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[Bog]

So what you're saying that Porygon's recent tweet is accurate.

People actually follow this shit? How's that funny?

Anyway, this is pretty messed up, but not at all unheard of. Deadpool still wasn't half bad, but definitely felt rushed.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Activison is worse than EA.
Not even a contest IMO, outside of CoD and their partnership with Blizzard they don't produce anything worth playing. Bungie doesn't count

Worse than a company that has no problem selling broken games to consumers? Worse than a company that fully embraced online passes? Can't say I agree.

 

[Silky]

Shame. Deadpool is an awesome game so far. Surprisingly the combat isn't as bad as people say it is.

Wouldn't be surprised if the 2D levels of DP and the lack of budget jokes are actuallly hints at HM's struggle.

Activison is worse than EA.
Not even a contest IMO, outside of CoD and their partnership with Blizzard they don't produce anything worth playing. Bungie doesn't count

These comments.

 

[Dysun]

Worse than a company that has no problem selling broken games to consumers? Worse than a company that fully embraced online passes? Can't say I agree.

At least they make games you want to play

 

[Vizzeh]

Activision have gotta replaced EA as the worst game publisher in the world. Corporate greed measured.

 

[Ranger X]

It's been a long while Activision is a big pile of bullshit. This doesn't surprise me and I am sure its true. This just makes me happier to continue to never buy an Activision published game anyways.

 

[SmithnCo]

A more polished Deadpool 2 with a better writer would've been nice. But not under these conditions. Sucks that the license was under Acti. I thought the first one was a fairly fun game but definitely not worth full price.

 

[R0ckman]

I once took a tour of what was the Activision Value offices in Minnesota. Long story, but basically at one point I was straight up told, paraphrasing, "We'd rather push out as many games as we can, then spend a lot of time making a really good game."

The testing dungeon (Their words, not mine) was the most depressing looking place I had ever fucking seen.


With that kind of philosophy, yeah, this doesn't surprise me as something that'd be pushed to a developer.

People must be desperate as fuck to work there then.

 

[RiggityRice]

I thought the story and character were very true to the comics so I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. However, the game play was mediocre and tedious..still enjoyed it. It was a solid game for me. After reading this tidbit of news, it only makes me wonder what could have been...

 

[Orayn]

People actually follow this shit? How's that funny?

Anyway, this is pretty messed up, but not at all unheard of. Deadpool still wasn't half bad, but definitely felt rushed.

Evidently not.

Spoiler

I run Porygon, just found it kinda funny that my "Deadpool was obviously rushed out the door by Activision" tweet came shortly before High Moon themselves commented on the situation

And yeah, what happened with Deadpool is a real shame, especially when we know High Moon can do better. I wonder if Acti just wanted the game to be on the market for as long as possible before Disney inevitably pulled the license?

 

[Ridley327]

People must be desperate as fuck to work there then.

Minnesota is a pretty big value game kind of state. Destineer is also based out of Minnesota, and a lot of the developers in the state are based around working for those kinds of companies. You'd have to drive a few hours over to Madison to get to a big developer like Raven, but their fate isn't that far removed from working on hunting or ATV games these days.

It is pretty weird that Monster Games would be the prestige developer of the state, considering they've been on small-scale projects for Nintendo for the past decade. There's always Game Informer, I guess?

 

[FriedConsole]

"B" games don't mean low metacritic score. It means making a quality game with a lower budget. Activision didn't care for quality at all and just wanted a super cheap cash grab, they didn't even care about what score it got.

Not to defend the Activision manager but I don't think he said "lets make a terrible game". He was probably saying lets not try to make the best game of all time with everything perfect and just make a fun game for the limited budget. There have been a lot of fun game made with a limited budget and it sounds like (I haven't played Deadpool) the developers here failed.

 

[ScreenSplitter]

Sounds to me like they were setting realistic expectations, something more publishers and developers should do. Not every game can be a 90+ just like every movie or book won't get 5 stars.

Why is every post I see from you corporate apology?

 

[Vizzeh]

Not to defend the Activision manager but I don't think he said "lets make a terrible game". He was probably saying lets not try to make the best game of all time with everything perfect and just make a fun game for the limited budget. There have been a lot of fun game made with a limited budget and it sounds like (I haven't played Deadpool) the developers here failed.

Its the worst Company logic iv ever heard (theirs). They have made a ton of money from COD, have an opportunity to reinvest it but instead they run every franchise they have into the ground until your bored of it then soak up the funding from potential new IP. Do one activision.

 

[Petrie]

Why is every post I see from you corporate apology?

You must not pay attention to many of my posts then. I'm just realistic about the way the world actually works, and though the forced overtime is shitty, there is nothing wrong with saying you're aiming for a more realistic goal when it comes to scores.

 

[SmokedMeat]

At least they make games you want to play

You mean the games I buy that turn out to be coasters because they don't work? Neither company is great in my eyes, but I especially dislike being scammed out of my money. No game is worth that.

 

[King Boo]

good thing i don't buy activision games. last one i got was...cod 4? ahh but they got me when i purchased that shitty diablo 3. and they'll get me again when sc2 final expansion comes out. and maybe i'll try out their dota game. they were smart to buy or merge with blizzard

 

[SykoTech]

Doesn't surprise me. High Moon seems to be a solid studio based on how their Transformer games look. I had a feeling how Deadpool turned out wasn't entirely because of the studio.

Wouldn't be surprised if this was happening to Beenox as well. Their first Spider-Man, Shattered Dimensions, was pretty good. But their titles after that were extremely unpolished, recycled, and uninspiring. Felt like they were just being told to pump out Spidey games quick without on a small budget. No need to be concerned with quality.

Activision, yay.

 

[Pain]

Sounds to me like they were setting realistic expectations, something more publishers and developers should do. Not every game can be a 90+ just like every movie or book won't get 5 stars.

Exactly.

 

[Pain]

Its the worst Company logic iv ever heard (theirs). They have made a ton of money from COD, have an opportunity to reinvest it but instead they run every franchise they have into the ground until your bored of it then soak up the funding from potential new IP. Do one activision.

Ignore Skylanders. Ignore how COD is still here 7 years after it exploded in popularity.

All publishers are "evil". EA takes the cake though. Broken games. Shitty servers.
Say what you want about Activision games but they all tnd so work as intended. The only shitty games are the licensed ones.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

That's a shame since the deadpool game was actually kind of cool. I can only imagine how it would have been if they had more normal development time.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Activision has been known to be damn brutal in terms of their budgets and time constraints to their studios or those working for them.

Hell just this year look at Fast and Furious Showdown and Walking Dead alone. Both games from Acti that were rushed out the door rather than even given proper time or budget. I'm hoenstly surprised from the quality of Deadpool under those conditions which were mentioned. With that in perspective the game is a damn masterpiece in terms of Acti's "budget' line. It's just such an odd thing to see them do when they're always flaunting their sales for COD and Skylanders. Hey Acti if you put more effort into other games you get more money.

 

[Phatmac]

It's a shame considering how good both Trnasforner games were. I doubt they made enough money to keep making them the same way that they used to.

 

[AustinFelix]

Funny... I was reading about the closure of Free Radical wondering what happened to David Doak (RARE ) etc and was reading this interview about the budget cuts and pressure put on today's developers ultimately making him have a nervous breakdown and quit the games industry.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...f-developers-has-gotten-worse-says-david-doak

That's the link if anyone is interested - It sure does look like it's got 'EVEN' worse from then.

( I know it's a little off topic, but it does relate to the circumstances )

 

[jacksepticeye]

thank god i'm not the only one

My exact thoughts too haha

 

[Ludist210]

I can't believe people have the gall to call EA the worst publisher. I hate them too, but I'd prefer a good game with an online pass and disc-locked content than an absolute steaming turd that is NEVER worthy of a purchase. The industry would be better without those scum Activision.

I agree to a degree. I was a fan of Activision until the Guitar Hero debacle that was World Tour (and it got much worse from there) and I haven't bought a single one of their titles since then. The thing is, as a kid they were my FAVORITE publisher...I started gaming in the Atari 2600 days, and Pitfall II is still among my favorites ever.

It's a shame they've fallen so far...they've become the beast that can't be fed. Sooner or later, the Call of Duty bubble (and Skylanders) is going to burst. So then where do they go?

 

[wildfire]

Quick cash grab. This sounds like what most devs go through when they make those awful movie tie-in games. Star Trek, I'm looking at you.

I would say Star Trek was unrealistic expectations. The butthurt Abrams expressed over the game hurting movie sales and effort put into the game's story tells me they wanted an Arkham game. Too bad they didn't understand Arkham shipped after the Batman movies they were supposed to coincide with.

 

[Zaph]

Sounds to me like they were setting realistic expectations, something more publishers and developers should do. Not every game can be a 90+ just like every movie or book won't get 5 stars.

Have to say this is my first reaction as well. Sad to say but if you give a bunch of fans/designers a bunch of money and no deadline they will keep coming up with new ideas and refining old ones and the project goes nowhere. If the publisher says look finish up by this time we aren't looking for a 100 score game here they shouldn't get all butt hurt about it.

This.

Though I think demanding continued overtime is always deplorable.

I completely agree.

Exactly.

This is troubling.

I completely agree that not every game should swing for the fences and put unrealistic expectations on achieving that 'magic' 85+ Metacritic.

But what Activision did here is deplorable. If they want to treat a game like a checkbox on a legal agreement with a licensee, fine. But expect the developers to also treat it like that and clock on and clock off at exactly the hours they're contracted for and not a minute more.

You wouldn't expect a McDonald's employee to treat his or her work the same as the sous chef of a Michelin star restaurant. You do what you're paid to do then get out, there's no hanging around to make sure everyone is happy with their meal.

This is unfortunately an industry where job postings often ask for applicants with experience on 'AAA' and '85+ Metacritic' games. If a game has a chance of achieving that, then developers may choose to go that extra mile to have it on their resume which could lead to better career prospects. But aiming for a bad-to-mediocre game yet still expecting devs to treat it like a labour of love and slave over it, meanwhile suits cut budget and time? Gimme a break.

 

[Acorn]

It's surprisingly easy to avoid Activison, I wasn't even trying and realised I hadn't bought one of their games since MW2.

EA has Fifa and a ton of licenses that make them hard to avoid. Plus I'm a (long suffering)Battlefield nut.