Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#721

Post by RealStickman_ » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 4:53 AM UTC

ThatPlayer wrote: post #663

RealStickman_ wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exclusivity deals were disruptive because they took games that were promised to come to steam and made them exclusive. The customer has no benefit from the lower cut epic charges. Epic doesn't treat everyone equally. Big games like Cyberpunk 2077 are allowed to also sell on other platforms, while smaller games either go exclusive or go with everyone else. Competition is good, but I'd rather have GOG be that compe…

To me, asking smaller games for exclusivity is just asking for commitment. One of the reason I don't buy games on GoG anymore is that the developers don't commit to updating their GoG version to keep parity with other versions of the game. https://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_that_treat_gog_custo...

I didn't know that. Thanks for that list.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#722

Post by shash7 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 5:00 AM UTC

de_watcher wrote: post #224

nindalf wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dota 2 is dying I'm old enough that I remember people saying this in 2014. Actual data on active users - https://steamcharts.com/app/570#All . This indicates that it's far from it's peak of 1.2M active players but 700k active is still respectable. > Dota 2 is by far their biggest game. Not by players. That would be CS:GO ( https://steamcharts.com/app/730 ) with 900k active players.

They've managed to make a Dota 2 tutorial that's worse than the 2014 one. And matchmaking for the new players is just brutal, there is no retention.

I am of the mind that any new player should play 10 games with bots at a minimum with tutorial driven gameplay.

Only after that should they be allowed multiplayer.

On a side note, the bots are not working since the latest patch.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#723

Post by masklinn » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 5:18 AM UTC

supuun wrote: post #602

masklinn wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're releasing with the help of a publisher you're no longer independent. Dear diary, I was today years old when I learned that Stardew Valley is not an indie game. > What does it mean to be an indie game developer? There's no hard-and-fast rule, but generally speaking it means the devs are not subordinate to the publisher. There are games for which the publisher contracts a studio, therefore the publisher dec…

Since couple of years ago, Stardew valley at least on pc is self-published

The person I replied to stated that releasing a game with the help of a publisher means you’re not indie. Therefore my publication concerns were the terms at release.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#724

Post by dijit » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 5:22 AM UTC

aceofspades19 wrote: post #710

dijit wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standard: I am not a lawyer disclaimer here. The way it was described to me was that there's two major types of fine that the canadian government will levy against large companies that dump lots of workers at once. 1) More than 50 people within a 4week period. Usually this means that the company must continue paying employment benefits on behalf of the company for a period of a year (iirc). 2) More than x% of your co…

What other Canadian state can you move the job to?

We have offices in Quebec, Ontario and Mantinoba.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#725

Post by aceofspades19 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 5:27 AM UTC

dijit wrote: post #724

aceofspades19 wrote: post #710

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What other Canadian state can you move the job to?

We have offices in Quebec, Ontario and Mantinoba.

None of which are states.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#726

Post by zerocrates » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 5:27 AM UTC

chrysoprace wrote: post #717

zerocrates wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fall Guys was "free" on PS4 at launch in the sense that it was included in PS+. Among Us is just really cheap (free to play on its original mobile platforms, I believe, but that's not really the source of its current moment of popularity).

Being included as part of a paid service seems a like a liberal use of the word "free".

Well, hence my quotation marks.

Plus is a strange case because you need it for online play and some other PS features like cloud saves, so many people have it regardless of what games are on offer. Let's just say that a large number of PS4 players got it at no marginal cost.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#727

Post by Bombthecat » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 6:20 AM UTC

francis_t_catte wrote: post #22

Soon we'll just have Microsoft, Epic, and a conglomeration of EA, Activision, and Ubisoft after Bobby Kotick forces them all to merge. Facebook will bungle up any chance they have of capturing the gaming market after writing a cryptic paragraph about their legal right to request blood samples from all Oculous users in the TOS. Valve will quietly exit software development altogether, and pivot to building custom vanit…

That's how every maeket works, sooner or later, things will be in a few hands.

At least indoe games still have a chance. (among us for example)

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#728

Post by colonwqbang » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 6:29 AM UTC

JauntyHatAngle wrote: post #705

gowld wrote: post #658

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issues with gambling are nothing to do with the arcana of business structures and everything to do with gambling itself. Gambling ruined games like porn ruined movies -- it didn't. It's just a different partially similar thing.

However gambling did ruin many areas of entertainment. E.g. Live music suffered immensely in my home country as pubs preferred to fill the stages with pokies as they made more money from gambling addicts then they did from having a live band around. Same deal with games, many previously good IPs are now stuffed with gambling mechanics as the producers controlling it push for it.

Some people enjoy gambling, I guess? That doesn't necessarily mean that they're being exploited or that they're "ruining" games.

I too dislike gambling elements in computer games. I simply choose not to buy such games. If there was a shortage of good games without gambling mechanics, I could see your point. But clearly there's not.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#729

Post by manquer » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 6:31 AM UTC

d0gbread wrote: post #575

CivBase wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normally I would 100% agree, but the barrier for entry is so low that I'm not sure that consolidation in the video game market. There are plenty of issues which plague the video game market (software ownership rights, anti-competitive exclusivity deals, workforce abuse, literal gambling for children, pre-order "culture", etc), but I don't think this is one of them. That said, I don't know if this is necessarily a goo…

I think you're right from a "person looking to play a good video game" perspective but what's easily overlooked is the data to be gained and who gains that data. Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon have unprecedented insight into user behavior and that is power, and that continues to consolidate.

That is orthogonal to gaming.

They are accumulating data through many other devices and applications from a wider user group, I doubt gaming makes all that much of difference.

Barring MS none of the others actually have any presence in gaming

FB and Google efforts in engaging the gaming community has not scaled. Stadia or Oculus is not mainstream yet. Amazon has even smaller presence with just some products on AWS. Apple is just interested in taking their 30% cut and done nothing really in this space.

Re: Microsoft to acquire ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B

#730

Post by codezero » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 6:34 AM UTC

noncoml wrote: post #677

codezero wrote: post #669

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m feeling like, during the lockdown, we need to have some kind of shit throwing HN comment competition to get all the angst out of our systems. First rule: make every assumption about the other commenter’s intent. Second rule: never actually directly respond to the other commenter. It’s like code golf, but to get toxic online interactions out of our systems in a controlled environment. What do you think? :)

I don't see it as shit throwing or being toxic. Apologies if I came across like this. I am just trying to argue about something that really doesn't matter for the sake of making arguments

Appreciate you saying this. Consider that your argument counterparts don’t see it this way. Are you saying you’ll sign up for my weird internet argument championships?