Original link: https://markonreview.com/2023/09/26/markon-review-express-weekly-8/
Weekly directory
General information
- After a conflict with DC, the creators of “Fairy Tales” announced that they would transfer the IP into the public domain
- IGN: How Elite influenced Starfield and the past four decades of space games
Market dynamics
- Three months after the release of “FF16”, Square Enix’s stock price has fallen 32%, and the market is concerned about the unfavorable factors behind the phenomenon.
- After the installation fee policy caused huge controversy and boycotts, Unity is at a crossroads where it may adjust its stance
- UK regulator CMA has provisionally allowed Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard
- PC Gamer: Microsoft is seriously considering using Arm instead of x86 CPU cores on next-generation Xbox consoles
- GamesBeat interviewed executives of e-sports platform ESL Faceit during Cologne and talked about Saudi Arabia’s capital coveting the gaming market
point of view discussion
- GamesIndustry interviews Antstream, who wants to build the future by preserving the past
- The Guardian: How ten years of playing FF14 helped me navigate life and motherhood
- Kotaku: More and more blockbusters are inducing players to pay extra and play in advance.
General information
After a conflict with DC, the creators of “Fairy Tales” announced that they would transfer the IP into the public domain
Well-known writer and artist Bill Willingham recently angrily exposed various conflicts between him and DC Comics over the past 20 years, and announced that he would transfer the “Fables” IP he created into the public domain.
In his related article, Willingham mainly described the conflicts between the two parties surrounding “Fairy Tales for Adults”. He specifically mentioned the production process of the game “The Wolf Among Us” (The Wolf Among Us), which was authorized by Telltale to adapt “Fairy Tales for Adults”. There are “minor issues” such as ignoring the opinions of creators and delayed or insufficient royalty payments; more importantly, Willingham believes that DC Comics has been ignoring the terms of the contract in recent years and trying to “forcibly seize the ownership of “Adult Fairy Tales.”
The 67-year-old Willingham believed that he was too old and too weak to sue DC. Therefore, inspired by “asymmetric warfare”, he decided to use the contract between the two parties that allowed him to sell or give away the rights to any party as the sole owner of the IP. It (“Fairy Tales for Adults”) is given to everyone” to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. This is also Willingham’s determination after a “complete transformation” of the current trademark and copyright laws in the United States. He believes that “the current laws are a bunch of unethical backroom deals aimed at letting big companies control trademarks and copyrights, and they often have the ability to buy them.” desired results”.
Afterwards, DC Comics issued a statement, saying that the “Adult Fairy Tales” works that have been published by DC and the elements in them are owned by DC, while Willingham added that DC has lost the right to reprint the published works.
Sources: Rock Paper Shotgun , by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell; Eurogamer , by Bill Willingham; These Foolish Games , by Bill Willingham
IGN: How Elite influenced Starfield and the past four decades of space games
This article focuses on the space trading game “Elite”, which was released in 1984 and was quite pioneering at the time. IGN interviewed David Braben, the co-creator of the game and founder of Frontier Developments, who shared a lot of interesting details about the birth of “Elite”.
In the early 1980s, space-themed games were still quite rudimentary, with little content other than flying spaceships and fighting aliens. Braben, who was an undergraduate at Cambridge University at the time, felt that such games could be better.
Braben told IGN that the first content he wrote in machine code was an ever-expanding star field. It felt like really flying in it and was fascinating. Braben hopes to turn this idea into a game. Ultimately, Braben hopes to turn this idea into a game. Met like-minded Ian Bell, and the two worked together to complete “Elite”, a subversive work that influenced “Starfield” and “No Man’s Sky”: with only 20K available memory On the BBC Micro, beautiful 3D wireframe graphics are implemented, as well as technology to procedurally generate eight galaxies with 256 explorable planets in each galaxy. Some planets that would trap players and have indecent names (such as Arse) have been deleted. .
Braben also shared the story of the game’s launch. The two began to find the record company EMI, but EMI rejected the project because “Elite” did not have the three-lives and points-based classic framework that was common on the market at the time, and EMI did not think anyone would play the game for more than 10 minutes; EMI people asked When asked how long it takes for players to make “meaningful progress,” acquire the necessary power-ups, and beat the game, Braben and Bell responded: “It doesn’t matter. The goal here is not to beat the game; it’s a hobby, a you.” An environment, a world to live in.” Braben said “EMI really hates this answer.”
In the end, the two brought the game to Acornsoft. The reaction here was completely opposite to that of EMI. Acornsoft, who loves technology and games, was curious about how “Elite” did this. Acornsoft finally signed “Elite” and brought the game to BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64 and other platforms, with sales exceeding 1 million copies.
Source: IGN , by Matt Kim
Market dynamics
Three months after the release of “FF16”, Square Enix’s stock price has fallen 32%, and the market is concerned about the unfavorable factors behind the phenomenon.
Bloomberg and other media have recently paid attention to Square Enix’s staggering stock price drop after the release of its flagship game “Final Fantasy XVI” (FF16), as well as possible internal incentives.
SE’s stock price closed at a high of 7,540 yen per share in recent years on June 20, before the release of “FF16”, close to the previous high in 2020, and then fell all the way to 5,144 yen per share on September 20, a drop of about 32 %, and the market value shrank by 293.586 billion yen (approximately US$1.982 billion). Bloomberg pointed out that SE has always relied on its acclaimed IP to drive growth. This formula allowed SE’s market value to increase five times in the ten years before the release of “FF16”, but now, investors have begun to worry about this “industry Star” is dying.
Interviewed fans, analysts, and co-developers said that the decline in SE’s reputation has brought profound lessons to the entire industry about the importance of quality control and product planning:
Some games with limited completion, poor quality or insufficient testing were thrown onto the market, and some mobile games were hastily shut down after about a year of launch.
Anonymous former SE employees attributed the chaos to “each game project becoming the exclusive domain of a single producer.” The producer has complete control over the boundaries and direction of the project, but proper paperwork and team structure are lacking at the same time. Ultimately, the quality of SE games fluctuates greatly.
In addition, UBS Securities analyst Kenji Fukuyama believes that SE has become too obsessed with past achievements and may have exhausted the patience of loyal fans, who are “tired of re-releasing old games on mobile platforms” and are unable to recreate “Ultimate” The third major new series after “Fantasy” and “Dragon Quest” will deepen community and market doubts about the company.
Source: Bloomberg , by Takashi Mochizuki, Kotaro Hara
After the installation fee policy caused huge controversy and boycotts, Unity is at a crossroads where it may adjust its stance
On September 12, Unity announced a policy that caused an uproar and I don’t know how it will end: starting from January 1, 2024, for game works that use the company’s game engine, Unity plans to use the game’s annual revenue and full life cycle installation. After the volume exceeds a certain threshold, a fee will be levied on each new installation. The original policy details can be found in Unity’s official statement ; a developer told the Guardian that Unity had not negotiated with any developer before announcing the decision. communicate.
The publication of this policy quickly triggered fierce criticism from the industry. A large number of developers threatened or have abandoned the Unity engine. According to statistics , so far, more than 500 studios and independent developers have joined in denouncing Unity’s new policy; some mobile developers Announced the closure of monetization modules such as Unity Ads, and some developers donated huge sums of money to the open source engine Godot as a sign of resistance. In addition to the development community, Europe’s two major trading entities, EGDF and TIGA, have expressed concerns and called on the European Commission and the British Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the impact of similar behavior by Unity.
At the same time, the much-condemned Unity closed two offices due to receiving death threats, and issued a preliminary apology to customers and the public on September 18, claiming that it would revise its policy and release the latest news within a few days. According to the minutes of a non-public Unity all-member meeting on the 18th obtained by Bloomberg, Unity’s attitude is consistent with the expectations of the developers of “Among Us”, and it intends to make concessions, but it has not given up on collecting money, saying that it is “considering changes to potential fees. “Setting of the upper limit”, possible changes include: for games with revenue exceeding US$1 million, the payment fee is 4% of the game revenue; the number of previous installations will not be traced; the tool will be abandoned to track the number of installations, and customers will report it themselves.
Unity CEO John Riccitiello, who is at the center of the storm, said that the new policy is aimed at obtaining more revenue from the company’s largest customers, and that more than 90% of Unity users will not be affected. He pointed out at the meeting: “I think no matter what happens, this matter The outcome of things will not change much, this is a huge transformational change for our business model.” At the same time, he also admitted: “We could have done better.”
In the storm of public opinion for more than a week, all parties expressed their views on the incident from different angles. The author has compiled some of them for readers’ reference:
The author of GamesIndustry pointed out that the pricing offered by Unity is only a symptom of the difficult times in the game industry in the future, not the cause. In the current macroeconomic environment, the cost of capital is rising, and investors are paying more and more attention to returns rather than non-profit revenue growth. , from the perspective of Unity and its shareholders, although the company will achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of 2022, Unity has actually been subsidizing the work of developers. Therefore, this radical strategic change indicates to a certain extent that the industry may face more challenges in the future.
Game Developer mentioned that the target that Unity wants to get a bigger share of may be MiHoYo’s “Genshin Impact”, but judging from the immediate feedback from the development community, it is clear that there are still others who feel “robbed”. Many independent developers, many developers do not enter the game industry to make “overly expensive online service games”, they want to make something small and interesting, driven by the dream of “making money with something like this” As creators try Unity, when people know that if they “accidentally” become the top 10% of Unity engine users, they will need to pay a huge amount of income, will they still be so willing to use Unity to chase their dreams? The author concludes: “If you are in the business of selling shovels to gold diggers, you are in the business of “dreams,” and killing those dreams will result in serious losses in profits.
Many people think the real issue is “trust.” Well-known independent developer Xalavier Nelson Jr. said in an interview with Kotaku that modern games and their development cycles are becoming increasingly complex, lengthy, and highly susceptible to dependency. When such a decision is announced, developers may already be Three years into a five-year plan and with few options left, Nelson also told Kotaku that a class-action lawsuit is brewing within the community. GamesIndustry mentioned that “developers have forever lost their trust and respect for Unity.” This is irreparable. Even if Unity succumbs to pressure this time, who can guarantee that they will not do similar things in the future? This fire will even burn outside the “payment model” and make people question all aspects of the engine. Game Developer’s analysis believes that Unity may rely on penetration and stickiness to keep it from collapsing in the short term. However, changing the business model so hastily and without communication will damage Unity’s reputation and awaken developers’ awareness of the risks of over-reliance on Unity, which will ultimately cost them. The awards are much higher than the income brought by the policy.
Sources: Bloomberg by Jason Schreier; GameDiscoverCo by Simon Carless; Insert Credit by Brandon Sheffield
UK regulator CMA has provisionally allowed Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a statement today that it has provisionally approved Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The CMA now believes that the additional safeguards under Microsoft’s proposed new deal, which would see the cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games sold to Ubisoft, should address remaining concerns. The CMA has now responded to Microsoft’s proposed redress The consultation deadline for the measures is October 6, after which the CMA will make a final formal decision (the latest deadline for the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal is October 18).
Source: VGC , by Chris Scullion; Gov.uk , by CMA
PC Gamer: Microsoft is seriously considering using Arm instead of x86 CPU cores on next-generation Xbox consoles
PC Gamer combed through Microsoft’s recently accidentally leaked internal documents and found that they focused on possible changes to the new Xbox hardware architecture.
Leaked roadmap information shows that Microsoft is clearly considering switching CPUs from existing x86 to ARM, with two options: “ARM64” and “x64 (Zen 6)”. The information also shows that this decision is imminent in 2022, so There are reasons to speculate that Microsoft may have already made a decision.
PC Gamer analyzed the ARM CPU suppliers that Microsoft may cooperate with:
The possibility is low: ARM Holdings, which licenses the ARM instruction set, provides ready-made ARM cores, but their products often fail to meet the performance requirements of game consoles; Nvidia’s Grace chip also has self-developed ARM architecture CPUs, but according to reports , the relationship between Microsoft and Nvidia deteriorated during the cooperation on the original Xbox and continues to this day; Apple currently holds a very powerful ARM core, but it is generally believed that it is almost impossible for Apple to sell CPUs to Microsoft;
The possibility is high: AMD, which is currently cooperating with Microsoft, can design ARM cores for Microsoft. In fact, AMD has internally released an ARM core called “K12” more than ten years ago (later canceled), which was designed by AMD chip design masters. Jim Keller developed it during his tenure, and AMD’s current Zen architecture was initially conceived at that time; Microsoft can also choose Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series chips, and Qualcomm has provided customized Snapdragon for Microsoft’s ARM-based Surface Pro X tablet. chip, the two sides have a basis for continued cooperation.
And assuming that Microsoft chooses the Arm architecture for the next generation Xbox, what does this mean? PC Gamer believes that: first, Xbox may part ways with PC, just like the Xbox 360 using IBM PowerPC core in 2005; second, this move may indicate that PC will also shift from x86 to ARM; third, it should be noted that currently Real-time code translation is more feasible than ever (think Apple’s Game Porting Toolkit), so it is conceivable that Xbox uses ARM and PC remains x86, and in the end it does not have much practical impact on players.
Source: PC Gamer , by Jeremy Laird
GamesBeat interviewed executives of e-sports platform ESL Faceit during Cologne and talked about Saudi Arabia’s capital coveting the gaming market
Savvy Games Group, controlled by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), acquired two leading e-sports event operators, ESL Gaming and FACEIT, for a total price of approximately US$1.5 billion in early 2022, and merged them into ESL FACEIT Group (EFG for short). During Gamescom this year, GamesBeat interviewed EFG Chairman Ralf Reichert and Chief Business Development Officer Michele Attisani. The two parties discussed their observations of the e-sports industry, Saudi Arabia’s capital preferences and other topics. The following are some interview highlights extracted by the author:
Esports received quite a warm reception early on and was once thought to soon surpass traditional sports at all levels. However, the industry has suffered more challenges before reaching expectations. Since the global epidemic, interest in live game content has grown from The peak began to decline, and the global economic recession also caused advertising budgets to be cut.
Politics have created headwinds for Savvy and EFG: PIF is led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, a 37-year-old gamer who was also accused of orchestrating the 2018 attack on Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi murders, outcry from the player community in 2020 caused companies such as Riot Games and Blast Premier to withdraw from some Saudi projects.
Executives interviewed pointed out that in the name of “getting the country off the oil label and promoting diversified employment of the population in the entertainment industry”, Saudi Arabia and EFG will continue to promote e-sports to become the largest sport in fact; Saudi Arabia plans to invest in the global gaming industry With an investment of US$37 billion, the scale of investment is expected to exceed that of industry giants such as Tencent and Embracer.
Source: VentureBeat , by Dean Takahashi
point of view discussion
GamesIndustry interviews Antstream, who wants to build the future by preserving the past
GamesIndustry recently interviewed Antstream, a classic game streaming service. Antstream CEO Steve Cottam talked about his views on the Antstream service itself and the current status and future of classic game protection. Here are some key takeaways from the interview:
Antstream hopes to create a future-oriented and consistent system. Through cloud streaming services, whether you are playing Atari 2600 or PlayStation games, you can start playing them with one click. You don’t have to worry about emulator compatibility, and you are not subject to app store restrictions on emulators. The restrictions on listing can also dispel manufacturers’ concerns about game ROM leaks.
Cottam believes that piracy is a very complex problem. Many classic games have remained viable in the past 20, 30, and 40 years because of piracy. The community has fulfilled this responsibility for the industry, and in some cases has done a better job than the game manufacturers themselves. ; But the flip side of this is that some IPs can be played by tens of thousands of people a year, but their developers have not made a penny from their games in the past 30 to 40 years. Some people can’t even afford train tickets to visit Cottam. Cottam said that this is wrong. Many games do not belong to large companies, but to individuals who retain IP. He is happy to be able to give back to these creators.
Regarding how to keep classic game libraries like Antstream fresh: On the one hand, it is a large game reserve. Currently, Antstream has licensed about 3,000 games, about half of which are already on the shelves. However, Cottam research found that even if they only dig into the PS1 era, there are There are 150,000 potential games in the library; on the other hand, new achievements, challenge modes, and tournaments will be added to increase the motivation to play some works in the contemporary era.
Talking about his views on the development of cloud games, Cottam believes that “downloads” will always exist, just like MP3 files and vinyl records for music, but for most players, with the development of high-speed Internet, cloud games will become more comprehensive. We provide usability for everyone and can solve problems such as high-end PC cost, hard drive space, and portable device battery life.
Cottam said that he is very passionate about “game protection”, and his motivation for establishing Antstream is that music and movies are already easily available on any device, but games are not yet available. But as things develop, the Antstream team gradually discovered that it is very important to keep up with the times and interesting new content or features, because “to protect something, it needs to have practical significance.”
Source: GamesIndustry , by Brendan Sinclair
The Guardian: How ten years of playing FF14 helped me navigate life and motherhood
An article in “The Guardian” shared the author’s feelings about the integration and co-evolution of game experience and life experience in the ten years since he played “Final Fantasy XIV” (FF14).
Author Danielle Lucas pointed out that those works of art that touch our hearts are often closely related to a certain stage of our lives. What is unique about games compared to songs, movies, and books is that some games can be played for many years and accompany players to grow. Or become a refuge from ordinary life.
For Lucas, this important game that is always around is the MMORPG “FF14” produced by SE. From the time she first started working to getting married and raising a child, Lucas has always been accompanied by the character Cel she created in “FF14”. The author shared in detail how the game filled her emotional holes during the birth and schooling of her daughter, moving to a new country, choosing a new career, etc., and also introduced similar help that other players gained from the game.
Lucas said that what attracts her to play is not the constant updates and adventures, but the relationships she builds in the game, not only close-knit friends, but also brief encounters with strangers. Lucas once met a player at the entrance of the dungeon who asked her to wait for a moment. When the player came back and said, “Sorry, I need to readjust and feed the baby,” Lucas’s own baby was also sitting on his lap. For Lucas, the words of the stranger across the street made her feel seen and accepted, even though the other person may not know it at all; it is this seemingly insignificant moment that has the power to change everything.
Source: The Guardian , by Danielle Lucas
Kotaku: More and more blockbusters are inducing players to pay extra and play in advance.
Kotaku recently published an article focusing on the phenomenon of overpayment and early play that is increasingly appearing in masterpieces. According to the author’s statistics, this situation has occurred in at least 10 new games from 2023 to the present, including “Starfield”, “Starfield” and “Starfield”. “Mortal Kombat 1” (Mortal Kombat 1), “The Crew Motorfest” (The Crew Motorfest), “EA Sports FC 24”, etc., the advanced versions of these games are added to the base price of US$60 to US$70. It costs about 20 to 30 US dollars. Although most advanced versions come with additional appearance, in-game props or currency, the real purpose of most people’s purchase (and the calculation of the manufacturers) is nothing more than to start the game as early as possible 3 to 7 days in advance.
Kotaku pointed out that this kind of additional pricing for playing a few days in advance is not a new thing this year, but it is obviously more common this year, which means that greedy publishers are taking advantage of player FOMO (Fear of Missing). out, fear of missing out) sentiment, making an already expensive hobby even more expensive, and “no one benefits from these paid early experiences except the publishers and shareholders.”
Kotaku said at the end of the article that the media has repeatedly called for the abandonment of “pre-order culture” – pre-order game services are provided by the people who sell the games rather than the players. Unless there are special circumstances, they should be avoided as much as possible; now, the early access to play is given to the paid The trend behind the wall is just another example of greedy companies taking advantage of people’s desire to play new games as quickly as possible. The author said that don’t be surprised if more games next year adopt the model of paying extra and playing a few days in advance; sadly, the era of games with only one release date may be over, as publishers continue to find ways to benefit from consumers. New ways to squeeze more money out of investors.
Source: Kotaku , by Zack Zwiezen
(The pictures in the article come from the Internet)
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