all 4 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 8 points 1 year ago

Real fans of the series will surely follow it wherever he takes it. Right guys?

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I wonder when he'll ask how potential buyers feel about having malware installed with the game.

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Can’t imagine them taking a deal not to put it on PC

    Console exclusives usually only deal with Xbox vs PlayStation

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Just when I consider giving the franchise a chance again, this idiot had to open his mouth.

    The only time I ever use my epic account is to claim free games and never play them just to cost Epic money to punish Tim Sweeneys garbage behavior.

  • source
  • 75 comments in c/games@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 70 points 1 year ago

    Customers already told them this by not buying on Epic and waiting 6 months to a year to buy on Steam.

  • source
  • [–] 76 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Pitchford is the only person in the industry that seems to love the smell of their own farts as much as Tim Sweeney

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Johnathan Blow comes to mind.

    Peter Molyneux is still top tier delusional, and has a lot of incredible popcorn material.

    I don't know the drama completely, but the Star Citizen folks. Don't have any names to rattle off.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 95 points 1 year ago (26 children)

    I find it endlessly amusing how popular Randy thinks the Borderlands games are.

  • source
  • hideshow 26 child comments
  • [–] 31 points 1 year ago (25 children)

    They're objectively extremely popular.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 25 child comments
  • [–] 50 points 1 year ago* (22 children)

    They are objectively less popular with the newer stuff.

    Tiny Tina's Wonderland is at 25% for recent reviews, 70% overall. That's not glowing. And with their new ELUA a lot of people are planning to boycott. I don't think Borderlands has the pull it once did.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 22 child comments
  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    And with their new ELUA a lot of people are planning to boycott.

    I hope so, but i was expecting more people to boycott Nintendo, and yet the switch 2 was the fastest selling console of all time. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone does the old "I'm sure it's fine if I get a copy"

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I think people on the internet vastly overestimate the support these boycott movements actually have. For every person here or wherever else saying they're not buying a switch, there's 10,000 parents buying one for their kids, or people that just wanna play mario kart with their friends.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago*

    And typically the boycotters weren't even the sort of people who were buying a switch 2 to begin with. Maybe there's a subsection of them that will result in some loss of sales but it would be in the fraction of a percent. There's no surprise to me when gamer boycotts fail.

    With that said, the sales were unexpectedly high. Maybe people trying to get ahead of potential future tariffs were the reason. I thought cost of living was fucked and nobody could afford anything.

    I'll be waiting for the inevitable OLED refresh anyway.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago* (5 children)

    There's also just a substantial number of people that were just astroturfers, I think.

    There's been a LOT of crazy attacks on the switch 2 to try to 'justify' a boycott. I think my two favorite was that the gamechat button noise when you hit is actually saying saying a slur, or maybe that the rumble turns off after a while not to protect your hands from the rumble (which has been found to be bad for you), but because Nintendo cheaped out on a rumble motor that overheated too easily.

    The switch 2 joycons don't have a rumble motor. Like, it's a whole thing they're super proud of, because it's so precise they just use the rumble really fast to play music instead of having a speaker.

    Honestly, the whole idea of trying to boycott nintendo has pretty much always been over astroturfed bullshit, or just outright bullshit.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Nintendo gives us so many legitimate reasons to not want to give them money. Who do you think would be behind astroturfing? To my knowledge, it doesn't usually come in the form of being against one company but in being against a piece of legislation or regulation. People on Lemmy are probably just predisposed to being willing to go against the mainstream when it starts turning shit, or else we'd still be on reddit.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    So what are those reasons, that make you think people should boycott Nintendo and not other companies, then?

    Because I suspect most of them are not as legitimate as you might be thinking, and now I'm curious.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)
    • They put their money towards suing the shit out of emulation projects and removing ROM sites.
    • This is compounded by the fact that they won't even sell you those ROMs anymore. They only make them available to rent in perpetuity. People are rightly skeptical of a future where Microsoft only makes their games available via Game Pass rather than it just being an economical option, but Nintendo is already doing the thing that people are afraid of.
    • They're the last holdout that won't put their games on PC in an era where console exclusivity doesn't make sense anymore. There's no reason to play Zelda at 20 FPS and 360p when, at the time of release, my PC was already quite capable of running the game at acceptable resolutions and frame rates. This is just willfully selling people an inferior product when they have the ability to deliver a better one. Then they have the gall to charge their customers, who already paid $70, even more for an upgrade to finally run those games at acceptable performance on their next console. And in case you think this is me justifying piracy, I didn't pirate the game; I didn't play it at all.
    • I'm a competitive fighting game player, and the way they fight against their own fans for trying to compete in Smash Bros. is atrocious.
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)
    1. They sue and go after emulation projects/ROM sites for modern content just as much as Microsoft and Sony do, MS/Sony just get a pass for some reason. Probably because people try to pirate current-gen content less for them, but they do the exact same thing every time it happens. Nintendo (and, it must be said, MS/Sony) don't really go after the old stuff for the most part. Also, it must be said that several times that emu/ROM sites were shut down and Nintendo was blamed it turned out it wasn't actually Nintendo. Same thing with that whole streaming copystrike issue- turns out it was some random company taking down gameplay videos, not Nintendo.

    2. Sony already does this too, yet again they pretty much universally get a pass for making you permanently lose almost all (if not all) your stuff if you let your sub lapse. Even if you resub, you don't get it back.

    3. In my opinion this is just a bad faith argument. Of course they're not putting their games on PC, they would cannibalize their own sales. Trying to pretend that you should boycott Nintendo for not actively destroying their own economic model is certainly A Take.

    4. Entirely fair. My understanding is that they're getting better at this, but after the shitshow that was brawl that's a low fucking bar. I could point out that smash bros isn't actually Nintendo (it was HAL, then Sora, then Bandai) but like... lets be real here, it's Sakurai running the show, and Sakurai basically is working for Nintendo even if he isn't employed there lol.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    Nintendo (and, it must be said, MS/Sony) don’t really go after the old stuff for the most part.

    They absolutely do. And again, I probably wouldn't mind if all of the sites they shut down were hosting games that could be legally purchased in a consumer friendly way, but they can't. Shutting down the Switch emulator built on ill-gotten code is one thing; buying out the legitimate Switch emulator is a super dick move.

    Sony already does this too

    Thanks for reminding me. I don't think of Sony much at all, honestly, but they do tend to lock their retro games behind a subscription, some of which can only be played that way. I think they tend to be time-limited and eventually return to sale in most cases? So not quite as bad as what Nintendo does, but still not admirable. I know you went in a different direction with this, but their subscription incentives are theirs to decide; I just hate it when something is only available via subscription when it doesn't have to be.

    In my opinion this is just a bad faith argument. Of course they’re not putting their games on PC, they would cannibalize their own sales. Trying to pretend that you should boycott Nintendo for not actively destroying their own economic model is certainly A Take.

    Boycott is a strong word. All of the other reasons I don't buy their stuff is because of what they do with the revenue that I would give them, but in this case in particular, it's because I don't buy bad products when I can instead buy good products. I'm certainly not about to spend $530 plus sales tax to play Tears of the Kingdom at acceptable frame rates on a machine that's going to sit under my TV collecting dust when I'm done with the game. I already have a PC that could run it if they made it available there, and it would still run it better than Switch 2. Of course they're doing what they're doing because it's more lucrative for them, but if that's not aligned with what matters to me, then I'm not inclined to give them my money. There are so many other games out there worth playing instead that respect me more as a customer.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Tiny Tina is a spin-off, and I doubt the EULA changes will result in much more than the Modern Warfare 2 boycott. Borderlands 3 still sold multiple millions of copies before it even had its first discount, and over 15 million copies total. It was still in high enough demand after an Epic exclusivity period to get hundreds of thousands of concurrent players when it eventually launched on Steam. It's one of very few multi-billion dollar franchises in video games.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    That's a fair call on Tiny Tina being a spin off, but with it and the movie kinda tarnishing the name it seems like a bit of an uphill battle.

    3 did well, but the game before and after it didn't. Add in people having less money to throw at this stuff and it being "a real fans" price, possible exclusive deals, etc. I just think it's putting up it's own road blocks constantly. The franchise isn't hot and it's fresh off the Borderlands movie joke.

    IMO They should fire this wide and fast, keep the price low and sell it everywhere, earn back that trust and good will. Make people fall in love with BL again.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Also Tiny Tina was actually a fuckin blast to play through. It doesn't drag like some of the main games do, the humor is actually fun because you're basically playing a game within a game and it works as far as D&D stuff goes imo.

    Also I actually liked being able to customize my character for once. I don't know about the other voices, but I actually really liked the douchey/cocky voice I ended up going with. There are some fun lines for different quests and such.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Yeah, not just being diffent colors of the same hero was a really nice change.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    When has this series ever been that?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The writing in two was really good. I didn't and still don't care who got the writer's WiiU, I just cared that the story was fun.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    the writer’s WiiU

    I'm assuming this is an autocorrect, but I can't figure out what the word is supposed to be.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    No, it's a sad tale that would be amusing if it wasn't real people, and has occupied a lot of brain time at 4chan and among gamergate-involved persons. If you want to know more, knowyourmeme has a reasonably objective article.

    My understanding is the drama from resulted in him leaving before BL3 was written

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Borderlands 3 sold over 20 million, that's pretty significant even if it is less than 2. The overall quality has certainly gone downhill, but sales is all the companies care about. In my experience boycotts by people who know what's going on behind the scenes never amount to anything - it's always the potential buyers who don't know or care about that stuff that ultimately determine whether a game's successful or not.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago

    Boy, they really are pulling all the stops in trying to make the game shit, aren't they?

  • source
  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    The ego on this guy is just unprecedented. It's Borderlands, most people can take it or leave it.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    My take is that Borderlands 1 was boring, Borderlands 2 had decent game play but was held up by excellent writing and characterization and every Borderlands game since has been trying to recapture the magic of the second game but just feels hollow. They aren't terrible, but they aren't amazing either.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Why are people taking this even remotely seriously? This is Pitchford doing marketing for BL4. BL3 already showed people don't want Epic exclusivity and there's no such thing as Steam exclusivity. They can choose to release exclusively on Steam but that's just artificial exclusivity because nothing about Steam prevents them from releasing on Epic or GOG.

    It's a pointless poll made by Pitchford either to keep BL4 in the media cycle or to just shit stir, possibly both.

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There are Steam exclusives, but it's because the publisher chose it to be that way, not because of any incentive by Valve.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    That's what I mean by artificial exclusivity. There are games where the developer or publisher decided it's the only platform they will release on but that kind of "exclusivity" is not at all the same as Epic paying developers or publishers to not release on Steam. Valve/Steam doesn't prevent those games being released elsewhere, the developers/publishers themselves don't want to.

    I could understand smaller (I'm talking literal solo devs or studios with less than 10 people) choosing to be exclusively on Steam. Supporting other platforms can have huge overhead costs for them. But for a studio the size of Gearbox there's no benefit to being exclusively on Steam. They have enough support staff to manage multiple stores. There maybe be suits wondering if it's worth being exclusively on Epic but there are no suits sitting around wondering whether to be exclusively on Steam or not, the answer is obviously not.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Any chance he’s putting the question on social media to convince other stakeholders above him?

    It’s possible he was in a board meeting when some novice shareholder suggested “What if you take an exclusivity deal”? And he just didn’t have clear evidence on hand of that being vastly unpopular. Obviously that could be me being overgenerous to him.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Pitchford is a cunt when he wakes up, and when he goes to bed he reviews a checklist to make sure he still retains the appropriate level of cunt in his daily routine.

    He's not doing anything unless it makes Randy Pitchford more rich, or alternatively, makes sure he's still a cunting waste of life.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    There is a chance but what is he convincing them of? That they should take a non-existent exclusivity deal with Steam? They already have the data that exclusivity with Epic does not work and Steam doesn't do exclusivity deals.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    5.6% of [respondents] users said they wouldn't pre-order [on Epic] knowing it would influence exclusivity, 2.7% said they would.

    They really brought in those big dollars with making Borderlands 3 a timed exclusive on Epic. A whole 9%. Meanwhile, 91.6% of respondents preferred Steam. Bravo, Randy. Bravo.

    Disappointingly, 53.9% still would buy it on Steam if it influenced exclusivity going forward. Even if it is Steam—which has a record of providing better service than its competitors—exclusivity helps nobody.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Randy's twitter poll was stupid. He should have asked "if BL3 is exclusive, will you buy it on that platform?" With the options

    • Yes, if it's steam
    • Yes, if it's Epic
    • No
    • STFU Randy, your breath smells like farts
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago

    He's the dumbest CEO you've ever heard.

  • source
  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago*

    Doesn't matter if you wait a year or two to get it at the non-hype price with full content included

  • source
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    Better if they don't, as they don't deserve people's money.

  • source
  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Fucking don't. Put them on GoG.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I long for the era when fans who were asked if they would swallow future exclusivity deals would stare blankly and say, Wat?

  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    So has fire insurance on game company office buildings, but fans never cared about it or boycotted games over it, etc.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    He can put them in the bin for me. Honestly don't see the appeal.

  • source
  • How does that guy still have a job?

  • source
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Randy can swallow my dick.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I'm just here to say my god, that article was horribly written!

    If this is what humans are cranking out, maybe I should reconsider my opinion of LLMs.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Borderlands games aren't good enough for exclusivity deals. Nintendo's aren't, either but in their defense, you don't have to try very hard to entertain an 8 year old.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Gatekeeping gaming brands, are we?

    How dare I, a middle-aged person, enjoy Zelda, Mario, Splatoon, Donkey Kong etc.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] -6 points 1 year ago*

    If I were gatekeeping, I would've mentioned companies that don't use shotty business practices and their profits for frivolous lawsuits as alternatives.

    I was calling out dumb, impulsive consumers. You here for the convention?

  • source
  • parent
  • [+] -8 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    I didn't even touch this game when they were giving it away for free because of the privacy issues

  • source