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[RCU005]

With Concord failing massively and now with the mixed reception from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, plus other games like Dragon Age:Vailguard, Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc. Would it be more convenient for devs to go back announcing games years in advance? Okami Sequel was announced before even starting production, but that's a game many were happy about. Fumito Ueda's game doesn't even have a name yet. Kingdom Hearts 4 was also announced before starting production.

The failure that was Concord, even though it is documented that they were smoking opium for thinking that it was going to be the future of PlayStation, It got me thinking that they should've showed it much earlier. The very first trailer was just a hamburger, that doesn't even have to do with anything, and the actual trailer could've been the first teaser, maybe shorter, or just showcasing the characters or the world. That first trailer got a massive bad reception, but it was only months before the game release. Had they showed it much earlier, or at least what the game was about, they would've had time to change some things.

After all, Sonic movies got to be very successful because they listened to people and changed Sonic's design.

Cyberpunk 2077 also was able to do a 180, but only after they started taking feedback seriously. I remember before launch they were very arrogant, as If after the Witcher 3, everyone would've bought anything from CD Project Red.

Sony's own PS3 was able to turn around when they started focusing on gaming and forgot their arrogance.


I know that this time is different because many games are being subjected to "wokeness" and maybe studios will react to that, but it will take several years to start seeing those changes. Except if they start showing their games earlier, so that people can see what they are doing before they lose $400 million dollars.

If Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet fails, Sony will have to do some serious restructuring of their studios, because it seems they are riding fully the wave of DEI.

 

[Fahdis]

Focusing less on political agendas and keeping them as a minimal background of the character would help. Your character is gay, queer, trans, race derivative? I don't give a shit, focus on the story and the circumstances that isn't pushing ideology of their "personality" on my face. I'll play the game if the narrative and story keeps up with the world's setting. It's that fucking easy.

 

[howitis3]

Western devs how no way out of dei at this point. It is what it is.

 

[March Climber]

Would it be more convenient for devs to go back announcing games years in advance?

No.

Okami Sequel was announced before even starting production, but that's a game many were happy about.

Don't worry, the whining will commence after 3 years of wait. Unless Kamiya's new clovers dev team pipeline is insanely fast, People will think the game is in development hell after 3 years.

Fumito Ueda's game doesn't even have a name yet.

People are already saying they probably won't see this game for 10 years.

Kingdom Hearts 4 was also announced before starting production.

Another game that people are noticing is just missing. Will it release this decade? No one knows.

The above reveals were more hype because they had prequel games and franchises that people have fond memories of. Intergalactic has nothing to go by but a CGI trailer. They should have waited one more year to do a simultaneous gameplay reveal or a Kojima style 15+ minute trailer.

Also, what Capcom just did is a big gamble. They stopped doing it because it caused problems for them last gen, but it seems like their confidence is back enough to begin announcing games more than 1 year away again.

The failure that was Concord, even though it is documented that they were smoking opium for thinking that it was going to be the future of PlayStation, It got me thinking that they should've showed it much earlier. The very first trailer was just a hamburger, that doesn't even have to do with anything, and the actual trailer could've been the first teaser, maybe shorter, or just showcasing the characters or the world. That first trailer got a massive bad reception, but it was only months before the game release. Had they showed it much earlier, or at least what the game was about, they would've had time to change some things.

They were going to stick to their vision regardless of reception. The only thing that they could have potentially done to save it is add some sort of campaign mode, but that still would not have saved it's issues of price and art.

After all, Sonic movies got to be very successful because they listened to people and changed Sonic's design.

Concord isn't a 30 year old franchise. There wouldn't be a large enough fanbase to provide such a comparable impact.

Cyberpunk 2077 also was able to do a 180, but only after they started taking feedback seriously. I remember before launch they were very arrogant, as If after the Witcher 3, everyone would've bought anything from CD Project Red.

Cyberpunk's issue was different and I recommend looking up why. That E3 reveal gameplay was completely made up. It gets crazier from there.

Sony's own PS3 was able to turn around when they started focusing on gaming and forgot their arrogance.

It was already on shelves. Edit: Actually wait. "Focusing on gaming" wasn't PS3's problem at all, it was the price point and cell processor being benign to devs. The gaming thing became XBOX's problem halfway through the gen when they suddenly focused more and more exclusives on the Kinect rather than traditional experiences...lol what the hell are you talking about?

 

[LectureMaster]

mixed reception from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, plus other games like Dragon Age:Vailguard, Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc.

My man those games have mixed receptions not because of Concord, it's just that they are controversial.

It has little to do announcement timing, it's about your product. Folks excited about Okami not because it announced at a good time, but they look forward to a good game with no bullshits.

 

[Crayon]

No, but good lookin' out.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Don't forget Indy.

It's not just obvious DEI games.

Anyway, I think people are just getting overly sensitive snowflakes in general and everything that is just a tiny bit outside their line of thinking is a complete issue.
This isn't exclusive to pronouns or 'strong female leads'.

 

[nial]

Sony's own PS3 was able to turn around when they started focusing on gaming

You completely lost me there, what are you even talking about?

 

[Gilgalaad]

The title of this thread should be « bald reception »

 

[Kotaro]

Even if the developers got audience feedback early, would they really change course???.... too many cases where developers just dismissed market feedback, insulting their audience, 'this game is not for you' 'if you don't like it, don't buy it' etc etc

Just read all the Sony/ND dummies on this forum, they stubbornly insist ND should stay the course

well it's Sony's 300 million dollars they're gambling on. I'm just gonna keep laughing at the train wrecks and play other games

 

[Ozzie666]

Perfect opportunity for a strong male lead Asian character or an actrive Asian female, you somehow combine both and end up with nothing.
Good job.

This game has a much better chance of overcoming the main character then Concortd or DA ever did, Naughty Dog usually delivers. I'm still waiting for Last of us spin off with Abby though.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I bet Sony is regretting not keeping Intergalactic for one of their State of Plays. All games were overshadowed by Witcher 4, some even more than Intergalactic. Remember that Borderlands 4 was also revealed?

As for the player's reaction, it was always going to be like this. In my opinion Naughty Dog is going to get burned, it's not a sequel or a returning IP so it's even more important to cater to as many players as possible when making a 200mil+ game.

 

[Sebastian1295]

We've seen a trailer of a new ip with a bald woman and we're suddenly saying the game is DEI. People accused indian jones of DEI, GTA 6 of DEI 'there was a thread about it on here', the witcher 4 of DEI, and ghost of yotei of DEI. How about judging the game when it comes out first instead of immediately going DEI DEI on every single game nowadays. Like if a game is woke i'm not buying it but man i at least give games a chance first before i immediately doom a game or label it as woke.

 

[Generic]

With Concord failing massively and now with the mixed reception from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, plus other games like Dragon Age:Vailguard, Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc. Would it be more convenient for devs to go back announcing games years in advance? Okami Sequel was announced before even starting production, but that's a game many were happy about. Fumito Ueda's game doesn't even have a name yet. Kingdom Hearts 4 was also announced before starting production.

The failure that was Concord, even though it is documented that they were smoking opium for thinking that it was going to be the future of PlayStation, It got me thinking that they should've showed it much earlier. The very first trailer was just a hamburger, that doesn't even have to do with anything, and the actual trailer could've been the first teaser, maybe shorter, or just showcasing the characters or the world. That first trailer got a massive bad reception, but it was only months before the game release. Had they showed it much earlier, or at least what the game was about, they would've had time to change some things.

After all, Sonic movies got to be very successful because they listened to people and changed Sonic's design.

Cyberpunk 2077 also was able to do a 180, but only after they started taking feedback seriously. I remember before launch they were very arrogant, as If after the Witcher 3, everyone would've bought anything from CD Project Red.

Sony's own PS3 was able to turn around when they started focusing on gaming and forgot their arrogance.


I know that this time is different because many games are being subjected to "wokeness" and maybe studios will react to that, but it will take several years to start seeing those changes. Except if they start showing their games earlier, so that people can see what they are doing before they lose $400 million dollars.

If Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet fails, Sony will have to do some serious restructuring of their studios, because it seems they are riding fully the wave of DEI.

I'm under the impression the criticism of Intergalatic mostly comes from people who never had the intention of playing it. It happened with Last of Us 2; lots of criticism, reviewbombing etc but in the end the game was successful because the fans loved it.

 

[Cakeboxer]

If Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet fails, Sony will have to do some serious restructuring of their studios, because it seems they are riding fully the wave of DEI.

Don't worry, it won't fail. Critics love anything ND and Sony's mutli million marketing will take care of the sales.

 

[Pandawan]

Blaming the timing of the announcement for these failures is like if an overweight person wants to lose weight, but he blames the timing, he eats, not the amount (I shouldn't eat after 6pm... and eats a ton of burgers before 6pm)

It has nothing to do with the timing of the announcement. People are just sick of patronizing and preaching in the games they play. People just want games they like and that it. And these out-of-touch developers are giving the opposite of what players want, and also harassing players for not liking it.

Games that give players what they want are always well received. Just look at the reception of the Path of Exile 2 or Kindgdome Come 2 trailers and you'll understand what developers have to do to make their games loved.

 

[Pandawan]

Don't worry, it won't fail. Critics love anything ND and Sony's mutli million marketing will take care of the sales.

Who even listents to the critics in 2024. Dragon Age The Veilguard and Star Wars Outlaws were too well recieved by critics and this games still failed. Star Wars even tanked Ubisoft. And Concord had multi million budget too. Nothing is guaranteed even for Naughty Dog. People are really not liking this Intergalactic game. 70% dislike rate on all of the uploads of its trailer. Who will Sony market this game to? To the 30% players left? Well, and they will get the 30% sales numbers compared to the previous Nughty Dog games.

I won't buy it, and i bought Uncharted 4, and The Last of US 2 at release day. And i believe a lot of people who played all of the previous Naught Dog games feel this way, that this game is not for them. They lost a customer and i belive all of the people who disliked the trailer feel the same way. They want to compensate this loss by atraction of the "modern mass audience" instead? Well, good luck with that. Concord tried, Dragon age tried, Star Wars tried and it turned out this "modern mass audience" don't buy games that much.

Of course Intergalactic would not fail like Concord, this 30% of people who liked the trailer will make them a few million sales. But this would be much much much more less popular game that any other Nughty Dog game, with probably the biggest budget of them all. And Sony will struggle to even get the money they spend back. I think so.

The multi million marketing probably will still work for them to eventually get their money back, but is this what they want with their games now? Invest millions to struggle to get it back?

 

[CashPrizes]

Love Naughty Dog, there last mediocre game was Uncharted 3. Last of Us 2 plot yeah isn't the magnum Opus that LOU1 was, but the game is still amazing.
Main character being bald is not a big deal, get over it. Certainly not a reason to call for a boycott or whatever. If, as we learn more about the game, it turns into a DEI woke festival, that would be unfortunate. But if the gameplay and story are still great I will platinum it with no regrets.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

CP2077 did a 180? The only reason people think this is due to the Netflix show they fell back on.

 

[Neff]

Western devs how no way out of dei at this point. It is what it is.

This. Once you take the step of wholeheartedly endorsing woke, you're also potentially at the mercy of it because you've surrounded yourself with people propping up a very flimsy and disloyal ideological house of cards. The moment you raise your hand and dare to say 'well, wait a minute, what if we just-', you'll inevitably be stabbed in the back. You've got no choice but to keep on truckin'.

Main character being bald is not a big deal

I feel the same. She's not great to look at in-game, but I'll reserve judgement until we've seen more of her persona. We really know nothing about her yet.

 

[Fbh]

I get your reasoning, but you are assuming western devs will react to negative feedback about their character design. They won't, if anything it will make them double down.

Don't forget a lot of western devs actively dislike the core gaming audience. The only way you'll see them change a design is if you can convince them it's offensive.

That said I also don't think Intergalactic will do poorly. It's still ND, it will still get a ton of marketing and it will probably score in the 90+ range. Maybe it won't sell as well as TLOU since it's a new IP, but I doubt it will flop

 

[realwords]

We've seen a trailer of a new ip with a bald woman and we're suddenly saying the game is DEI. People accused indian jones of DEI, GTA 6 of DEI 'there was a thread about it on here', the witcher 4 of DEI, and ghost of yotei of DEI. How about judging the game when it comes out first instead of immediately going DEI DEI on every single game nowadays. Like if a game is woke i'm not buying it but man i at least give games a chance first before i immediately doom a game or label it as woke.

Pretty much the long and short of it. If your trailer has a human other than a white/Chinese/Korean/Japanese dude or a hot white chick, the “GAMERSSSSS!” will call it woke DEI babble.

There’s no winning the court of online public opinion with the lot. Just make a dope ass game and ignore the YouTube comment hubbub.

 

[Drake]

I get your reasoning, but you are assuming western devs will react to negative feedback about their character design. They won't, if anything it will make them double down.

Don't forget a lot of western devs actively dislike the core gaming audience. The only way you'll see them change a design is if you can convince them it's offensive.

That said I also don't think Intergalactic will do poorly. It's still ND, it will still get a ton of marketing and it will probably score in the 90+ range. Maybe it won't sell as well as TLOU since it's a new IP, but I doubt it will flop

Or stop buying the product. At the end of the day these companies need to keep the lights on and pay their employees somehow. Hurt them where it hurts the most, in the pocket book.

 

[Humdinger]

Well, Intergalactic was announced years in advance.

I doubt Druckmann will change course based on negative feedback, though. That's not in his personality. He sees himself as an artistic visionary and the anti-woke crowd as ignorant bigots. He will not compromise his artistic integrity for the sake of the masses - that is how he sees it. Negative feedback will bounce off him, be rationalized away, brushed off, perhaps even used to confirm to himself what a visionary he is (do not all visionaries face headwinds, he will ask). And he's in a privileged position at Sony, having led so many of their successful core franchises through the years. As long as he keeps putting asses in the seats, Sony won't put real pressure on him to change course.