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Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

arstechnica.com

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Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#151

Post by nikanj »

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #36
mywittyname wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's just pandering. The markets expect to hear this line and will punish the stocks of tech companies that don't show some kind of investments into this kind of stuff. They'll make some NFT-based card game with advanced self-learning AI opponents just to tick all the right boxes.

Why? Because enough VCs/Hedge Funds have bought into the lie that is crypto or “AI”. Is this some kind of economic extortion?

VCs reward investments into all that horse hockey, because VCs reward investments into it. It's greater fools all the way down, a weird self-fulfilling prophecy.

I still remember when companies proudly claimed their software contains XML and therefore is worth unicorn dollars

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#152

Post by smcl »

vinkelhake wrote: post #148
smcl wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooooh I'm gonna have to play thru with the commentary after I'm done with Elden Ring (and Nier Automata, and System Shock 2 and Ghostwire Tokyo and some other things I have lined up). What's the experience with commentary like?

The game prompts you when there's commentary to be heard, and it's presented as like a radio transmission. It's basically a bunch of the leads talking and giving behind the scenes insight into things. It's been a while since I played through with commentary, but I remember it being a great experience - in particular if you're a big fan of the game (which I am). Here's an example of what it's like: https://youtu.be/Ah…

Nice, thanks! For some reason I didn't think to check YT

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#153

Post by redisman »

Sakos wrote: post #130
542458 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Embracer bought lots of things, not just Deus Ex. Companies acquire IPs in bulk buys all the time that they never do anything with (Gex being a good example). That said the linked article says that Eidos Montreal is working on a Deus Ex game, so you might be in luck.

Embracer is particularly known for picking up old IP's for reviving them though, especially when there is demand for it.

They released a new expansion to Titan Quest last year. I’ve talked to their leadership and they will 100% release content and new platform support for every IP they buy. It’s their whole MO - buy somewhat stale IP and take care of it to generate easy revenue. For almost every big IP they buy they fund a sequel

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#154

Post by didibus »

That's interesting and hopefully for the best.

Square always did best Japanese style games, and maybe this lets them focus more on what they're good at.

Eidos is such a good game studio, but I feel Square was just not letting them shine. Crystal Dynamics is also pretty descent, but that Avengers game what the hell happened? I think they're just not the right studio for a game like that.

Now I don't know much about Embracer, but they seem to want to make good quality games, and I'm happy about that.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#155

Post by smcl »

newsclues wrote: post #58
marginalia_nu wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cruelty Squad nails it though, despite having LSD visual projectile vomit aesthetics.

Visual vomit for real, that looks grotesque!

It has near-universal critical acclaim though. I've been putting it off because of the visual vomit ever since Steam recommended it to me before Civvie, Yahtzee et al boosted it ... but sooner or later I'm gonna have to give it a go.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#156

Post by stevenwoo »

levesque wrote: post #38
baby wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you should play uncharted and the last of us. This is peak AAA

Am I the only one that can't stand these games? They are so restrictive in their gameplay, so linear! It feels like watching an interactive movie more than playing a game.

I think I could not get past this after a couple of cinematic sequences in Uncharted 2. I just wanted to go to youtube and watch the cinematics stitched together uninterrupted. There was this point in game development where a big technical goal was to make the transition from cinematic to gameplay and back seamless. Now that it's a given in games I personally am not wowed anymore. Maybe for each of us the balance of challenging gameplay and rewarding cinematics/feel of accomplishment lies on this spectrum and these type of cinematic heavy games went too far on the spectrum towards interactive movie and just don't appeal to some of us. I am reminded of Dragon's Lair in arcades which was all quicktime events and was appalling to me for the 2-4x the price of other arcade games but other people I went with loved this type of challenge.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#157

Post by stevenwoo »

ianbutler wrote: post #61

Pretty please can we have the final installment of the Adam Jensen Deus Ex trilogy now. Left us hanging in the middle of what might be one of my favorite neo noir, cyberpunk series because open world story driven games were losing out back then. There's clearly an appetite now given recent releases and their success.

Whenever this game is mentioned, I still think about and regret my actions during my first playthrough of the very first mission in the second? game. You have a choice in how to do it and I was lazy and just killed everyone, and IIRC it's revealed that it's a test with your comrades guarding the objective and I felt awful!

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#158

Post by mrtranscendence »

Dudeman112 wrote: post #122
aconbere wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe OP is considering the earlier games in the series? I agree with you that certainly compared to Uncharted and Tomb Raider the latest God of War has far more engaging world design and combat.

The latest God of War just needed more actual bosses. Feels like the queen bitch valkyrie was the only encounter where they actually decided to push the combat. Imagine if Sekiro or Souls games only had a couple of bosses that felt like real bosses. Overall a phenomenal game, though.

We must have been playing different games, or I’m just terrible at them. I found the non-queen Valkyries immensely difficult, certainly boss level, and some of the other boss-like encounters took me a few tries.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#159

Post by namelessoracle »

morelisp wrote: post #101
robonerd wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Few games are for everybody, but Nier: Automata sold millions of copies. The niche of action gamers who like asses is pretty big.

But Nier was even more interesting (formally experimental, better writing - at least in English translation, deeper characterization) and sold poorly. I guess the lesson if you want to make an art game is to make half an art game and the other half ass.

Nier had significant assets in that regard too.

Nier: Automata was just a flat out better game.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#160

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

philipov wrote: post #24
haunter wrote: post #18

>The Transaction will assist the Company in adapting to the changes underway in the global business environment by establishing a more efficient allocation of resources, which will enhance corporate value by accelerating growth in the Company’s core businesses in the digital entertainment domain. In addition, the Transaction enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including b…

They need to fire their loser NFT-deluded president and let YoshiP run the company.

YoshiP is killing it with 14. Let's just leave him alone to build great things. Or at least until he gets 16 out first.
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