Tag: Michael Douse

Even the creator of Devil May Cry cannot make the game of his dreams, he has confirmed in a recent interview

The video game industry has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, marked by a growing focus on profitability over creativity. This change is particularly notable in the development of AAA titles, where market analysis and trends have begun to dictate which games are economically viable. Hideaki Itsuno, director of Dragon’s Dogma 2, has expressed his concern about this, pointing out that nowadays it is difficult for developers to create “the game of their dreams.” He is making a game with things he likes, but not the […]

The video game industry has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, marked by an increasing focus on profitability over creativity. This change is particularly notable in the development of AAA titles, where market analysis and trends have begun to dictate which games are economically viable. Hideaki Itsuno, director of Dragon’s Dogma 2, has expressed his concern about this, pointing out that nowadays it is difficult for developers to create “the game of their dreams”.

He is making a game with things he likes, but not the game of his dreams

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Itsuno admitted that his current project at LightSpeed Japan, although it is a AAA action game, does not fully align with his creative aspirations. “The games I would really like to make probably wouldn’t sell,” he commented. Despite this, his commitment to integrating innovative elements into his projects remains strong, although with the awareness that the industry often rejects ideas that are not commercially viable.

This cautious approach is understood when observing the astronomical budgets of recent titles. Games like The Callisto Protocol, Cyberpunk 2077, and God of War: Ragnarok have required investments ranging from 162 to 300 million dollars, which causes both developers and publishers to be more reluctant to approve risky proposals. The pressure to not fail leads many companies to prioritize data and trends over creative intuition, a shift that some professionals, like Michael Douse from Larian Studios, find concerning.

However, although studies have adapted to this paradigm, there are still voices that advocate for the need to pursue riskier ideas. Over time, it will be seen whether this trend towards market analysis will persist or if the industry will dare to explore the ambitious creative visions of its developers.

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Nintendo raises prices drastically, but the creators of Baldur's Gate are clear: games don't have to be that expensive

Nintendo has surprised the video game world with the announcement that some titles for its new console, the Switch 2, will have a price of 90 euros, a significant increase from the previous price of 70 euros. Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, has stated that the company will implement a “variable pricing” strategy in its software line, thus allowing prices to be adjusted according to each game. Prices should not be based on the interests of the stores This change has generated various reactions in the video game development community. Michael Douse, publishing director of Larian […]

Nintendo has surprised the video game world with the announcement that some titles for its new console, the Switch 2, will have a price of 90 euros, a significant increase from the previous price of 70 euros. Doug Bowser, president of Nintendo of America, has stated that the company will implement a “variable pricing” strategy in its software line, thus allowing prices to be adjusted according to each game.

Prices should not be based on the interests of stores

This change has generated various reactions in the video game development community. Michael Douse, publishing director of Larian Studio, emphasized that developers should not be limited by retail pricing rules. Douse shared his opinion via Twitter, arguing that “it’s very liberating not to have to worry about a shelf, but rather about an audience I can easily talk to.”

Industry analysts suggest that the increase to 90 euros may reflect several factors, such as fees in the U.S., a chaotic market, and rising costs. All experts do not hesitate to state that “Nintendo is setting this price because it feels it can and that people will pay”. This raises a scenario where the price of 90 euros could become a new standard in the industry, depending on the success of Nintendo’s pricing model and the overall economic conditions.

Despite the controversy, Nintendo has clarified that not all of its games will be available at this new price. With the rising cost of living and increasing economic pressure, the future of prices in video games seems more uncertain and subject to change. As the Switch 2 continues to gain popularity, it will be interesting to see how the market responds to this new financial strategy.

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According to the creators of Baldur's Gate 3, the blame for the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard does not lie with its developers

The current situation at BioWare is concerning following the recent commercial failure of their fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which only managed to reach 50% of the sales targets set by Electronic Arts. This discouraging performance has led the company to make drastic decisions, including the dismissal of veteran developers with decades of experience in the industry. The gaming community has reacted with controversy, especially considering that EA has not issued official comments on the layoffs. EA has stated that they have restructured their team at BioWare and moved some members to other projects […]

The current situation at BioWare is concerning following the recent commercial failure of their fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which only managed to reach 50% of the sales targets set by Electronic Arts. This discouraging performance has led the company to make drastic decisions, including the dismissal of veteran developers who had decades of experience in the industry. The gaming community has reacted with controversy, especially considering that EA has not issued official comments on the layoffs.

EA has announced that it has restructured its team at BioWare and relocated some members to other projects within the company. This reconfiguration has left a core group of fewer than 100 developers working on the next installment of Mass Effect. This situation has raised concerns about the viability and continuity of future productions from the developer, which was once renowned for its innovation and deep narratives.

The people of Larian Studios, speaking candidly

Michael Douse, director of Larian Studios, has expressed his criticism of EA’s management in a recent statement on social media, stating that layoffs are a short-term cost-saving response that involves a high human cost and does not solve long-term problems. Douse emphasized the importance of maintaining institutional knowledge and questioned the strategy of cuts by large corporations, which he believes negatively impacts development teams.

“It is always the people at the bottom of the food chain who suffer, when it is clearly the people at the top who are causing the problem,” Douse stated, suggesting that the solution lies in trusting developers rather than firing them. The situation at BioWare seems to not only reflect internal tensions but also a disturbing shift in the video game development landscape under the pressure of large corporations.

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Grim Revelation from Phil Spencer Spells Trouble for Xbox Series S Players

Phil Spencer has thrown Xbox Series S under the bus, stating that games don’t have to be the same as on Xbox Series X.

We all know that promises are carried away by the wind. In the business world, a promise without a watertight contract is something we should never rely on, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed. The word still means something. Especially the word to the consumer. But it seems that some people have forgotten that. Especially when, because of those promises, they have to end up breaking them to avoid damaging their own businesses.

This is something that has just happened during GamesCom. Among other Microsoft announcements, they have announced that, despite initially being stated for a 2024 release, Baldur’s Gate 3 will be coming to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in 2023. But, of course, with a significant cost. The Xbox Series S version will not have split-screen multiplayer.

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This is strikingly notable because the reason the Xbox version wasn’t initially planned to release alongside the PlayStation 5 version was precisely due to the lack of feature parity between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions. While its older counterpart had no issues in this regard, Larian Studios couldn’t efficiently execute split-screen gameplay on the Xbox Series S. This was something that Michael Douse, the Head of Publishing at Larian Studios, mentioned on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. He stated that Microsoft wouldn’t allow them to release the game on the console until feature parity was achieved between both consoles. This condition was necessary for games to be approved by the company.

However, things have taken an about-face. Now, Phil Spencer has declared that neither he nor anyone at Microsoft has ever stated that Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S must have any form of feature parity in the games released for their consoles. This directly contradicts the reasons provided by Larian Studios up to this point.

Even if we accept what Spencer has said, this is dreadful news for Xbox Series S owners. After all, the head of the brand has stated that if other studios want to release scaled-down versions of their games on the Series S, they will allow it. Or at least that’s what they’ve implied. There’s no reason for a studio not to exclude a specific mode or feature from their game on the Series S due to its lower power.

Ultimately, as Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, has stated, they have never aimed for parity between the Xbox consoles. In fact, there never has been. As evidence, he cited how many games on Xbox Series X have ray tracing while the same games lack it on Xbox Series S. According to Spencer, this demonstrates that the policy of parity never existed in the first place. However, regardless of the rationale, this doesn’t reflect well on them. Particularly when his words suggest that Xbox Series X users will always have a better and more complete version of games compared to what will be available to Xbox Series S users.

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This sets a terrible precedent that doesn’t benefit either Xbox or Phil Spencer. It benefits them in the sense that they won’t gift Sony a console exclusive deal with Baldur’s Gate 3, but it harms them by leaving Xbox Series S users in the lurch. Shamelessly telling them that they own a secondary console for which it’s not guaranteed that all games will arrive in the same manner as on other consoles. Even if they were promised otherwise. This creates a dreadful impression and it shouldn’t surprise us if it eventually comes back to haunt them.

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