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Another games as a service title, that no one asked for, falls by the wayside this week. Foamstars was a Square Enix $30 live service multiplayer game with season passes, cosmetics and microtransactions. Who was this game made for? Did we need a more realistic version of Splatoon with a jazz-pop-disco vibe and characters that looked like anime turned to plasticine? It was a little anime but not enough. It was a little bit skater punk, but not enough. As the game sunsets one has to ask how did Square Enix think they'd get people to not only play this but invest in it? Oh also don't forget, FoamStars showed the extent of actual 'gen' AI assets in an actual game product at Square Enix, as album covers for the in-game music albums. ----- EuroGamer: "Square Enix "dabbled" with AI technology for Foamstars" "According to the developer, the total AI generated work in Foamstars makes up "about 0.01 percent or even less" of the game, with Okatani stating Square Enix wanted to "experiment" with the technology for its upcoming release. Square Enix said AI was used in the "creation of the in-game album covers for the music featured in the Foamstars soundtrack". The developer further reiterated it was experimenting with the technology. "In this instance, we experimented with Midjourney using simple prompts to produce abstract images. We loved what was created and used them as the final album covers players will see in the game. Everything else was created entirely by our development team," it said." EuroGamer: https://lnkd.in/gPFWdPhG ----- Metro: "It’s not being shut down yet, but another live service game, this one from Square Enix, will stop seeing updates less than a year after it came out. There was a time when live service games were lucky to last a year, but now they can’t even be sustained that long." Metro: https://lnkd.in/gMkGfaKe ------ Foamstars Announce Trailer YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gQuuQFE2 FoamStars Launch Trailer YouTbe: https://lnkd.in/gk7Sw9Z8 Foamstars Soulful Hour Season Trailer YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gH4vsfS4 ---- EuroGamer: "Foamstars season pass ends with ironically titled Party Goes On" EuroGamer: https://lnkd.in/gE-tXuJ5 ----- VideoGameChronicle: "Foamstars’ next season will be its last, Square Enix has announced." "In a message posted on its official website, Square Enix has confirmed that the Party Goes On season, which starts on December 13 and lasts until January 17, 2025, will be the final new season of content. VideoGameChronicle: https://lnkd.in/gj7UnPWz ----- VideoGameChronicle: "Square Enix’s Foamstars is officially going free to play in October. The game underperformed commercially, according to Square Enix" (Aug 27, 2024) "The Square Enix game, which was previously being sold on the PlayStation Store for $30 / £25, will be free to all users from October 4." VideoGameChronicle: https://lnkd.in/gfGch--A #gameindustry #gaas #liveops #squareenix #multiplayer

The top grossing mobile games of 2024! We analyse the highest revenue-generating mobile titles of the year (thanks AppMagic). Tencent Games' Honor of Kings ranked number one. In fact, Tencent has taken the top spot since 2017. Scopely's Monopoly Go takes second spot, Dream Games' Royal Match third, Tencent's PUBG Mobile fourth, and Roblox rounds out the top five. The mobile games market has generated $81.8 billion in gross revenue from the App Store and Google Play so far in 2024, up 4.9% year-over-year. Nexon's Dungeon & Fighter and FirstFun's Last War were two of this year's breakout hits, both generating over $1bn. Century Games' Whiteout Survival, DeNA's Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket and Infold Games' Love and Deepspace were also big hits this year. Dream Games took the match-3 crown in 2024, though King's Candy Crush Saga remains as lucrative as ever. Supercell's Brawl Stars is now its flagship game following a dramatic rise over the past year. Check out more analysis from the full article in the comments below. 👇

Arrowhead Game Studios' Helldivers 2 won big at the Golden Joystick Awards, winning (among others) Best Multiplayer and Best Console Game of the year. Why this matters more than you think 👇👇 The Golden Joysticks stand out as a player-driven awards event, with winners chosen by the gaming community rather than industry panels. As a result, their categories and winners often align more closely with the preferences and perspectives of players and the market compared to other award shows. Helldivers 2 is a premium, strictly player-vs-environment (PvE) title, challenging the notion that success in the multiplayer space requires being free-to-play(F2P) and player-vs-player (PvP). You need to understand: The F2P market is highly saturated, and for some games and studios, focusing on a premium PvE title may be a more effective strategy. With many polished F2P PvP games already on the market, launching another risks only brief player interest before they return to their preferred titles. This challenge is even greater for premium PvP-only games, as they face added barriers to player retention and monetization. It worked out well for Arrowhead Game Studios, as they confirmed that the game sold over 15 million copies this year. Palworld, another premium PvE game released weeks prior to Helldivers 2, sold over 25 million copies in its first month. Both games, along with Helldivers 2’s strong performance at the Golden Joystick Awards, highlight a significant and possibly underexplored market: players eager to enjoy cooperative experiences with friends or strangers and willing to pay upfront to do so. F2P PvP remains a dominant force, but the premium PvE market is both untapped and expanding. Take it from me, a former PvP only gamer who now mostly (if not exclusively) play and look forward to PvE games, enjoying them solo or with friends.

Good advice Rafael Brown. "Start small and build your audience". Hopefully! Many of us will will successfully build our own audience (for our anime, game, series, comic, game) into one that still cares and shows up when we do go bigger with subsequent instalments. I am personally really tired of the term #blockbuster. For the most part, it is not a sustainable or attainable goal. I remember reading that the bean counters at #WarnerBros were still posting losses on "Harry Potter and The Prizoner of Azkaban", over a decade after its original theatrical release and hundreds of millions of dollars in #GBO later, so the term, "blockbuster" is relative when it comes to #ROI anyway. Everything has to be BIG and BOLD these days. It's all got to make some sort of massive cultural impact in order to be considered successful too. Why? It's a bit weird isn't it? Perhaps some of the games and movie biz veterans on here who have engaged with me are correct, and it is all because of over-inflated egos and very little to do with the joys of #storytelling, #collaboration and #creativity. That would be a shame, because from these things successful works are made. #concord #playstation #AAAgames #videogames #media #entertainment

Steam Winter Sale: best deals, how long is the sale, and more Table of Contents Table of Contents When is the Steam Winter Sale 2024? Best deals for the Steam Winter Sale 2024 Best deals under $20 Best deals under $10 If you missed out on the last Steam sale, worry not because the Steam Winter Sale is perhaps the biggest of the year. This is when all the best PC games are discounted to the lowest prices of the year for us to add to our ever-growing backlogs. Everything from epic single-player games and indies to the best multiplayer games on PC can be found for a fraction of their normal prices. With so many deals, you could easily spend all your holiday money before even noticing the best deals and hidden gems. We’ve scrolled through all the deals to highlight the best ones you should add to your cart. When is the Steam Winter Sale 2024? The Steam Winter Sale is already in progress. It started on December 19 and will conclude on January 2, so make sure you take advantage of the discounts before then. Best deals for the Steam Winter Sale 2024 Square Enix Deals constantly come and go during Steam sales, so we’ll update our list of the can’t-miss deals as they change. These are our top picks that you shouldn’t miss out on. Elden Ring – $36 was $60 Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 – $52 was $70 Final Fantasy 16 – $37 was $50 Street Fighter 6 – $30 was $60 Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming Need for Speed Heat Deluxe Edition – $3.49 was $70 Assassin’s Creed Origins – $6 was $60 Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – $3 was $30 Cyberpunk 2077 – $27 was $60 God of War Ragnarok – $48 was $60 Nine Sols – $21 was $30 Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth (pre-purchase) – $49 was $70 Hitman World of Assassination – $28 was $70 Civilization VI – $3 was $60 Best deals under $20 EA Dead Space – $15 was $60 Cult of the Lamb – $12 was $25 Cuphead – $14 was $20 Balatro – $13 was $15 Raft – $13 was $20 Phasmophobia – $15 was $20 Monster Hunter World: Iceborn Digital Deluxe – $15 was $50 Dredge – $12 was $25 GTA V: Premium Edition – $15 was $40 Crusader Kings 3 – $15 was $50 Best deals under $10 Team Cherry Titanfall 2 – $3 was $30 Content Warning – $6 was $8 Control Ultimate Edition – $8 was $40 South Park: The Stick of Truth – $3 was $30 State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition – $3 was $30 Hollow Knight – $7 was $15 Mass Effect Legendary Edition – $5 was $60 It Takes Two – $8 was $40 Batman: Arkham Knight – $4 was $20 Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown – $6 was $60 Source link Tags and categories: تقنية via WordPress https://ift.tt/vtA02pI December 20, 2024 at 11:30AM

Is Sony avoiding Free-to-Play Multiplayer games in its Live Service Model? About a third of their State of Play event was dedicated to Concord, Sony’s upcoming hero shooter. Suprise Suprise, Concord won’t be Free to Play. Rather it will follow the Helldivers 2 strategy: launching at a $40 price point. There is an interesting opinion piece on Gamesindustry.biz that dives much deeper into what this may mean for Sony, and the effects on the game lifecycle. To pull some interesting quotes from the article: ‘’ Sony is making things a bit harder for itself by avoiding free-to-play – but its calculation that this approach will lead to a more sustainable live service business in the medium to long-term may be well founded’’. ‘’ The decision of whether or not to charge up-front for the game has knock-on effects across the design of the game’’. ‘’ Sony has been watching the Hoyoverse cash roll in on PlayStation; it sees and understands how F2P works and what it requires and has nonetheless made a choice to eschew that approach’’. It being an opion piece, all we can do at this point is make educated guesses about the Live Service Model Sony is going to employ. Looking back to 2023 where we’ve seen Free-to-Play games being shut down for reasons other than not enough players e.g., Rumbleverse, Knockout City, Apex Legends Mobile and more. Combined with games that have become platforms themselves – Fortnite, Roblox etc. that people keep coming back to, it may make sense to charge an entry fee for a live service game. What are your thoughts? The opinion piece: https://lnkd.in/eAXA2iqA.

In 2024, the gaming industry is witnessing a surge in unconventional small games from small studios, indicating that the future of gaming belongs to these unique experiences. These small games have made a significant impact, with unexpected breakout hits and high replayability, offering captivating and innovative experiences to players. Small studios are excelling in taking creative risks and adapting quickly to changing player expectations, contrasting with large studio projects that often have lengthy development times and struggle to keep up with trends. The success of small games is attributed to their ability to fit into players' lives alongside large, time-consuming games, making them easier to adopt and enjoy. The visibility and accessibility of game development tools, along with digital distribution platforms, have created a conducive environment for small studios to thrive and compete with larger companies in the industry. While big games still hold a place in the industry, the trend towards small, unusual games is likely to continue due to the changing landscape of game development and player preferences.🎮 What are your thoughts on the rising influence of small games from small studios in the gaming industry? #GamingTrends #IndieGames #GameDevelopment 🎮 https://lnkd.in/ejtjuGCk

What will 2024 be like for the gaming market? The #GameDev – We can already see that it’s tough for many large companies in our segment, i.e., those creating and publishing premium games for consoles and computers. Many of the potential hit games announced are not meeting expectations, experiencing lower-than-expected sales and poor reviews. And every week brings news of mass layoffs in more industry firms.