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[Village]

Microsoft ---> Bungie

If you were a fan of the Myth games. Arguably stunted their growth anyway, I mean look at destiny.

Edit: I guess they weren't purchased so I fail. But still, fuck you MS I want my Myth back!

Disagree, Bungie with Microsoft created one of my favorite franchises that intern with its aesthetics influenced space games, movies, books and probably will continue too. Along with destiny.

Bungie + Space + Budget = eyecandy.



However

Microsoft -> Rare.

And I already thought rare was overrated but they made things much much worse

 

[Mondy]

[Microsoft] is the worst thing that ever happened to [Rareware].

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=707691

We're done here. There is no bigger tragedy in the industry ever. Bullfrog to EA is a distant second.

 

[RamsesA]

The problem was never the AH, the problem was that you could play three hundred hours and only find shit. I think I was paragon lvl 80 when I quit, having only found shit for virtually all paragon levels. If anything the gold AH allowed me to upgrade my equipment. The old trading system from D2 was much, much worse.

I've tried to come back again, but it's just too tedious for me. I'd have to play hours to gather enough gold to upgrade my gear.

Blizzard stated that the low drop rates were balanced for the AH, and that it made the game worse, which is why they are removing the AH and upping the drop rates.

 

[meppi]

Letting studio Liverpool and Bizarre Creations die is un-fucking-believable.

Ain't that the truth!

I'm still majorly pissed off about these two in particular.

 

[InPlosion]

True. Whatever people blame Bobby for they forget Blizzard had those ideas first. Is it not incncievable that some people just make bad decisions?

All of the corrupt "bad american corporation money making schemes" came RIGHT after the merger. I remember everything like it was yesterday, and sometimes it still hurts to remember such nasty history.

Before : No we won't ever do things like microtransactions or paid race change.
RIGHT AFTER, some months past wotlk release : PET SHOP + dumb 20 dollars horse.

 

[SonyToo!™]

The sales and marketing of Bayonetta and Vanquish? Aye? What sega was actually in charge of?

That's correct, SEGA were terrible at marketing their console action games, but then you have to ask yourself would any of these games ever been made if it wasn't for SEGA or what changes to the content and gameplay another publisher might have demanded.

Similar thing with Nintendo, it's good that any publisher is willing to take risks with Platinum. Imo their games are too niche / too £10 bargain bin material for most so called "fans" that most of their games are doomed to mediocre sales at best.

 

[RamsesA]

All of the corrupt "bad american corporation money making schemes" came RIGHT after the merger. I remember everything like it was yesterday, and sometimes it still hurts to remember such nasty history.

Before : No we won't ever do things like microtransactions or paid race change.
RIGHT AFTER, some months past wotlk release : PET SHOP + dumb 20 dollars horse.

Blizzard lost a lot of good will (including mine) after the Real ID fiasco. It was the point at which I stopped viewing them as a company that cared about their customers. That occurred about two years after the merger with Activision.

 

[Tenki]

I can sum everything up:

EA is the worst thing to have happened to *.

 

[SonyToo!™]

How about SquareEnix with EIDOS and Taito?

While everything seems to have gone south atm, they both released some good games like Deux Ex Rev and Pacman CE DX. (EDIT durp Pacman is Bamco, I mean Space invaders remakes)

 

[Shion]

Square-Enix -> Squaresoft
Microsoft -> Rare
Activision -> Bizarre Creations
Konami -> Hudson Soft

 

[Glass Rebel]

Aside from the total mayhem caused by EA, Enix buying Squaresoft stings the most. We got tons of great games from SE but I can't shake off the feeling that the current state of the company can be traced back to the merger.

 

[InPlosion]

Blizzard lost a lot of good will (including mine) after the Real ID fiasco. It was the point at which I stopped viewing them as a company that cared about their customers. That occurred about two years after the merger with Activision.

They have, there's no doubt. Before, the blizzard logo held as much prestige as the Nintendo one in the PC world.
Nowadays? Not at all. In my mind, and in the minds of lots of my friends, they are "just one of the many others". Not special anymore. Not so good or better than anyone in particular. They lost their greatest asset, their fandom. Squandered 20 years of loyalty building in no more than 5 or so.

 

[Borgia]

EA and bioware


They use to be my favorite company pre mass effect 2 and dragon age 2. There old games with the silent protagonist felt like actual rpgs. Now you have mass effect 3 with two dialogue options most of the time with terrible action movie quality script for Shepard.

 

[Shadoken]

The sales and marketing of Bayonetta and Vanquish? Aye? What sega was actually in charge of?

Would you be ok with them changing the game in order to achieve said sales figures? Sega was a dream publisher for PG , they let them do their shit no questions asked.

So is Metal gear rising's poor sales were also due to bad marketing from Konami and a fail Metal Gear brand ? PGs games are great but everyone knows they arent sellers , unless EA jumps in and dudebros it up they aint gonna sell.

 

[sörine]

From worst to least worst.

Konami and Hudson
Twenty-One and Tecnosoft
Aruze and SNK
Square and Quest
Gungho and Gamearts
Square Enix and Taito

 

[epmode]

They have, there's no doubt. Before, the blizzard logo held as much prestige as the Nintendo one in the PC world.
Nowadays? Not at all. In my mind, and in the minds of lots of my friends, they are "just one of the many others". Not special anymore. Not so good or better than anyone in particular.

While I'm not a fan of Blizzard's direction over the last several years, you can't deny that their games still have a level of polish that's far and away beyond most other developers.

 

[Salvor.Hardin]

While Activision hasn't bought Bungie, I fear that the partnership will be destructive for Destiny.

 

[Staf]

EA and bioware


They use to be my favorite company pre mass effect 2 and dragon age 2. There old games with the silent protagonist felt like actual rpgs. Now you have mass effect 3 with two dialogue options most of the time with terrible action movie quality script for Shepard.

Pretty much, why bother with roleplaying in rpgs when we can get shiny cutscenes that constantly defines traits of the character automatically instead!

 

[Berordn]

We are not 9gag users, don't even try fooling us with these things.

To be fair, almost every result that pops up for me on Google after this thread is related to EA:

 

[InPlosion]

While I'm not a fan of Blizzard's direction over the last several years, you can't deny that their games still have a level of polish that's far and away beyond most other developers.

Polishing a game to be an objectively good piece of software is a virtue, expecially in light of recent, bug ridden releases. (They are still lacking in the tech department though, lots of missing 64bit executables and proper multicore support here and there..).
But that alone does not an excellent game all around make, sadly. You know, the stuff they used to create. They just produce ok-to-good games nowadays, a lot better than most allright, but a far cry from the glorious past.

They hold themselves to a high standards, fans hold them to high standards, everyone does, let's say it. Always stating "They are still better than most!!!", while true, just rings as a lame excuse, a cheap cop out, nothing more.

Just like the amazing, brilliant student with straight As, who one just "decided" to grow lazy, aim for Bs at best, while still calling himself better than anyone else and boasting endlessly with the ladies to impress them. True statement, but..daaamn.

 

[18-Volt]

Sony is the worst thing that ever happened to Psygnosis. Where the hell is my Rollcage PS4, stupid Sony???

Warner Bros is to Midway. Now it's just Lego and DC Comics studio. Fuck that. Same with Traveller's tales with Warner Bros. I still don't understand that Warner Bros Interactive is still a thing. Didn't Fox and Universal Interactives die horribly? Hollywood should stay at Hollywood.

 

[ksdixon]

[Microsoft] is the worst thing that ever happened to [SEGA]

That counts, right? Given Microsoft's backdoor into the industry.

 

[ksdixon]

[2K] is the worst thing to happen to [WWE Games]

THQ were no saints, but at least we usually got a patch from them. 2K didn't release THQ's almost complete second WWE13 patch, and don't seem to have any plans to patch their WWE2K14, which has the most bugs I've ever seen in this series.

 

[The Real Abed]

Yup. Microsoft and Rare. Should have been in the OP. it's a tragedy really. If only because of all the older games we could be playing on the VC and other Nintendo stuff right now.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

EA and BioWare. Have to wonder how the Mass Effect trilogy would have turned out if MS continued to publish it, and how Dragon Age 2 would have been if they were still independent.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

We are not 9gag users, don't even try fooling us with these things.

Calm down. I'm not trying to fool anyone.

Geez, no fun allowed.

 

[HokieJoe]

EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bungie. We just haven't seen the 'fruits' of that move yet.

 

[lordfroakie]

konami>hudson

 

[cchum]

EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bungie. We just haven't seen the 'fruits' of that move yet.

Ummmm....about that...lol

 

[Motwera]

This came out of a couple of other threads:

[Big Publisher] is the worst thing that ever happened to [Purchased Developer]

I've only worked up two of the first variables so far:

EA is the worst thing to have happened to Popcap.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bioware.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bullfrog.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Pandemic.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Criterion.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Westwood Studios.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Visceral.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Origin.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Dice.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Maxis.

Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to High Moon Studios.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Radical Entertainment.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Infinity Ward.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Neversoft.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Sierra.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to RedOctane.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Luxoflux.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Bizarre Creations.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Infocom.
Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Blizzard.

Would honestly love if somebody could insert two variables and get <> True out of it. Offhand maybe if variable #1 = Valve?

Came to this, because they killed Crash Bandicoot and Prototype in the same way..

 

[lem0n]

Microsoft and Bizarre

;__;

 

[Prince Vultan]

EA + every studio EA ever bought.

Activision + every studio Activision ever bought.

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

Square + Enix + Eidos. I honestly can't decide which one those deals were worst for though.

I know Microsoft + Rare seems an easy answer, but lets face it, Rare turned to shit long before MS got them.

 

[Imbarkus]

Okay what the heck you guys, I edited OP based on suggestions. I'll scrub back through the thread, I seem to be kind of short of candidates for "the bright side."

Eidos is the worst thing that ever happened to Core Design.

What? Really? Angel of Darkness was pretty bad in concept. Was it rushed or something?

Namco Bandai is the worst thing to have happened to FromSoftware.

What? Really? Why?

Sega the worst thing that happened to Platinum Games.

Seems to be some debate about this one too.

 

[Jazzkokehead]

What? Really? Angel of Darkness was pretty bad in concept. Was it rushed or something?

Have you ever played it? It definitely needed more development time. The quality of its concept is another debate entirely...

Besides, I believe it was Eidos that kept forcing Core to pump out yearly Tomb Raider installments, to ever-diminishing returns.

 

[Imbarkus]

Have you ever played it? It definitely needed more development time. The quality of its concept is another debate entirely...

Besides, I believe it was Eidos that kept forcing Core to pump out yearly Tomb Raider installments, to ever-diminishing returns.

Okay I'll add it onto the end of the SquareEnix is the worst thing that happened to Eidos line.

 

[HokieJoe]

Ummmm....about that...lol

Really? Destiny looks pretty good from what I've seen. Are you referring to something else?

 

[Moertel]

Microsoft is the worst thing that ever happened to Lionhead. (?)

Eh. On the one hand, Lionhead probably wouldn't exist anymore if Microsoft hadn't jumped in after the financial debacle The Movies was. On the other hand, it sucks that they seemingly aren't allowed to do anything but Fable anymore (even though that's one of my favorite franchises).

 

[BumblebeeCody]

Square-enix is the worst thing that ever happened to Square-enix.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Raven Software.

 

[wizzbang]

EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bioware.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Bullfrog.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Westwood Studios.
EA is the worst thing to have happened to Origin.

Thread complete really. RIP some of the greats.

 

[Imbarkus]

Eh. On the one hand, Lionhead probably wouldn't exist anymore if Microsoft hadn't jumped in after the financial debacle The Movies was. On the other hand, it sucks that they seemingly aren't allowed to do anything but Fable anymore (even though that's one of my favorite franchises).

It's really the same argument that applies to formerly creative studios that are now Call of Duty map makers, right?

Still, there is the argument that they were their own undoing, much as there is with Rare (Grabbed by the Ghoulies was Garbage), but like Blizzard it all started happening after the buyout.

 

[Argonomic]

Activision did eventually do bad things to IW, but we had a good run during which both parties helped each other create huge success.

 

[Nothing1016]

EA + every studio EA ever bought.

Activision + every studio Activision ever bought.

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

Square + Enix + Eidos. I honestly can't decide which one those deals were worst for though.

I know Microsoft + Rare seems an easy answer, but lets face it, Rare turned to shit long before MS got them.

May I ask how? Xenoblade Chronicles turned out pretty darn fantastic and X looks to build on that design.

 

[Mr-Joker]

Konami -> Hudson Soft is pretty bad since Hudson has just disappeared, Microsoft -> Rare doesn't matter since Rare was starting to rot before Nintendo sold them off.

Namco Bandai is the worst thing to have happened to FromSoftware.

Eh what?

Nintendo + Monolithsoft

What? We got Xenoblade Chronicles and they are working on X which we are getting.

Nintendo and Monolithsoft are fine.

 

[Harlequin]

What? Really? Angel of Darkness was pretty bad in concept. Was it rushed or something?

The concept was amazing. And there's a lot of good stuff in the final game, too (well, in the patched version of the game). However, it would've needed at least half a year more to be anywhere near ready. They essentially released a beta version of the game. And not all of that was Eidos' fault. Core grossly mismanaged the project. However, part of the reason for that was Eidos forcing them to do Chronicles when development for AoD had already started which meant that the most experienced people in the Tomb Raider team spent a year on Chronicles before they could join the AoD team and by that time a lot of the damage had already been done. Not to mention that Eidos' dependence on the yearly Tomb Raider money meant they couldn't provide Core with the extra time they needed. By forcing them to release a TR game a year in the PS1 days, Eidos also completely burnt out the guys at Core. So much that they tried to kill Lara off in TR4 (yes, Core actually tried to end the series by doing that).

And after AoD, Eidos treated Core like trash. They didn't give them a second chance, they immediately ripped the series away from Core. Then there's the story with Core Design's Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition. They let Core develop it and then when it was more than halfway done, they sold Core off and cancelled the game.

 

[element]

Ummm Visceral Games was started as an internal studio at EA. They were known at EA Redwood Shores, before taking on the Visceral name.

 

[Imbarkus]

Ummm Visceral Games was started as an internal studio at EA. They were known at EA Redwood Shores, before taking on the Visceral name.

Cool my chance to use the strikeout. I didn't really feel right about it anyway. Mostly just a Microstransaction protest, and if I'm not gonna list Microsoft --> Turn10, than I'll certainly remove the not-bought-out Visceral. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jazzkokehead]

Activision is the worst thing that ever happened to Raven Software.

Fuck, this really hurts. Raven has made some of my favorite games, and some of the greatest first person shooters ever. Hexen, Heretic, Soldier of Fortune, Jedi Outcast... and now they make Call of Duty DLC.

 

[Ezalc]

Remains to be seen Sega getting Relic.

 

[Linkyn]

Activision never purchased Blizzard Entertainment. The two are subsidiaries of the same parent company. The closest thing you could say is that they merged.

Edit: Furthermore, as much as people like to bitch and moan, their output hasn't really decreased in quality. Their games have always been incredibly divisive.