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[kruis]

So weird that Bamco would buy this no name team. Elden Ring is now Bamco’s war chest for these adventures I guess.

Reflector Entertainment is yet another studio based in Montreal, Canada. There are dozens upon dozens of games studios based there. This could either mean that French Canadians are extremely good at creating games which of course attracts studios or that the province of Quebec spends ridiculous amounts of tax money subsidizing games development in Quebec so that even below average or even outright bad devs and artists manage to stay employed in this field.

----------------------------

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2022/01/04/1068916102/how-subsidies-helped-montreal-become-the-hollywood-of-video-games

The generous government support for multimedia companies helped Quebec establish itself as what's been called the "Hollywood of Video Games." Ubisoft Montreal is now Ubisoft's largest studio and one of the largest video game production studios globally, with more than 4,000 employees. Just last year, Amazon Games, Quantic Dream, and the previously mentioned miHoYo all announced plans to set up studios in the city.

But the policy of subsidizing multimedia companies has had its share of critics. Those critics often argue that the tax credit mainly helps foreign corporations, which come in and set up satellite offices to take advantage of generous taxpayer support. Labor activists accuse the gaming companies of treating many workers poorly. Even more, critics argue, the subsidies are distortionary, arbitrarily giving multimedia companies an unfair advantage in recruiting local talent. Local tech companies complain they're having a hard time recruiting skilled workers because so many of them are going to work for the subsidized multimedia sector.

Supporters of the subsidies respond that the policy attracts employers from around the world and creates thousands of great jobs that wouldn't otherwise be created in Quebec. Those workers pay taxes and spend their paychecks at local businesses, which makes Quebec's economy stronger. In 2017, a spokesperson for the Quebec government told The Gazette that the multimedia sector creates so much economic activity that "the tax revenue for the government of Quebec generated by the sector is greater than the expenditure related to the tax credit."

The tax subsidies may be distortionary, giving an arbitrary advantage to one industry over others. But, at the same time, they seem to have worked in helping to establish Montreal as a video game hub. Over the past couple of decades, a whole gaming ecosystem has sprouted up around the city. Local universities now have programs dedicated to game development (Concordia University, for example, has an official partnership with Ubisoft to provide a course on game design). This offers a consistent local talent pipeline to the more than 200 studios with roots in Montreal, and it may draw more game developers to the city. Game executives often cite Quebec as having the most attractive combination of labor subsidies, a specialized workforce, and a thriving ecosystem of like-minded gaming entrepreneurs and vendors.

With this ecosystem now thriving in Quebec, the natural question is whether the government can begin scaling back its generous subsidy program. Quebec tried to do this back in 2014, amidst a broader effort to reduce spending and balance its budget. Policymakers wanted to cut the multimedia tax credit by 20%. But even this relatively modest proposal faced a swift backlash from gaming studios. Some studios — including Ubisoft — threatened they'd leave the city. Quebec ended up backing down. The tax bill on creating video games in the province has ballooned even more since then. It seems the "Hollywood of Video Games" may continue to be built on a foundation of generous taxpayer support.

 

[Punished Miku]

Any chance you can link me? That was one of the best trolls ive fallen for, I want to see more

Sure, link in the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

You should have seen his Cyberpunk 2077 bit. Took up 17 posts in a row.

Cyberpunk 0 was pretty badass, especially that heist mission where the Edgerunners try to steal the frankincense from baby Jesus’ stable.

 

[kikii]

Lmfao, this is legit the first actual ad I’ve seen for this game, and it’s on a neogaf thread trashing it

ads are based on ur search history

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I bet most of the people playing it got it bundled with an AMD CPU

 

[winjer]

I bet most of the people playing it got it bundled with an AMD CPU

I bet sites like ebay are going to get full of AMD Reward codes, because of this game.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Twice as many people work on this dev team than at Falcom.

 

[SolidQ]

Lmao, he's trying

BIGOTS. NEED. TO. GO! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 THE LGBTQIA+ WILL STAND WITH UNKOWN 9, DON'T LET THE BIGOTS WIN!!! 💝💝💝 :: Unknown 9: Awakening General Discussions

No! I will NOT let these racists bigots get to us this time! They're a minority, a very loud one at that! They've already come to these forums to spread hate, misinformation, racism, bigotry, homophia and many other things! I have enjoyed this game so so much! It's Kims masterpiece and should be...

steamcommunity.com

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

unemployed 9: the cockening

 

[Thief1987]

Damn incels ruined another developer. Hurry up and buy their game or you want them to lose their job?

 

[tommib]

Lmao, he's trying

BIGOTS. NEED. TO. GO! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 THE LGBTQIA+ WILL STAND WITH UNKOWN 9, DON'T LET THE BIGOTS WIN!!! 💝💝💝 :: Unknown 9: Awakening General Discussions

No! I will NOT let these racists bigots get to us this time! They're a minority, a very loud one at that! They've already come to these forums to spread hate, misinformation, racism, bigotry, homophia and many other things! I have enjoyed this game so so much! It's Kims masterpiece and should be...

steamcommunity.com

This is trolling.

 

[Dazraell]

This is trolling.

It's enough to read first letter of each paragraph to see they're trolling

 

[Lions Gate]

 

[SolidQ]

This is trolling.

That's obvious

 

[GHG]

It's quite telling that it's so offensively bad that people are leaving bad reviews for it even after getting it for free.

 

[tommib]

It's quite telling that it's so offensively bad that people are leaving bad reviews for it even after getting it for free.

Almost all reviews are from people who got it with their cards. Absolutely nobody is getting this.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Almost all reviews are from people who got it with their cards. Absolutely nobody is getting this.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's quite telling that it's so offensively bad that people are leaving bad reviews for it even after getting it for free.

Makes sense. If someone left you a turd at your door, you'd be pissed too. lol

 

[mdkirby]

2024 will forever be remembered as the year of the big budget woke bomb.

They panic bought during the pandemic when everyone thought gaming was going to grow exponentially forever, and that there was some huge “modern audience” that could be tapped by putting diverse girlbosses in everything.

The saddest part is you KNOW so many weak men (and women) thought this shit was terrible, but they kept their mouths shut out of fear. Releasing their game to the general public is the first time they’ve been exposed to honest, unfiltered criticism. It’s no wonder these games are bombing horribly.

Yerp pretty much. Times change too, and the window has slammed hard the other way in the last 18 months, but games take so long to make we’re seeing the impact of that now

 

[mdkirby]

ads are based on ur search history

Good point

 

[mdkirby]

This is why I pay for gold membership!

Keep planning to turn forgetting, don’t really care about ads but I use the site enough they should really have some of my money.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Place your bets: which one will be the biggest Sweet Baby flop of the year?

 

[Thief1987]

Place your bets: which one will be the biggest Sweet Baby flop of the year?

Isn't it Dustborn?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Isn't it Dustborn?

AFAIK Sweet Baby wasn’t involved with Dustborn

 

[Boo Who?]

I got this shit for free, and I still won't be playing it

LOL, same.

 

[Dusktildawn48]

How's it going guys? Did they turn a profit yet? Gotta have getting close!

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I had Unknown 9 at 501-1000 CCU. A couple hundred away.

 

[Thief1987]

I had Unknown 9 at 501-1000 CCU. A couple hundred away.

Won't reach it. 400+ maximum.

 

[kikii]

AFAIK Sweet Baby wasn’t involved with Dustborn

yeah but check those devs ^^

 

[Bernardougf]

It really shines after the third playthrough

 

[GHG]

It really shines after the third playthrough

A gamepass addition and a 3rd playthrough will make this title game of the generation in some eyes.

 

[kruis]

Won't reach it. 400+ maximum.

I think it's already peaked at 285 concurrent players. CCU is 220 players right now.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I think it's already peaked at 285 concurrent players. CCU is 220 players right now.

Usually games hit their weekly peak on Sunday, so that’ll be the true test. Then again maybe this game made such a horrible first impression that it will never recover.

 

[Fake]

AMD is so desperate these days lmao.

 

[Buggy Loop]

AMD is so desperate these days lmao.

This game came bundled with Space Marine 2 for AMD GPUs & CPUs

Who the hell is gonna boot Unknown 9 before space marine 2..

 

[Fake]

This game came bundled with Space Marine 2

 

[Goalus]

113 concurrent users on Steam right now.
Best Steam review I could find says "It looks like a PS5". So it seems the game is indeed garbage.

 

[winjer]

AMD is so desperate these days lmao.

These deals are made a long time in advanced. So there it's hard to know how good or bad a game will be.
AMD is offering in the same bundle Space Marines 2. And that became one of the best games of 2024.

Last year, I got The Callisto Protocol and Dead Island 2.
I loved Dead Island 2, and it became one of my favorite games of that year.
But The callisto protocol was a piece of crap. So I only played it for a couple of hours and then gave up.

 

[Fabieter]

Will there be a OT for this game on gaf?

 

[tommib]

Will there be a OT for this game on gaf?

Not even Era has one.

 

[Fabieter]

Not even Era has one.

Okay that's weird.

 

[winjer]

Okay that's weird.

Is it even worth having an OP?
No one is playing this game.

 

[Fabieter]

Is it even worth having an OP?
No one is playing this game.

I joked for neogaf but I was sure era would do one.

 

[winjer]

I joked for neogaf but I was sure era would do one.

Era is about political propaganda. Not about playing and enjoying videogames.

 

[Thief1987]

I joked for neogaf but I was sure era would do one.

Their review thread didn't even reach the second page. There is no point in making OT because seems like modern audience doesn't care about the games for modern audience.

 

[xcalibersa]

How is this woke? And what did sbi really do?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Won't reach it. 400+ maximum.

Even you might be optimistic! It's at 192 now. Still hasnt even topped 285 all time high. It might not even do 300!

I thought 501-1000 should be a gimme. If Concord still got 1,000s this game should had got half that. And I didnt even know about the AMD freebie offer, which would be bonus copies putting it over the top!

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Even you might be optimistic! It's at 192 now. Still hasnt even topped 285 all time high. It might not even do 300!

I thought 501-1000 should be a gimme. If Concord still got 1,000s this game should had got half that. And I didnt even know about the AMD freebie offer, which would be bonus copies putting it over the top!

It’s down like 25% vs the same time yesterday. That means it’s almost certainly peaked already. Put a fork in it.

 

[RCX]

They're all so scared to really review it. Leads to 6 and 7s when it should be 3s and 4s. And yet it'll sell jack shit.

In the meantime I share a hilarious steam discussion with you:

 

[Bloobs]

Not even Era has one.