Support NeoGAF

[BennyBlanco]

They're blaming streamers

The internal pre-reveal feedback, even from unbiased sources, was quite positive, and where it was negative, it was constructive, and often actionable. People who played the game, including us, had a blast. And since we were an independent, self-published studio built with royalties in mind, many of us were hoping this could finally be the thing that broke the millennial financial curse.

Toxic positivity

We were turned into a joke from minute one, largely due to false assumptions about a million-dollar ad placement, which even prominent journalists soon began to state as fact. Within minutes, it was decided: this game was dead on arrival, and creators now had free ragebait content for a month. Every one of our videos on social media got downvoted to hell. Comments sections were flooded with copy/paste meme phrases such as "Concord 2" and "Titanfall 3 died for this." At launch, we received over 14k review bombs from users with less than an hour of playtime. Many didn't even finish the required tutorial.
In discussions online about Highguard, Concord, 2XKO, and such, it is often pointed out by gamers that devs like to blame gamers for their failures, and that that's silly. As if gamers have no power. But they do. A lot of it. I'm not saying our failure is purely the fault of gamer culture and that the game would have thrived without the negative discourse, but it absolutely played a role. All products are at the whims of the consumers, and the consumers put absurd amounts of effort into slandering Highguard. And it worked.

Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

 

[DeepEnigma]

Blaming streamers

Zero accountability and toxic positivity culture strikes again.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Blaming streamers

Looks like the quartering or whatever his name is

 

[Plague Doctor]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

Bottom of the nineth. Down by 3. Runners on all bases. 2 outs. 2 strikes.

Blame the Consumer and Toxicity play.

Flawless.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Bottom of the nineth. Down by 3. Runners on all bases. 2 outs. 2 strikes.

Blame the Consumer and Toxicity play.

Flawless.

It's actually the gamers fault. They have too much power! Now these devs will be forced back into the corporate workforce rather than a dev owned indie studio. Innovation is dead!

It's actually mindblowing that these guys who seemingly hated working for big publishers came together and put out the most generic AAA f2p slop imaginable.

 

[Plague Doctor]

It's actually the gamers fault. They have too much power! Now these devs will be forced back into the corporate workforce rather than a dev owned indie studio. Innovation is dead!

It's actually mindblowing that these guys who seemingly hated working for big publishers came together and put out the most generic AAA f2p slop imaginable.

It's kind of crazy of them to lay blame that the consumers who spend the money (in this case microtransactions) are now accountible if something fails.

I can see why many devs decry capitlism and a free market. Cause if only they didn't have to make products and services people want..... then they can produce any piece of shit.

They are entitled to success.

 

[Kacho]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

It crushes me to know the pay pigs didn't show up to give joshiepoo an early retirement

And since we were an independent, self-published studio built with royalties in mind, many of us were hoping this could finally be the thing that broke the millennial financial curse.

 

[falconhoof]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

Looking at that Relooted game and its going through the same thing. Checking out their Bluesky posts and all the positive articles written about it just doesn't match up to the reflected player count. It feels like there are more people posting positive replies to their posts than own the game. So people are getting what they need from the product by simply retweeting or replying with some sort of "I agree with this anti-colonial message".

The positivity does not come from the target audience.

 

[SirKicksalot]

The internal pre-reveal feedback, even from unbiased sources, was quite positive, and where it was negative, it was constructive, and often actionable. People who played the game, including us, had a blast.

Well how did they test? Was it like Evolve, in perfect conditions, or was it truly random? Evolve was GOTY material in testing and faceplanted as soon as normies got their hands on it.

Wasn't Valve inviting random people from the street to test their games? Internal playtests -> friends and family -> people passing by their office -> back to the drawing board.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It crushes me to know the pay pigs didn't show up to give joshiepoo an early retirement

Lucky for him he is also a business owner. Check out this technical mastery and artistic genius.



This guy's fuckin good. Can't believe he didn't make the cut when the layoffs started.

 

[falconhoof]

Well how did they test? Was it like Evolve, in perfect conditions, or was it truly random? Evolve was GOTY material in testing and faceplanted as soon as normies got their hands on it.

Wasn't Valve inviting random people from the street to test their games? Internal playtests -> friends and family -> people passing by their office -> back to the drawing board.

Yup. There has to be a selection criteria issue going on here or a dismissal bias of feedback.

I have been in these positions before where some internal testing is done and the production managers (who are caring deeply about their schedules and budgets) will find ways to dismiss feedback with "It's probably due to X which will be fixed by sprint 20".

Relatively few developers I've worked with will attack their own products or will enjoy their products being attacked. Got to get over that shit. Even if you're making a super niche game, you got to present that audience with something they enjoy. For Highguard it was aiming high, it needed to please a lot of people.

I'm gonna guess the way Valve are going about their process is night and day to how Wildlight went about theirs. The evidence proves me right here.

 

[Moondoggy]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

The more information we find out, the more these people are outed as the same type of "Just shut up and buy it you stupid customers, we know what you want better than you do!" people as the Saint's Row reboot devs, and the less and less sympathy I have.

 

[Moondoggy]

It's kind of crazy of them to lay blame that the consumers who spend the money (in this case microtransactions) are now accountible if something fails.

I can see why many devs decry capitlism and a free market. Cause if only they didn't have to make products and services people want..... then they can produce any piece of shit.

They are entitled to success.

"Seize the means of production!"

 

[Moridianae]

Bottom of the nineth. Down by 3. Runners on all bases. 2 outs. 2 strikes.

Blame the Consumer and Toxicity play.

Flawless.

That man is getting TORCHED in the comments and rightfully so. And not really in a vitriolic way, either. Majority of people are just saying the truth. You had a choice and you chose not to listen, believing your echo chamber told you all you needed to know.

I'm half shocked he didn't turn off comments because it's just "too much for him".

 

[Kacho]

There is no bigger mystery in game development to me than games that hundreds of people work on for years, and nobody can see that they are just bad and stand no chance.

Highguard is one such game, and now you have a developer still unable to believe they made a bad game. No, it's "the gamer culture" that killed it. And The Game Awards. And the rage-baiting YouTubers.

Not the boring, artificial world. Not the pseudo-edgy yet generic characters. Not the corpo-style UI. Not the tired genre.

It truly boggles my mind. The article starts with quotes about how the game was received internally, yet all it took was one trailer for an average gamer to understand this was doomed to fail.

Highguard, Concord, the Painkiller reboot, and more -- hundreds of people worked on these games for years. How does it happen that they ever see the light of day in the form they do?

What is this? Is this the legendary "toxic positivity"? Something else?

Tell me.

 

[Moondoggy]

BRB going to finally pull the trigger on buying Witchfire.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Uising this opportunity to shill for Witchfire. I have 65 hours in it.

It fucking rocks.

(See. We aren't always negative.)

 

[Last Hearth]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

So basically all positive feedback were classified as "unbiased". Maybe they weren't unbiased, maybe you're getting feedback from the wrong people, and that group's taste and preferences doesn't reflect the taste and preferences of overall consumer base? Stop getting feedback from those people.

 

[Last Hearth]

I think it's also that many game developers are now people who went to game developing school, they aren't actual gamers. They don't fundamentally understand why certain games are popular. What they can do though, is make games that on the surface mimic the games that are popular, because they have technical know-how. I think from the 80-00s. People didn't grow up and go to school to make games, because when they were a kid gaming wasn't this huge industry yet, so most of the people who went into gaming were gamers, and they made games that they wanted to play, and it turns out it's the games that other gamers wanted to play too.

Nowadays, it's mostly professionals, most of whom don't even play games as a hobby, they just know how to model, how to animate, how to code, they make games that to them looks fun and are just like the other games that are on the market, and they have no idea why gamers don't like them.

 

[SirKicksalot]

This guy was branded a chud by Resetera so Joshiepoo will ignore his feedback.

 

[Moridianae]

This guy was branded a chud by Resetera so Joshiepoo will ignore his feedback.

I mean Purple Site is literally Joshiepoo anyway.

 

[MiguelItUp]

This is the kind of shit that really sucks. When there's so much negativity about something online, they can easily blame that for their failures, instead of actually taking blame and learning from it. I hope people don't eat it up and realize it's because the game just wasn't good.

It's just like the Star Wars: Acolyte thing. The show was AWFUL, but because there was so much toxicity online, so many people were saying it was cancelled BECAUSE of that. No, it was cancelled because the show was a trashy mess, lol.

People need to realize when something fails, and why it fails. Suck it up, learn from it, and improve.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

When people say devs, they are not saying the higher jobs making the decisions. They are talking of an everyday programmer that had no decision in the project and is trying his best to provide to his family and now he lost his stability. A lot of times devs see that the project is not appealing, but it's not easy to just jump ships these days.

Sure bosses can be blamed for greenlighting something bad, but a company still has to release a game to survive. I dont think any exec wants a crap game released but they trust their employees to make a good product instead of babysit them like a teacher in school.

The studio probably ran out of money and had to sell whatever they had because what was made was crap.

For subjective things like art style someone can say management should know a bad style when they see it. So tell workers to change it. But they are going with the studio its a good looking product trusting what other people at the company tells them is a good in development.

But for things that arent subjective like bad netcode, PC gamers needing to adjust Secure Boot BIOS, bad optimization on good PCs etc.... how is that execs fault?

I've never even heard of Secure Boot using a PC and I bet most people havent either. Probably thr first time in PC gaming I've ever heard a game mess around with gamers needing to adjust it.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I just find the lack of accountability these days just absolutely appalling. I do kitchens and baths and if a customer doesn't like something I don't blame them I blame myself and fix what needs fixed, imagine being so fucking narcissistic to blame people for making a shit game

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I just find the lack of accountability these days just absolutely appalling. I do kitchens and baths and if a customer doesn't like something I don't blame them I blame myself and fix what needs fixed, imagine being so fucking narcissistic to blame people for making a shit game

No kidding. I do spreadsheets and numbers. If I fuck up a project or make an ass of myself doing some analysis based on a wrong formula I made, that's on me. If I do some shit boring work that takes forever to churn out, that's an issue too. Why would it be my boss' fault or the people using my data be at fault? It's my fault for being sloppy and slow.

But in gaming, if I released some bad work, I got the ability to blame the user. And for you, if a customer says let's say install a bathtub one direction, but you install it the other direction because you feel like it you would have the ability to tell the customer shut up and accept it your way.

What an industry to be in! When things go great, take all the credit. When things go south, you blame the boss or customer! lol

 

[simpatico]

Another example of following the advice to ignore the perceived "vocal minority".

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

No kidding. I do spreadsheets and numbers. If I fuck up a project or make an ass of myself doing some analysis based on a wrong formula I made, that's on me. If I do some shit boring work that takes forever to churn out, that's an issue too. Why would it be my boss' fault or the people using my data be at fault? It's my fault for being sloppy and slow.

But in gaming, if I released some bad work, I got the ability to blame the user. And for you, if a customer says let's say install a bathtub one direction, but you install it the other direction because you feel like it you would have the ability to tell the customer shut up and accept it my way.

What an industry to be in! When things go great, take all the credit. When things go south, you blame the boss or customer! lol

Yea they're so fucking entitled man it is disgusting, like... And exactly, they want what they want even if I sometimes disagree. Doing a kitchen now and they wanted chrome handles for their cabinets, I totally hated it... It didn't make the colors and everything pop but it's what they wanted so I had to do it. I couldn't just slap what I wanted and then tell them to fuck off when they say it isn't what they wanted, the gaming industry is way to soft in who it has hired and that is the issue especially with all these fucking entitled liberal activists, they truly are worse than cancer imo

 

[danklord]

This guy sounds like an absolute baby, bringing up that Highguard his opportunity to break the millennial curse is such an extremely myopic level of victimhood it tells you everything.

Being able to make good gameplay doesn't mean you can pick the locks on what it takes to create hit games. THE MARKETING IS IMPORTANT. Scrapping together a bullshit gameplay trailer for the game awards after starting up a AAA studio and dedicating years to development is pure insanity. Atrocious. Like getting a Masters Degree but then creating your resume in MS Paint.

How could they have thought that on a show that gets bigger eyeballs than the super bowl with global reach that THAT trailer was anywhere near good enough?

It made any efforts to be new feel cheap and any innovations the gameplay had look derivative. Going dark until release almost worked but they allowed the Concord 2 Narrative to fester and could not overcome it.

There was a good game here, with a brave vision it could've been something great. Its the inability to understand the market while making key decisions during development and within marketing that ruined everything.

But it's also totally Josh's fault for being a dweeb.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

This is the kind of shit that really sucks. When there's so much negativity about something online, they can easily blame that for their failures, instead of actually taking blame and learning from it. I hope people don't eat it up and realize it's because the game just wasn't good.

It's just like the Star Wars: Acolyte thing. The show was AWFUL, but because there was so much toxicity online, so many people were saying it was cancelled BECAUSE of that. No, it was cancelled because the show was a trashy mess, lol.

People need to realize when something fails, and why it fails. Suck it up, learn from it, and improve.

Social Media is a hot bed for manipulation/gaslighting and shilling.

I don't think anyone likes to be criticised or called names but sometimes it can be for the greater good, I mean, how is anyone supposed to learn anything by being told exactly what they want to hear all the time, especially if the people saying it are insincere?

It's too easy to push narratives these days, even if they are disingenuous, the phone and apps, millions of people using it, a lot to attempt to manipulate and spin the truth and it is being reflected in the products being put out.

It's a concern to what some of the next generation of devs will be like, growing up in the instant access/social media landfill . For all the improvements in technology it seems a lot of originality and charm has disappeared along with it.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yea they're so fucking entitled man it is disgusting, like... And exactly, they want what they want even if I sometimes disagree. Doing a kitchen now and they wanted chrome handles for their cabinets, I totally hated it... It didn't make the colors and everything pop but it's what they wanted so I had to do it. I couldn't just slap what I wanted and then tell them to fuck off when they say it isn't what they wanted, the gaming industry is way to soft in who it has hired and that is the issue especially with all these fucking entitled liberal activists, they truly are worse than cancer imo

And even worse.

Not only does the entitled gaming employee whine and badmouth their boss and customer, they are on the payroll for 5 years since it takes forever to release!

Imagine if you or me could drag out a project for 5 years. lol. So you can see the entitlement...... "Well, I've been working on this for 5 years. I know better than anyone!"

 

[Ozzie666]

What is it with Star Wars and Gaming creators blaiming the fans for not buying trash? They don't seem to understand the source material or gaming in general. Modern developers and creators put agendas and modern audience ahead of common sense game design.

If your goal is to make a decent game and money, make something for an audience that is significant and something players actually want.

For fuck sakes hire people based on skill and experience, not whatever your doing now. If you can't do this, maybe game development isn't your best career choice.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Social Media is a hot bed for manipulation/gaslighting and shilling.

I don't think anyone likes to be criticised or called names but sometimes it can be for the greater good, I mean, how is anyone supposed to learn anything by being told exactly what they want to hear all the time, especially if the people saying it are insincere?

It's too easy to push narratives these days, even if they are disingenuous, the phone and apps, millions of people using it, a lot to attempt to manipulate and spin the truth and it is being reflected in the products being put out.

It's a concern to what some of the next generation of devs will be like, growing up in the instant access/social media landfill . For all the improvements in technology it seems a lot of originality and charm has disappeared along with it.

Problem is ego.

Media is the kind of industry where stuff takes years to make and the product is based on people's ideas and talent. So when things go sour and everyone grills it, it's a slap in the face like they're a loser.

If a guy works for a copper tubing company and every supplier or customer thinks it sucks, who really cares. It's a hunk of metal. Some engineer or metal worker guy will just design new boring metal tubes that work better.

But gaming employees think their secret game in development that took $80M to make and sucks doesnt deserve gamers laughing at it and ignoring buying it because it makes them look bad releasing a crappy or buggy game nobody wants. And because their jobs are on the line not knowing if there's another project to work on, give them a break for a job well done and support the jobs by going out of your way to buy the shit game and try it out.

What an industry to be in. When things go great, reap in the rewards. When it goes bad, blame people and look for pity points hoping gamers still try their crap product when there's 1000s of other games to try.

 

[winjer]

I love how these devs try to blame gamers for their miserable game. As if we have to accept generic slop as if it's the best thing ever.

 

[GloveSlap]

Yea they're so fucking entitled man it is disgusting, like... And exactly, they want what they want even if I sometimes disagree. Doing a kitchen now and they wanted chrome handles for their cabinets, I totally hated it... It didn't make the colors and everything pop but it's what they wanted so I had to do it. I couldn't just slap what I wanted and then tell them to fuck off when they say it isn't what they wanted, the gaming industry is way to soft in who it has hired and that is the issue especially with all these fucking entitled liberal activists, they truly are worse than cancer imo

There's a reason why so many want to silence others so often. They think hearing other ideas/opinions is some kind of magic spell that instantly brainwashes people. It never occurs to them that they might be wrong, out of touch, or maybe they are just not as smart as they think they are.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

There's a reason why so many want to silence others so often. They think hearing other ideas/opinions is some kind of magic spell that instantly brainwashes people. It never occurs to them that they might be wrong, out of touch, or maybe they are just not as smart as they think they are.

The funny thing too is when it comes to bad games, it's one part subjective art and gameplay. The other are pure technical issues.

So on one hand, a grilled dev will criticize gamers back for not giving their lousy game try because they should be open minded at their vision or art, audio and whatever gameplay mechanics they got.

But what if a game has bad netcode, optimization issues even on beefy PC rigs, Secure Boot BIOS issues, or any other technical issues. Notice how devs all shut their mouths and say please wait for a patch.

You got games during he 360/PS3 era that ran better. And somehow on good consoles and PC rigs, something like MP netcode or making sure the game isnt stuttering on a 5000-class gpu at meh settings is still a modern day issue.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

What a bundle of sticks

 

[MiguelItUp]

Social Media is a hot bed for manipulation/gaslighting and shilling.

I don't think anyone likes to be criticised or called names but sometimes it can be for the greater good, I mean, how is anyone supposed to learn anything by being told exactly what they want to hear all the time, especially if the people saying it are insincere?

It's too easy to push narratives these days, even if they are disingenuous, the phone and apps, millions of people using it, a lot to attempt to manipulate and spin the truth and it is being reflected in the products being put out.

It's a concern to what some of the next generation of devs will be like, growing up in the instant access/social media landfill . For all the improvements in technology it seems a lot of originality and charm has disappeared along with it.

Yeah, people not reacting well to being criticized or feedback is a story as old as time unfortunately. Those people will never make it. That being said, I do wish the majority would provide constructive feedback and input before just going straight to name calling or worse. I feel like feedback won't be taken seriously if it all just reads like it came from some angsty teenager. I mean, I wouldn't blame anyone for pushing that kind of nonsense off.

Feedback is something that should be praised, it helps everyone learn, grow, and improve as a whole. But if something is failing, say why. It's a lot more useful than, "LOL RIP BOZO", "LOL, DEAD GAME", etc.

I couldn't agree more with your last line.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Problem is ego.

Media is the kind of industry where stuff takes years to make and the product is based on people's ideas and talent. So when things go sour and everyone grills it, it's a slap in the face like they're a loser.

If a guy works for a copper tubing company and every supplier or customer thinks it sucks, who really cares. It's a hunk of metal. Some engineer or metal worker guy will just design new boring metal tubes that work better.

But gaming employees think their secret game in development that took $80M to make and sucks doesnt deserve gamers laughing at it and ignoring buying it because it makes them look bad releasing a crappy or buggy game nobody wants. And because their jobs are on the line not knowing if there's another project to work on, give them a break for a job well done and support the jobs by going out of your way to buy the shit game and try it out.

What an industry to be in. When things go great, reap in the rewards. When it goes bad, blame people and look for pity points hoping gamers still try their crap product when there's 1000s of other games to try.

Good post. You're right, ego is a problem, as I say though , criticism can be used for the greater good if it's genuine. Constructive criticism can be a godsend to improve on something.

Unfortunately some in the industry use the more abusive examples as a way to cut criticism off and form a short of barrier/protection from all of it and in the end they do harm to themselves. It's a part of growing up i suppose. Look within from time to time but I get the impression a few people don't want to do that.

It's difficult situation tho, social media plays on people's narcissism and egotism, making them more difficult to reach when it's not going well and if you are successful or high profile you attract the sycophants and fakes who use them for their own means and if that means lying and pretending to be subservient then so be it.

Some of the worst are the shills, the Xbox shills and others. The events, the free stuff, the limited edition box sets, the chairs, the games and yet they have the nerve to try to dictate what the customer should be feeling and saying. The sheer arrogance and sly nature of that is quite something!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

That trailer killed the game for two reasons. So it covered enough bases to be doomed for launch.

1. For the shooter gamer who still loves hero shooters. It was a vague trailer which focused on constant gunplay and horseback action like it's PvP gunfights every 10 seconds like COD. And the general plot is to get a sword to unlike goliath beast to breach a castle. That's it. Zero other info.

The game launches with no more info in the 6 week gap and turns out it's a gem farming, chest looting, base building, 3 vs 3 20 minute S&D game. One mode. No bot or join in progress gamers to balance teams. No ranked mode. Barebones stats, boring looting and maps so big you can ride around on horseback and barely see any enemies until the last phase of base breaching. In that first trailer they didnt even show gem farming and the merchant. That came in launch day trailer and that was literally 2 seconds of the trailer as if every blue crystal takes one axe swipe. Go watch both trailers.

For most gamers expecting a high tempo shooter with lots of action on foot or horses, nope. Its more like a MOBA. DOA. Avoid.

2. For the shooter gamer who doesnt like bright Apex art or hero shooters. Already DOA. Avoid.

If the game is designed this way, you'll never get #2 gamers to play because they wont care. But for #1, you got to feed gamers more info and not have a misleading trailer. No wonder so many gamers grilled 3 vs 3 on giant maps with meh gem farming and scampering around for chests. Nobody knew!

All this even avoids all the tech/performance issues which are unrelated to the game mechanics.

 

[Wass0o7]

Bungie next

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I appreciate it when they try to blame gamers for their game failing. Then I don't feel guilty for laughing at their misfortune.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I appreciate it when they try to blame gamers for their game failing. Then I don't feel guilty for laughing at their misfortune.

 

[Plague Doctor]

What a bundle of sticks

 

[SirKicksalot]

Yeah, people not reacting well to being criticized or feedback is a story as old as time unfortunately.

Feedback is something that should be praised, it helps everyone learn, grow, and improve as a whole. But if something is failing, say why. It's a lot more useful than, "LOL RIP BOZO", "LOL, DEAD GAME", etc.

I couldn't agree more with your last line.

Saying "no" is a superpower these days.
"Let's just try this too" and "yes, and [idea]" are its modifiers.
Life really is that simple.

 

[Mengy]

People who played the game, including us, had a blast.

I played the game, and I did not have a blast. I thought it was pretty boring and oddly designed from a gameplay point of view. Felt like a Frankenstein of game ideas thrown together without much cohesion to it all. Plus the character chatter got annoying fast. It just wasn't fun, in my honest opinion. Judging by the CCU's I don't seem to be alone in that feeling either.

Sorry your game wasn't fun?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Even this dude is making a video about it?

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Concord 2. Marathon will be Concord 3.

Marathon looks shitty too but should do much better than Highguard and Concord to the point where it won't be seen as a Concord 3 compared to those two. Maybe Fairgames if it comes would have more chance of being Concord 3.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah, people not reacting well to being criticized or feedback is a story as old as time unfortunately. Those people will never make it. That being said, I do wish the majority would provide constructive feedback and input before just going straight to name calling or worse. I feel like feedback won't be taken seriously if it all just reads like it came from some angsty teenager. I mean, I wouldn't blame anyone for pushing that kind of nonsense off.

Feedback is something that should be praised, it helps everyone learn, grow, and improve as a whole. But if something is failing, say why. It's a lot more useful than, "LOL RIP BOZO", "LOL, DEAD GAME", etc.

I couldn't agree more with your last line.

Put it this way.

In manufactured products, they come in a wholesale case. Let's say a box has 12 units.

It can be 12 loose, 4x3, 3x4, 6x2, 2x6 configs jammed into a box. Same 12 units, but different packs. The company will try it's best to make the config a combination of efficiency and what works with retailers.

But sometimes the product managers get it wrong. They need to adjust the case config. It sounds like an easy thing to just get the factory to tweak it. It's actually a pain in the ass of systems admin, getting the production lines to adjust, flushing out current config and getting all the retailers aware there's a new config coming.

If a company can figure out how to do all that smoothly (even though it's a big logistics hassle), you just do it. Nobody complains. Nobody in product or materials management tells the retailers they know nothing. If it's a reasonable request to do it, you fix the issue making the product better so it sells more.

A gaming studio in that situation would tell Walmart to fuck off and know nothing about ordering product even if their company is struggling on the brink of going broke.

Gaming employees have wild ways on interacting with customers compared to other industries.

 

[bighugeguns]

They're blaming streamers



Toxic positivity



Blaming Geoff, who looking back graciously gave this game any relevance at all. That whole post is unbelievable cope. Maybe if you made a more unique game people would've cared. It just looked like "another one of those" the instant everyone saw it, and those keep flopping. So what were you thinking would happen?

Why can't these guys just admit they were scared? It's completely understandable, crowded market, first time on their own, fear makes you seek safety, safety is boring, boring ends in failure.

The worst thing you can do if you're in their position is retreat to circles that reinforce the delusions of "safety".

There's whole platforms out there built to reinforce toxic positivity, it's a trap.

 

[Ozzie666]

It just hit me, it says 'most' of the team. So who actually kept their jobs over this disaster? I feel bad for the people doing the work they were 'managed' 'directed' to do.

Another example of the wrong people getting the axe?