We’ve touched on roadmaps a little before, but let’s take a good ol’ look at the concept in more detail. In tech, roadmaps can form crucial paths for development. In games, roadmaps have become a crutch – a buzzterm used to clothe the lack of content when a game is sold.
Roadmaps are the latest disguise for what’s been happening in “AAA” games for years – software being pushed out in a half-baked state to make as much money immediately, with a plan to add value to the product being relegated to a distant secondary concern.
We know where we’re going, but we can’t say where we’ve been.
Live service games are pyramid schemes, where the top tier level schemers introduces barely “marketable” product and compel the lower level tier scapegoats to do all the work (mods to improve games). EA and Activision deserve massive desertion by their customers now.
Of course Jesus thanks God for you.
He’s only human, after all !
I got Anthem free with a headset a couple of weeks ago.
I’ll tell you how much I love Anthem! I got the Platinum trophy for Sekiro last night. That’s how much I enjoy playing Anthem.
The funny thing is Live service games are the reverse of Early Access. Early access games are usually cheaper with the promise of being finished later, you get a discount for supporting the development. Live service games are the most expensive at launch and the price drops over time, with complete collections or Game of the year Editions usually coming out next year for half the price and all the DLC/expansions included. It’s a strange concept but for consumers your always best off waiting yet publishers expect people to pile in day one and buy millions in MTX.
Never mind games like Apex Legends where it didn’t even seem like they finished developing the MTX store. Next to no good skins or options to buy even if you wanted to do so. In fact you even have less options than were showed in the developers teaser before launch.
That first time Jim says “Triple A” in this video made him sound like a shadow from Persona. I dig it.
I’m glad Jim didn’t roadmap an April Fools joke. The TRIPUL AYYYY industry is already farcical enough!
I don’t so much mind a Roadmap for a game that launches good and/or is F2P, but when the Roadmap is the only thing that shows any promise with a game, my brain hurts.
Rory Fingers, Cornflakes Humunculous, Sterdust, and now Chunky Grumbler. The Sterling expanded universe is taking shape.
For Honor’s biggest problem was balance. The patches were for balance, and the content they added was to add onto what was already there (new armor, weapons, executions, etc). So if you didn’t like For Honor back then you’re still not going to like it now.
The people saying to play it now are essentially saying that the game is balanced now, but its core premise and gameplay remains the same. I personally love the game, but I loved it at launch so if you’re not loving it then you won’t love it now.
That being said I think For Honor has done games as a service properly, if that can be done. There was nothing that they added that felt like the core game needed (aside from balance) to be enjoyed, but added onto the game to make continual play feel more rewarding.
What they make you expect with “roadmaps” : You buy a burger, you get fries after the burger, you get drinks after the fries.
What “roadmaps” really are : You buy a burger, you get the ground meat now, the cheese later, then the patty next year.
The fries and drink are sequels with their own road map.
Day 1 patches turned to Year 1 patches which then became Roadmaps, that’s a really clever way of looking at content that should have been in the game when the money exchanged hands.
Speaking of Jim Sterling characters, I still miss Duke Amiel Du H’ardcore. With Sekiro out, it feels like this is the perfect time for him to return….
Everyone say thank you to fromsoft. Singleplayer, worked day 1 without a patch. No season pass. No lootboxes.
It is funny since everything went online games have been getting worse. Started with games being released in buggy states often needing many patches to fix, turned into everything needing DLC and essentially $60 just being the entrance fee for the basic game , now turned into Pay now for basic game , be expected to buy DLC and come back in several months just for the game to even be in a playable state.
The “AAA” industry needs to get burned down to the ground.
I really miss John Bain (Total Biscuit) since he and Jim were always a duo to be reckoned with, always taking care of the Gaming Industry and getting people to listen to the truth.
Godspeed Jim!
RIP John.
TLDR: “Don’t pre-order games.” has evolved into “Don’t buy games until a year after launch.”
Seriously, Jim, make the Hammer Bastard from The Division 2 a Jimquistion character. He’d be your perfect archnemesis! And either the Steam Cleaner’s greatest friend or greatest foe.
I say we fight fire with fire. If a game has a $60 price tag on it and a road-map for when the game becomes playable, let’s incrementally pay that $60 as the roadmap goals are met. I’ll give you $5 for the game installment itself, and every stop on the road-map you get to I pay another $5 until we are at $60.
Man I miss when games were complete and dlc/expansions just meant adding onto something already good.