Games – Page 14 – The Gaming News Corner

Electronic Arts skips E3 again for EA Play

It seems like every big gaming company is trying to host their own events. PlayStation‘s PlayStation Expo and Nintendo’s Directs are central focused events on their IP’s or games coming out for their generation. The events are easier to maintain and there are no competitors to take away from their main showcase. Electronic Arts is one of the largest gaming companies and they are hosting their own event before E3: EA Play.

EA Play will be hosted in Hollywood at the Hollywood Palladium from Saturday, June 9 to Monday, June 11. The event is free for the public and tickets will be released in spring. Last year, they showcased A Way Out, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and Anthem. This year, press has heard they will showcase more information on Anthem, Sims 4, more EA sports and the upcoming Battlefield game. The game is expected to be playable at EA Plays. There may be a new Dragon Age game announced based on an interview in January where Bioware announced they were working on a new title in the franchise.

Similar to last years event, there will be YouTube creators and Twitch personalities at the event. Hopefully its better and less scripted. OR we can watch a prank YouTuber stumble his way through an announcement. That’s always hilarious to watch.

We’ll see if EA improves their image after the Star Wars Battlefront 2 release. Consumers and the government are watching warily at Electronic Arts as it’ll take a while to recover from the loot box controversies.

Sources:

Digital Trends

EA Plays

Screen Rant

Founders of Sledgehammer Games step down

Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, co-founders of Call of Duty series developer Sledgehammer Games, are both stepping down. After working on Call of Duty: WW2, they will be stepping down to focus on a new role in Activision that is not yet determined.

Schofield thanks Activision for the opportunities as Sledgehammer Games started under their company. Their main focus was on Activision’s shooter franchise but Schofield and Condrey had worked on excellent previous games such as Dead Space and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Activision has stated that the two will focus on “executive duties” which is separate work from game development. Aaron Halon, a co-founder of Slegehammer will take over the two’s position as lead developer.

Call of Duty: WW2 received a lower score than Modern Warfare 3 and Infinite Warfare but the work Scofield and Condrey was generally received well. Despite this, WW2 sold twice as much as Infinite Warfare.

“Activision has offered me the opportunity to focus my energy on something I’m very passionate about, exploring new game ideas for the company,” Schofield said. “It’s something I just couldn’t pass up.”

“I’m proud of what we accomplished together, it has been the greatest experience of my professional life. I am looking forward to starting a new chapter of my career with Activision,” Condrey said.

Sources:

PC Gamer

Government pushes the ESRB over Loot Box classification and Addiction

Earlier this week, I reported on Hawaii’s representative introduced two bills to regulate distribution of video games with loot boxes. The bills would require games to have a label identifying that it contains loot boxes and would only allow sales of those games to 21+. Today, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), question the Federal Tech Commission (FTC) about loot boxes and wrote a letter to the head of the ESRB, Patricia Vance, requesting them to a better inspection on loot boxes and the potential effects on players; mainly children.

Before, the ESRB refused to classify loot boxes as gambling as it would force an adult rating on video games based on a interview from Kotaku.

“ESRB does not consider loot boxes to be gambling,” said an ESRB spokesperson. “While there’s an element of chance in these mechanics, the player is always guaranteed to receive in-game content (even if the player unfortunately receives something they don’t want). We think of it as a similar principle to collectible card games: Sometimes you’ll open a pack and get a brand new holographic card you’ve had your eye on for a while. But other times you’ll end up with a pack of cards you already have.”

Hassan was not satisfied with the response from the ESRB and suggested a re-evaluation as opening loot boxes are “expensive habits and use similar psychological principles suggest loot boxes should be treated with extra scrutiny.” While her proposal isn’t as strict as Hawaii’s proposal, her position as a U.S. senator is more prevalent nation-wide. It could end up leading to her proposing federal legislation about this issue, rather than individual states doing it.

The government and most gamers are actually on the same side in regards to the opinion that loot boxes should be regulated more in games but the effect on the industry could be intense. Micro-transaction make a majority of games profits after initial sales. While the goal of all game sales are to make a profit from initial sales, the reason for the huge growth in the industry and making it a worth $30 billion are from practices such as this.

Forbes

Kotaku – Interview with the head of the ESRB

WCCfTech

Hawaii Plans to Regulate Lootboxes

If there is one good thing to come from Star Wars Battlefront 2, it is that people around the world being more aware of loot boxes. In regards to a past article, EA (Electronic Arts) faces heavy scrutiny from gamers and government officials regarding the loot box system in Star Wars. Buying loot boxes gave unfair advantages to players in competitive multiplayer and were the best option to unlocking all of the content in the game. Hawaii was very critical against EA and video game companies pushing loot boxes in their games as they viewed it as a form of gambling towards children. Now Hawaii lawmakers are trying to push new bills to regulate loot box purchases.

One pair of bills, House Bill 2686 and Senate Bill 3024, would prohibit people under the age of 21 purchasing any games with randomized rewards using real money. House Bill 2727 and Senate Bill 3025, would require video game companies to label games with randomized purchases and the probability of loot box rewards. State Rep. Chris Lee of Oahu, who spearheaded the bills, stated “I’ve watched firsthand the evolution of the industry from one that seeks to create new things to one that’s begun to exploit people, especially children, to maximize profit.”

While games like Overwatch make earning loot boxes plausible and only offer cosmetics, some are providing advantages in game which encourages people to buy in order to win. Lee stated because the games are only rated T, the games promote gambling at a young age on virtual goods. Despite the backlash, Star Wars Battlefront 2 sold well but not as good as EA had hoped. EA was hoping to make more based on micro-transaction but based on the backlash, had to remove them.

Micro-transaction and in-app purchases are common among video games, including games for younger audience such as Minecraft and smart phone games. GDC (Games Developer Conferences) stated that 1/10 upcoming games would have loot boxes in some manner. One anonymous GameStop employee is wary that the law could lower the cost of sales based on the labels.

Micro-transactions are a huge profit for video game companies. Activision Blizzard made over $4 billion on loot boxes alone in 2017. Often, companies use micro-transactions to earn higher profit margins rather than relying on sales alone. Gamers throughout the world have complained about the system and “games as a service” that has become more prevalent. Whether the law passes will force the industry to change a huge part of sales and potentially shake up the practices.

Sources:

Hawaii Tribute

Rolling Stones – GDC

PC Gamer – Blizzard makes $4 billion