Google Stadia 

Just like PlayStation plus and Xbox Games with Gold, part of Googles strategy for premium subscribers is to offer a few free games every month. Unfortunately, with only with a very minimal selection of games at launch the offering for December seemed very strange. For the month of December, Google had announced that the free Stadia Pro games would be Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition from 2014 and Farming Simulator 19. 

When I first saw these games announced, my first thought was that they were pretty lackluster, especially for anew service that is trying to entice people to sign up or even subscribe to the pro tier. Immediately after that I thought, well wait those games were just one of the few games that were being sold during the launch month. Odds are pretty high that some people purchased either one or both of those games. After all there were only 22 games that launched with Stadia. 

It would be an understatement to say that Google Stadia had a less than ideal launch. The small launch lineup, many features that were touted at the initial announcement not being ready for launch, preorder users not getting their codes until after launch, games not running at 4K, and the list goes on. It would seem that the last thing you want is to add more fuel to the fire that Google Stadia doesn’t care about their consumers. Then they announced the two free games that were already part of the lineup. The smarter thing to do would have been to introduce a brand new game to the service and include that for the pro subscription holders. They could have even held a few titles from the launch lineup because there really isn’t a difference between 20 and 22 launch games in my opinion. 

These two games weren’t cheap either, Tomb raider goes for 1999 and Farming Sim goes for 4999 US for non pro members. Sure enough a few days later a Stadia community manager made a statement regarding how this issue could be a problem for some people. 

“We know that some users have recently purchased these two games for their collection. Because of the proximity between the launch of the platform, and the announcement of these titles in Stadia Pro, we’re happy to assist you if you’d like to request a refund if you have purchased either or both of these titles, even if it’s outside of our normal policy.”

How could they have not seen this ahead of time. The service just launched officially on November 19th. Google is giving away games that their loyal, early adopters have paid money for is the last few, at most 11 days. The other I have with this is that they only giving people their money back if they ask for a refund. They very easily have a list at hand of the users who have purchased and could easily credit their accounts but instead are choosing this path. Some of the users might not be as connected to the news and may miss the fact that google is offering refunds for these games. Although they are doing the right thing by offering refunds, I don’t think they should have put themselves in this position in the first place and I don’t like they way they are approaching these refunds. 

XBOX VR

Xbox has made leaps and bounds during this generation, no one can argue that. Moving closer to the next generation of Xbox, one question that is on my mind and probably many others is will Microsoft get involved in VR. It seems as though almost everyone else has gotten involved including PlayStation, Facebook, HTC, Valve, Samsung and even Nintendo folded up some cardboard to make one. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to see Microsoft get involved as they already have the hololens and they are no stranger to camera based peripherals like the Kinect. Maybe lack of power was holding back Microsoft from getting involved but would the increased processing from Project Scarlett be enough to convince Microsoft to risk getting involved. 

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, seems to think that Xbox fans aren’t interested enough.  Speaking with Stevivor during XO19, Phil was asked about the potential of bringing a VR headset to the next generation of Xbox. There was enough speculation about Microsoft partnering with another VR manufacturer in a way to offer VR to the Xbox community. Would that tree bear any fruit this time around ? I think Phil Spencer has done an excellent job since taking over and he is always very candid when asked about anything. It sounds as though Phil and Microsoft don’t see much demand for VR on their platform. 

Phil went on to say "I have some issues with VR..It's isolating, and I think of games as a communal, kind of together experience. We're responding to what our customers are asking for and... nobody's asking for VR. Nobodys selling millions and millions of units.said Spencer.  I can agree with the first part of his comments but I am a little unsure what he means in terms of millions because the most direct comparable is Sony’s console VR, the PSVR. On the PlayStation blog back in March, Sid Shuman announced that PSVR had sold through 4.2 million units. 

That isn’t to say that Phil doesn’t respect and think highly of the medium as he made it clear that he respects what developers have done with it. After the interview went public, Spencer took to social media to add some clarity said “I've said publically, I love how our industry has pioneered: AI, physics, 3D, RT, VR/AR etc.  For us, it's about focus on our innovations right now. I've played some great VR games, I got to play HL:Alyx in the summer, amazing. It's just not our focus with Scarlett” 

All of this talk could also be what you would say if you didn’t have anything in development on the horizon and wanted to make it sound like it had been discussed and weighed internally. At the end of the day you need to take it all with a grain of salt because these large corporations like to keep things under wraps while in development as Spencer did end by saying "I think we might get there.. But that's not where our focus is."

Battleborn shutting down 

2K Games have announced the end of Battleborn or in their words the sunset. Announced on the official Battleborn twitter  “Today we have begun the process of gradually sunsetting Battleborn. Starting February 24, 2020, you will no longer be able to purchase virtual currency for use in the game. The game’s servers will remain active and the game will continue to be playable until January 2021. However, once servers are deactivated, Battleborn will no longer be playable” 

They ended the tweet by taking a minute to thank the fans of the game by saying “We’re extremely proud of the work that went into the game, and want to extend our deep appreciation to all the fans for their support. We’ll continue to provide updates on the sunsetting of the title when appropriate”

There are some things to like from this announcement and there are some things to not. First, it’s nice that they are giving players ample notice before January 2021, instead of just shutting down the servers or giving a much shorter notice period. Second, I think it’s also great that they have already removed the game from digital storefronts. This will eliminate some potential problems and bad press that could arise if someone unknowingly bought the game for Christmas only to find out the servers are shutting down in a year. Third and finally, it’s good that as of February of next year they will stop selling digital currency in game. They could be predatory about this and sell currency up until the day the game goes offline and walk away with peoples money. I’m sure it says something in the terms of agreement that everyone signs and skips over but they are making a choice to do things this way. 

As for the things not to applaud on this announcement is that they will be shutting the whole game down, not just the multiplayer. Battleborn does have a small campaign component but that is also coming offline. I understand that keeping the campaign mode playable would require some type of patch that would cost the studio development time and resources. These are valuable time and resources that could be used on games that are currently in development and can make the studio real money. Choosing to patch Battleborn and adding a way to play the campaign without connecting to the servers is clearly a cost that doesn’t add up for 2K games. 

Star Wars Jedi Sales 

Respawn has been getting a lot of praise with its latest release, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. The game is currently floating around the low 80’s on metacritic depending on what platform is being reviewed and although it’s not the highest score it is being strongly considered as game of the year from many media outlets. It also seems to have restored faith with EA holding onto the Star Wars license for developing games until 2023, which is only three years away. 

Respawn, in their short existence as a studio, have made critically acclaimed games. The issue that arises sometimes is commercial success with their games. Titanfall was an exclusive at the time of its release on the struggling Xbox One and its sequel was released directly between annual releases from Call if Duty and Battlefield.  

This week, EA delivered a press release announcing how the game is succeeding early on.  Fallen order has become “fastest-selling digital launch for a Star Wars game in its first two weeks. The game is also now EA’s top-selling Star Wars title on PC in its initial launch window”

This is great news for gaming fans and Star Wars fans both, but these are pretty specific accolades. It would be similar to saying highest sales for a Monday afternoon, with a cloudy sky and no wind. The only other Star Wars games EA is most likely comparing to is Battlefront and it’s sequel and the digital downloading landscape has clearly changed since 2015, 2017 and you would expect digital sales to be higher than they were 4 years ago. 

Vince Zampella, Founder of Respawn also gave a personal statement in the press release “On behalf of Respawn and EA, we thank everyone for their support of the studio and the team throughout the development and launch of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Telling a story in the Star Wars galaxy is a dream come true and the reception from the fans has been incredible. With the launch of the game, the debut of The Mandalorian and the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it’s a great time to be a Star Wars fan!”

It’s good to see the game off to a fast start and hopefully it will continue to be a strong seller throughout the holidays with the added Star Wars hype from Rise of Skywalker. It might also benefit from end of the year list from media outlets who will most likely mention this game in the running if it doesn’t win. This can hopefully help