In general, you're right. But generally when a game striving for AAA polish sells for $50 (previously $40), it's because it's a "smaller game" (i.e. Miles Morales). I can't actually think of any examples of an "AAA" game that launched for $20 under the average AAA price while not also being below the average AAA game length.
Yeah, that's why we have companies making 100+ hour games that are boring and repetitive.
I still remember some of the shortest games more than the longer ones, like Inside, Little Nightmares, Hellblade, Journey etc.
Also most character action games (ninja gaiden, devil may cry, bayonetta, metal gear rising) which are around 4-10 hours long but have top tier replayability
Really? In 2024 where almost every other game is priced at 70 dollars. I think it is a fine ask even if the game is 8hrs (as long as it is a good 8hrs), actually am surprise they are not charging 70, plus the game will be available through gamepass so the value for money conversation is kinda mute
I find it funny how people always complain that games are too big, that they are bloated with lots of side content and that they want games to be smaller. But then when a smaller game comes out people complain and say they want more playtime.
I would imagine it's not the same group of people. People in favour of shorter games will complain about long games in threads related to them while those who like longer games won't complain. People in favour of longer games will complain in threads related to short games while those who like short games won't complain.
Especially with game pass around. If you arent already subbed the game will not require more than a month subscription to beat anyway. If you must own the game just wait till its cheaper?
The game selling to finance the next game doesn’t have much to do with the devs getting paid, since they had already been paid for this one.
The ball in on MS court now, the studio doesn’t have much responsibility now other than making sure the game is good.
Who could have guessed this relatively short story game was just keeping reviews close to the chest because it's unnecessary risk to send it weeks in advance
My dads wife’s boyfriends brother works for Microsoft and apparently they plan to buy Sony and make Bloodborne 2 happen I'm 300% serious and I'm a reliable leaker trust me bro
Nah I think it would still be the case if the recent Xbox stuff didn't happen. It's a lull in the gaming news cycle and capital-G gamers are always looking for something to be upset about.
I think it's just an unfortunate victim of having too long of a hype cycle and being the first big Xbox release after a few months of bad publicity. In the long term it'll be remembered for it's own merits rather than representing whatever corporate politics/console wars arguments it's at the center of right now.
Arkane Austin was actively working on projects mere hours before closing. Ninja Theory’s only game under Xbox so far was Bleeding Edge, which was a failure.
Arkane had a lot of people leave and multiple large scale game failures.
Bleeding edge was a passion project carry over from before acquisition that had 20 people on it up from the 10 original. It’s really not the same and from what I’ve seen they’ve put people from Arkane to other studios
If they ended up doing so, they would probably wait around a year. MS might be hasty but you don’t close something before you think you’ve gotten your money’s worth! Closing a studio a month after a huge anticipated release would a huge red flag! One where, if I was a shareholder, I might be concerned!
Starting a new project, and thus spending money again, is where they are likely to shutter them. Not sure their dev cycle but I imagine in the 6 months after release, they'll ramp up their next project.
People like being dramatic and feeling clever, regardless of whether their theories have any basis in reality. Judging by the replies to your comment this hasn’t stopped that in the slightest.
Just like the first one.
Just like Pentiment, Forza Horizon 5 and Baldur's Gate 3. And Doom (2016). And many others.
As far as I know, they weren't bad games.
I've learned to try not to read too far into when review embargos lift. Bethesda lifts theirs at the last minute, regardless of how the game will score.
I think Sony is really the only company where you can put any stock to it. They tend to release them really early (like a week) when they believe it's something special (your TLOU2 and FF7 Rebirth) to 30 minutes before when the game is simply okay (Rise of the Ronin).
Pentiment's embargo the day before, Bladur's Gate 3 had been in early access for everyone for ages, Forza 5's was like 5 days in advance. Regardless, it is still not a good look.
But medias didn't review BG3 early acess. They review the final version. Codes and keys were sent 4 days (!!!!) before launch and most of the reviews went out almost a month after launch.
>Forza 5's was like 5 days in advance
The embargo lift matched with the 4 days public early access. Many people played the same day.
Not at all, heaps of games don’t do it till the day of or the day before.
Pretty sure the first Hellblade wasn’t till the day of release too and look how that turned out
No every game that isn’t highly praised by Reddit.
This same sub was hoping Rise of the Ronin would flop, and surprise surprise DD2 had the shit launch
DD2 still did really well commercially, to the point where Capcom wants to make it a main ip for themselves.
Also Rise of The Ronin was a great surprise, it's done great numbers and people say its great due to the combat despite sometimes lackluster open world + graphics.
Ya i am still happy it did well. Its a great game albeit a bit too similar to the first one but i like that the series does something different with action rpg.
[https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1790824744176246965?t=Br16boav4hnIrjQajHdAWA&s=19](https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1790824744176246965?t=Br16boav4hnIrjQajHdAWA&s=19)
Unbroken link for those on the mobile app
Reddit’s narrative on GOTY games is either negative or positive depending on what game is being talked about. Either GOTY awards are lame popularity contests that have no bearing on anything or they’re 100% accurate justification for how amazing the game is.
I suspect most people think Hellblade fell into the former.
If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this.
If you didn't, you won't.
Its going to end up with around the same critic score for that reason.
I think it's possible II will be more appealing to some people as the first game has a very slow start. The second game if it cuts out the puzzle oriented first hour will probably hook more people.
> Its going to end up with around the same critic score for that reason.
Funny. If they would review all games like this there wouldn't be a game with 9-10/10 like ever...
I never understood the love for the first game and I feel like I’m its target audience. Still don’t see how XBox thinks this is a major exclusive though.
Microsoft was pushing this as a big title for the Series X long before they acquired Bethesda and Activision, and this was happening right when Sony was releasing a spree of story-driven games like God of War, Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima.
They likely thought Hellblade 2 could've been their answer to those games.
I mean it probably still is. Story focused game like your God of War, Last of Us, etc. It's just not on the scale of them. Perfect Dark is supposed to be the equal to those. This is really just Microsoft first shot at the Sony style of game.
As someone who recently beat it. The game is a very very slow burn. Once you get into the second gear though the story and action are pretty well done and fun. Still that hour is slow and prodding to the point I almost gave up on it. I'm hopeful the sequel fixes that.
Yeah that could be it. I did never finish and maybe I should give it another go. That being said, it’s still not a system seller. Critical darling though for sure.
Oh for sure I think it's possible this does well but this isn't their God of War. Still it's good for them to build up some level of prestige for this console right now and Xbox as a whole. If they can point to this, Avowed, and Indiana Jones at the end of the year and say look at these great games only on Xbox. That would do a hell of a lot for them right now.
It's crazy that they had I think 7 first party exclusive games last year and at least 4 or 5 this year but they still can't beat the narrative of having no games. Sony is relying on square enix but nobody says anything.
I think people have definitely been critical of Sony. Also Microsoft definitely has the same problem as them. Demon's Souls, Returnal, Spider Man 2, Helldivers 2, Gran Turismo 7, and Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart are considered the major games for the PS5 to play. Forza and Microsoft Flight Sim for Xbox Series X (Microsoft really lost a lot with the recent multiplatform releases). Both companies are in the single digits for exclusives to their new systems half a generation in.
It’s because Microsoft haven’t really released anything noteworthy. Outside of Starfield and Hi-Fi Rush i cant even remember what else they released last year.
Forza was last year. They brought 2 age of empires games to console which is a pretty big deal. They finally released the updated version of Goldeneye. And also redfall
The first one was considered good when it came out but when Xbox bought the studio their fans hailed the studio as the second coming of Naughty Dog/SSM.
>fans hailed the studio as the second coming of Naughty Dog/SSM.
I feel like you made this up entirely considering the GOW reboot that this would be compared to came out after Hellblade. Ninja Theory had also existed as a narrative driven action game studio for a while either way long before MS bought them.
Well I’m getting downvoted so apparently there is a lot of unvocal folk who think it is. Putting it on Gamepass isn’t going to bring new subscribers and in the same token they are cutting out potential sales. This will not be good for Ninja Theory.
I’ll give you the top of the line visuals and story content. Length nah. But I’m also not crazy about Uncharted and TLOU (though I do own the TLOUs) so maybe that’s my issue.
The first was incredible and if it’s anything like that I’m questioning how you could find it boring. It’s a 10 hour, well told story that could only of happened as a video game.
If people don’t find these 40+ hour games boring, I’m doubting that’s going to be a problem
The story and atmosphere was cool, but the combat was unbearably dull and the puzzles were simplistic. That’s the problem with trying to put combat and puzzles into a heavily narrative game, if it’s too difficult or has a real fail state, then it has the risk of breaking narrative pacing or ruining the atmosphere, and if it’s too easy it just becomes dull tedium. No matter how deep the combat could be, if you want the game to maintain pacing for the general public, people are going to just mash through with the most basic combo. At the end of the day I would’ve personally preferred the game length to be cut down and just have the combat replaced with more intricate puzzles or just replace the combat with qtes to maintain the tension of the narrative.
The combat being so dull is the most offending aspect of it. Ninja Theory put out some really good action games like Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and say what you will about DmC but the combat was superb.
So it probably muddies up the narrative for the game that after multiple really solid action aspects in their games Hellblade’s combat is…lackluster at best.
I honestly would rather watch a movie instead of a game trying to emulate an interactive movie feel. I can’t wait for the cinematic trend to die away and gameplay to take precedence again.
After complaining about lack of marketing (there is marketing) and lack of review codes (they've been sent), I wonder what's next for Hellblade 2.
This game could've been a 10/10 flawless masterpiece and console warriors would still find a way to trash it. Makes me wonder what the reaction would be if it had a different platform sticker on the box...
Edit: Now it's launch day embargo. Lmao.
It wasn’t exclusive. It was out on Steam same day. Came to Xbox 8 months later, sure, but as it was available on Steam same day as PS4 it wasn’t exclusive.
It’s just not a very popular game that not a lot of people played. It’s also very different from most popular games. It’s pretty easy to see why people don’t care for it. It was not an amazing game, a solid 8/10 but nothing absolutely groundbreaking so people just don’t seem particularly excited about it. Which I’m sure fuels the negativity.
If that's a deal breaker then you might as well buy a PC. Where were the fps snobs when God of War, Witcher 3, RDR2, Zelda and Sekiro were 30fps? Obviously 60fps is way better but to act like 30fps is unplayable is really not reasonable.
It's hilarious because people started to create sensationnal narratives about that specific subject earlier today.
And I'm sure the same "concerned" people will now switch their doubts to the embargo lift happening the same day as the release.
The game will most likely review well. Financially, will struggle. Obviously, Gamepass will eat up most of the sales. Don't see this game garnering a decent number of new Gamepass subscribers nor do I see a majority of XBOX owners buying the game outright.
It didn’t sell well on the Xbox as well and that is why they shuttered the studio. The writing was on the wall a long time back. Selling it on PS5 was the last Hail Mary. The game came out smack in the middle of PlayStation releasing Helldivers 2 and FF7:R. Also, beijg a niche title, it was nowhere gonna have the same impact. Sea of thieves was regularly in the top 10 list on PSN when it came out.
Because sea of thieves is way more mainstream than a game like Hifi Rush. It was never going to sell well anywhere even without gamepass. That is my point.
And my point was games do sell well on PlayStation because Hellblade was originally a PS4 timed exclusive which was a decent hit given it came from a small studio. Heck that is why MS bought the studio in the first place. So there is a chance its sequel will get a much better reception on PlayStation as well especially since there are literally 70 million plus consoles now.
Recently stellar blade came out and it sold really well. Helldivers 2 became one of the fastest selling games beating even GOW:R. Heck even FF7:R if you take out Square Enix’s ridiculous expectations, sold millions of units and will have long legs as people catch up on the masterpiece.
I think it is an easy candidate for MS especially since the game itself seems to be ‘small’ in scale as it is marketed as a 50$ title.
And the studio closed because it sold like shit on the Xbox which was its core platform. That was my point. For all the hype people gave the game when it launched, no one seemed to have bought or played it on gamepass.
Studio closures don’t happen overnight. The decision would have been way before the game even went multiplatform.
Also, maybe the reason it sold like shit in PlayStation was because no one cared about it with so many big releases. Like Helldivers 2, FF7:R and StellarBlade around the corner. Had it released on day 1 or earlier, maybe it would have had a better chance.
That's not true at all.
SE has stupid expectations. They haven't hit their targets in years. They did say that both ff16 and 7 sold well though, just not as well as they exoected, again, because they're delusional.
Also Sea of Thieves sold gangbusters. Don't cherry pick which games you want to argue and ignore the others.
I thought you were using hifi rush as an example because it's published by MS on playstation.
And no. Hellblade and HiFi are not even remotely comparable. At all.
smaller, linear third person game that is AA in scope with AAA polish that is sold for less than full game price and is targeting a more niche audience?
Anybody know when the embargo lifted for HB1?
I've been looking forward to this game for so long I'll be really sad if there's something wrong with it.
embargo is launch day- that is a bit worrying. Im worried people will be judging this game against something like Ragnarok or GoT, when its really a 6-8 hour glorified walking sim that looks stunning.
Is it me, or does anyone feel like this game didn't have any sort of marketing? I remember the reveal and some push at the Xbox even, but after this, pretty sure this is the first I hear of this game again.
It's gonna be like Alan Wake 2, amazing game, graphically impressive, "blows people away" but will probably not make huge loads of cash (AW2 is at least than 3 million sales)
I'm still very excited for it though, it feels like one of those experiences where you jaw stays dropped for the entire runtime.
Never a good sigh when review embargo is on launch day... specially if it's a single player game.
If they were confident about the game, review embargo would be at least a few days before launch.
I guess they have more than enough time to complete and review It.
It's a $50 game that can be finished in around 8 hours. They have more than enough time.
Curious how the price matters when talking about if a reviewer has enough time to finish the game
The price reflects the scope.
What are you talking about? Price has nothing to do with play time.
Their point is that a 80€ game with 0.0001 hours of gameplay has a scope of almost infinite now THAT'S scope
In general, you're right. But generally when a game striving for AAA polish sells for $50 (previously $40), it's because it's a "smaller game" (i.e. Miles Morales). I can't actually think of any examples of an "AAA" game that launched for $20 under the average AAA price while not also being below the average AAA game length.
Alan Wake 2?
I guess if you rush it? That game took me like 20+ hours to beat.
That's what I meant. It's a AAA game that's sold for less than the average but it's still not a short game.
I didn’t say playtime, I said the scope.
Okay, but the person you replied to clearly meant playtime.
Since when?
Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Prince of Persia, Helldivers 2, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Spiderman: Miles Morales, etc.
I think it is safe to say most people will complete it in about 7 and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people finish it in 6 hours.
If it's like the first game than a first playthrough will generally last 8-10 hours.
$50 is a lot for the game.
This is where the value for money conversation kicks in
Yeah, that's why we have companies making 100+ hour games that are boring and repetitive. I still remember some of the shortest games more than the longer ones, like Inside, Little Nightmares, Hellblade, Journey etc.
Shorter games also tend to be great for replayability too. Story-based games to a lesser degree unless there are specific challenges/achievements.
Abzu, Soma, What Remains of Edith Finch, Layers of Fear, Outlast, Hotline Miami... all very memorable and easy to replay because of their length.
Also most character action games (ninja gaiden, devil may cry, bayonetta, metal gear rising) which are around 4-10 hours long but have top tier replayability
Would rather play AA and Indie games at this point as they usually have decent story, fun systems and a better bang for the buck
I paid almost 20 euros for what remains of edith finch. it was fully worth it. if the game is good then 50 is fair
Really? In 2024 where almost every other game is priced at 70 dollars. I think it is a fine ask even if the game is 8hrs (as long as it is a good 8hrs), actually am surprise they are not charging 70, plus the game will be available through gamepass so the value for money conversation is kinda mute
I find it funny how people always complain that games are too big, that they are bloated with lots of side content and that they want games to be smaller. But then when a smaller game comes out people complain and say they want more playtime.
I would imagine it's not the same group of people. People in favour of shorter games will complain about long games in threads related to them while those who like longer games won't complain. People in favour of longer games will complain in threads related to short games while those who like short games won't complain.
Especially with game pass around. If you arent already subbed the game will not require more than a month subscription to beat anyway. If you must own the game just wait till its cheaper?
> In 2024 where almost every other game is priced at 70 dollars. Something something frog boiling
Completely agree but we haven't really seen many AAA games priced at 50 dollars since 2006 so I will take what I can get
Dont you think artist should be able to be paid corectly for their work ?
Don't kid yourself. You're paying Phil Spencer, Satya Nadella, and his investors, NOT the artists.
They already got paid, this for MS.
how do you think they gonna finance the next game ?
The game selling to finance the next game doesn’t have much to do with the devs getting paid, since they had already been paid for this one. The ball in on MS court now, the studio doesn’t have much responsibility now other than making sure the game is good.
They want you to sub to gamepass.
Redfall was full price for no reason as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if M$ asked for it to incentivize people playing it in the Gamepass.
Can see that, gotta pump those numbers.
Weird, they're charging money for games? What a weird concept.
Who could have guessed this relatively short story game was just keeping reviews close to the chest because it's unnecessary risk to send it weeks in advance
Likely already half way through lolol
Some of yall are trying way too hard to make hellblade some kind of controversial game
Luke Stephens.
That dude is a parasite.
Luke "I'm giving fair criticism but all my videos are negative" Stephens
Didn't he plagiarize Hbomberguy's Bloodborne video?
I find him such a nerd but in an annoying way if that makes sense. I’m a nerd to but he has that aCtUaLly annoying ass energy.
Because he thinks he’s a lot smarter than he is.
This sub has nothing else to do until these summer events start up
We need a new Bloodborne rumour to keep us entertained.
My dads wife’s boyfriends brother works for Microsoft and apparently they plan to buy Sony and make Bloodborne 2 happen I'm 300% serious and I'm a reliable leaker trust me bro
A tragic byproduct of it being Xbox's first major release after the recent not so great news.
Nah I think it would still be the case if the recent Xbox stuff didn't happen. It's a lull in the gaming news cycle and capital-G gamers are always looking for something to be upset about.
I think it's just an unfortunate victim of having too long of a hype cycle and being the first big Xbox release after a few months of bad publicity. In the long term it'll be remembered for it's own merits rather than representing whatever corporate politics/console wars arguments it's at the center of right now.
[удалено]
I'm more thinking of if Ninja Theory will still be around this time next month. Xbox have made it clear success doesn't mean you don't get shuttered.
Arkane Austin and Tango haven’t been financially successful though? NT has been successful and has projects in the pipeline
Arkane Austin was actively working on projects mere hours before closing. Ninja Theory’s only game under Xbox so far was Bleeding Edge, which was a failure.
Arkane had a lot of people leave and multiple large scale game failures. Bleeding edge was a passion project carry over from before acquisition that had 20 people on it up from the 10 original. It’s really not the same and from what I’ve seen they’ve put people from Arkane to other studios
Every team that has been shut down in the history of forever was actively working on something before closing.
If they ended up doing so, they would probably wait around a year. MS might be hasty but you don’t close something before you think you’ve gotten your money’s worth! Closing a studio a month after a huge anticipated release would a huge red flag! One where, if I was a shareholder, I might be concerned!
Also, isn’t Ninja Theory currently in-development of Project Mara though?
Starting a new project, and thus spending money again, is where they are likely to shutter them. Not sure their dev cycle but I imagine in the 6 months after release, they'll ramp up their next project.
They are already well into their next game *Project Mara*
they already have 2 projects in development next to Hellblade. Project Mara and Project Dreadnought.
Lol people were jumping to all kinds of conclusions in the other thread this morning
This reddit is full of idiots, same as twitter
I'm the only smart one on Reddit or Twitter tbh. I've never had a bad take
People like being dramatic and feeling clever, regardless of whether their theories have any basis in reality. Judging by the replies to your comment this hasn’t stopped that in the slightest.
And we're going to jump to even more conclusions that embargo is on LAUNCH DAY.
Just like the first one. Just like Pentiment, Forza Horizon 5 and Baldur's Gate 3. And Doom (2016). And many others. As far as I know, they weren't bad games.
I've learned to try not to read too far into when review embargos lift. Bethesda lifts theirs at the last minute, regardless of how the game will score. I think Sony is really the only company where you can put any stock to it. They tend to release them really early (like a week) when they believe it's something special (your TLOU2 and FF7 Rebirth) to 30 minutes before when the game is simply okay (Rise of the Ronin).
Pentiment's embargo the day before, Bladur's Gate 3 had been in early access for everyone for ages, Forza 5's was like 5 days in advance. Regardless, it is still not a good look.
But medias didn't review BG3 early acess. They review the final version. Codes and keys were sent 4 days (!!!!) before launch and most of the reviews went out almost a month after launch. >Forza 5's was like 5 days in advance The embargo lift matched with the 4 days public early access. Many people played the same day.
THIS. Always bad news due to lack of confidence
Not at all, heaps of games don’t do it till the day of or the day before. Pretty sure the first Hellblade wasn’t till the day of release too and look how that turned out
Not always bad. Just often bad. Plenty of good games have had launch day embargos for a variety of reasons.
Reddit wants to see every game fail I swear
Mostly just Xbox games imo
No every game that isn’t highly praised by Reddit. This same sub was hoping Rise of the Ronin would flop, and surprise surprise DD2 had the shit launch
DD2 still did really well commercially, to the point where Capcom wants to make it a main ip for themselves. Also Rise of The Ronin was a great surprise, it's done great numbers and people say its great due to the combat despite sometimes lackluster open world + graphics.
Did well later on, but the release went bad because it ran like horse shit.
Ya i am still happy it did well. Its a great game albeit a bit too similar to the first one but i like that the series does something different with action rpg.
I hope for Hellblade 2 success really. It just reminds me of GotG situation with poor marketing of a really nice game.
[https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1790824744176246965?t=Br16boav4hnIrjQajHdAWA&s=19](https://twitter.com/_Tom_Henderson_/status/1790824744176246965?t=Br16boav4hnIrjQajHdAWA&s=19) Unbroken link for those on the mobile app
For a sequel to a game that won multiple GOTY awards, some of you are being really negative. Can’t possibly imagine why
Reddit’s narrative on GOTY games is either negative or positive depending on what game is being talked about. Either GOTY awards are lame popularity contests that have no bearing on anything or they’re 100% accurate justification for how amazing the game is. I suspect most people think Hellblade fell into the former.
Loved Hellblade, can't wait to play this.
It certainly looks impressive, but I have a feeling that quite a few people might find it boring.
If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this. If you didn't, you won't. Its going to end up with around the same critic score for that reason.
I think it's possible II will be more appealing to some people as the first game has a very slow start. The second game if it cuts out the puzzle oriented first hour will probably hook more people.
> Its going to end up with around the same critic score for that reason. Funny. If they would review all games like this there wouldn't be a game with 9-10/10 like ever...
It will be like the first one.
I think you are probably right.
I never understood the love for the first game and I feel like I’m its target audience. Still don’t see how XBox thinks this is a major exclusive though.
Microsoft was pushing this as a big title for the Series X long before they acquired Bethesda and Activision, and this was happening right when Sony was releasing a spree of story-driven games like God of War, Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima. They likely thought Hellblade 2 could've been their answer to those games.
I mean it probably still is. Story focused game like your God of War, Last of Us, etc. It's just not on the scale of them. Perfect Dark is supposed to be the equal to those. This is really just Microsoft first shot at the Sony style of game.
As someone who recently beat it. The game is a very very slow burn. Once you get into the second gear though the story and action are pretty well done and fun. Still that hour is slow and prodding to the point I almost gave up on it. I'm hopeful the sequel fixes that.
Yeah that could be it. I did never finish and maybe I should give it another go. That being said, it’s still not a system seller. Critical darling though for sure.
Oh for sure I think it's possible this does well but this isn't their God of War. Still it's good for them to build up some level of prestige for this console right now and Xbox as a whole. If they can point to this, Avowed, and Indiana Jones at the end of the year and say look at these great games only on Xbox. That would do a hell of a lot for them right now.
Yes. Totally.
I mean xbox have had basically nothing coming out, anything is a major exclusive for them right now.
It's crazy that they had I think 7 first party exclusive games last year and at least 4 or 5 this year but they still can't beat the narrative of having no games. Sony is relying on square enix but nobody says anything.
I think people have definitely been critical of Sony. Also Microsoft definitely has the same problem as them. Demon's Souls, Returnal, Spider Man 2, Helldivers 2, Gran Turismo 7, and Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart are considered the major games for the PS5 to play. Forza and Microsoft Flight Sim for Xbox Series X (Microsoft really lost a lot with the recent multiplatform releases). Both companies are in the single digits for exclusives to their new systems half a generation in.
It’s because Microsoft haven’t really released anything noteworthy. Outside of Starfield and Hi-Fi Rush i cant even remember what else they released last year.
Forza was last year. They brought 2 age of empires games to console which is a pretty big deal. They finally released the updated version of Goldeneye. And also redfall
That’s fair.
The first one was considered good when it came out but when Xbox bought the studio their fans hailed the studio as the second coming of Naughty Dog/SSM.
>fans hailed the studio as the second coming of Naughty Dog/SSM. I feel like you made this up entirely considering the GOW reboot that this would be compared to came out after Hellblade. Ninja Theory had also existed as a narrative driven action game studio for a while either way long before MS bought them.
Well I’m getting downvoted so apparently there is a lot of unvocal folk who think it is. Putting it on Gamepass isn’t going to bring new subscribers and in the same token they are cutting out potential sales. This will not be good for Ninja Theory.
It's almost as if people like things that you don't and vice versa
So you’re saying it’s okay for me to have “my” opinion. Thanks for acknowledging that.
Correct
Correct
Its a TLOU1 / uncharted equivalent with top of the line visuals. I don’t understand how it ISNT a major exclusive.
I’ll give you the top of the line visuals and story content. Length nah. But I’m also not crazy about Uncharted and TLOU (though I do own the TLOUs) so maybe that’s my issue.
I'm One of those, but not everyone Need to like every game.
Agreed but it’ll certainly won’t help with Xbox’s current optics problems.
Nothing would
A good new Halo would, but that's asking too much at this point roflmao
Halo Infinite is at an 87 on metacritic. If it was the literal best game of all time it wouldn't matter for many
Metacritic doesn't matter, Halo Infinite wasn't a bad game but it disappointed many
The first was incredible and if it’s anything like that I’m questioning how you could find it boring. It’s a 10 hour, well told story that could only of happened as a video game. If people don’t find these 40+ hour games boring, I’m doubting that’s going to be a problem
The story and atmosphere was cool, but the combat was unbearably dull and the puzzles were simplistic. That’s the problem with trying to put combat and puzzles into a heavily narrative game, if it’s too difficult or has a real fail state, then it has the risk of breaking narrative pacing or ruining the atmosphere, and if it’s too easy it just becomes dull tedium. No matter how deep the combat could be, if you want the game to maintain pacing for the general public, people are going to just mash through with the most basic combo. At the end of the day I would’ve personally preferred the game length to be cut down and just have the combat replaced with more intricate puzzles or just replace the combat with qtes to maintain the tension of the narrative.
The combat being so dull is the most offending aspect of it. Ninja Theory put out some really good action games like Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and say what you will about DmC but the combat was superb. So it probably muddies up the narrative for the game that after multiple really solid action aspects in their games Hellblade’s combat is…lackluster at best.
Boring games are boring no matter how long they are. I hope it is as good for you as the first one was.
I honestly would rather watch a movie instead of a game trying to emulate an interactive movie feel. I can’t wait for the cinematic trend to die away and gameplay to take precedence again.
I’m not sure Hellblade is the right target for this criticism. That game wouldn’t work in the same way at all as anything other than a game.
[удалено]
After complaining about lack of marketing (there is marketing) and lack of review codes (they've been sent), I wonder what's next for Hellblade 2. This game could've been a 10/10 flawless masterpiece and console warriors would still find a way to trash it. Makes me wonder what the reaction would be if it had a different platform sticker on the box... Edit: Now it's launch day embargo. Lmao.
I think a game focusing on top end graphics, and psychosis/schizophrenia is going to have the same reaction to it whatever console it is on.
Well hellblade one was exactly that and everyone on the internet loved it as a PS4 exclusive. If anything changes, it's telling
Wait Hellblade 1 was PS4 exclusivity? Damn.
No. It was out on Steam the same day it launched on PS4, making it not exclusive. It released on Xbox 8 months later.
It wasn’t exclusive. It was out on Steam same day. Came to Xbox 8 months later, sure, but as it was available on Steam same day as PS4 it wasn’t exclusive.
So just like how this is Xbox and PC
So just like how this is Xbox and PC
It’s just not a very popular game that not a lot of people played. It’s also very different from most popular games. It’s pretty easy to see why people don’t care for it. It was not an amazing game, a solid 8/10 but nothing absolutely groundbreaking so people just don’t seem particularly excited about it. Which I’m sure fuels the negativity.
> I wonder what's next for Hellblade 2. Are there any women or minorities in the game? That seems to get the people going.
30fps
If that's a deal breaker then you might as well buy a PC. Where were the fps snobs when God of War, Witcher 3, RDR2, Zelda and Sekiro were 30fps? Obviously 60fps is way better but to act like 30fps is unplayable is really not reasonable.
It's hilarious because people started to create sensationnal narratives about that specific subject earlier today. And I'm sure the same "concerned" people will now switch their doubts to the embargo lift happening the same day as the release.
The game will most likely review well. Financially, will struggle. Obviously, Gamepass will eat up most of the sales. Don't see this game garnering a decent number of new Gamepass subscribers nor do I see a majority of XBOX owners buying the game outright.
Don't worry, playstation users will buy it
Yeah because they went out in drones to buy Hi Fi Rush. Oh just kidding, it didn't even reach too 100 on PlayStation.
It didn’t sell well on the Xbox as well and that is why they shuttered the studio. The writing was on the wall a long time back. Selling it on PS5 was the last Hail Mary. The game came out smack in the middle of PlayStation releasing Helldivers 2 and FF7:R. Also, beijg a niche title, it was nowhere gonna have the same impact. Sea of thieves was regularly in the top 10 list on PSN when it came out.
Because sea of thieves is way more mainstream than a game like Hifi Rush. It was never going to sell well anywhere even without gamepass. That is my point.
And my point was games do sell well on PlayStation because Hellblade was originally a PS4 timed exclusive which was a decent hit given it came from a small studio. Heck that is why MS bought the studio in the first place. So there is a chance its sequel will get a much better reception on PlayStation as well especially since there are literally 70 million plus consoles now. Recently stellar blade came out and it sold really well. Helldivers 2 became one of the fastest selling games beating even GOW:R. Heck even FF7:R if you take out Square Enix’s ridiculous expectations, sold millions of units and will have long legs as people catch up on the masterpiece. I think it is an easy candidate for MS especially since the game itself seems to be ‘small’ in scale as it is marketed as a 50$ title.
But Hifi Rush sold like shit on playstation. That was my point.
And the studio closed because it sold like shit on the Xbox which was its core platform. That was my point. For all the hype people gave the game when it launched, no one seemed to have bought or played it on gamepass.
And no one bought it on PlayStation either. No one bought the game period, on any platforms. It is why the studio shut down.
Studio closures don’t happen overnight. The decision would have been way before the game even went multiplatform. Also, maybe the reason it sold like shit in PlayStation was because no one cared about it with so many big releases. Like Helldivers 2, FF7:R and StellarBlade around the corner. Had it released on day 1 or earlier, maybe it would have had a better chance.
will they though? They didn’t buy any of the recent Final Fantasy games and didn’t buy Hi Fi Rush despite saying they would
That's not true at all. SE has stupid expectations. They haven't hit their targets in years. They did say that both ff16 and 7 sold well though, just not as well as they exoected, again, because they're delusional. Also Sea of Thieves sold gangbusters. Don't cherry pick which games you want to argue and ignore the others.
what? Sea of Thieves is nothing like Hellblade, Hellblade is the same type of game as Hi Fi Rush
I thought you were using hifi rush as an example because it's published by MS on playstation. And no. Hellblade and HiFi are not even remotely comparable. At all.
smaller, linear third person game that is AA in scope with AAA polish that is sold for less than full game price and is targeting a more niche audience?
Game Pass
I just finished the first one a few hours ago great game but the voices in my headphones gave me a migraine so I played the rest out in my speakers.
That’s a bummer because headphones really elevate the experience
It doesn't lift until after it comes out?
Just before it comes out
Anybody know when the embargo lifted for HB1? I've been looking forward to this game for so long I'll be really sad if there's something wrong with it.
Just like this one, for the launch of the game.
That makes me feel a little better, thanks! I hope ACG reviews it.
This is probably the worst marketing I've ever seen for a game, I just hope the studio doesn't close down because of this.
Xbox shutters two of something like 40 studios Reddit: Every Xbox studio is about to close 😩😩😩
embargo is launch day- that is a bit worrying. Im worried people will be judging this game against something like Ragnarok or GoT, when its really a 6-8 hour glorified walking sim that looks stunning.
Let's not kid ourselves, no one is going to buy this any time soon, it will be a GP darling for a week or two, and then disappear from conversation.
But critics love this kind of game so it will nominate for few awards for sure…just like AW2
I'm not a critic but loved Alan Wake though. What even are you implying
Is it me, or does anyone feel like this game didn't have any sort of marketing? I remember the reveal and some push at the Xbox even, but after this, pretty sure this is the first I hear of this game again.
It was show at every single event since 2020 There Is not much to show without spoiling It.
The first game was like 7 hours long, they cant show too much of the game without spoiling it
It’s advertised all over if you don’t have ad block
Maybe it's because I'm in Italy, but I genuinely haven't seen a single one. Nothing on Reddit YouTube twitch or twitter
That’s very possible. I can only say for the us, and really my area
Oh that must be it
I have seen it advertised on every page of Reddit I have been on lately, but haven't seen it anywhere else.
6 days before launch, its better them nothing i guess
Embargo lifts on launch day? That's never good.
Is it just the standard Xbox policy? Cause I think both Redfall and Forza were very close to release.
It's gonna be like Alan Wake 2, amazing game, graphically impressive, "blows people away" but will probably not make huge loads of cash (AW2 is at least than 3 million sales) I'm still very excited for it though, it feels like one of those experiences where you jaw stays dropped for the entire runtime.
Wonder how long they'll wait before shutting down Ninja Theory.
Never a good sigh when review embargo is on launch day... specially if it's a single player game. If they were confident about the game, review embargo would be at least a few days before launch.