Double fine's new game "Keeper" has launched with under 200 players on steam.

Everyone who listened to at least one rock album in their life needs to play Brütal Legend.
This might be the funniest and coolest piece of any media Jack Black was ever part of (and he was part of mister show).
It was great, until you got to the strategy battles from a third person view. Very awkward and just not fun. That's not the game I wanted to play.
 
It was great, until you got to the strategy battles from a third person view. Very awkward and just not fun. That's not the game I wanted to play.
I know some people had a hard time with this type of gameplay.
It was very minimal rts mechanics still, you could almost win only playing with your hero. Really not a good reason to deprive yourself of the game imo, but im biased i grew up with only metalheads around me so i think the game is worth it for the muscial references alone.
 
Easily one of the best experiences of the year. Shades of the glory days of That Game Company. Just wonderful.
Too bad That Game Company fell off hard with their take on a journey-like live service game with Sky: Children of Light. That thing is a just a machine to funnel money while delivering the bare-minimum amount of content.
 
I thought Jusant was great.

I haven't played that one yet (I actually have it installed on my Ps5).
But from the videos I've seen it actually seems to have some interesting mechanics. I've always liked the idea of climbing in games where you actually have to think about what you are doing, as opposed to what we get in most modern AAA games where it's basically auto piloting for you.
 
I do not see the appeal of Double Fine's games, and that's certainly not changing with this one. Glad to see I'm not alone.

I've always held that DF's the Apple of videogames. It's artsy-fartsy nonsense of actually dubious quality that owes the entirety of its recognition to guys who like to think enjoying it elevates them to distinguished status.

I guess that's a profoundly negative viewpoint, but hey - it's grounded in reality. The numbers don't lie. I think this one might have been their last.
People have different tastes. I had the great displeasure once of playing Fortnite at a friends kids birthday. Literally the worst game I've ever played, I seriously don't understand how that thing makes billions.
 
Double Fine have released a lot of games I enjoy. I've completed Brutal Legend twice and enjoyed going back to it. Comparatively I've tried going back to games from Supergiant like Bastion and Transistor then found them to be not nearly as fun as remembered them and carried hard by the soundtrack and aesthetic. Supergiant are supposed to be kings of gameplay and Double Fine the "superficial" arty studio who can't do gameplay but that isn't how I found it at all. Brutal Legend plays 100% better than Transistor in every way.
 
Personally I think both DF and Ninja Theory are fine. They run small teams and both have put out possibly the best looking Unreal 5 content ever made. Minimal investment could lead to massive success someday for both of them.

XGS were all purchased individually, not in bulk like Bethesda or Activision. And I think both are working on multiple projects.
I'd agree if MS wasn't being so aggressive with Xbox. So while your over thoughts make sense they don't make sense when your company is also trying to invest in AI. Will see what happens during the next rumored layoffs but I wouldn't be surprised to see DF there.
 
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I dunno, there wasn't a lot of wiggle room in this statement. Probably chased away some customers.
 
None of this is shocking.

I played the game for about 30 minutes. It's a generic indie walking simulator that is clearly made for gaming journalists and other people who don't like video games. There's no real gameplay or creativity in anything it does. This is the perfect example of the larger "indie slop" problem that has infected gaming over the last decade, where mediocre indie games get praise despite them bringing absolutely nothing interesting to the table.

I have no idea why Double Fine hasn't been closed yet.
Everything they do is just so shit.

Everything in the bolded is what I hate about comments from gamers in this industry. The hate and disdain people like you have for games like this is disguising. It's the "if I don't like it, it shouldn't exist" mentality that's so horrendous with the dialogue of us gamers.

I wish yall would stop doing this, but yall won't unfortunately. :messenger_crying:
 
This is the quintessential Game Pass game
Was Journey the "quintessential" game pass game? Patapon and it's sequels? Katamari and all it's spin offs? Parappa? Loco Roco? Stop using that shithouse sub service as an excuse for why a quirky little game fails or why it was allowed to be made, cause it doesn't matter to Microsoft- they will shut them down as it didn't move the needle for game pass.
 
Was Journey the "quintessential" game pass game? Patapon and it's sequels? Katamari and all it's spin offs? Parappa? Loco Roco? Stop using that shithouse sub service as an excuse for why a quirky little game fails or why it was allowed to be made, cause it doesn't matter to Microsoft- they will shut them down as it didn't move the needle for game pass.

Sony made plenty of games over the years that didn't make money. Yoshida said only 4 out of 10 games they develop actually make money. Those make enough to fund projects that they know are not going to make money, but they make the games anyway to create a broader library of games. Same here. Not every game made has to "move the needle". So I don't need a "shithouse sub service as an excuse" for something that has been the case for years. And you seem to miss my overall point that Microsoft shouldn't shut down any studio for making a game like this when they know damn well it isn't going to sell, especially when they don't put any marketing behind it.
 
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And you seem to miss my overall point that Microsoft shouldn't shut down any studio for making a game like this when they know damn well it isn't going to sell, especially when they don't put any marketing behind it.
Fair enough. My bad for missing that point. I just hate hearing that gamepass is the reason and ONLY reason these types of games exist. Steam has a tonne of weird, quirky games from indie devs that will probably never get seen or make a lot of money (might not even make ANY money) yet are passion projects that are out there.
 
According to the other thread, more people are playing Magic Pussy: Chapter 3 concurrently than this.

So smut games are more profitable than Double Fine in 2025?

Damnnnn Xbox should start an adult only gamepass service lol

You are leaving money on the table, Phil.
 
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Personally I think both DF and Ninja Theory are fine. They run small teams and both have put out possibly the best looking Unreal 5 content ever made. Minimal investment could lead to massive success someday for both of them.

XGS were all purchased individually, not in bulk like Bethesda or Activision. And I think both are working on multiple projects.

Tango Gameworks was very possibly MS's cheapest studio to run cause it was small and Japanese salarymen earn famously low wages. They put out a critical review darling that sold quite well which should certainly have been fairly profitable given their size. And we know what happened to them.
 
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Tango Gameworks was very possibly MS's cheapest studio to run cause it was small and Japanese salarymen earn famously low wages. They put out a critical review darling that sold quite well which should certainly have been fairly profitable given their size. And we know what happened to them.
Trust me, I don't agree with their decision on Tango. One of my favorite studios ever. I don't know what their reasoning is.

Supposedly they were inbetween projects, which is why I did point out that NG and DF both have multiple projects. Also being the only studio in Japan could require some additional logistics staff that they just didn't want. Stupid call in my opinion. Also, Mikami just left and he ran the studio. I guess we'll see.
 
you guys...

for whatever reason, double fine's opted to go the 'wholesome family entertainment' route. & microsoft's been willing to foot the bill up till now, & that's about it. double fine has nothing to prove, & is simply doing whatever they feel like doing, &, thanks to ms & game pass cash, couldn't care less what any of the rest of us think. i say power to them (tho i personally haven't enjoyed anything they've done since the original psychonauts almost 20 years ago)...
 
Everything in the bolded is what I hate about comments from gamers in this industry. The hate and disdain people like you have for games like this is disguising. It's the "if I don't like it, it shouldn't exist" mentality that's so horrendous with the dialogue of us gamers.

I wish yall would stop doing this, but yall won't unfortunately. :messenger_crying:

I'm pretty sure these guys also conveniently and ironically criticized MS for disbanding Tango Gameworks.. It's always a one-sided, tribalistic, and/or egotistical low-iq perspective with some of these people.
 
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Sony made plenty of games over the years that didn't make money. Yoshida said only 4 out of 10 games they develop actually make money. Those make enough to fund projects that they know are not going to make money, but they make the games anyway to create a broader library of games. Same here. Not every game made has to "move the needle". So I don't need a "shithouse sub service as an excuse" for something that has been the case for years. And you seem to miss my overall point that Microsoft shouldn't shut down any studio for making a game like this when they know damn well it isn't going to sell, especially when they don't put any marketing behind it.
Sony quite ruthless with those who make commercially unsuccessful games, they doesn't really fond of leechers
Thatgamecompany was on their own and did run into financial troubles even though their games were successful

Trust me, I don't agree with their decision on Tango. One of my favorite studios ever. I don't know what their reasoning is.

Supposedly they were inbetween projects, which is why I did point out that NG and DF both have multiple projects. Also being the only studio in Japan could require some additional logistics staff that they just didn't want. Stupid call in my opinion. Also, Mikami just left and he ran the studio. I guess we'll see.
Mikami left and MS probably didn't trust much to people who remained.
 
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Same for the industrial/commercial construction industry. Microsoft letting these "auteurs" run wild and they're producing bomb after bomb. Hellblade 2, South Of Midnight, Everwild, Perfect Dark, Scalebound, Contraband, and this game. Where the hell is Fable and State Of Decay 3? These developers get under Microsoft and all of the sudden become "slugs". We have a saying about that kind of behavior in my trade. "Hide & Seek for a $1000 a week."
100% true. Same goes for my industry... consumer goods/manufacturing. Funny how every industry has the same thing happen isnt it?

They are under the wing of billion dollar corporations, so as you said it's easy to fly under the radar doing junk until eventually someone finds out or puts some focus into it. You just need people to dig into the details and inform. On the other hand, if these small indie games are their own independent studio and that's the only game they are focusing on, everyone has no choice but to focus on it.

Sales teams are like that. Everyone at the company has their eyeballs on the big account teams, so they got nowhere to hide, since everyone from execs down to the warehouse managers want to know what's going on with Walmart and Costco. But nobody is going to give a shit who or what goes on at Highland Farms or Pharmasave. Some of the accounts are so small, even the directors dont even know what kind of sales they do or which broker salesperson even works on the account. So small, they dont even have an internal employee working on it. It's packaged out to third party brokers. But they sure will know every detail what's going on at the Amazon team.

So every person working in these small fry teams can coast if they are lucky enough to get a long leash. Even if they dont hit their targets, nobody notices or if the company still did great so who cares about grilling the small accounts. Everyone have a good Xmas and let's all be happy and back in January as the company hit wall st numbers.

So for anyone working in an office, there's perks working on the big accounts and projects since it gets noticed. And if you do great, you'll probably get a promotion out of it. But for those of you who want less stress and possibly execs and finance and other depts not noticing you as your numbers never hit the radar and you can sit at the back of the room knowing nobody will ask you questions in big meetings, work on those small leftover kinds of accounts.

Just note at some point someone will notice your small account. After everyone scrutinizes the big $400M accounts, eventually someone will eyeball your $4M account and ask whats going on and why things are tanking.
 
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I'm pretty sure these guys also conveniently and ironically criticized MS for disbanding Tango Gameworks.. It's always a one-sided, tribalistic, and/or egotistical low-iq perspective with some of these people.

Low-IQ perspective is the perfect phrase. They'll like some obscure Japanese game that sells 400,000 units, but act like Double Fine as a company shouldn't exist. It's insane.
 
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