What dev teams/publishers do you hate on a more moral stand point?

[AJ_Radio]

6 minutes ago, Kristen Danielle said:

This is true, but the thing at least deserved a proper completion, if only to honor the incredible source material.

 

It copies a lot from God of War, but as long as the gameplay is fun then that's all that matters to me.

[ladynadiad]

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

I don't know how long you've been in the work force, but from the way you have structured your posts it sounds like you've been working a long time.

 

I started in the mid 2000s, in my early 30s now and have basically bounced from job to job.

 

With my first paycheck from my first job I bought a copy of the Sega Genesis version of Phantasy Star IV.  The Playstation hadn't even been released yet.  Yeah, I've been around a lot and worked a lot of crap jobs despite having a college degree as well.  My best jobs have been with small companies where even the people at the top know you and how good of a job you do for them. 

 

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

I personally disagree with AAA developers going downhill with the first PlayStation. You're going back to 20 years ago. In my opinion, the golden era of gaming spanned from the late 1980s to the early - mid 2000s. Many video games of today still take a lot of ideas that stemmed from that time period.

 

I do think a lot started going downhill with the first Playstation, but I've also been playing games since before the NES and the SNES/Genesis gen was actually the best overall for game quality.  Some of the AAA devs started going downhill with the Playstation gen, though not all and even then they still had a couple of good games.  Some devs hadn't existed for long enough to go downhill, but the devs from the 80s and 80s were starting to go downhill by then except for the few that remained small and most of those have gone out of business by now.  I think a big part is the fact that technological limitations of those days did force the devs to be creative and focus on good gameplay and now since they can do nice graphics, the focus is far too much on graphics and the stuff that makes a game fun is an afterthought.  That definitely started with the Playstation and has grown worse as time has gone on.  About the only reason why I still game is because my favorite dev has yet to sell out and there are still some great small and indie devs out there making fun games.  AAA games aren't worth my time or money any longer.

[DaveMcDamage]

21 hours ago, Kristen Danielle said:

This is true, but the thing at least deserved a proper completion, if only to honor the incredible source material.

Yeah it was pretty heart breaking what happened to Visceral. But I'm damn glad they are bouncing back. Hope their new game for PS5 does well for them. 

[RadiantFlamberge]

EA, 2K, and Activision. I don't feel the need to go into much detail about them... as it's been said in the topic already, microtransaction hell, loot boxes, their "murders and executions" of other studios, you name it. I'll give Activision credit for publishing Sekiro, but unfortunately, they have turned Raven Software into a mere shadow of its former self. Raven are now just a Call of Duty support team and don't do any games of their own.

 

Konami has slid way down hill... it's not just happened lately, but rather it had been going on since the early 2000s. Seriously, their best products recently are the retro compilations. Their new Contra: Rogue Corps doesn't look so good. CRC takes more than a few missteps, including having your gun overheat (which is blasphemy in a Contra game) and its general unfaithfulness to the franchise. Hardcorps Uprising on PS3 is better.

 

Namco has been a little annoying. Ridge Racer is apparently dead, and you don't see their arcade gun games (such as Time Crisis/Razing Storm) coming to console any longer.

 

Who don't I hate? Bethesda, id Software, CD Projekt Red, Flying Wild Hog, SNK, NIS America, and Falcom.

[DaveMcDamage]

5 hours ago, RadiantFlamberge said:

 

 

Who don't I hate? Bethesda, 

In the mighty kingdom of Daveshire, its actually illegal to like Bethesda and on Sundays you're allowed to stand on a wall and fire an arrow at there studio. Should you happen to hit anyone, this will be praised and you can parade the shire with a badger on your head. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by DaveMcDamage

[AJ_Radio]

On 8/10/2020 at 4:54 AM, ladynadiad said:

With my first paycheck from my first job I bought a copy of the Sega Genesis version of Phantasy Star IV.  The Playstation hadn't even been released yet.  Yeah, I've been around a lot and worked a lot of crap jobs despite having a college degree as well.  My best jobs have been with small companies where even the people at the top know you and how good of a job you do for them.

 

So I can guess you're around your mid 40s. Games were more expensive back then in terms of value, I know this because my parents told me later on. Some of those games took a lot of money out of their paychecks.

 

Your story is the same as my dad. Had a really good job back in the 1990s, now a guy in his 30s - 40s is lucky to get anything half as good. My dad now is old and crippled, sadly I've had to look after him this past year because he can't do much. Wish all the best for him as we try to move past this COVID-19 outbreak.

 

Also had a Bachelor's Degree to boot. Nowadays you can't get shit with that. You need at least a Master's Degree which requires graduate school on top of paying the money for necessary training. Most people can't afford that. I knew two guys I worked with, same age as me, who were some $10 - 20K+ in college debt. Not something that is easily dealt with.

 

On 8/10/2020 at 4:54 AM, ladynadiad said:

I do think a lot started going downhill with the first Playstation, but I've also been playing games since before the NES and the SNES/Genesis gen was actually the best overall for game quality.  Some of the AAA devs started going downhill with the Playstation gen, though not all and even then they still had a couple of good games.  Some devs hadn't existed for long enough to go downhill, but the devs from the 80s and 80s were starting to go downhill by then except for the few that remained small and most of those have gone out of business by now.  I think a big part is the fact that technological limitations of those days did force the devs to be creative and focus on good gameplay and now since they can do nice graphics, the focus is far too much on graphics and the stuff that makes a game fun is an afterthought.  That definitely started with the Playstation and has grown worse as time has gone on.  About the only reason why I still game is because my favorite dev has yet to sell out and there are still some great small and indie devs out there making fun games.  AAA games aren't worth my time or money any longer.

 

The NES came out in 1985, you had the old arcades and the Atari 2600. My first console was the NES, my sister who is pushing 40 years of age gave it me after she had it a number of years. The Sega Genesis was my first actual console, played the living shit out of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Streets of Rage 3. Sonic 2 is still in my top 10 favorite games of all time.

 

Well you had the video game crash in the early 1980s. The game ET was a colossal disaster. The movie did great, but the game was a big failure. For a while people were dumping Atari 2600 games in pits. If history told a different story, we might not be here talking about video games. Nintendo deserves all the credit in the world for what they did back then. Super Mario Bros was a monumental milestone.

 

You can look at EA back in the 1990s to see that they were an entirely different company back then. I was lucky enough to play a number of their sports titles on the Genesis along with Desert Strike and Jungle Strike. They were a small company of competent and happy developers who all knew each other. That kind of relationship and experience is good.

 

You cannot tell me id Software would put in the same passion and hard work today as they did back when John Romero and John Carmack made DOOM in 1993. The technological limitations were prevalent as you couldn't do too much with those old PC computers. Then DOOM came around and everyone saw how awesome of a game it was even on those shitty PC desktops.

 

Nobody in the mainstream gaming industry does that anymore. The problem is corporate suits took over the business and they're making a killing off of stuff like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Why do you think 2K Games is pushing for microtransactions/lootboxes? It doesn't matter what people think as long as they continue to buy that stuff, 2K Games can continue to make it. That is why I will never touch a NBA 2K game, because that franchise is chock full of microtransactions and other garbage 2K Games shoves into it. That isn't a video game.

 

From a gameplay standpoint, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas is more fun than Red Dead Redemption 2. San Andreas felt like a game and it still does, even if the graphics have badly aged and the controls are rather stiff. RDR2 on the other hand tries to be too much like a movie, so you end up with a game that is more about the presentation than the substance, which is the meat and potatoes of what actually makes a good game. You need substance and you need good gameplay, and I feel a lot of AAA games have failed to meet those standards.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Spaz

[DaveMcDamage]

Games back on consoles in the late 80's to early 90's were probably so expensive due to gaming then being to a niche market. At that time only the middle class and rich families could afford consoles. So with the lack of hardware units sold they probably needed to make up the cost with expensive games. Hardware never really turned profit until the 360 and PS4 consoles came out due to them using older and cheaper tech. 

 

If you couldn't afford consoles then it was all about the Spectrum 48/128K's lol. 

 

Also back then. EA used to be one of the best game devs/publishers out there. Always churning out gold games to play, which is why its shit to see them go the way they did. But I still don't get that about EA. the studios they buy don't rarely sell games in the multi-millions, so after the cost of buying out, development then closing down, they must surely lose a lot of money. If they just stuck to the EA sports they could probably continue to make vast profits. 

[AJ_Radio]

13 hours ago, DaveMcDamage said:

Games back on consoles in the late 80's to early 90's were probably so expensive due to gaming then being to a niche market. At that time only the middle class and rich families could afford consoles. So with the lack of hardware units sold they probably needed to make up the cost with expensive games. Hardware never really turned profit until the 360 and PS4 consoles came out due to them using older and cheaper tech.

 

That is false.

 

Many kids had a Super Nintendo, but most only had the big sellers like Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Super Mario RPG. A lot of kids I went to school with never played or had a Sega Genesis (Megadrive). When the PlayStation 1 hit the market that is when you started to see gaming reach out to the mainstream. The PlayStation 2 is still one of the best selling consoles of all time, and I would argue it had the best variety when it came to having decent AAA/AA titles.

 

The focus now is moreso on the graphics and the presentation than it is on the gameplay and the substance. Take away the impressive graphics of God of War 2018, I would say it's a rather mediocre game. Most of The Last of Us Part II is basically all story and cinematics. It annoys the shit out of me when I play a game and half of my time is spent on cinematics or cutscenes. Then when I try to skip all those cutscenes I have to face loading screens! Uncharted 4: A Thief's End was a pain in the ass because of this and it made the speedrun trophy a chore.

 

Dark Souls in my opinion has the best balance between graphics/presentation and gameplay/substance. It still looks great, but the presentation isn't much so where it takes away from the gameplay. The gameplay is deep and compelling with a rich combat system. Many games have tried to copy Dark Souls, but very few if any have perfected the formula.

 

13 hours ago, DaveMcDamage said:

Also back then. EA used to be one of the best game devs/publishers out there. Always churning out gold games to play, which is why its shit to see them go the way they did. But I still don't get that about EA. the studios they buy don't rarely sell games in the multi-millions, so after the cost of buying out, development then closing down, they must surely lose a lot of money. If they just stuck to the EA sports they could probably continue to make vast profits. 

 

That was back in the 1990s, which was a long time ago. In the 2000s they started becoming publisher of companies like Westwood Studios and Maxis. Both companies are gone because EA sucked them dry.

 

I tried The Sims 4 and it is a complete fucking travesty. Certainly nothing as good as the original Sims and it's expansions. The Sims 2 was a lot more enjoyable. But The Sims 4 just reeks of corporate greed. I see no replay value with that game.

 

2K Games is also shitty. Bethesda of late has been a shitty company after the disaster that was Fallout 76. I doubt they'll even release The Elder Scrolls 6 in a decent time frame, they'll probably try to delay the release date and make some excuse as to why it's been taking so long.

[EcoShifter]

Naughty Dog

Can legitimately write an essay on why. The OP barely scratches the surface with this studio (yes the studio, not just Neil).

 

EA

What they've done with Visceral Games and Dead Space alone (which includes not reactivating the series during a time when survival horror games—Alien Isolation, Dying Light, Resident Evil series, The Last of Us series, etc—are evidently thriving) is enough to put them on the list, but obviously it's not all that's wrong with them.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by EcoShifter

[Datboy1991]

On 8/8/2020 at 6:16 PM, DaveMcDamage said:

Hi everyone, 

 

So this thread is all about what dev teams and/or publishers you hate, but more on a personal stand rather than because of game quality as such. 

 

Now people could say EA Games, but then have about 10 games on their played list. Don't get confused by this, its no different to hating your employer but at the end of the day you have a roof over your head and pay the bills because they give you a wage etc etc. 

 

So for me it would be....

 

Naughty Dog

Now on PS3 I played the first two Uncharted games but hated the MP modes on U2. A bit later and U3 and Last of Us arrived but I was burnt out and couldn't be arsed to play them. How happy was my pants when I saw that the PS4 had the Uncharted trilogy but without the online crap. Played them, loved them, went to move to Uncharted 4 *record scratches and comes to a stop*.

 

Now I read up on the online stuff for U4 and when I saw things about updates that nerfed players weapons as to sell microtransactions I was sickened. Couple that when ND responded to a gamer who questioned there unfair tactics and was told if he wants to succeed he should buy there MT's. It put me off so much I'm not sure I could ever play an ND game again. I despise this pay to win system, especially when 100% of games (ages specific or not) are all aimed at kids, and to tell them if they want to win then they should buy there way... its just a sad mentality to live by. 

 

2K Games

When all that shit kicked off and governments were actually stepping in to class loot boxes as gambling, Belgium were to first country to act on it and outright banned them. 2K Games then wrote a letter to address gamers to speak to there government if they wish to continue to have awesome games and not be restricted by financial resources. Fucking disgusting!

 

 

 

 

 

Rockstar-their games are always among the best of the best in a given year, but they’ve decided they want to milk GTA online for microtransactions instead of making a new GTA game. It’s been 7 years since GTAV and we still don’t even have an announcement for a new game. 

 

Games like SW Battlefront 2 and Middle Earth Shadow of War made major improvements after being roasted for the cash grabs that they were, but the cash grab/P2W in GTA online goes on. 

[Juzota]

Why would I spend any energy for hating? That's fucked up.

[DaveMcDamage]

7 hours ago, CountOfTuscany1 said:

 

Rockstar-their games are always among the best of the best in a given year, but they’ve decided they want to milk GTA online for microtransactions instead of making a new GTA game. It’s been 7 years since GTAV and we still don’t even have an announcement for a new game. 

 

Games like SW Battlefront 2 and Middle Earth Shadow of War made major improvements after being roasted for the cash grabs that they were, but the cash grab/P2W in GTA online goes on. 

Well on original release they did state that GTAO would be around for many years. They could have made even more money if they added extra maps. The original map is nice but even after 3 years it got stale. 

 

I reckon GTAO will be the last of its kind anyway. Cannot see them beating it, and even to this day the single player content didn't even come close as entertaining as what San Andreas was. If we see a single player GTA game ever again I will be surprised. Not shocked, just surprised as they know what they can get away with now. 

[DeadlyPerfume]

EA completely destroyed two of my favorite IPs, The Sims and Dead Space. At least the latter is dead, the former continues to exist as a soulless zombie version of itself devoid of charm and originality so that they can resell the exact same expansion packs that should have been part of the base game by now and crank out stuff packs for $20 each. 

 

Wouldn't say I hate them, but the way Bethesda massacred Fallout hasn't endeared me to them either. 

[PalaceOfLove706]

I hate to call out any company individually but morally speaking, any publisher that is DLC crazy annoys me a lot. 

[TJ_Solo]

1 hour ago, PalaceOfLove706 said:

I hate to call out any company individually but morally speaking, any publisher that is DLC crazy annoys me a lot. 

 

Vague.  I like. 

[Bloodytears1666]

From recent - Paradox, fu bastards!

[DaveMcDamage]

16 minutes ago, Bloodytears1666 said:

From recent - Paradox, fu bastards!

You can give a big 'Fuck You!' to RGG too. RNG abusing bastards!

[LancashireLad87]

Without question from a morality standpoint it has to go to EA with their shoddy business practices, especially FIFA. As a Northern lad, football is a big part of my life so naturally I've played many FIFA games in the past. However FIFA games in general are not what they used to be, the difference between say FIFA 19 and FIFA 20 is simply a few extra teams, maybe some balancing tweaks, slightly updated graphics and bang call that the next FIFA.

 

The problem here is YouTubers with a mass following will influence the masses and thus people will buy their games regardless of their quality which subsequently makes the developers lazy because they think they can add tiny features to a game and because it has FIFA in the name people will automatically purchase it. Then we get into the micro-transactions, unless you're one of the top players in the world, the main online mode (Ultimate team) is pay to win not pay to play.

 

An average player is not going to win with a full bronze/silver team against people who have poured over 10 grand with a full icon/legend team. I recall reading an article where a mother purchased FIFA 20 digitally for her son, unaware that her card details are automatically stored on the PS Store and her son who was a young teenager, perhaps 13 years old and spent 4 grand on FIFA packs. 

 

What really winds me up is EA are adamant that there games are not 'gambling' when they clearly are a glorified slot machine, heck even governments are getting involved around the world. Hence why I refuse to play FIFA.

 

[Crzy Minus]

Hate is too strong for a word to throw out there, but that being said:

 

Fuck Gearbox Software

[its_ArchroniX]

I'm simple man

 

I see Epic games:

I hate Fortnite

I hate Epic games for making it

 

[LoveInHell]

2KGames cause they’re money wolves, like everyone’s opinion.

 

I was going to say Activision and anyone who makes Call of Duty cause that series went to complete shit cause they fell in love with money. But Activision still has good games like Sekiro, Crash Bandicoot, ... So I don’t hate them, Call of Duty is horrible now tho.

[Reinachii-]

On 09/08/2020 at 11:29 AM, Spaz said:

Konami

 

Once a great video game company that made such classics as Contra, Castlevania and of course Metal Gear Solid. Decided to ditch Hideo Kojima in favor of making games for slot machines found in various casinos.

 

Horrible company with horrible practices.

 

EA

 

We all know why we hate them. They took what made Westwood Studios, Maxis and Viscereal Studios great and drove them into the ground.

 

EA Access is a joke. They also do a poor job of properly testing their games before releasing them on the shelves. Madden is one such example. EA is on the board for live service games, something that I have very strong feelings against.

 

Blizzard/Activision

 

Blizzard was a great company, once voted as one of the best companies to work for in the United States. Nowadays they seem content on laying off a lot of their employees.

 

With the disaster that is Warcraft 3 Reforged, Blizzard/Activision seems to enjoy pissing off a lot of their fans. Diablo 3 marked the start of their decline. Now they are far from the days when Blizzard marked a quality game.

 

2K Games

 

One of the worst publishers out there. Money grubbing company that only cares for results. Fully in support of microtransactions and lootboxes. Many of their games range from okay to downright mediocre.

 

NBA 2K20 is a good example of what I hate in today's video game industry. Marketing and sales is the game in a nutshell.

Didn't realise Konami made slot machines for casinos.

 

EA, agreed. 

 

Blizzard.. ooof. Warcraft 3 is still one of my favorite games ever made. Wouldn't touch reforged with a 10ft pole. Again agreed. 

 

Bethesda.

I enjoyed fallout 3 a lot. Nothing else. Except Prey(did they develop? Or just publish?)

 

Any company that makes terrible games for trophy whores. ^~^.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Reinachii-

[NotExactlyHuman]

Any company that's crazy about microtransactions. Pay to win simply shouldn't exist.

 

I'm not a fan of Konami because of the way Silent Hill has been treated. An amazing horror franchise with endless possibilities now reduced to slot machines. Ridiculous.