Brett Deister dives into the current landscape of gaming, highlighting the impressive launch of Path of Exile 2 and the rising popularity of free-to-play titles like Marvel Rivals and Delta Force. He shares his personal impressions of these games, discussing their gameplay dynamics and market performance, while also comparing them to established titles. The episode features an exploration of Intel's new second-gen XESS 2 technology, which aims to rival existing graphics enhancement tools. A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the shortcomings of Western gaming developers, who Brett argues are failing to understand their audience and are losing ground to Asian developers and indie studios. He emphasizes the negative impact of predatory monetization practices and a 'woke' gaming culture, suggesting that these factors are adversely affecting player satisfaction and engagement.
Takeaways:
- Path of Exile 2 has launched successfully, demonstrating strong player engagement and market dominance.
- Marvel Rivals and Delta Force are free-to-play games that are thriving in the current market.
- Western gaming developers are struggling due to a disconnect with gamer expectations and experiences.
- Predatory monetization strategies from some developers lead to player dissatisfaction and declining player counts.
- Intel's second-gen XESS 2 technology shows promising performance improvements over existing competitors like FSR.
- The current gaming landscape favors developers that prioritize fun and player-centric design over ideological agendas.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Intel
- AMD
- Epic Games
- Blizzard
- NetEase
- Ubisoft
Review the Podcast: https://pod.link/1055772631
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00:00:01 --> 00:00:04 And welcome to a new episode of Digital Coffee
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Marketing Brew. I'm your host, Brett Deister.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 If you could please subscribe to this podcast
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 on all your favorite podcasting apps and leave
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 a five star review. It really does help. But
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 this week we're talking about a whole slew of
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 things that are going on plus Path of Exile 2
00:00:21 --> 00:00:25 apparently is taking off. Surprise shocker or
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 whatever you might say about that Let me give
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 them my impressions of Delta Force and Marvel
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 rivals because they came out this week Because
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 that's what you do. You just come out this week
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 Just a whole bunch of free -to -play games and
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 then we'll kind of match them to their corresponding
00:00:39 --> 00:00:43 Game that's similar to them. So Marvel rivals
00:00:43 --> 00:00:48 to overwatch to Delta Force to Battlefield 2042
00:00:48 --> 00:00:55 also entails new second gen X, E, S, S, two talking
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 about that and how it actually might be better
00:00:57 --> 00:01:02 than AMD FSR. Basically, it's just a. It's just
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 a frame generation, downscaling, upscaling to
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 make your game run a lot quicker. So we're going
00:01:08 --> 00:01:13 to be talking about that as well. And then my
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 main thing of like why Western gaming developers
00:01:16 --> 00:01:20 and publishers don't understand gamers and why
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Chinese developers are winning. Right now it's
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 gonna be a fun thing with a bunch of interesting
00:01:26 --> 00:01:34 things going on, but let's get on with the show
00:01:34 --> 00:01:48 Mmm, that's good All right, so first up, Steam
00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 has set a new record with over 39 million concurrent
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 players. That is a lot of players playing a lot
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 of different games. Yes, it's a new milestone
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 for them, and it's great to see it, even though
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 a lot of people or a lot of businesses are, I
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 want you to say Epic hates Steam because it won't
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 play by their rules, everything like that. It
00:02:09 --> 00:02:13 is a good indicator that it is a healthy ecosystem
00:02:13 --> 00:02:17 within Steam because this is a new milestone
00:02:17 --> 00:02:21 for them. Plus with all the new games coming
00:02:21 --> 00:02:25 out and new games actually here, including Marvel
00:02:25 --> 00:02:29 Rivals. We also have Delta Force. We also have
00:02:29 --> 00:02:34 Path of Exile 2. We also have Indiana Jones if
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 people are playing that or not. I really don't
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 have no interest in whatsoever, but the most
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 played games currently are Counter -Strike 2,
00:02:42 --> 00:02:46 followed by Dota 2, Path of Exile 2, and that's
00:02:46 --> 00:02:50 just a bunch of them. Plus, you got games like
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 Marvel Rivals and Delta Force that are in the,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 at least Delta Force is in 100 , Marvel Rivals
00:02:56 --> 00:03:01 is in around the 400 , yeah, over 400
00:03:01 --> 00:03:05 marks, so it's doing quite well. Also, Delta
00:03:05 --> 00:03:10 Force is doing well for its particular genre.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:17 your shoes are the bigger ones but this is specifically
00:03:17 --> 00:03:22 what we're looking for it is great now Delta
00:03:22 --> 00:03:28 Force was number 18 as opposed on SteamDB and
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 then Marvel Rivals top seller was number three
00:03:31 --> 00:03:35 you can see where I'm going with this yeah it's
00:03:35 --> 00:03:39 quite interesting where this is all going but
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 It's good to see that Steam is actually doing
00:03:42 --> 00:03:50 really well. And moving on. So moving on to Path
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 of Exile 2 and it tops the Steam chart as the
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 best seller. I just checked on SteamDB and it
00:03:54 --> 00:03:59 was number one as a top seller when it actually
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 was officially launched. It is what people are
00:04:02 --> 00:04:06 thinking of Dark Souls meets Diablo 4 or Diablo
00:04:06 --> 00:04:11 specifically is one of those very intricate games
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 that a lot of people are just looking for it
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 is going to be free to play but if you want to
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 play it right now the second one not the first
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 one you can play the first one for free but the
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 second one you will have to purchase there'll
00:04:22 --> 00:04:28 be $30 or more depending on which I guess which
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 which tier you get for that one so if you do
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 want to play this game it is you have to purchase
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 something as of now but once it does come out
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 out of early access it will be free to play so
00:04:40 --> 00:04:45 that's a great thing for that but is beating
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 everything out of the water it is funny just
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 how these none these just regular games that
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 gamers like are doing really well and all these
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 developers that seem to want to be very woke
00:04:56 --> 00:05:00 for being woke are doing terribly because they
00:05:00 --> 00:05:06 don't understand gamers as a Pose to table for
00:05:06 --> 00:05:10 right now has only nine thousand seven hundred
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 and seventy one players playing at this moment
00:05:13 --> 00:05:18 this all -time peak was two months ago at fifty
00:05:18 --> 00:05:24 five thousand five hundred sixty one so Again
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 your Terrible monetization stuff. This is happening
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 with blizzard 2 overwatch 2 has terrible monetization.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 It's very predatory We don't like it. Stop it.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 You do know you can do better than this. And
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 this is the problem that a lot of people are
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 having right now is why are you being so predatory
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 on a lot of your things that I have to purchase
00:05:47 --> 00:05:51 a bunch of different things. If you guys were
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 just better at it and just look at Marvel Rivals,
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 Marvel Rivals monetization is actually pretty
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 good. It's a one to one for the free credit to
00:05:59 --> 00:06:03 the premium credits. you can't the battle passes
00:06:03 --> 00:06:07 never expire so I won't so no one ever has FOMO
00:06:07 --> 00:06:14 and it's just more fun game but this is where
00:06:14 --> 00:06:18 we're at it's the problem with western developers
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 now is they're trying to figure out how to fleece
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 the customer instead of saying hey let's make
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 the game fun first and then put in monetization
00:06:26 --> 00:06:30 options that don't seem so predatory The problem
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 is they keep on doing this and they will always
00:06:33 --> 00:06:39 lose. Gamers don't like this. All right, moving
00:06:39 --> 00:06:46 on to Intel's second gen or new XE -SS2. It's
00:06:46 --> 00:06:51 basically DLSS or FSR. It's the competitor to
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 those two and supposedly it's supposed to be
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 pretty good. It's going to be better, supposedly
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 better than FSR right now because it will use
00:06:59 --> 00:07:03 similar to what DLS is using for AI. So it's
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 going to be using AI frame generations and doing
00:07:06 --> 00:07:10 a better job of that as opposed to AMD FSR3.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 I think a new AMD's new one, whenever it's coming
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 out, it's going to be AI as well. But right now
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 it looks like Intel is going to be better at
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 it than AMD, but we'll see how good it is against
00:07:23 --> 00:07:27 DLSS. It could be on par with DLSS. But we're
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 not quite sure about that until they actually
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 fully come out. But supposedly it's supposed
00:07:32 --> 00:07:36 to be really good. It's supposed to help with
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 just gaming at high frame rates instead of low
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 frame rates, which is always a good thing. Now,
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 I don't know how many games are actually using
00:07:44 --> 00:07:51 Intel's actual XESS. God, I hate when they do
00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 these things. These are so bad. tech companies
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 can you please just make better names like these
00:07:58 --> 00:08:03 X, E, S, S, D, L, S, S, F, S, R, is just super
00:08:03 --> 00:08:10 annoying to say. Anyways, Intel claims the total
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 performance uplift are startling and the highest
00:08:13 --> 00:08:20 performance model running F124 at 2K, S, E, X,
00:08:20 --> 00:08:24 S2 upscaling combined with the new frame generation
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 feature boost performance from 40 frame 48 frames
00:08:27 --> 00:08:33 per second to a faintly stag staggering 186 frames
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 per second that's a 3 .9x uplift even using the
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 highest visual quality performance jump jump
00:08:41 --> 00:08:46 by 2 .8x to 136 frames per second so basically
00:08:46 --> 00:08:50 it was doing a really good job of having the
00:08:50 --> 00:08:54 highest profile for whatever graphics you wanted
00:08:54 --> 00:08:59 to on 2K, but still making it playable, because
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 that's what we're always having. We want to see
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 the pretty game, but you can't see a pretty game
00:09:03 --> 00:09:09 if it's a resource hog, but if EXS2 and DLSS
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 and FSR can help us with that, we'll try to do
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 that. Now I'm always saying this for probably
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 single player games, competitive games. Usually
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 just want to keep it on low just to make sure
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 you have the best frame rates I put Marvel Rivals
00:09:22 --> 00:09:26 on medium because I tried high and it froze every
00:09:26 --> 00:09:30 time Scarlet witch did her ultimate it just froze
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 and I had to get out of it and you shouldn't
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 you should try to reconnect I'm like I couldn't
00:09:34 --> 00:09:38 because you already found somebody else Anyways
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 moving on to my impressions of Marvel Rivals,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:47 so I played overwatch since it came out in 2016
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 it was a fun game no one knew how to play it
00:09:50 --> 00:09:54 it was just it was that fun newness of a game
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 where nobody cares what you play you just want
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 to win you just want to have fun now overwatch
00:10:01 --> 00:10:06 2 is basically all about metas all about picking
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 the right thing all about it's your all your
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 fault it's not my fault it's your fault there's
00:10:11 --> 00:10:12 a little bit of that marvel rivals are running
00:10:12 --> 00:10:17 to a few people on day two But it's that feeling
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 again, plus Marvel Rivals have done interesting
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 things with it. They've have destructible environments,
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 which I actually, I think it's fun to add a new
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 gameplay loop to it. They also have a slew of
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 characters. I do think they need to add, as always
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 what it seems to be with this games, add more
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 tanks and more support slash healers because
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 they just don't have enough. Everything is in
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 the DPS, but. the thing they get right is that
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 it's open queue. I feel like they should just
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 leave it at open queue. I feel like that's more
00:10:46 --> 00:10:50 fun that way because once Overwatch left open
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 queue, it wasn't as fun anymore because you couldn't
00:10:52 --> 00:10:56 figure out the best way of doing things and it
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 just left it bare. The great thing about Marvel
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 Rivals is that they haven't dumbed down all the
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 characters to make them accessible. A lot of
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 them have a high skill ceiling which you have
00:11:07 --> 00:11:11 to learn how to do it right. do well in the game
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 and some are low skill ceilings where you can
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 just do because they're easy to pick up and go
00:11:16 --> 00:11:20 and I like the dichotomy because that actually
00:11:20 --> 00:11:24 brings a certain set of nuance to it where you
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 want to be an expert in these types of characters
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 so you can be really good at them but if you're
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 new to the game there's enough of them to be
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 accessible where you don't have to feel like
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 you have to Grind to figure out how to play this
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 game. There is this really great balance of it
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 I do that a lot of the game modes are similar
00:11:43 --> 00:11:47 to The original overwatch song compared to the
00:11:47 --> 00:11:51 new one But there's no super tanks. You can play
00:11:51 --> 00:11:56 more than one tank. Thank God it which is rare,
00:11:56 --> 00:12:01 but the greatest thing is the I don't know I
00:12:01 --> 00:12:02 don't know what the term for it, but if you pick
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 one hero and you pick another hero, there's like
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 this synergy between them and you get an extra
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 bonus to it. I actually do that quite a bit.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:15 For example, you could play Hulk with Iron Man
00:12:15 --> 00:12:19 or Dr. Strange and get extra health. You can
00:12:19 --> 00:12:23 play Hulk with Wolverine and you can launch Wolverine
00:12:23 --> 00:12:29 across the map. You can play Thor with Storm
00:12:29 --> 00:12:33 and Captain America and you get like this extra
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 like electricity thing There's little extra things
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 you get with it, but not game -breaking things
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 with it and the alts feel great They don't all
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 of them. You still did like I said, you still
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 figure them out, but they're great Jeff The shark
00:12:47 --> 00:12:52 is the most annoying alt ever He noise the hell
00:12:52 --> 00:12:56 out of me, but fair enough. He basically has
00:12:56 --> 00:13:01 all You can gobble up your whole team into him.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 All the enemy team plus your team too. And you
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 can throw them off the side or suicide yourself
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 and suicide. Either the whole team or majority
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 of the team, which is great if you're on the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 opposing team and that happens to your enemy
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 team, but sucks if you're on that team. Hulk
00:13:19 --> 00:13:23 is great. Hulk is like a Winston in a way, but
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 not really. It's like a Winston D .Va type of
00:13:26 --> 00:13:31 mashup. We don't make our Black Widow, excuse
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 me. Black Widow is not overpowered. Hawkeye might
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 be a little overpowered. Might need to tweak
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 that a little bit more, but there are other characters
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 to get around to deal with it. There are no,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 as I know of real stealth characters. I think
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 Loki might be one in a way, but there's not really
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 any quote unquote stealth really in the game
00:13:51 --> 00:13:56 or stealth like Sombra stealth because The Psylocke
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 does have a stealth, but it's a time stealth.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 So there's none of that. So it all seems right
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 now balanced. It doesn't seem like it's very
00:14:05 --> 00:14:09 predatory. I can buy skins that I want to for
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 the characters for the most part. Most of the
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 major characters like Wolverine, Magneto, Iron
00:14:15 --> 00:14:20 Man, Thor, Captain America. Winter Soldier like
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 the Scarlet Witch you know these and plus they
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 have skins that you can buy from the movies as
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 well, which is very interesting and It just feels
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 like a fun game harkening back to the overwatch
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 one days where it was fun to play this the game
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 it's not so fun to play it now because they changed
00:14:36 --> 00:14:40 it so much they made it worse and I do think
00:14:40 --> 00:14:45 Blizzard has to get it together reduced the extreme
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 monetization and just the flagrant. I feel like
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 you just care about my money, not care about
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55 how fun I'm having. Just bring back 6v6. I'm
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 sorry. You got to bring back 6v6. 5v5 does not
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 work. I've said it since the launch of Overwatch
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 2, it's not going to work. You have to rework
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 too many characters. This just doesn't seem like
00:15:07 --> 00:15:12 a good idea. Tanks, basically, they have to survive
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 and live. or you get flamed on and it just isn't
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 fun anymore. There's no synergy. It's just a
00:15:18 --> 00:15:22 big team death match. It feels like a lot of
00:15:22 --> 00:15:26 time. So you need to work on that. Now moving
00:15:26 --> 00:15:31 on to Delta Force. Now Delta Force is a mashup
00:15:31 --> 00:15:36 between battlefield and escape from Tarkov, looter
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 shooters type of a thing. And it does it pretty
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 well. I'm not saying everything's great but it
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 does it pretty well. Now this is another one
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 and from another Asian developer I think NetEase
00:15:47 --> 00:15:53 is Korean and then the Delta Force one is Chinese
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 and so there is some controversy about the kernel
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 level anti -cheat system but the problem is that
00:15:59 --> 00:16:03 a lot of the cheats are kernel level in the game
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 so you have to beat it out by doing that in a
00:16:06 --> 00:16:10 way but beyond that It's still a fun, great game.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:14 I think the destruction's a lot better. I think
00:16:14 --> 00:16:18 most of the maps are pretty good for the most
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 part. I've been learning the other two new maps.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:26 Three? I think there's five total if you're playing
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 the battlefield side of it. I've only played
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 Attack of the Defenders. I haven't played King
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 of the Hill, which I think is Conquest. I'm not
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 really quite sure if that's Conquest or not.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:38 But it's called King of the Hill, so you have
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 two different modes on that one. You also have,
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 and I haven't played yet, the looter shooter
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 side or the escape from Tarkov side where it's
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 three people inserting in and you got to loot
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 and find loot and then leave. And then hopefully
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 you don't die because if you die, you get rid
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 of it. So I got to play that side of it yet.
00:16:55 --> 00:16:59 But my impression of the battlefield side of
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 it is that it's it's good. It's frustrating at
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 times because. You want you want to win. You
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 want your team to win. I gotta be better at that,
00:17:06 --> 00:17:10 but. Music keep a lot of things to myself, but
00:17:10 --> 00:17:15 for the most part it's. It's good like I've had
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 literally no problems when I played Battlefield
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 2042. I had a lot of problems. You had to put
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 it on the low setting just to make sure you had
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 consistent frame rates. There was a lot missing
00:17:26 --> 00:17:31 from Battlefield 2042, which means that EA probably
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 should have kept it in. development longer probably
00:17:34 --> 00:17:38 a year or two extra for it but the other problem
00:17:38 --> 00:17:43 is that at launch Delta Force beat out Battlefield
00:17:43 --> 00:17:48 2042. Battlefield 2042 peak 14 months ago was
00:17:48 --> 00:17:54 107 and about four hours ago all -time peak
00:17:54 --> 00:18:02 was 118 and it dropped quick. like it was
00:18:02 --> 00:18:08 like oh all -time peak and then it went to about
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 2 players and then when new seasons came
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 out you got a bump and then once and then they
00:18:14 --> 00:18:19 got bump again when I think they changed the
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 maps is when I got a huge bump again 102
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 players but now now you're not really seeing
00:18:24 --> 00:18:32 that anymore you're seeing oh about 16 players
00:18:32 --> 00:18:37 playing it. Not great. The problem is that it's
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 not really being supported anymore, so a lot
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 of people aren't playing it anymore, but it's
00:18:42 --> 00:18:46 not great that's there. But Delta Force, all
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 in all, are the operators cringe? Yeah, I'd rather
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 not have operators, to be honest with you. I
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 think it's just a bad idea to merge hero shooters
00:18:55 --> 00:18:59 with... This type of military shooter. I think
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 the gadgets should just be gadgets and they shouldn't
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 be abilities That's why my biggest problem with
00:19:05 --> 00:19:10 this. So is Delta Force? Almost like a really
00:19:10 --> 00:19:15 weird carbon copy of battlefield 2042 yeah, it
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 is a little bit and It's a shame, but I think
00:19:20 --> 00:19:21 it's actually a really good great game. I think
00:19:21 --> 00:19:25 it's it will have a long As long as they can
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 keep this up or this level of polish and make
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 sure that they add more maps to it, add different
00:19:31 --> 00:19:36 types of like maps for each of the modes and
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 maybe add more single player options. There is
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 a single player option that I haven't played
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 yet as well. I think it will do well because
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 you probably have a year or two before the new
00:19:45 --> 00:19:49 battlefield comes out. And at that point you
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 can make sure that you are solidified in regular
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 updates. and maybe eventually going to Unreal
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 5 engine. I know it's on the Unreal 4 engine
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 right now, which it's not bad. I mean, it's a
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 good engine. It's the engine that's pretty consistent,
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 because Unreal 5 is just not a good engine. I
00:20:07 --> 00:20:10 don't know what Unreal did. Maybe got too woke
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 with their, don't use block listing, don't use
00:20:12 --> 00:20:16 white listing. Anyways, I move on. All in all,
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 I think these two free -to -play games are a
00:20:18 --> 00:20:23 testament of knowing what gamers want and executing
00:20:23 --> 00:20:25 on that and then making sure your game is polished.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 You have enough betas and alphas to test it out
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 and make sure that it is good. And then you release
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 it. Unlike EA, which basically goes, hey, we're
00:20:35 --> 00:20:38 going to have a quote unquote beta before it
00:20:38 --> 00:20:42 releases. And then everybody's like, why is this
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 game broken? Oh, we're going to release it. And
00:20:44 --> 00:20:46 you're like, okay, no one's going to play it.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:53 Bye. But I digress. All right, so I really want
00:20:53 --> 00:20:57 to talk about the issue with Western developers
00:20:57 --> 00:21:01 and why Asian developers are winning and indie
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 studios are winning as well. And it comes up
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 time and time again. In the past year, we've
00:21:07 --> 00:21:13 had games just not, they've sacrificed gameplay
00:21:13 --> 00:21:17 design story to Quote -unquote wokeness, which
00:21:17 --> 00:21:23 basically means Pronouns making sure you say
00:21:23 --> 00:21:26 the right pronoun caring about pronouns caring
00:21:26 --> 00:21:30 about women being ugly for some odd reason Making
00:21:30 --> 00:21:34 women ugly in your games hating on gamers painting
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 that gamers hate your game because we told you
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 we don't want this then you decide to make it
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 and then you wonder why no one's playing it and
00:21:42 --> 00:21:47 It's just ideology over fun is never a good business
00:21:47 --> 00:21:51 strategy. You want, especially in this industry,
00:21:51 --> 00:21:55 you want fun as the pinnacle for it and you want
00:21:55 --> 00:21:59 to understand your customer. The problem is that
00:21:59 --> 00:22:01 Western developers do not understand their customers
00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 anymore. They hate their customers, actually,
00:22:04 --> 00:22:08 which is weird to hate your customer when your
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 customer is the one playing your game and buying
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 your game, making sure your game is supported
00:22:13 --> 00:22:18 for years. If you hate your customer, why are
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 you in this industry? I don't understand why
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 the people are in this industry. Let's just look
00:22:24 --> 00:22:32 at Star Wars Outlaws. All right, so the 24 hour
00:22:32 --> 00:22:35 peak amount of players playing right now is 1
00:22:35 --> 00:22:39 . Let's look at Star Wars Old Republic. Now,
00:22:39 --> 00:22:44 Star Wars Old Republic came out in 2000. 12,
00:22:44 --> 00:22:53 I think. Has 5 players. This game is an
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 old game. This is not new in any comparison.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 And it didn't come out on Steam at launch either.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:08 But it has a higher player count than the game
00:23:08 --> 00:23:12 that came out a few months ago. There's a problem
00:23:12 --> 00:23:19 here. Look at Dragon Age, Veilguard. It has right
00:23:19 --> 00:23:26 now 13 players playing it. Not good when
00:23:26 --> 00:23:31 your game came out on Halloween. Like both these
00:23:31 --> 00:23:35 games came out in October and they have abysmal
00:23:35 --> 00:23:39 player counts. Your game in two months should
00:23:39 --> 00:23:45 not be this far down. But the problem is, especially
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 with Dragon Age, you said, you know what, we
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 don't want your choices to matter from the past
00:23:50 --> 00:23:57 three games. We'd rather you make sure that your
00:23:57 --> 00:24:00 pronouns are good, that you can add top surgery
00:24:00 --> 00:24:05 scars and make sure that we preach to you the
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 value of saying the correct pronoun over good
00:24:08 --> 00:24:12 writing, good story development. And making sure
00:24:12 --> 00:24:21 your game is fun. But instead, no. Let's make
00:24:21 --> 00:24:31 sure that mispronouncing someone is bad. Because
00:24:31 --> 00:24:39 people love that. So much so that your peak couldn't
00:24:39 --> 00:24:48 even... Couldn't even go over 100 players.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 The all -time peak of Dragon Age Veilguard was
00:24:53 --> 00:25:00 89 . Couldn't crack 100 , which is not
00:25:00 --> 00:25:06 good. It shows that it was a major failure. Star
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Wars Outlaws when it finally came out on Steam.
00:25:09 --> 00:25:14 All -time peak was 2 and Ubisoft's mad at
00:25:14 --> 00:25:18 Steam for allowing player counts and maybe you
00:25:18 --> 00:25:22 should just made a better game You think? But
00:25:22 --> 00:25:25 these old games are showing the developers what
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28 gamers want what the quote -unquote modern audience
00:25:28 --> 00:25:31 wants and even the new ones coming out Path of
00:25:31 --> 00:25:41 Exile 2 Players right now is 568 . All -time
00:25:41 --> 00:25:46 peak is what I just said. It is crazy. Actually,
00:25:46 --> 00:25:51 the all -time peak was over a million. Marvel
00:25:51 --> 00:25:56 Rivals. It peaked at a little over 450 .
00:25:56 --> 00:26:02 It's right now at 437 . Delta Force. It peaked
00:26:02 --> 00:26:08 at 118 . Right now it's 116 . Like these
00:26:08 --> 00:26:09 things blew it out of the water and these are
00:26:09 --> 00:26:12 free -to -play games these are supposed to be
00:26:12 --> 00:26:15 those games that like monetize the crap out of
00:26:15 --> 00:26:18 you and it's such a The chore to play that you
00:26:18 --> 00:26:22 don't want to play it anymore But instead the
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 premium games from the Western developers are
00:26:25 --> 00:26:28 the chores to play and these games are not they're
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 the fun games to play because they don't beat
00:26:30 --> 00:26:37 you over the head with what's right Morals that
00:26:37 --> 00:26:40 they want you to have which really aren't true.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:44 Anyways, but they try to do it and then we have
00:26:44 --> 00:26:52 We just avowed because Microsoft and Xbox really
00:26:52 --> 00:26:57 want you Oh just to be terrible and have no fun
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 this game which by the way, I was excited when
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 this was announced now I just don't want to play
00:27:01 --> 00:27:05 it at all. So there's some questions from the
00:27:04 --> 00:27:08 everyone's product inclusion, our gaming for
00:27:08 --> 00:27:11 everyone's product inclusion framework. Some
00:27:11 --> 00:27:14 of these questions include what steps have you
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 taken to ensure characters are represented respectfully
00:27:17 --> 00:27:21 and authentically? Well, we haven't, because
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 we just write characters to how the story is
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 made or how the gameplay design is, and then
00:27:25 --> 00:27:30 we use them in a respectful way that is to the
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 story. Are you reinforcing any negative gender
00:27:34 --> 00:27:38 stereotype? Absolutely, because that's funny.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42 Are you unnecessarily introducing gender and
00:27:42 --> 00:27:46 gender barriers into your code or design? Absolutely,
00:27:46 --> 00:27:50 because F you. Are you creating playable female
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 characters that are equal in skill and ability
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55 to their male peers? Absolutely not, because
00:27:55 --> 00:27:59 male and females are not the same. Are your favorite
00:27:59 --> 00:28:03 female characters equipped with clothing armor
00:28:03 --> 00:28:06 that fits their task? Absolutely not, because
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 I'm the game designer and I decide what it is
00:28:09 --> 00:28:13 that is correct for my game. Do they have any
00:28:13 --> 00:28:16 exaggerated body proportions? Absolutely, because
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 I'm giving the player a choice. When the story
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 allows, do you show male characters to display
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 a full range of emotion? including joy, sadness,
00:28:25 --> 00:28:27 and vulnerability. Absolutely not, because I'm
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29 trying to actually make masculinity cool again,
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 and you're just trying to make it stupid. These
00:28:32 --> 00:28:37 are the things that need to end. And again, Asian
00:28:37 --> 00:28:41 developers get this. I don't understand why Western
00:28:41 --> 00:28:44 developers are just shooting themselves in the
00:28:44 --> 00:28:49 head going, look, I survived a murder. No, you
00:28:49 --> 00:28:53 did it to yourself. Please. For the love of God,
00:28:53 --> 00:28:59 Western developers, grow a pair, understand that
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 this is wrong, understand that gamers do not
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 want this, and if you do not stop, you will lose
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 business and you will go out of business. Ubisoft
00:29:09 --> 00:29:11 is learning a very hard lesson on this one right
00:29:11 --> 00:29:15 now, since it's reported that they probably will
00:29:15 --> 00:29:21 be privatizing it and selling it off. Because
00:29:21 --> 00:29:25 guess what? Creating games that nobody wants
00:29:25 --> 00:29:32 to play that scream like this Marxist hellhole
00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 that we've been living in, at least in the United
00:29:34 --> 00:29:37 States, for the past four years. Nobody wants
00:29:37 --> 00:29:46 it! Nobody! Gamers just want to... play games,
00:29:46 --> 00:29:48 we don't want you to tell us how terrible we
00:29:48 --> 00:29:52 are. Nobody wants to tell, nobody wants you to
00:29:52 --> 00:29:55 tell people how terrible they are just because
00:29:55 --> 00:29:57 they're gamers. I mean, because they're mostly
00:29:57 --> 00:30:02 male, so males must be hated. Like what, in what
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05 world is this a great marketing tactic? It's
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 a great marketing tactic if you want to kill
00:30:07 --> 00:30:15 your business. Stop, like just. Make a game and
00:30:15 --> 00:30:23 stop the insanity. I'm begging you. No more girl
00:30:23 --> 00:30:30 bosses. No more pronouns. No more trans ideology.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 Make great characters that are male and females
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39 actually make the females attractive. Actually
00:30:39 --> 00:30:43 make the males masculine. and leave us alone.
00:30:45 --> 00:30:55 Or you can go out of business. Your choice. But
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 I've had it with this and a lot of gamers have
00:30:57 --> 00:31:00 had it with this. I'm not the only one that's
00:31:00 --> 00:31:07 not been happy with this. Anyways. I would like
00:31:07 --> 00:31:10 to thank you for listening to Digital Coffee
00:31:10 --> 00:31:12 Gaming Guru. And as always, please subscribe
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 to this podcast and all your favorite podcasting
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 apps and leave a five -star review. They'll just
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 help. And join me next week as I talk to what's
00:31:19 --> 00:31:21 going on in the gaming industry. All right guys,
00:31:21 --> 00:31:23 stay safe, get the games you want to play, even
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 if they're old or not, and see you next week.
00:31:26 --> 00:31:26 Later.