January 2025 PCG Article Discussion

[ZedClampet]

BioWare veterans confirm they were laid off by EA, including senior Dragon Age and Mass Effect devs

EA refused to acknowledge layoffs in yesterday's announcement about BioWare's downsizing, but they're happening.

www.pcgamer.com

Ah, unsurprisingly EA is disassembling Bioware except for a core crew that is working on Mass Effect.

If you are keeping score, there are two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, and the count is 0-2 to the batter. The batter now has to swing, and he better be aiming for the grandstands beyond the outfield wall. If Bioware doesn't knock this Mass Effect out of the park, I'm pretty sure they are done. It's their last chance.

 

[BeardyHat]

BioWare veterans confirm they were laid off by EA, including senior Dragon Age and Mass Effect devs

EA refused to acknowledge layoffs in yesterday's announcement about BioWare's downsizing, but they're happening.

www.pcgamer.com

Ah, unsurprisingly EA is disassembling Bioware except for a core crew that is working on Mass Effect.

If you are keeping score, there are two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, and the count is 0-2 to the batter. The batter now has to swing, and he better be aiming for the grandstands beyond the outfield wall. If Bioware doesn't knock this Mass Effect out of the park, I'm pretty sure they are done. It's their last chance.

Probably a great challenge when the execs come and tell you what must be in the game.

 

[ZedClampet]

Banks in Japan are blocking Steam payments for sex games, leaving Japanese adult game devs cut off from income

Stalled Steam profits are prompting free speech concerns.

www.pcgamer.com

Japanese banks aren't accepting money from Valve for all those pron games you keep buying, which is not only a disaster for those dedicated prevert game creators, but I'd imagine it is something of a nightmare for Valve.

And additional pron news related to previous pron news, apparently pron sites aren't cooperating with all these states who are enacting age verification laws and are just blocking everyone from those states instead. Except for Valve, probably one of the more successful pron sites. If you come from one of those states and want to buy a smexy game, you now have to enter your drivers license. Not sure if a VPN works in that situation or whether Valve actually knows where you live because of your payment card info.

This brings today's titillating pron news to a close unless I can find some more later...

 

[BeardyHat]

This brings today's titillating pron news to a close unless I can find some more later...

You said Tit.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mDqsgbtpDLk

 

[Pifanjr]

Path of Exile 2 has finally perfected the fantasy archer

Shoot to kill.

www.pcgamer.com

This makes me want to try out Path of Exile 2 when it releases. I played an archer in the first Path of Exile as well and it was fun, but my bow felt more like a shotgun than an actual bow with the amount of arrows I was shooting at the same time.

 

[Johnway]

Sony bullies Bloodborne 60fps mod off the internet with DMCA takedown as it continues to let the FromSoft classic gather dust on PS4

You can still reach 60fps on Bloodborne through emulation, and some users have already reuploaded the mod.

www.pcgamer.com

Sony is sitting on a winning IP for PC and yet still refuses to do it. Take. a.hint.sony. Take the win and port Bloodborne (a 10 year old game) to the PC and you can rake in the money for an IP that you own. Release the superior product at an affordable price and the losses of the 60fps mod (if any) would be marginal.

 

[isleepinabed]

Sony bullies Bloodborne 60fps mod off the internet with DMCA takedown as it continues to let the FromSoft classic gather dust on PS4

You can still reach 60fps on Bloodborne through emulation, and some users have already reuploaded the mod.

www.pcgamer.com

Sony is sitting on a winning IP for PC and yet still refuses to do it. Take. a.hint.sony. Take the win and port Bloodborne (a 10 year old game) to the PC and you can rake in the money for an IP that you own. Release the superior product at an affordable price and the losses of the 60fps mod (if any) would be marginal.

Not specifically Bloodborne, but I'm disappointed they haven't accelerated the rhythm of porting more for PC.
Unbelievable that it's been 10 years for Bloodborne but especially games from older generations and, out of the more recent ones would like to see Gran Turismo 7 as well.

 

[Johnway]

Not specifically Bloodborne, but I'm disappointed they haven't accelerated the rhythm of porting more for PC.
Unbelievable that it's been 10 years for Bloodborne but especially games from older generations and, out of the more recent ones would like to see Gran Turismo 7 as well.

I would laso throw in the Killzone series and MGS4 as well, but i suspect in their eyes you port the games onto other platforms, you lose exclusivity and buying the playstation isn't as appealing.

Oh well. I look forward to the emulation of bloodborne i guess.

 

[Zloth]

Or maybe they're working on Bloodborne HD?

 

[ZedClampet]

BioWare has reportedly lost at least half its staff, with fewer than 100 people left and the studio a ghost of its former self

Instead of killing the golden goose, what if you slowly starved it to death over more than a decade.

www.pcgamer.com

Edit: put this in the wrong thread.

 

[ZedClampet]

Not specifically Bloodborne, but I'm disappointed they haven't accelerated the rhythm of porting more for PC.

Their sales on Steam didn't really set the world on fire at first, but I noticed that Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last of Us did very well.

Part of their sales problem probably has been the console philosophy that every game should be full price no matter how old it is.

 

[isleepinabed]

Their sales on Steam didn't really set the world on fire at first, but I noticed that Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last of Us did very well.

Part of their sales problem probably has been the console philosophy that every game should be full price no matter how old it is.

When I switched to predominantly PC gaming in 2017, and later exclusively PC gaming in 2019, one of the things that made me get the equipment and switch was definitely the frequency and depth of PC digital sales.

The PSN sales were always very light (and Nintendo's were even lighter).

But on the other hand, consider SEGA and how low they put out Yakuza and how frequently they do it... Not to say SEGA has anything to show to Sony when it comes to handling business (on the contrary, unfortunately...) but it would be great to see their eagerness on their part. Especially their huge backlog of exclusives.
Even small stuff they had for the PSP and Vita [(the PS minis or the stuff from their Japan Studio (actual name)] that now would surely be great on the Deck. And make money off of stuff they're not making money on anymore. So almost all profit after porting it to PC.

 

[Johnway]

Or maybe they're working on Bloodborne HD?

One could hope, but Sony knows it has a winner on its hands and probably rolling that out later. But there's a good chance they just won't and expect us to buy a PS to get it.