Max Moeller at The Koalition writes: It’s no secret that Sea of Thieves is a necessary title for Microsoft this year. With Crackdown 3 facing consistent delays and State of Decay 2 not coming until later this year, console owners have had little regarding exclusivity. PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds was a lackluster port, Halo Wars 2 was good but no system seller, with only Cuphead and Forza Motorsport 7 pulling out as a must-play in the last two years.
Huzaifah from eXputer: "With Larian Studios washing their hands of the IP, what is the ultimate fate of the legendary Baldur's Gate series?"
If anybody's gonna mention BioWare, then look at Archetype Entertainment, they're the new BioWare
or else
Obsidian is still a good choice but not independent anymore.
No, WoTC is pivoting to mobile. They can use Larian's work to justify DnD Go and everyone will accept it.
Honestly, we're talking completely new engine and none of Larian's built-in stuff with regard to environments and the like that they had from their past divinity game. No one is going to have that just ready to go. So, they need to shop for a dev studio that has a past game that shows what they want.
Obsidian doesn't have that, maybe the closest being Dungeon Siege 3 or Pillars of Eternity, but those are very basic, not as open, very little environment related and altering capabilities. So, we're talking a step way back on what Larian delivered. Zero scene experience to line up with what was done in BG3. Okay conversation tree designs, but still needs more complexity.
inXile has Wasteland 3 as a base model engine, and I think that's better than Pillars of Eternity from Obsidian. But, still needs to be more open world, more environmental effects, and a much heavier rules set adaptation. But, not a bad overall engine as a base, but still a ton of work. Zero scene experience to line up with what was done in BG3. Needs a ton of work on that entirely.
Tactical Adventure did the Solasta game. Really good and more accurate as far as 5e rules than BG3. But, again, if the expectation is similar to what made BG3 a big hit, engine isn't designed for moving the camera, is a bit outdated in graphics, doesn't have in-game scene elements, and needs much better writers/voice actors.
Owlcat of pathfinder games is another choice, even though they've recently moved on to WH40k licensed games. Again, though, the engine is the biggest issue here to match up, but it's a much better option overall than Tactical Adventure. Another question is writers/story telling, as much of their overall story telling bits are very limited with a lot of random worldbuilding elements that are just +\- of some attributes.
TBH, no matter who takes over, it's just not going to be like BG3 much like how BG3 isn't at all like BG1/2. And BG3 was so successful because of how much Larian was able to put in with their engine and how focused they were on players having ridiculous control over the story being told. I just don't see the next BG being the same and depending on what it is, it might be good but I'm not as big of a reach as BG3. It's way more likely players are going to go into BG4 (or its spiritual successor if it moves away from Baldur's Gate and into Neverwinter or something like Plansescape) expecting much of what is in BG3 with more options, new and older characters, and the same level of control over what they're doing. If it doesn't have that, regardless of who makes it, it won't be as successful, IMHO.
As part of its latest financial report, Devolver Digital has announced that upcoming physics platformer Human Fall Flat 2 has been delayed beyond 2025.
Microsoft has 'let Blizzard be Blizzard' following the acquisition of the veteran developer according to World of Warcraft's executive producer.
Diablo 4 storefront being a cash grabbing shitshow does unironically attest to that, kudos.
Microsoft needs to be guiding Blizzard to be what it USED to be, not allowing it to continue to be the greedy bastardization of itself that it has become.
Okay i will be interested if they become old Blizzard but might as well be dead.
They will never be old blizzard. Most of all the OG's left from developers to those on the top (even some decision making folks left).
Shame most of the people that made Blizzard what they were, have already left a while ago.
I was about to say this. How can they be blizzard when they're no longer blizzard from yesteryear?
Exactly. Blizzard hasn’t been Blizzard for a long time.
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
Were you expecting Microsoft to hire everyone that had left Blizzard long before they purchased the company...
Microsoft has let the Blizzard company they purchased continue to be the Blizzard company they purchased.
Wow, PassNextquestion,
You fully understand what that saying means, unlike some people on here who just have to say negative garbage talk.
When someone says, "Just let *blank* be *blank*, "they are just letting them operate how they operate.
It's pretty much how Sony "let Bungie be Bungie."
This comment section is full of outright haters, but you have to "let N4G be N4G"
I don't think people commenting are necessarily blaming MS for anything here, this is just collective longing for what Blizzard/Vivendi was before Activision's meddling.
Some hard truths about Xbox in this article. Fantastic stuff!
I think It's only gonna get worse from here. Crackdown 3 doesn't look good.. it doesn't look good at all...
People should not let them. Vote with your wallets, it's the only thing they understand. If they don't listen to the gamers, maybe they'll listen to their shareholders.. 😒