Todd Howard has addressed the question of exclusivity for their next generation games in an interview with Games Industry.
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Thanks Farflame!
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Bethesda Softworks - Todd Howard Interview @Gamesindustry
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Can't really trust a single word of Todd Howard's. He's a snake oil salesman, and I'd label him as the new and improved Peter Molyneux. Over promise and under deliver.
Huh?
Not convinced it's good for us to have good video games developers and publishers regrouped under the same banner. Even less thrilled by the "Game Pass" idea.
Microsoft may be a special case, thankfully, and not impose development decisions too much (e.g. using a specific game engine, like Electronics Arts) to make production and maintenance easier. It still concentrates the decisions on many games in the hands of one company, and of a very few people.
I personally don't care for consoles, and MS may continue to support PCs. But I'm sure PS owners won't like that trend, however. Just taking Bethesda, even if not all their recent titles were good and a bit on the "quantity over quality" side, there have been several very good games, and the two next ones look promising as well. Will they buy the next PS? And if not, will they accept to lose the PS exclusives? That sucks.
And this Game Pass… yes, it may help some titles that wouldn't sell much otherwise, but it can only lead to an overall decrease in quality. As for media providers, or platforms like Steam, we'll find a few good products and a lot of junk food. And the quantity of sales will still be a KPI for those companies, let's not fool ourselves. Only this time, they won't be able to take decisions to pursue a good franchise if they are convinced it's good but the sales were so-so. Someone else will pull the plug for them.
As a customer, I also hate the idea of a Game Pass that forces me to pay annual fees for something I don't own. That gives them a huge leverage, not only the customers can't give a proper feedback to the producers so they improve their product, but these customers may find themselves without anything from one day to the next if their registration is cancelled. We see that already with Netflix, Spotify, Steam, and so on. Not to mention the way they can now steer the demand with the marketing being able to operate on a large spectrum of products.
Next step is removing the hardware from our hands, with services like Stadia.
I really hope Indie producers can still sprout up and keep injecting pure novelty in the market, so that the quality of what we get doesn't remain the decision of a very few.
Microsoft may be a special case, thankfully, and not impose development decisions too much (e.g. using a specific game engine, like Electronics Arts) to make production and maintenance easier. It still concentrates the decisions on many games in the hands of one company, and of a very few people.
I personally don't care for consoles, and MS may continue to support PCs. But I'm sure PS owners won't like that trend, however. Just taking Bethesda, even if not all their recent titles were good and a bit on the "quantity over quality" side, there have been several very good games, and the two next ones look promising as well. Will they buy the next PS? And if not, will they accept to lose the PS exclusives? That sucks.
And this Game Pass… yes, it may help some titles that wouldn't sell much otherwise, but it can only lead to an overall decrease in quality. As for media providers, or platforms like Steam, we'll find a few good products and a lot of junk food. And the quantity of sales will still be a KPI for those companies, let's not fool ourselves. Only this time, they won't be able to take decisions to pursue a good franchise if they are convinced it's good but the sales were so-so. Someone else will pull the plug for them.
As a customer, I also hate the idea of a Game Pass that forces me to pay annual fees for something I don't own. That gives them a huge leverage, not only the customers can't give a proper feedback to the producers so they improve their product, but these customers may find themselves without anything from one day to the next if their registration is cancelled. We see that already with Netflix, Spotify, Steam, and so on. Not to mention the way they can now steer the demand with the marketing being able to operate on a large spectrum of products.
Next step is removing the hardware from our hands, with services like Stadia.
I really hope Indie producers can still sprout up and keep injecting pure novelty in the market, so that the quality of what we get doesn't remain the decision of a very few.
No one is forcing you to use Game Pass though. It's just there for the people who like that sort of thing. Also, no games will be exclusive to it afaik.
TheSHEEEP
Keeper of the Watch
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I also didn't know this, but apparently Morrowind was released on Xbox - and ran like shit there lolHuh?
I think his point in this case was that it was "Microsoft exclusive" - and thus among consoles it was exclusive to Xbox.
Really weird point to make. And not really what "console exclusive" means.
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Stadia is great! Why hassle with hardware and installation if you do not have to?
Regarding the monthly fees, I support the idea as long as you can begin and cancel the subscription when you want. This is a slippery slope though and can lead to the Adobe style force paying for products the customer likely will never use. Companies like that should burn in hell. A problem with subscriptions is that the service may own your saved games which you might not be able to move to another service. I think you can still copy the saved games on Game Pass but a small change to the software would make them inaccessible. If they did that, they would also deserve to burn in hell.
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This needed a fix.
I don't judge them. They're a big company and their job is to make money. They should just stop bullshitting customers with comments like this.
Edit: In a previous version I wrote that they're a "bug company". That was a typo, I swear.
As long as this option is still there, it's fine, for sure. But how long before they make it the only way to get such and such praised title? Or just the only way to get any game?
Maybe I'm reading too much in this and they won't.
I can imagine… Morrowind, of all games, on console! Perhaps I'm biased by strong stereotypes, but after reading reproaches console players were making on roleplaying games that were not casual enough to play on a couch, I don't see how a Morrowind - one of those rare good games which didn't put a big exlamation mark on the next NPC to visit, hell, even one that didn't put a mark on the map but described the path to follow! - I don't see how it would fit the profile. No judging, people are entitled to have relaxing and casual games when they want. I just think it's so off the mark.
That's the advantage. The same type of advantage as a leasing, where all services are included but you don't own the car. But I'm old-fashioned, I like to own things, I like to be able to select the options I want, and I don't like having to answer to someone else for everything. Of course, I may have to pay a little more for that, in money or in time.
It's the same idea for the subscriptions. As you say, it all depends of the company, and that can change anytime. If Steam goes away, will we be able to run all those games? There are probably contingencies, but still. If they decide to ban you, for whatever reason, or if your identity is lost or stolen, or if your Internet connection is gone for a few days… suddenly your whole game library is just gone.
I don't deny the advantages, but it's a fine line, and when I see more of those moves that centralize the software, the hardware, I feel uncomfortable.
We do agree on this. My point is not to argue. Just wanted to point out that the world can go to hell tomorrow - or not. You never know what happens. Your projection on subscription services does not appear very advanced and formulating opinions based on what you project seems quite dodgy to me. It may happen that the giants will begin to blackmail us gamers at some point. To me, there are no indications for that to happen, though (you have read the MS interviews in the news bits posted on this site lately). Yet, it is important to stay alert in case they try anything less beneficial for us. It could quickly tip to the Adobe model and I truly hate it because I am a slave of one of their programs.
At the moment Game Pass costs 1$ for the first month and 10$ thereafter. You can cancel it at will. To me, that is an acceptable price for the games they offer (Wasteland 3 among others). Stadia, on the other hand, only requires that you buy the game through the service. The price is comparable to other platforms. After the initial purchase, you can play the game as much as you want anywhere you have a sufficient internet connection on pretty much any platform from phones to old toasters or TVs. IMO, that is an acceptable deal too.
In an ideal world, I would always have a modern gaming rig and buy my games from GOG. Yet, I cannot justify buying a new rig every 4th year given the amount of time I have for gaming.
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Do you think you own any game you buy digitally? Because you don't.
Game pass is a great deal for finding games you may never have played otherwise. Also, all first party games are there forever. They don't get removed. I fail to see why giving an option for people to pay a small monthly fee to have access to hundreds of games as a bad thing...
Game pass is a great deal for finding games you may never have played otherwise. Also, all first party games are there forever. They don't get removed. I fail to see why giving an option for people to pay a small monthly fee to have access to hundreds of games as a bad thing...
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All I truly got out of the article is that Bethesda is functionally irrelevant. They may or may not become relevant again but recent history points against it. Can gamebryo be resurrected for the nth time and still feel like an AAA title? I don't see Microsoft or Bethesda releasing their rehashed engine for less than full pop.
On the other hand, all of the people who eventually fix most of Bethesda's game and engine issues are all professional level developers themselves at this point Most modders have more hours in coding in Gamebryo than anyone at Bethesda. Look at @wolfgrimdark; as a prime example.
On the other hand, all of the people who eventually fix most of Bethesda's game and engine issues are all professional level developers themselves at this point
Most modders have more hours in coding in Gamebryo than anyone at Bethesda. Look at @wolfgrimdark; as a prime example.- Joined
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Well he also did a one hour interview that was informative.
Going Nuclear: The Story of Todd Howard & Bethesda
Going Nuclear: The Story of Todd Howard & Bethesda
Here was the bullet-points.