lemmy101
Emperor
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,064
Dubious that I am on the power of online petitions, I'll give one a crack.
With the announcement of layoffs at Firaxis, which are, let's face it, very probably due to money problems somewhere up the chain, I'm starting to get worried.
Since no lay-offs at other Take Two studios have been announced it may well be a case of PC developers vs. Console developers that got Firaxis marked for the chop. Console developers have a lot bigger scope for profits.
Unless Civ 5 is a huge success, and we can prove that the market for PC games is there and worth investing in, we could lose studios like Firaxis who are very much primarily about PC gaming. This would obviously be a horrible thing. I've worked at two studios where their success of the next game dictated whether the studio would be shut down afterward, both of which experienced a similar spell of redundancies leading to the game's release, so I'm not getting paranoid without just cause.
Imagine a world where EVERY PC game is a cross-platform game ported or co-developed for consoles primarily. That means FPS games, racing games, or at best watered down strategy games.
This trend has already started, and the turn-based strategy fans have already taken a beating as games have become more consolecentric.
It's literally been since Civ 4 that I've been awaiting a PC game release like this. How can it be??? That five years has passed and only ONE single game has truly 100% appealed to me (instead of being some compromise or something 'I might be able to get into'). It so happens to be the next iteration of the previous game to appeal to me in this way.
It never used to be like this. But this is what's happening to the PC games industry. As much as I enjoy a zombie kill-fest on Left4Dead that's not why I have a gaming PC. It's to play the kind of games that just wouldn't work or be marketable on a console. But as time goes on there are practically no games aimed at the type of gamer I am (used to be X-Coms, Fallouts and all manner of stuff? Where are they now? FPS games, that's where!)
Firaxis are one of the last that still go strong with the same untouched gameplay that I enjoyed as a kid. The only ones not afraid to say 'NO! TURN BASED STAYS' and for this they should be supported to the ends of the earth by any turn-based nostalgic like myself.
So firstly I'd beg those who are boycotting Civ 5 due to Steam to reconsider. Whatever your opinions on DRM and digital ownership and whatnot, surely you're a PC gamer by heart if you're a Civ fan. Surely regardless of a bit of inconvenience and perceived invasion of privacy or anonymity is better than losing the PC gaming we all love altogether? Surely it's possible to make a concession when the 'money grabbing evil' you percieve is very probably a whole different case.
Secondly I plan to buy two copies of Civ 5 on Steam, gifting the second copy to someone who wouldn't buy it otherwise. Not a strategy game fan, I dunno try and convert someone, but I'll make sure it's someone who would never buy Civ 5 so it definitely counts as an additional sale.
Paying for two copies is a small price to pay because I'll get more from this game than any game I've played since Civ 4, I have faith in that.
So yeah, JOIN ME! Or whatever.
Bah, internet petitions never work. ;D
With the announcement of layoffs at Firaxis, which are, let's face it, very probably due to money problems somewhere up the chain, I'm starting to get worried.
Since no lay-offs at other Take Two studios have been announced it may well be a case of PC developers vs. Console developers that got Firaxis marked for the chop. Console developers have a lot bigger scope for profits.
Unless Civ 5 is a huge success, and we can prove that the market for PC games is there and worth investing in, we could lose studios like Firaxis who are very much primarily about PC gaming. This would obviously be a horrible thing. I've worked at two studios where their success of the next game dictated whether the studio would be shut down afterward, both of which experienced a similar spell of redundancies leading to the game's release, so I'm not getting paranoid without just cause.
Imagine a world where EVERY PC game is a cross-platform game ported or co-developed for consoles primarily. That means FPS games, racing games, or at best watered down strategy games.
This trend has already started, and the turn-based strategy fans have already taken a beating as games have become more consolecentric.
It's literally been since Civ 4 that I've been awaiting a PC game release like this. How can it be??? That five years has passed and only ONE single game has truly 100% appealed to me (instead of being some compromise or something 'I might be able to get into'). It so happens to be the next iteration of the previous game to appeal to me in this way.
It never used to be like this. But this is what's happening to the PC games industry. As much as I enjoy a zombie kill-fest on Left4Dead that's not why I have a gaming PC. It's to play the kind of games that just wouldn't work or be marketable on a console. But as time goes on there are practically no games aimed at the type of gamer I am (used to be X-Coms, Fallouts and all manner of stuff? Where are they now? FPS games, that's where!)
Firaxis are one of the last that still go strong with the same untouched gameplay that I enjoyed as a kid. The only ones not afraid to say 'NO! TURN BASED STAYS' and for this they should be supported to the ends of the earth by any turn-based nostalgic like myself.
So firstly I'd beg those who are boycotting Civ 5 due to Steam to reconsider. Whatever your opinions on DRM and digital ownership and whatnot, surely you're a PC gamer by heart if you're a Civ fan. Surely regardless of a bit of inconvenience and perceived invasion of privacy or anonymity is better than losing the PC gaming we all love altogether? Surely it's possible to make a concession when the 'money grabbing evil' you percieve is very probably a whole different case.
Secondly I plan to buy two copies of Civ 5 on Steam, gifting the second copy to someone who wouldn't buy it otherwise. Not a strategy game fan, I dunno try and convert someone, but I'll make sure it's someone who would never buy Civ 5 so it definitely counts as an additional sale.
Paying for two copies is a small price to pay because I'll get more from this game than any game I've played since Civ 4, I have faith in that.
So yeah, JOIN ME! Or whatever.
Bah, internet petitions never work. ;D