Friday - August 2, 2024

Daily Digest

• "Bad faith" discourse "not worth engaging with", Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws creative director says (Eurogamer).
  • JR's Thoughts: Ubisoft has had a bad week dealing with stupid arguments from, well, stupid people. Last week they apologized because a bunch of people are mad that their new game Assassin's Creed: Shadows isn't historically accurate enough. It's almost as though the animus or the assassin's or templars have never been real, quite a revelation. This week, conversations about race have now shifted to gender, as Ubisoft is facing "backlash" for, well, the protagonist not being beautiful enough? Yeah, ok. I agree with Julian Gerighty, even if I am still skeptical about the Ubisoftiness of the upcoming title. Check out some previews!
• Mobile developers describe working with Apple Arcade as a "very difficult and long process" (GameIndustry.biz).
  • JR's Thoughts: The problems with Apple Arcade run a lot deeper than the gaming platform. Everyday I see developers complaining about Apple's App Store review processes on social media, and the lack of support that exists for publishing and promoting their apps. For a platform fundamentally driven by apps, Apple doesn't seem to care all that much about the individuals and teams that build these apps unless they are forced to. It's especially puzzling when new launches like the Vision Pro live or die by the availability of apps and games, and according to this report Apple still has failed to provide adequate support.
• Tossing out textures to build a visual bridge from Hyper Light Breaker to its predecessor (Game Developer).
  • JR's Thoughts: An excellent interview everyone should check out. No thoughts here - do yourself a favor and read it!
• Roblox's revenue and player count go up, up, up in Q2 (Game Developer).
  • JR's Thoughts: Money Printer Inc., ahem, excuse me, I mean Roblox, just keeps growing. The game, which can only really be described as a metaverse, is a an absolute goldmine of user generated content - and Roblox has figured out excellently how to monetize it. What they haven't figured out, however, is costs. They are still losing money - in the range of $200+ million in Q2. That's projected to increase in Q3. It'll be interesting to see where this company is headed - I can only hope it's not in a direction of severe cost cutting where player safety for the majority under-18 player population is compromised. Time will tell.

That's all for today! If you have a topic or news item you want featured on the newsletter - hit me up at jeremy@gamesbeat.news.