So let’s see if I’ve got the situation surrounded here:
Helldivers 2 = popular game built by a mid-sized studio under parent company Sony Fuckwits International. Well liked game, lots of people playing and enjoying it having purchased it on Steam for PC.
Sony Fuckwits International decides after loads of copies have been sold on Steam that a Playstation account is now required, including for copies of the game sold in regions where Playstation accounts aren’t allowed.
Helldivers 2 sees a catastrophic drop in reviews, Valve starts issuing refunds outside their normal refund range, and Sony Fuckwits International spends an entire week getting cornholed by the gaming press. The CEO of the smaller studio makes some press releases sounding just as upset as the gamers, almost saying “Things were going so great until ultimate retardation descended from on high.”
The backlash was apparently going to effect investor returns this quarter so they have reversed the decision. This is what it takes to keep companies like Sony in check.
This is the sort of thing that should make everyone everywhere really think twice about ordering that shiny new PS6 when it comes out in what? 1 or 2 years?
I’ve been seeing a lot of this stuff in the gaming news lately. Helldivers 2 has been a big one, I think Kerbal Space Program 2 has outright died, like the parent company fired the team who were making it? And I’m a little nervous about Coffee Stain Studios, the latest update video from Satisfactory’s community manager Snutt contained some noise about parent companies and restructuring that had that distinct smell of yacht polish and trafficked children that always follows upper management bullshittery.
The only thing I would say isn’t 100% correct here is that the decision to require a Playstation account was made 6 months before the game launched, not after. Technical issues prevented the game from launching with the requirement actually implemented though, and from the abruptness of the original announcement, I would guess that the developers are the ones who actually had their “grace period” from Sony to get it implemented expire.
Still puts me in a place of wanting to avoid large companies in gaming as much as possible. Studios with large parent companies to this shit. I don’t understand why anyone is willing to buy games from big companies anymore.
Worth noting that 6 months may not sound like a short timespan, but the game was in development for ~7 years. They were down to the “get this polished” stages, when Sony handed down the PSN requirement. Doing it properly would require a lot of redone work and code. So of course, it didn’t work properly on launch.
Japanese is region locked because of something to do with licensing around the VAs I believe, like they’d have had to pay a lot more to distribute it internationally
Also, Russian and Chinese aren’t region locked, so their point is still completely valid
“Retard” rolled off the same euphemism treadmill that “idiot” and “moron” did, but if I had said “until ultimate idiocy descended from on high” you wouldn’t have felt the need to say anything. I was reaching for a derogatory term for the actions of a stupid person, and I found one. And it ain’t gonna ruffle any feathers that aren’t already permanently ruffled.
I don’t wanna be offended on others’ behalf but in trying to find justifications for and against I came across the Special Olympics - can you guess where they fall on the issue :D
Have a question that’s not a gotcha or nuthin’:
Say captain_aggravated became BFF w/a disabled person who thought innocent usage of “retarded” was harmful even on a FOSS gaming forum. Would you have a thoughtful response there or shrug it off or one of a million other possibilities I’m not guessing here? :)
(Super honest debate here that I doubt anybody else will see, just like to try to rationalize stuff and being The Word Police isn’t my thanggg but I’m still struggling with this - and you’re a cool dude I’d have a beer with so figure you’re good to ask)
My text message history shows that the last person who texted me that wasn’t a family member, a doctors office/auto shop confirming an appointment or an unsolicited advertisement/political lie/scam dates to before the pandemic. I live alone with one cat and even she’s too much.
So let’s see if I’ve got the situation surrounded here:
Helldivers 2 = popular game built by a mid-sized studio under parent company Sony Fuckwits International. Well liked game, lots of people playing and enjoying it having purchased it on Steam for PC.
Sony Fuckwits International decides after loads of copies have been sold on Steam that a Playstation account is now required, including for copies of the game sold in regions where Playstation accounts aren’t allowed.
Helldivers 2 sees a catastrophic drop in reviews, Valve starts issuing refunds outside their normal refund range, and Sony Fuckwits International spends an entire week getting cornholed by the gaming press. The CEO of the smaller studio makes some press releases sounding just as upset as the gamers, almost saying “Things were going so great until ultimate retardation descended from on high.”
The backlash was apparently going to effect investor returns this quarter so they have reversed the decision. This is what it takes to keep companies like Sony in check.
This is the sort of thing that should make everyone everywhere really think twice about ordering that shiny new PS6 when it comes out in what? 1 or 2 years?
I’ve been seeing a lot of this stuff in the gaming news lately. Helldivers 2 has been a big one, I think Kerbal Space Program 2 has outright died, like the parent company fired the team who were making it? And I’m a little nervous about Coffee Stain Studios, the latest update video from Satisfactory’s community manager Snutt contained some noise about parent companies and restructuring that had that distinct smell of yacht polish and trafficked children that always follows upper management bullshittery.
The only thing I would say isn’t 100% correct here is that the decision to require a Playstation account was made 6 months before the game launched, not after. Technical issues prevented the game from launching with the requirement actually implemented though, and from the abruptness of the original announcement, I would guess that the developers are the ones who actually had their “grace period” from Sony to get it implemented expire.
Still puts me in a place of wanting to avoid large companies in gaming as much as possible. Studios with large parent companies to this shit. I don’t understand why anyone is willing to buy games from big companies anymore.
Worth noting that 6 months may not sound like a short timespan, but the game was in development for ~7 years. They were down to the “get this polished” stages, when Sony handed down the PSN requirement. Doing it properly would require a lot of redone work and code. So of course, it didn’t work properly on launch.
if that were so, why go through the trouble of translating the game to Russian / Chinese? no psn there. Incompetant greed, thru n thru.
Lots of people have primary languages that don’t align with where they live, actually
I could appreciate your point if they didn’t region lock the localizations. Try downloading the japanese I’ll wait.
Japanese is region locked because of something to do with licensing around the VAs I believe, like they’d have had to pay a lot more to distribute it internationally
Also, Russian and Chinese aren’t region locked, so their point is still completely valid
Brilliant roundup.
Would you hate me if I mentioned the “until ultimate […] descended” bit might ruffle feathers? But please never stop ruffling Sony feathers :)
Hate? no. Scoff at? yep!
“Retard” rolled off the same euphemism treadmill that “idiot” and “moron” did, but if I had said “until ultimate idiocy descended from on high” you wouldn’t have felt the need to say anything. I was reaching for a derogatory term for the actions of a stupid person, and I found one. And it ain’t gonna ruffle any feathers that aren’t already permanently ruffled.
I don’t wanna be offended on others’ behalf but in trying to find justifications for and against I came across the Special Olympics - can you guess where they fall on the issue :D
Have a question that’s not a gotcha or nuthin’:
Say captain_aggravated became BFF w/a disabled person who thought innocent usage of “retarded” was harmful even on a FOSS gaming forum. Would you have a thoughtful response there or shrug it off or one of a million other possibilities I’m not guessing here? :)
(Super honest debate here that I doubt anybody else will see, just like to try to rationalize stuff and being The Word Police isn’t my thanggg but I’m still struggling with this - and you’re a cool dude I’d have a beer with so figure you’re good to ask)
You’ve already departed reality right here.
Username wasn’t autogenerated then eh :)
No but my avatar was.
That’s great, glad you mentioned it. No avatar support with Voyager iOS apparently.
AHAH is this really the user I counseled regarding
inclusive languagerelatively kinder possible language?!(Strikethrough phrase felt too uptight even for me)
I still want a hat like that, an airline captain’s tricorn. Reminds me of this song.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, I bet you’ve got plenty of friends!
My text message history shows that the last person who texted me that wasn’t a family member, a doctors office/auto shop confirming an appointment or an unsolicited advertisement/political lie/scam dates to before the pandemic. I live alone with one cat and even she’s too much.
yeehaw preach it brother