- Dołączono
- 26 Wrz 2019
The Concordverse - Highguard, Marathon, Horizon Hunter's Gathering and other Flopbusters - How Many Times Do We Have To Teach You This Lesson, Old Man?
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- Dołączono
- 1 Lip 2015
One other thing I was wondering about these Concord/Dustborn clones, is why don't politicians openly endorse those games? If the Harris/Walz campaign either endorsed or partnered up with Concord, would that have gotten more people to play the game, and would she have gotten more votes, just to "own Orange Man"?
- Dołączono
- 27 Kwi 2024
I get that, but what I'm saying is that I sincerely doubt that amount of tax breaks and grants, regardless of how big they are, amounted to anywhere near breaking even on the $400 million Sony dumped into Concord given how little they made back from the consumer to buttress it.
Just because an incentive structure exists for these sorts of theories of chicanery and there's a conceivable psychology for someone to do it, that doesn't necessarily mean the numbers shake out.
- Dołączono
- 6 Paź 2016
Super Monday Night Combat was also out for ages by then ...although it only lasted about 8 years.
- Dołączono
- 16 Maj 2019
Despite what either side says, politics and culture war bullshit doesn't sell games. It can get attention on a title, because attention is free. But then it still needs to sell units, and that's always going to be a tiny fraction of the people you got to briefly look at it.
Also, the market is evenly split on culture war lines. So if you're trying a culture war angle at launch, you are willingly giving up half the potential market on a bet that it will be replaced, in greater numbers, by people from the other half. That's an extremely risky bet, especially to make with unpopular figures like Harris.
- Dołączono
- 26 Wrz 2019
Concord being treated as the patient zero for this kind of thing makes sense in what a perfect storm it was, even if it absolutely wasn't patient zero. Lawbreakers, Battleborn, and the countless other flops that go back decades aren't as recent or punchy, with all the hilarious numbers like the game being up for all of eleven days and costing $400 million. There were countless WoW wannabes in the 2000s, but I can't remember any failing quite as big as Concord and its ilk. Largely because obscene budgets that belong among the GDP of small island nations just weren't a thing back then. The Matrix Online could have been considered one of these flops, but even that lasted just short of four years. The funniest thing about that game was having canonical content that's now long-since inaccessible, and even still referenced in that newer Matrix movie that came out twelve years after Online closed.
- Dołączono
- 23 Wrz 2019
I've done a couple small fixes to the op. My thanks to @Human Waiter four highligtng a phew typoes, and @Gamepads for providing the picture of Daw I knew in my heart had to begin the OP.
As for whether it would work... I doubt it; it might even have the opposite effect. The requirements to meet a politician's campaign standards tends to make the game ass, like the fortnite maps for hillary's campaign that removed guns from the game.
That's why the honourable mentions section exists; to highlight that edge of the frame and over discussion of if any odd game really qualifies.
I'd also add on that Politicians go to games to advertise their campaign, not the other way around. No polly's interested in latching themselves on to a tiny indie game nobody's heard of; they're only charitable with other people's time and money. they go to games to advertise to the playerbase, so the playerbase has to be massive in advance (and largely of their country, of course).
As for whether it would work... I doubt it; it might even have the opposite effect. The requirements to meet a politician's campaign standards tends to make the game ass, like the fortnite maps for hillary's campaign that removed guns from the game.
Adding on to AbsoluteGo's counters, I don't disagree that there's a lot of things that dance on the edge of the frame, but ultimately, issuing a straight rejection of public opinion to substitute another interpretation is just arrogance, when the whole thing is a matter of public opinion in the first place.
That's why the honourable mentions section exists; to highlight that edge of the frame and over discussion of if any odd game really qualifies.
Anthem is the Titanic to Concord's Hindenburg, I think. Anthem was a sinking ship that felt like it should be a landmark disaster, yet still lasted a long while; Concord went up in flames in an instant.
- Dołączono
- 15 Sty 2019
I think it was "patient zero" for its combination of factors that have now been emulated by the three others mentioned (Highguard, Marathon, ...I already forgot the third one again
). It's not just "arrogant devs" -- it's that, plus overconfident studio/publisher, plus insane ridiculous budget (setting the stage for guaranteed failure since even a runaway hit is unlikely to get that kind of money back), plus arguing with players, plus absolutely-universal dislike of the product from announcement to release, plus that weird cynicism coming from the studio that makes it clear these are "products," not "games." Cash shops, not "fun experiences."Lawbreakers and Battleborn had some hype from outside the studio and marketing wankers, and I don't think either of them cost $300+ million. There was also at least a little more honesty from the devs about the games' chances. Cliffy is arrogant as fuck and a vicious asshole but at least he didn't spew endless unjustified optimism -- he at least acknowledged that he was up against big names in genres with little room for competition and he faced an uphill battle. That and you got the impression he actually gave a shit about his games, not just in the "making money" or "owning the chuds" sense, but in the "I want to make something people actually want to fucking play" sense.
These more recent ones are just such a perfect storm of guaranteed failure.
- Dołączono
- 6 Paź 2016
I also heard that it was held in pretty high regards. It's still got a cult fanbase although these days you'll get one for literally anything.
My failed MMO of choice is still Glitch although that was just Stewart Butterfield's second iteration of "make a failed MMO and then inexplicably spin off an insane cashcow".
- Dołączono
- 29 Wrz 2022
As far as the OP goes, Marathon is a special case, as it exhumes the corpse of an old Mac game that was just cope for waiting on the port of Doom II, somehow banking on nostalgia of a game that no one remembers.
At least with these games it at least creates a moral justification that you as a taxpayer are entitled to their entire back catalog. Can't really do much when the non-white masses breed like rats. I guess the closest offer is that you should be legally entitled to use racial slurs.
- Dołączono
- 20 Gru 2019
Concord was also unusual in that it was supposed to be the launching point for a multi-media IP that was going to be Star Wars-sized, all before they had shipped a single copy of the game.
- Dołączono
- 17 Sie 2018
Even better when you learn Concord was eight years in the making AND was a flagship PlayStation live service title. They had eight years to see the rise and fall of hero shooters, yet continued like nothing happened. I want to know who designed and approved those character models. Star Wars potential my ass.
- Dołączono
- 1 Lip 2015
Speaking of games that were to be the launching points for multiple-media IPs, Unknown 9: Awakening would fit alongside the Dustborn clones group.
- It is a single-player game, so it won't get shut down (unless Steam removes it from their store), and plenty of free copy codes were included with the purchases of AMD products at the time of it's release.
- The protagonist (an Indian woman) doesn't look good, and her character model doesn't look close to the person she is modeled off of (Anya Chalotra)
- The combat is clunky and doesn't feel good to play, and the game feels like it was made from 2 or 3+ generations ago.
- The gameplay is linear and on-rails, so you can't backtrack if you missed a collectable.
- It had weird system specifications, i.e. being locked to 85 FPS, and Alt-tabbing pauses the cutscene that is playing.
- Dołączono
- 29 Sie 2025
Ctrl-F "Watchdogs": 0 results
Ctrl-F "Saints Row": 0 results
Ctrl-F "Dead Island": 0 results
Ctrl-F "PayDay": 0 results
Ctrl-F "Fallout": 0 results
arguably the last 2 werent as massive flop series as the top 3 but its a close call from how mishandled they were
- Dołączono
- 28 Maj 2019
Did it? CoD went all in on the Near Future Shooter trend because of Advanced Warfare.
- Dołączono
- 23 Lip 2024
Unpopular opinion maybe but I really like Marathon's art direction. I'd buy it if it wasn't 40 bucks when there are better cheaper games on the market.
- Dołączono
- 5 Lip 2019
What really set Concord and subsequent live service flops apart from games like Evolve, Battleborn, Lawbreakers, etc, is that we're in a post-COVID landscape. A lot of what's coming out was greenlit back when everybody was still shuttered at home and also when government and NGO handouts were plentiful. It's part of why there have been so many industry layoffs these past few years, the market and the industry are readjusting.
Plus, it's not the 2010s anymore. The hero shooter MOBA trend is dead, gone the same way as Battle Royale, the chances of there being some resurgence are slim to none because all the people interested in those types of games are already playing the games that have dominated the genre until this point. For something like Highguard or Marathon or any of the other similar upcoming games to succeed, they have to convince players to step away from Fortnite or Overwatch or Arc Raiders, or whatever other game has won out in the battle for their time and attention.
The bubble's burst and everybody except the publishers seem to realise it.
Plus, it's not the 2010s anymore. The hero shooter MOBA trend is dead, gone the same way as Battle Royale, the chances of there being some resurgence are slim to none because all the people interested in those types of games are already playing the games that have dominated the genre until this point. For something like Highguard or Marathon or any of the other similar upcoming games to succeed, they have to convince players to step away from Fortnite or Overwatch or Arc Raiders, or whatever other game has won out in the battle for their time and attention.
The bubble's burst and everybody except the publishers seem to realise it.
It wasn't just this single title, they'd mapped it out as a huge crossover "transmedia" event with a shared world. They were planning on books, audio dramas, comics, and probably some type of TV series. In that way it has much in common with Concord with trying to appeal to an audience that doesn't and couldn't exist because nobody knew what the fuck it was meant to be or why they should give a shit.
- Dołączono
- 12 Sie 2020
DEI incentives work by offering a company a below market loan, if it meets DEI requirements. This is treated by the company treating the loan as 'free money'-- Much like the government loans during covid were treated: as a windfall to boost metrics and make the board look good to the always oblivious shareholders.
The investment firms offer below market loans because they view it as a loss leader to have influence on whatever company takes them. And they're able to do so without losing nearly as much money as you'd think due to fractional reserve lending... If you want to get into the weeds of why you don't hate corpos, and the government, enough; look that up...
The investment firms offer below market loans because they view it as a loss leader to have influence on whatever company takes them. And they're able to do so without losing nearly as much money as you'd think due to fractional reserve lending... If you want to get into the weeds of why you don't hate corpos, and the government, enough; look that up...
- Dołączono
- 26 Wrz 2019
The Marathon games got ports to Xbox 360, and also rereleases for free on Steam, so I figure that's where most of the nostalgia comes from.
I grew up with a Mac that could run Marathon, and I never heard about it. I was very young at the time, but it definitely would have been something I'd have wanted if I knew about it at all. Marathon being this big Mac classic is one of those things that feels like history got rewritten at some point.
- Dołączono
- 23 Sie 2018
Borderlands took it's style from an animated short (CodeHunters according to google), even recreating the short almost shot for shot.
There's an artist that supposedly had a similar aesthetic that Marathon rips off, only done way better. I've not seen the art, so this is completely third hand, but Marathon just throws random neon paint everywhere like a splatoon map, uses random, clashing fonts, and one of the characters in the trailer is clearly a knock off Harley Quinn. While the original was supposedly done with purpose and style. If anyone knows the work, please link it.
The ideas and style being ripped off I can believe though, given the plagiarism allegations.