethesda takes note for TES6.

[Tamas]

I mean I think that's fair. Starfield's sum of its parts is definitely very good and enjoyable but none of the individual parts stand out in this day and age. Like, really, none of the individual features of functionalities (except maybe number of quests, IDK) have improved on their area, they are all at best very good and often mediocre. The total result is a very nice and enjoyable game IMHO but not exactly rewards material. BG3 is a much more limits-extending products. No wonder it got furious complaints from other game devs.

[Syt]

I guess this article summarizes it somewhat. That it's mostly "all right" but  not a special standout as Bethesda games used to be. https://www.pcgamer.com/starfields-down-to-mixed-reviews-on-steam-while-the-community-laments-the-magic-is-just-missing-from-starfield/

IMO none of their games have had the staying power of Skyrim and all later attempts may have been making more money, but only Skyrim has stayed a popular touchstone.