Bethesda Game Studios usually produces big hits. The Maryland-based game developer charted at No. 2 in 2011 with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and again in 2015 with Fallout 4. But its 2018 multiplayer game Fallout 76 failed to make the top 20, and last year’s Starfield came in at No. 11 despite a great deal of pre-launch hype.
That might not seem like a fantastic showing for the studio’s first game since being acquired by Microsoft Corp., but there are some extenuating factors. Starfield skipped rival console PlayStation, it received weak reviews (although the aggregate score is deceptively high thanks to a slew of Xbox fan sites) and, most importantly, it was immediately available on Microsoft’s Netflix-like subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, where players can access the game by paying $10 a month rather than buying it directly for $70. Bethesda recently said that Starfield had 13 million players, suggesting that a whole lot of people used Game Pass to play it.
I was trying to figure out which journo had that Iwata piece. In Googling the research, I unearthed a lot of poo-slinging between Ben Kuchera (Polygon, PA Report) that I apparently missed a few years back. So much incestuous drama.
Was it this exciting back in the CGW days, @Editer ?
It’s not exactly industry-shaking news, but for me it’s kind of the end of an era. My interest in board games is due largely to following Quinns from Rockpapershotgun to Shut Up & Sit Down. I liked his video game writing and just wanted to see what he was doing with this board game thing. And now I spend way more time and energy on board games than video games.
Ok, I missed that he was stepping back from SU&SD - I saw that initial video and thought, whoa, dude is spreading himself thin! I’m not super into TTRPGs though I do enjoy hearing about them and I do like Quinns so I subscribed.
I had noticed he had been checking out and stepping away from new videos, and also he had already been hosting / guest hosting on another channel, something about “the pursuit of gaming” (one video he went to a post-apoc LARP in Vegas).
Also think it’s a bit of a correction post pandemic. Board gaming had a bit of a pandemic bump.
Not sure getting into TTRPGs is the right move though, feels a bit too little too late.
Wow, that is news. My brother and I have been wondering what will be his next major energy investment. Seconding @AWS260 in having been there essentially from the start and both our collections and our attitudes about games owing a lot to their journalism and the community.
I suppose I should finally give up on my “bring back Paul” campaign.
Man, I used to hit SUSD at least weekly. But when Paul left I backed off a bit even though I mostly liked the newer guys. But the last year or so it just wasn’t something I’d search for.
Not sure if a new TTRPG channel makes a lot of sense, but I’m assuming he’s just moving over to what he wants to do so that’s cool. Already subscribed.
I firmly believe that the decision to ‘invert’ Kotaku’s editorial strategy to deprioritize news in favor of guides is fundamentally misguided given the current infrastructure of the site,” Glennon wrote. “[This decision is] directly contradicted by months of traffic data, and shows an astonishing disregard for the livelihoods of the remaining writers and editors who work here.”
Glennon also announced her resignation on Twitter, writing, “I’ve resigned from Kotaku and Jim Spanfeller is an herb.”
According to a source close to the situation, Kotaku’s staff will be expected to create 50 guides a week at the site. Currently, Kotaku’s homepage features a prominent “game tips and guides” module at the top of the page, in a space that was previously reserved for major stories and breaking news. Staff members have criticized the homepage redesign on social media, noting that Kotaku’s major source of traffic is not guides.
Jonathan is one of those people who are very smart at some things, and extrapolate to think they’re smart at most (all?) things.
But sure, he’s someone whose opinion should be listened to when it comes to games and general programming too, although how much weight one should give it, I leave for personal preference.
