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yukoasho

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Clifford, the Court Fool.

I was going to let this slide.

In the wake of Microsoft's reversal of policy regarding anti-consumer DRM, I was feeling pretty cool, and many great bloggers have put up the victory flag better than I could have. While I've still very little intention to get an Xbone in the near future (Last I checked, my username was YukoAsho and not Rhianna), it was good to see MS was finally starting to cave under the enormous pressure gamers had exerted on them. It shows that we have great power when enough of us are angry, and I hope this inspires the gaming community to take to arms when future injustices occur. However, I was glad to bask in the moment of victory in private.

Then Cliff Blezinski graced us with his foul, rancid gurgling on Twitter.

Apparently Mr. Blezinski doesn't like the fact that the consumer won this battle and, much like an old racist decrying all the problms brought about by the civil rights movements, is whining in typical, graceless Cliffy B fashion.

Now I don't follow Mr. Blezinski's twitter, mostly because I like my sanity, so I won't go into every bit of his idiocy on this post, or ever in this blog. However, PlayStation Lifestyle has given us a choice cut of madness that would make Sheogorath proud, and it's topical, so let's look into the gaping maw of insanity by breaking down each of the wonderful tweets PlayStation Lifesyle collated for us.

More studios WILL close and you’ll see more PC and mobile games.

Good. The industry has way, way too much fat, and it desperately needs trimming. However, you know the companies that won't close because of this? Deep Silver, Atlus, Take-Two, Nintendo... Publishers and/or developers, big and small, that are smart and tactical in their spending. I'm almost hoping Ubisoft and EA collapse under their own crushing weight.

I have seen the number of unique gamer tags vs actual sales numbers and it ain’t pretty.

Nintendo has some very helpful advice in that case. Publishers should take it to heart.

At the end of the day many hardcore dislike what was attempted. You can’t do well in that space with many of your core unhappy… Especially when users have a choice. The nature of capitalism encourages competition and Sony played into that.

And good for Sony.

Brace yourselves. More tacked on multiplayer and DLC are coming.

Tacked on is pretty easy to ignore. I've made a point of saying that I've never bought DLC for games previously on this blog, and never felt unsatisfied. Actually, the one time I broke this rule, Halo 4's map packs, I regretted it on a count of losing interest in Halo 4 multiplayer soon after. So yeah, tack on what you want, it won't effect people who are responsible with their money.

You’re also about to see available microtransactions skyrocket. HATS FOR EVERYONE.

This was going to happen anyway. The success of Mass Effect 3's multiplayer microtransactions assured that. Not only that, but cosmetic microtransactions would be great. As Team Fortress 2 and Soul Calibur V show, cosmetic DLC has no effect on gameplay, so it can make money off whales with more money than sense without hurting the rest of us. I would not oppose this at all.

I want *developers* who worked their asses off to see money on every copy of their game that is sold instead of Gamestop. Fuck me, right?

Yes, Mr. Blezinski. Fuck you, you go to hell and you die.

*Sony* forced Microsoft’s hand, not the internet whining.

Let's talk about the inconsistency here. You'll notice in one of the earlier rants, Cliffy said "You can’t do well in that space with many of your core unhappy… Especially when users have a choice." Therefore, the "whining," as Mr Blezinski puts it, established that Sony would basically have a huge legion of new fans after this. More importantly, it spread the news to people who might not have known about it, such as the Army Times and Rachel Maddow. Therefore, the "whining" had a huge effect. Or do you truly believe Sony hadn't considered it?

You’re going to see digital versions of your favorite games with added “features” and content to lure you to digital over disc based.

That's an effective way to get fewer, if any copies, sold in specialty retailers, who tend not to like it when you try to fuck them.

I find it funny how people are saying that I “lost” when I don’t have a job or an allegiance now.

Your allegiance has been clear throughout this whole debacle. You're a naked corporate shill, desperately looking for a new job by throwing your lot against the consumer. The irony? By refusing to stop crying like the babies you accuse us of being, by making Adam Orth look empathetic and respectful in comparison, you've very likely damaged your future prospects.

What I do have is 20 years of experience making games and seeing how the sausage is made.

The consumer cares not one whit how the "sausage" is being made. We give you money, you give us a game. That is the end of the transaction. Consumers tend to refuse when companies try to add our souls to the price of their products and services, as attested by EA's repeated failures to meet sales expectations. If the full-priced market is too competitive for you, if you just can't live with the idea of consumers buying their games instead of renting them, then here's an idea. Go join Crytek. Those graphics engine pushing tools are running away from retail about as fast as their legs can carry them in favor of free-to-play projects like the upcoming Warface. Why not just make free-to-plays?

Oh, that's right. Because even the creatively bankrupt Crytek is better capable of making distinct games than anyone at Epic ever were. All-gray doesn't seem to work as well in free-to-play.

In closing, Mr. Blezinski needs to go away. Come back when you get a new job, sir, so I know what games to immediately dismiss in protest.

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Rick_Fingers

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@yukoasho: the tone of your post makes you come across far worse than he ever has, so well done on that?

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mercutio123

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@csl316 said:

Cliff's starting to sound like Dave Mustaine from Megadeth. Put out some classic stuff, but the more he talks now the more it damages his legacy.

Just wait until he finds God. Then we're all truly fucked.

Anyways I liked Cliffy but I find it pretty obvious he's sitting with Microsoft, as was shown in the Giant Bomb podcast. Also, you're a grown ass man, stop wearing caps like a fucking idiot

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Hungry

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Edited By Hungry
@shinjin977 said:

@mister_avatar: I appreciate your insight but I work in the industry and no Reaganomics don't actually work. Do you know what happen when used games are gone? Publisher make more money = standing ovation all around? no, publisher continues to make money and there is nothing wrong with that but we will still get studio closure. Why? because this is a business. You try to be as profitable as possible and even if you make truck loads of money if your studio do not make big sellers at SOME point you will be close down. Simple as that. Used games definitely make it harder for publishers to maximize profit, no doubt about that but that doesn't mean if they make more money they will keep under performed studio around.

It pains me to say it since I am one but not all developers deserves to exist. This is a business we have to fight to exist.

As someone else in the industry I can concur with all of this. We all knew games were hard to make and hard to do well in, and then we saw that it is actually even harder than that. It isn't getting easier, and I am not sure it is ever going to get any easier. The bar can't be lowered, so if someone can't jump it they better learn how to pole vault or try something else.

The big publishers are not going to stretch out to new IPs either. The majority of the gaming industry is run by suits, not people interesting in making art. The people making the decisions are the people who are looking to make as much money as humanly possible, not to make enough money to sustain the business and the lives of its members while making cool stuff. It is the reason why you see so many AAA developers leaving and trying to make indie Kickstarter projects. The artists would rather be overworked and starving and making art than being overworked and being a game-developing robot to the shareholders.

As for games becoming impossible to retain profitability, it is a problem of denying options voluntarily. AAA developers have put too much of their stake into their big budget games. I would not be surprised if in 10 years the biggest budgets outside of some powerhouses like Valve or Blizzard are whatever someone manages to run up on Kickstarter

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zombie2011

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I don't know why you think he is a fool. He probably knows more about the inner workings of the videogame industry than everyone on this site combined including staff.

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yukoasho

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Did anyone in here actually bother reading his blog post he put up further explaining his tweets? It didn't make me see eye to eye with him but it sure puts his opinions into better context than those tweets did. I would suggest everyone read it. http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/53457606850/brutal-honest-thoughts-on-this-whole-debacle

No, he still sounds like the same douchebag he did in the tweets, and I still intend to never buy any future projects he's involved with.

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musubi

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@yukoasho: Well you clearly have a bias so....no matter what he said you would have responded with the same vitriol at him. Its cool though keep up your irrational hate. It's quite entertaining.

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Hailinel

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Did anyone in here actually bother reading his blog post he put up further explaining his tweets? It didn't make me see eye to eye with him but it sure puts his opinions into better context than those tweets did. I would suggest everyone read it. http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/53457606850/brutal-honest-thoughts-on-this-whole-debacle

The context is better, yes, but I'd still say he's out of touch. Despite his talk of his ramen days, he's been entrenched in the industry since he was seventeen. His entire adult life has been as part of the industry, including the college years that many people use to start sorting out how the real world works.

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crcruz3

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I don't know why you think he is a fool. He probably knows more about the inner workings of the videogame industry than everyone on this site combined including staff.

So what? He can be wrong sometimes like everybody else.

Once the great Thomas Edison thought DC was better that AC for energy distribution.

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musubi

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Edited By musubi

@hailinel: Well like I said I don't think I still see eye to eye with him but at least that blog left me going "Well, okay at least there is some actual thought behind these opinions" even if those thoughts are very skewed by his time in the industry.

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Elwoodan

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honestly though, fuck gamestop.
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TheHT

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Dear OP:

You seem like an idiot.

Sincerely,

TheHT

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danm_999

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Edited By danm_999

Yeah there was definitely a lot to unpack with this one.

For instance, he seems pretty keen to deny the 'internet whining' any agency as having an impact on Microsoft, and that it was Sony who made MS do what they did.

But then, why did Sony go the route they did? Why did Microsoft find themselves zigging whilst Sony zagged? Sony are also a business who would doubtless love to have maximum control over their platform, and catch as much revenue from consumers as possible. So why did they structure their presentation to emphasis no DRM or used game restrictions, and make a rather cheeky video that mocked their competitors confusing game resell policies? Because they saw how toxic the word of mouth surrounding the Xbox One's policies were. 'Internet whining' forced Sony and, by extension, Microsoft's hand.

And, am I taking crazy pills, or didn't I hear Cliffy B say on one of the E3 Bombcasts recently he used to buy used games when he was younger and that he understood how they were necessary to provide the next generation (who has more limited money to spend) with an entry point into the medium of gaming?

I know I wasn't able to pay full price for games until I was out of high school and had a full time job. Before that, I'd rely on borrowing things from friends, renting games from my local video stores, or buying second hand games on the cheap. I simply didn't have the ability to drop $50 on every release I wanted to play. It was wonderful when I could suddenly get my own copy of something as soon as it was released when I had a disposable income. But without those avenues to sample that expensive software early on, I'd probably not have turned into someone who'll likely play video games his entire life; who'll build a high end PC every 5-6 years, and who'll pick up every console he can get his hands on.

But kids these days need to suck it up and shell out the full amount, else the "I want to be Call of Duty too!" publisher model plaguing many AAA franchises on consoles mightn't be sustainable, and ::GASP:: we'll see more indie and PC games? Not exactly losing sleep there.

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TheManWithNoPlan

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You already know.

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donutfever

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Edited By donutfever

@yukoasho said:

Apparently Mr. Blezinski doesn't like the fact that the consumer won this battle and, much like an old racist decrying all the problms brought about by the civil rights movements, is whining in typical, graceless Cliffy B fashion.

He has an opinion about toys that you plug into your television.

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golguin

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I think that most people in the industry (both developers and journalists) live in a bubble and they initially thought that all the complaining was simply "internet hate" and "the vocal minority." I think they all got a big slap of reality when it didn't die down and started to get reported in the main stream media.

The most unfortunately part of it all is that they couldn't see the reason why people were so upset from the very start.