Games – Page 7 – The Gaming News Corner

Is the Switch doing well for 2018?

Last year, Nintendo set the gaming world on fire with the launch of the Switch. Within one year of its launch, it has sold more than 1.5 million units. Despite a very strong last year, 2018 has made fans and investors spectacle on the future of the Switch. Nintendo has stated they will sell 20 million units before the end of the consoles’ life cycle but investors are uneasy.

Investors POV

Nintendo rarely listens to investors or their insights. It took many years for them to start in the mobile market despite it being a multi-billion business. Gaming investors and shareholders generally push for companies to start in the mobile industry. After this year’s E3, Nintendo didn’t impress and their stocks dropped dramatically. Their highest this year was in March but has dropped by 34%. The drop is so drastic that Nintendo’s former President Tatsumi Kimishima had to reassure shareholders that Nintendo still has more games to be announced for 2018.

The two big games Nintendo has announced for 2018 are Pokemon Let’s Go and Super Smash Bros: Ultimate. Despite the new Pokemon entry, it is not a new mainstream Pokemon title. Smash is also more of an updated port of Smash 4 rather than an entirely new title. This has led to investors’ lack of confidence in the company. Despite this, Nintendo has made over three million dollars in profit from their new title, Pokemon Quest. Their other mobile games such as Mario Run, Fire Emblem HEROES!!!!!!! and Pokemon Go have also made millions in profit. Despite fears, GameStop has seen massive sales increase for the Switch.

Switch Sales grows at GameStop

While the digital purchases continue to grow, GameStop still remains a prevalent store for young consumers. After E3, Switch sales doubled over the course of the week. Super Smash Bros: and Pokemon received a multitude of pre-orders including the Pokeball accessories. However, the sales of the Nintendo Labo still remains to be heard but based on all of the boxes left at stores, I don’t think it is going well.

Opinion

I have complete faith in Nintendo. Despite the slow year, I am having a blast with the Nintendo Switch. Although many of their games this year have been ports, Nintendo will continue to work on great games. They take their time and are willing to take fan complaints without succumbing to pressure from investors or public demand. How well do you think Nintendo will finish their 2018?

Sources:

Forbers – Investor Worry

Gameindustry Biz – GameStop sales

IGN – President of Nintendo tries to quells investors fear

Cnet – Pokemon Quest Revenue

Nintendo Life – Pokemon Go profits

Should Gaming Addiction be considered a Mental Disorder?

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared video game addiction is a mental disorder. For clarification from WHO, gaming addiction is prioritizing games over relationship building, interacting with others, daily activities and thought process. For it to be considered a gaming disorder, it has to be seen over the course of 12 months. Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, a member of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, spoke further on the topic and stated only qualified doctors should be able to diagnose properly. While it stated it has to be seen over the course of 12 months, severe cases can be an exception. They have compared gaming addiction similar to gambling and substance use. Poznyak hopes” that inclusion of gaming disorder in the classification will stimulate debate as well as further research and international collaboration.”

Recently, BBC posted an article/video of a teen talking about his “addiction” as play games for 20 hours a week. The article became famous and spread throughout the internet on Monday which further villainized gaming. However, we should remain skeptical of the reasoning. Games have been villainized by organizations and government for causing violence and shootings despite huge lack of evidence. With the popularization of Fortnite in mainstream media, it has caused an even bigger target regarding gaming addiction.

Even researchers disagree on the gaming addiction as a mental disorder such as Anthony Bean, a licensed psychologist and executive director at The Telos Project, a nonprofit mental health clinic in Fort Worth, Texas. He stated, “I’m a clinician and a researcher, so I see people who play video games and believe themselves to be on the lines of addicted.” In his experience, they’re actually using gaming “more as a coping mechanism for either anxiety or depression.” He also noted that most clinical doctors aren’t too familiar with gaming habits, in general, to diagnose people with “gaming addiction.” If they aren’t familiar with a illness, how can you accurately state somebody with a mental disorder if you are unfamiliar with the topic? Bean also noted that different effects on different people. Someone playing “Minecraft” is going to be completely different from someone playing “World of Warcraft,” he said: “They’re two vastly different genres.” They have different effects because the games are in different environments and you interact with people differently.

Games often receive a harsh feedback because gaming isn’t age-gated like drugs or gambling. Anybody can play which is the beauty in it. Of course, anything done in excess is bad, whether it’s eating, watching television, or exercising. Scientist and researchers don’t have enough information to fully develop a conclusion on the effects of gaming because every game is different. Other countries like Korea and China have huge gaming addicts who go to PC cafes all day. Korea even has gaming rehab centers for addicts. It’s a tricky thing to solve but I personally believe considering gaming addiction as a mental disorder is too extreme.

What do you think about people who play too many games? Do you know anybody whose gaming has ruined parts of their lives?

Sources:

WHO statement on Gaming Addiction

NBC news

BBC – 20 hours weekly video

CNN – WHO and Bean’s statement on gaming addiction

Business Insider – South Korea rehab centers

Will the Next Generation Console be the Last?

As the video games industry evolves, so does distribution of video games. Recently, digital downloads have become the main form of distribution for all games. It ranges from indie titles to AAA games. Ubisoft‘s CEO, Yves Guillemot, predicts the next generation of consoles will be its last. Guillemot’s belief is that cloud-based streaming services will dominate the gaming industry and games will be available on any screen rather than console exclusive. Although streaming games aren’t common, Guillemot believes as technology advances, it’ll become the mainstream.

Microsoft spoke to Variety that gaming is about having the ability to access your game from any system. Smartphones and tablets bring in the highest profit for gaming companies and it can be argued that the growth is due to the ease of accessibility. Being able to play your games on a handheld from anywhere is consumer friendly than buying a video game console for dedicated players. Guillemot stated that streaming “is going to help the AAA game industry grow much faster…we have to work on the accessibility of those games to make sure they can be played on any device.”

Whose on board?

While Microsoft and Ubisoft see this as the future of gaming, Nvidia is already taking steps to start streaming video games to any computer. Nvidia announced their beta streaming service, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, this year at CES. It’s designed to offer digital games to even basic computers. It will even port your Steam games to GeForce Now so that you won’t have to repurchase your games. The games run properly as its stream from Nvidia datacenters throughout the United States.

Phil Spencer, Executive Vice President of gaming for Microsoft, is looking towards different ways Microsoft can do for gaming. They have a unique form of distribution as they sell computers and video game consoles. Spencer stated, “I care less that people can play Minecraft on an Xbox One, but that people can play Minecraft no matter what console or device they have in front of them.” Since 2016, Microsoft stopped announcing the sales numbers for the Xbox One. While clearly doing worse than the PS4, Xbox has tried alternative distribution of games such as cross distribution with the Windows Stores and Xbox Live and their stellar backwards compatibility. “I look at investing into three key areas: content, cloud, and community – that is, making great games, making the experience of accessing and playing them better and improving things for the players overall. It helps lead gaming for everyone – not just Microsoft – into a better place for everyone.”

What about PlayStation and Nintendo?

One example of streaming being utilized is for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard for the Nintendo Switch. Although there are physical versions, the Japanese exclusive port will be a stream version only. This may be a taste for things to come. However, Nintendo launched the Switch last year to rave reviews and has sold more than 1 million units in a year. The Switch is a unique console that can be a handheld and console. PlayStation didn’t comment on the trend towards streaming. However, John Kodera, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), stated that the PlayStation 4 is in its final phase for the life cycle. He also mentioned an interest in handheld gaming rather than streaming service. Hopefully, they’ll do a better job for their next handheld after the PS Vita which recently stopped manufacturing physical games.

Streaming Pros and Cons:

It cost less for companies as they don’t have to pay for packaging and discs. Video game development has become more expensive. A prime example is God of War (2018) which cost $44 million. This also saves money for companies. Retailers currently take a cut of the profits of $15 for new video game sales. The cost of making, packaging and shipping game discs to stores cost $4 each. Finally, not all games sell, so the expense of returning unsold inventory eats up another $7. A Con would be for consumers with Wi-fi issues. If you have a poor internet connection, your gameplay will be choppy or have a low framerate.

Do you believe the next step in delivering games is streaming?

Sources:

Variety

The Verge-Nvidia GeForce

Eurogamer – God of War COM

Cost to make Games

The Verge – RE 7 for Switch

PlayStation – John Kodera talks about PlayStation 4 life cycle

The End of Evolve

I remember watching a Let’s Play of Evolve in 2014 before the game was officially launched. The tension of chasing a huge monster before it becomes too strong was exciting and playing the monster was exciting. The game received great praise in 2014 and won several rewards prior to Evolve‘s launch. Published by 2K Interactive, Evolve was a multiplayer focused 3rd person shooter where four players play as Hunters while one played as a monster that sought resources to “evolve.” It was the first game from Turtle Rock Studios who spun off from Valve in 2011 who worked on Left for Dead. However, the myriad of downloadable content, lack of story and interesting game types led to mixed reviews and loss of player base.

What happened?

Evolve launched on February 10th, 2015 for $60. Despite being a commercial success, the mixed reviews were apparent from Day One. Many players criticized the sole focus on multiplayer that quickly became dull. The Hunter gameplay was praised with the different class types but playing as the monster was limited. The biggest issue was the massive amounts of Day One downloadable content. On Day One, to acquire all the DLC, it cost $136. Different monsters and hunters were all locked behind a paywall and player fatigue was fast. in July 2016, 2K made the game free-to-play due to lack of player base but the damage was done. 2K and Turtle Rock ended continuous support for the game four months later.

End of Evolve

Today, 2K announced that Evolve’s dedicated servers will be shut down on September 3, 2018. Several game features will be removed:

Hunt (Ranked)
- Players will still be able to play Hunt by going into Quick play and Custom games
Player Profile data
Leaderboards will no longer be populated with player data
The in-game store will be removed
The newsfeed will be unavailable
Player Badges will be unavailable

Peer-to-peer multiplayer will be the only method to play multiplayer meaning your speed is based on other players’ computers. The features below will remain.

- Quick Play
  - Hunt
  - Nest
  - Rescue
  - Defend
  - Arena
- Evacuation
- Custom games
Single Player (solo vs. AI) –
- Evacuation
- Quick Play
- Custom games
My2K login access
Access to all hunters, monsters, purchased DLC, skins & player badges

Strangely, 2K encourages players to use all their keys or purchase whatever content they would like before the servers close as they will no longer be sold. In my opinion, the rest of the content should be released for free.

Sources:

2K ends Evolve

Game Informer – Evolve becomes F2P

Game Informer – Evolve ends updates

Gamespot – Evolve launches with DLC