Anthedon
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2015
- Messages
- 4,549
Bethesda is finished.
They got a nice $500m "gift" from facebook recently, didn't they?
Not yet, Facebook appealed that decision IIRC.
Bethesda is finished.
They got a nice $500m "gift" from facebook recently, didn't they?
As always with Bethesda: Good ideas, shitty executions.
Good ideas... Excuse me... LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
Bethesda vice president Pete Hines told me not to worry; single-player games are doing just fine, even those that the company released over the past year or so.
“We don’t really talk about numbers, but in general I think this year we have done a number of single-player things - Wolfenstein, The Evil Within 2, Prey, Dishonored 2 - some of those have done pretty well, at or above as we expected them to, and some have done not quite as well as we expected or hope,” he says. “I’ve seen the thoughts and comments around single-player. We’re aware of the concern.
“Here’s my thing, single-player is an incredibly broad thing to reference. This whole discussion lumps in a lot of things into one basket. When we’re talking very generally about single-player games, it includes everything from Sonic the Hedgehog to Skyrim to Gone Home.”
He adds that single-player will remain a part of what Bethesda will be doing going forward.
The commercial, he says, was a chance to do something on a timely topic during the VGAs.
“This year we could do that thing again where we run a Wolfenstein or Evil Within or Prey commercial,” he says. “But given what’s going on out there, it seemed like a cool opportunity to do something different that people weren’t expecting.”
The commercial also highlighted the fact that Bethesda was kicking off a sale on its single-player games. More importantly, it also tied into a $100,000 donation the company made to the ESA Foundation, to help fund scholarships for future game developers.
“It was a chance to point to our sale but also the ESA Foundation donation was a chance to do some good,” he says. “I like stuff where everyone on all sides wins, like a blood drive around a game or raising money for charity.”
While Bethesda will continue to work on the sorts of single-player driven games that tell expansive, evocative stories, they company’s different studios are also trying their hand at bringing their games to virtual reality and Nintendo’s Switch.
Virtual reality, Hines says, is something the company has been looking at for awhile, something he calls a good fit for many of their games.
“The decision needs to come from our studios, though,” he says. “It’s more about what do they want to do? What’s a good fit?”
That has, so far, resulted in virtual reality versions of Doom, Skyrim and Fallout 4. The same sort of approach also fuels the studios’ decisions on what to do for the Nintendo Switch, and the results have been very similar. The company already released Doom and Skyrim to the Switch, and Wolfenstein II is coming next year.
“We like Nintendo, we’re all big fans, and a vast majority of all are owners of the Switch and play games on it,” Hines says.
Part of that port decision is also driven by the publisher’s desire to get their games in front of as many people as possible.
“We spend a lot of time and effort as do the developers, making great games and we want as many people to play them as possible,” he says. “So far, we’re most pleased about how some people seemed stunned and amazed that Doom works and looks amazing on your Switch. We’re proud of that.”
In bringing those games to VR and the Switch, the studios often lean heavily on outside developers to do the bulk of that work, Hines says. Studios like Panic Button, Escalation and Iron Galaxy are a big part of why those experiences look so great. Doing ports that way allows the studio to continue their chief focus on the next big game, Hines says.
The studio-centric approach explains the unpredictable nature of games coming to Switch and virtual reality right now, but not why Bethesda has seemingly become home to so many talented creators of narratively-driven, single-player games.
Hines believes that’s in part due to the sorts of developers attracted to Bethesda. Bethesda makes great story games, which attract people good at that who then make more great games of that sort.
“Some of the studios we’ve worked with have had more experience in single-player,” he says. “Look at Arkane and what they made before joining us. Shinji [Mikami] before Tango. What the guys at MachineGames made before making Wolfenstein. They tended to make those kinds of games.”
Said poor execution explained:
FO4 power armor...only a good idea if right from the start you intend for it to be very limited. They likely didn't intend that. It was basically god mode and power cores were in no short supply. Wasn't needed. I ignored it for the vast majority of my playtime to save wrecking an already poorly balanced experience completely.
The fuck did I just watch?
I wonder what kind of moron at Bethesda thought that video was a good idea.
Bethesda quality as usual.
But they seem to love that buttfucking con-man Brian Fargo gives them. Hell, they went back for 3rds.One never gets tired of the butthurt of the codex with everything related to Bethesda.
but I have to admit that Bethesda is the only AAA publisher/developer that has single player games as their priority no matter how shitty they end up in the end
Gaming, like life, is often about social interaction – a time to join with others in a common cause, or to simply exorcise a few demons with some cathartic virtual carnage. But sometimes you just need a little time away. A place where you can go to escape the vicissitudes of everyday life. And that’s where a great single-player game comes in.
Once upon a time, these solitary experiences dominated the gaming landscape. But in recent years, with multiplayer on the rise, single-player games have become fewer in number. Meanwhile, the community has been clamoring for more single-player games, and the media has penned a panoply of pieces bemoaning the loss of single-player experiences. But never fear! Bethesda is here to help. In a new video that debuted at The Game Awards, starring none other than Lynda Carter, we share our vision for saving the single player.
So whether you pick up Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, The Evil Within 2, Prey, Dishonored 2, DOOM, Fallout 4: Game of the Year, Skyrim Special Edition – or all of the above – rest assured that Bethesda has you covered with a critically acclaimed, award-winning single-player game that’s just what you need.
In the coming weeks, we’ll also be sharing your stories about single-player games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more. So be sure to join in the fun with the hashtag: #SavePlayer1
but I have to admit that Bethesda is the only AAA publisher/developer that has single player games as their priority no matter how shitty they end up in the end
Pretty sure that Bethesda's top priority is development cost efficiency. The fact that everything is single player is purely consequential.
And of course Pete Hines did interviews about this thing: http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/...es-arent-dying-bethesda-wont-let-them-w513692
“We don’t really talk about numbers, but in general I think this year we have done a number of single-player things - Wolfenstein, The Evil Within 2, Prey, Dishonored 2 - some of those have done pretty well, at or above as we expected them to, and some have done not quite as well as we expected or hope,” he says. “I’ve seen the thoughts and comments around single-player. We’re aware of the concern.
single-player will remain a part of what Bethesda will be doing going forward