Another Generation of Greed and Stupidity

Before we get to any reviews of any movies that are any good, let’s talk about some stupid corporate bullshit in the video game industry. Why? Because I’ve got two bits of news that just straight piss me off for one reason or another. No more filler, we’re diving right on into this mess.

The first bit of news comes from Square Enix, who have now taken second place behind EA for stupid corporate bullshit that I’m tired of hearing. Sorry, Capcom. Maybe if you make another unintentionally racist game with on-disc DLC that boarders on the level of bait-n-switch, you might reclaim your silver medal. Right now, you just get the bronze.

With the recent release of the Xbone and the PS4 (no mention of the WiiU, shocker) Square Enix has taken it upon themselves to re-release Tomb Raider (the 2013 reboot) for the new generation of consoles. To repeat that in another way, they are releasing a game they only just released a year ago onto the next iteration of consoles and charging you full price again. There are a lot of reasons I hate this, but let’s start with the issue on why it’s dumb for them.

Tomb Raider initially was an expensive game to make for a LONG list of reasons I mentioned in my review [here]. The game sold well, but not well enough to make a profit. This led the game to be labeled as a failure when it was critically received well and sold enough copies that most games with average budgets would have actually been moderately successful with substantial profits. While simply rebuilding the game for a next generation of consoles is “cheaper” than making a whole new game, I can’t imagine it selling well for many essential reasons.

First, those who wanted the game already bought the game closer to when it came out and already played it. And most would likely agree that while it’s a good game, it isn’t worth paying another $60 for. So the audience of people who already like Tomb Raider is not going to be convinced to buy it again unless they suffer from some kind of brain disorder or have a compulsive need to empty their wallets. But beyond that, there’s also the price factor. You can buy a copy of Tomb Raider retail at an average price of $30. That’s half price. You can buy a digital copy of Tomb Raider on Steam (and possibly several other distributors) for even less than that, going as low as $10 during a Steam sale. So why spend full price for a game when the price for the game dropped ages ago.

“But what about the DLC?” you might be asking. That’s a good question, is the DLC worth it? Probably not, because DLC rarely is worth it, equating to about an hour or two of fun for the average price of $12. But I’m going to humor your stupid inquiry for a paragraph here. The price for all the Tomb Raider DLC (according to Steam) totals to about $8. This DLC includes ONE multiplayer map pack, ONE extra tomb, and ONE new character for multiplayer. This means that the game SHOULD only cost $40 at most since that’s all the content you’re going to get. And since most of it is multiplayer and most of it is small little extra bits that don’t really add anything worthwhile to the experience, yeah, I’d say the DLC for this game is almost entirely not worth it.

Ignoring all that though, there’s one issue that this brings up that strikes me as the worst part of not only the game industry, but the worst part about the next console generation. This was a game to help bring a close to the last console generation. Yet we’re dressing it up to bring it into the next console generation. Why? We could get a Tomb Raider sequel to help show what the next generation of consoles can do. We could get an entirely new game or IP to help show what the next generation of consoles can do. Instead we’re remaking a game we only just released a year ago on an older console for a new console simply because we’re out of good ideas?

What this is symbolic of is a lack of new ideas. This news shows the stagnation of the game industry as their quest for fulfilling their greedy pockets only becomes more parasitic to the art they make. To bring in a new console generation, we usually have a new IP or game be what represents that. Last generation, we got Uncharted, Gears of War, Last of Us, Dead Rising, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and so many other new IPs to help showcase what the last consoles could actually do. But what are we getting now? We’re not even getting extensions of the last generation with sequels (well, we are, but that’s beside the point). We’re just getting the last generation again with no real notable changes or quirks to make it worth our while.

And that’s really what worries me about most of the next console generation. There’s no change. There’s nothing new. We’re still getting the same bullshit with DLC, Season Passes, Mircotransactions, bad marketing, DRM, and the like while not getting anything new from it. And now this looks to be including the games as well. Granted, this is only one game (for now). But if Tomb Raider does actually sell quite well, then what? Odds are other companies will see this strategy as a profitable way to go. Expect to see more games from the last generation be re-released if that ends up happening and you’ll be expected to pay full price for them because that’s just how it works.

God forbid this could have all been avoided long ago. Had the console manufacturers decided to implement backwards compatibility, you could have just gone on playing your Tomb Raider and whatever else without the need to buy it again for the next generation of consoles. But, no. Apparently re-releasing the same game and charging full price for it despite the market telling you it’s not fucking worth that price is reasonable thinking, but backwards compatibility is a “backwards” idea. Though, I will say, with a lack of new games on the next generation of consoles to play, backwards compatibility would certainly have been nice to have so you could play some of your favorites while waiting for new releases. But, again, no one really thought ahead on that one now did they? (Oh, wait, Nintendo did).

Going on from Square Enix being shit, we’re moving on to multiple developers being shit now. A recent YouTube update announcement has recently informed many uploaders and content creators that this new update will effect monetization and how uploading game footage will work. Simply put, several companies (Activision, Bungie, Capcom, Codemasters, GunHo Online, Microsoft, Natsume, Naughty Dog, Nintendo, NIS America, Rockstar, Take-Two Interactive, Sega, SNK, Square Enix (again), TecmoKoei, and TellTale Games) are no longer allowing the monetization of gameplay footage (see Let’s Plays) for their products anymore. Surprised that Sony isn’t up there.

What does this mean for those who don’t understand just yet? Monetization is a process in which you make money from the videos you upload by having people view/click on ads that take place before or after or during your video. And most game footage on YouTube (which is actually most footage on YouTube) is Let’s Plays. And a Let’s Play is a video (or series of videos) in which one or more people play a game with commentary. This can range from fun to informative. But the overall point is they’re playing the game for your entertainment.

Okay? So why would these guys no making money be a big deal? From experience, I can tell you making Let’s Plays is a lot of work. The time into just getting the audio right is insane. If the game glitches for whatever reason, you have to re-record a lot of nonsense. There’s also editing tricks to do if you want your videos to stand out and not just be like everyone else’s. in short, It’s more work than you think and all these Let’s Plays are essentially FREE advertisement for games people might not have bothered to play. For example, I wouldn’t have even known about Eternal Darkness or Killer is Dead if not for some Let’s Plays and they are among some of my favorite games of all time.

So for these people to make money to raise awareness of some games is, to me, not a huge asking price. Especially for companies like Nintendo, which needs help pushing the WiiU. Thus, allowing people to show how fun it can be without infringing on their right to make a living entertaining people seems like a good idea. And you aren’t losing any money or sales with Let’s Plays. Hell, YOU aren’t even the one paying for these videos to be made.

Some have argued that these Let’s Plays infringe on copyright laws. They don’t, technically, but that’s such a legal grey area that no one has actually ruled on so there’s really no point in trying to debate that here. Let’s just say, for now, it’s not illegal, but it is also a matter that has yet to be discussed in full by people who actually know how the law works. Bottom line is that Let’s Plays are perfectly legal and it’s frustrating to see how this is going.

But this applies to all gameplay footage, not just Let’s Plays. Say you discuss a game in a podcast or even are making a review of a game. You can no longer show the game’s footage during the discussion without forgoing that monetization. This means even if you cover a wide array of topics and happen to be discussing the latest Halo game that means if you want to show that footage, everything else in that video is wasted effort. And these are people doing actual content creation where they have to write everything, discuss everything, set up lighting, sets, people to partake in, etc. Even more effort goes into these videos than Let’s Plays, and they too will likely feel the sting of this new policy change.

In short, all those companies listed above are absolute shit one on level or another. I can sort of understand a few of them. I know TellTale, for example, is all about story driven games and Let’s Plays essentially ruin twists and turns your story might take. I don’t like it, but I can at least understand that aspect of it. But the whole enterprise of this new policy just wreaks of corporate greed taking money from people who need it with no benefit to either party whatsoever.

There you have it. The game industry is still full of crooks and idiots. The next console generation will be just like the last one, but probably more shit. And you can thank me for being a voice of reason and pointing out all of this shameful disgrace. Have a good day and I’ll be back eventually for a review of Frozen.