News Game Plus (March 9 - 15)
Call of Duty Warzone
It was only a matter of time before it happened. On Tuesday of this week with only a day of lead up, minus speculation, Activision and Infinity Ward announced that they will be joining the crowded Battle Royale genre. This type of reveal is very similar to what EA did last last year with Apex Legends and that model lead to strong success. It will be very interesting to see what the Goliath of the shooter genre over the past two decades can do in the free to play Battle Royale arena. Questions will always arise if the genre needs another competitor and if this actually a dying fad. While the only answer for those questions is time, the one thing call of duty always brings is the rising tide that lifts all ships.
The big difference between Warzone and last years Call of Duty Battle Royale entry, Blackout, is that this will be free to play. This is where we see if zero entry cost combined with cross play and the Call of Duty brand can become the biggest in the genre. I think there is a strong possibility that it can. Without a doubt we will be told the first day, first week and first month numbers as they will be enormous but the challenge for Activision will be keeping the community engaged without going back to Apex, Fortnite, PUBG or any other game that would attract these gamers back to where they came from. As expected, Activision made a big deal about telling us how big the launch has been for Warzone with Activision announcing 6 million players in the first 24 hours which is about double what Apex Legends did and then hit 15 million players in four days which is pretty impressive as well.
Call of Duty is a name that carries weight around and offering it free to play for the first time is monumental moment in the series long history. Yes, there were the free mobile offerings but in terms of full production value this is a first. Servers were a little bogged down initially with matchmaking taking a while but that is almost to be expected. Most server side issues were remedied by end of day which is even more impressive as the amount of users trying to play must have been enormous.
There was a time when it didn’t seem like anything could touch PUBG and it’s status as the top until Fortnite came along and it seems like they have been sitting in the same position since. Having the extreme polish that Call of Duty offers on top of being free to play definitely gives it a shot at the title but the one area it will have challenge is its appearance of being non kid friendly. I’m not saying it is safe for young children but I also don’t think Fortnite is either although it appears more colorful and less violent which is always helpful when parents play a major role in what’s allowed for a large demographic.
I will be interested to see how Warzone grows and how the Call of Duty annual version work in tandem with each other from here on out.
Horizon Zero Dawn PC
This week on the PlayStation Blog, Sid Shuman sat down for an interview with Head of PlayStation WorldWide Studios Herman Hulst for a quick chat. Herman was asked a lot of questions about what makes WorldWide studios so special and what has changed since he took over but the big takeaways from the interview is what does PlayStation look like moving forward into the future.
When asked about his vision for the future Herman answered “We’re very committed to dedicated hardware, as we were before. We’re gonna continue to do that. And we’re very committed to quality exclusives. And to strong narrative-driven, single-player games.At the same time, we’re going to be very open to experimentation, to new ideas. Just trying things out to see what works. I think that’s also very much part of the DNA of Worldwide Studios”
What Herman is basically saying here is that even though Microsoft has GamePass including its PC counterpart, PlayStation and their identity has always been exclusives. The PlayStation brand has a long history of having some of the best games only available in their ecosystem going back to the PS1 with Metal Gear and Crash Bandicoot to more current favorites including Uncharted, Last of Us and God of War. Also going forward PlayStation will continue to embrace large, single player focused games.
Mixed messaging from Microsoft aside, one of the main reasons Sony was able to dominate this console generation is in big part to its exclusives with many of them focused on the single player experience. Games like BloodBorne, Spider-Man, Until Dawn, Uncharted 4, God of War, Death Stranding and Horizon Zero Dawn. Despite many saying that this would be the last console generation and that single player games were dead, Sony was able to disprove that by selling over 100 million units on the shoulders of these amazing experiences.
What Herman also said is that the company will be open to trying new things including the main reason for this interview which was to confirm that Horizon Zero Dawn is coming to PC. This concerned some who worry that PlayStation will be putting most of their exclusives on PC to compete with Microsoft and this would take away the edge of exclusivity that Sony has used since the beginning of the brand.
I am far less concerned for a few reasons with the first being that Horizon Zero Dawn came out in 2017 and by the time it gets released this summer it will be well over three years old. At this point the games sales cycle will have all but ended and bringing the game to PC is nothing but a good thing as it will generate interest in not only Horizon but also in the PlayStation brand. Secondly, this generation there have been a plethora of PS4 exclusives and the amount that have been ported to other systems could be counted on one hand.
What releasing Horizon on the PC basically says to me is that it’s sequel, whatever it’s called, will be a day one release for the PlayStation 5. Not only will this IP benefit from the publicity and marketing it gets when it’s released on PC this summer but it will also have been around three and a half years since Zero Dawn released, which is a good amount of time to be working on a sequel.
Guerrilla Games track record gives extra weight to this theory. Killzone: Shadow Fall was a launch title for the PS4 in 2013, which really showed off just how much power the system had and what worlds it was capable of delivering, although missed the mark critically.. Killzone 3 was released in 2011 meaning that the team was able to create a new game but also a new engine in a two year window. Killzone Shadow Fall was the first use of the Decima, which Guerilla created in house. This is why I strongly believe that Alloy will be showing off the PS5 this fall. Not only will it look incredible but they will most likely fix one of the major issues of the first one and that would be the invisible walls.
Herman ended the interview by saying “And to maybe put a few minds at ease, releasing one first-party AAA title to PC doesn’t necessarily mean that every game now will come to PC. In my mind, Horizon Zero Dawn was just a great fit in this particular instance. We don’t have plans for day and date [PC releases], and we remain 100% committed to dedicated hardware”
Herman makes it clear that Sony isn’t concerned at the moment with Microsoft’s venture into the PC space. It should also be noted that Dreams was mentioned a lot in this interview as well, which could just be due to its recent release but reading between the lines I think it’s more likely Sony subconsciously preparing fans for a few more games to come to PC.
Reggie joins GameStop
Just five days longer than a full year, GameStop announced that RFA will be joining their board of directors along with a few other new members. RFA announced his retirement on April 15, 2019 and will join GameStop on their board starting April 20, 2020. This makes it certainly seem like there was a non compete clause in his retirement contact because I’m sure opportunities have made their way to RFA post Nintendo.
GameStop has been very busy over the past year doing pilot stores, putting new strategies in place, restructuring, and now adding new members to their board with vast corporate experiences. The press release on their investor site stated “it has appointed three new independent members to its Board of Directors. Joining the Company’s Board are Reginald “Reggie” Fils-Aimé, William “Bill” Simon and James “J.K.” Symancyk. Mr. Simon and Mr. Symancyk’s appointments are effective immediately; Mr. Fils-Aimé’s appointment will be effective April 20, 2020”
Shares of GameStop started the week at around 3.55 per share and after the announcement of reggie it is around 4.14 which is around a 15 percent increase. Even with a terrible week on the stock market, GameStop closed at 4.59 which is up 28% for the week.
It’s hard to know if the share price rise is related to confidence in the newly appointed board members or if it’s just market correction. Board Members can only do so much to save this company if GameStop corporate doesn’t have the right ideas in the first place. A board of directors is mainly in place to represent an outside non bias opinion at shareholder meetings that can represent the minority shareholders best interests. Having the right members with the right experience can go a long way but there is only so much they can do with the components they are given.
George Sherman, CEO of GameStop released this official comment regarding the addition of the three new members of the board “We are pleased to welcome Reggie, Bill and J.K. to the Board. They are each highly qualified and bring significant, relevant experience to our turnaround. We look forward to immediately benefitting from their expertise and perspectives as we navigate the evolving gaming and retail environments, execute on our strategic initiatives and prepare the Company to maximize value-creation associated with the next generation of console launches later this year.”
Reggie seems to have the most relevant experience as he was president of Nintendo of America for 13 years which ended in 2019. During his tenure there was plenty ups and downs including being there for the highs of Wii, the downfalls of the WiiU and the great success of the 3DS as well as the Switch. Although the main concern with GameStop is they are fighting to stay relevant in a digital world. If there is one knock against Nintendo as a company is that it has struggled to keep up with competitors in the digital arena.
As for the other two newly appointed members, William Simon was president and CEO of Walmart from 2010-2014 and James Symancyk is currently the President and CEO of PetSmart and has been since 2018. These are all distinguished resumes with plenty of top level experience but my concern is that I wouldn’t classify any of these men as Titans in the e-commerce or digital marketplace.
E3 2020 cancelled
After a lot of speculation, E3 2020 has been officially cancelled due to the impending concerns of corona virus. With Los Angeles recently declaring a state of emergency and others like New York City deploying the National Guard, there is too much risk involved in hosting an event that is so reliant on mass travel and social networking. There could be a lot of pessimistic thoughts that think that E3 is using this as a cover but the ESA clearly saw what would happen with the amount of attendees that pulled out of PAX East and the amount that pulled out of GDC before they officially postponed their event as well. The ESA had no choice but to cancel the event.
Outside of the gaming world, many things are being cancelled or postponed. The latest this week includes SXSW, Coachella, The NBA and NHL have suspended their season indefinitely and the president has suspended travel from Europe into the US for 30 days to give more time to reassess the situation. Everyday something new close or suspends As you can see it would have been ignorant for the ESA not to cancel the event for June as we are fast approaching and travel plans need to be made in advance. On top of that putting many people at risk just wouldn’t have come across as the right thing to do for an association that is trying to regain its status after many negative incidents.
On the official E3 site, the ESA announced their decision. “After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry – our fans, our employees, our exhibitors, and our longtime E3 partners – we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles. Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today”
One thing to note is that the ESA announced that they would be reaching out to all attendees and exhibitors about full refunds which is a great move. Although it may seem like the obvious choice, it’s not because the recently cancelled SXSW will not be offering refunds. There could be many reasons for taking this stance including contract wording, insurance policy coverage and bottom lines. In the wake of the health crisis, cancelling many of these events seem like the right thing to do but not offering full refunds seems like a very bad look. It’s good that the ESA either has the awareness to make the right decision or the right insurance coverage in event of pandemics. This could have easily been another fumbled moment for the event.
Both Microsoft and Ubisoft announced almost immediately after their intent to offer something in the digital space. Ubisoft said “we’re exploring other options for a digital experience that will allow us to share all the exciting news that we have planned. Stay tuned for more”. Phil Spencer also got on twitter shortly after the ESA made their decision to discuss Microsoft’s intent “ E3 has always been an important moment for team Xbox. Given this decision, this year we’ll celebrate the next generation of gaming with the Xbox community and all who love to play via a Xbox digital event. Details on timing and more in the coming weeks”.
As you can see, a lot of these developers relied on the timing of the event more than the E3 itself to announce their plans for the second half of the year. It seems that it will be full steam ahead for most companies who will most likely either produce something along the lines of a Nintendo Direct or some type of livestream. I assume most companies will take the direct approach as it is a much more controlled environment.
The ESA is still trying to have a presence this summer as they ended the press release by saying “We are also exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020”. My question is what does aligning with the ESA and E3 to do a digital event actually offer in terms of benefits? I assume most companies will just announce a date around the beginning of June when they will host a digital event on their own terms.
Many companies are going to take part in an experiment of what kind of outreach and results they can get without the big budget of taking part in E3 that includes travel, accommodations, booth space, human resources and so much more. I think this could go either way and maybe it’s harder than we can imagine to capture as much attention digitally individually without a collective E3 happening but the landscape will change one way or another.
I think there will still be a massive interest from the gaming community for new content, especially in a year with new consoles and I think gamers will get content as many of these plans have been in the works most likely since E3 2019 finished. It will just be interesting to see how all this content is offered to us directly and through outlets.