Sometimes, a developer or publisher says something, and all you can do is shake your head and go, “…What?” Other times, they pull some business move that leaves us all scratching our heads. These five publishers have become masters of both lately. They’ve alienated customers all while wondering why their revenue streams slow down.
Each of these could probably be longer articles on their own, but I tried to keep each of these brief, as the collective situation says something about the state of the industry. Of course it should be noted that all of the opinions and harsh criticisms and all that are my own and not the website’s. Cheers.
Pictured at the top of this article is Skies of Arcadia, a beloved RPG that you should track down if you’ve got a Dreamcast or GameCube. That’s from an era when Sega was keeping it real as fuck.
Other Articles by Writers Who Keep It Real as Fuck:
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Everything You Need to Know
- God of War’s Kratos – The Anti-Hero No One Asked For
- Konami – What Went Wrong and Recovering From All the Drama
Out of Touch Publishers
-
Konami
This one's been all over the news lately, as well it should be. Holy fucking petty bullshit. I've seen some crap in my time dealing with spiteful bosses in Japan, but Konami is taking it to another level.
Be professional about your disagreements, Konami. If you have different ideas about what games to make, then say that, but don't be a fucking baby about it. Going back and trying to pretend one of your most popular, most influential, and most successful employees never did anything is the exact wrong thing to do. Who even thought this would ever be a good idea?
-
Sega
There's a reason Sega titles always show up in lists of beloved games, even though the company has been bleeding money: they have no idea what their customers want.
Phantasy Star Online 2 is already in English, but the game isn't available to the Western audience. Sega sees how excited fans get at the mention of things like Skies of Arcadia and Valkyria Chronicles, yet do nothing with the properties, despite both having sold well on their respective platforms. Instead, they say, no, what you really want is more Sonic. And according to Sega, you want terrible Sonic at that.
-
EA Sports
EA is a beast of its own, but I'm speaking particularly of EA Sports here, because those are how I best know EA. It's become clear that despite the millions of games they sell sports fans annually, EA Sports executives do not care about their customers at all. The best example comes from an interview on this very website. Look at the replies EA Sports gives about the NHL franchise. Look at them. The guy even copies and pastes the same reply to multiple questions. He doesn't care and he wants you to know he doesn't care.
The whole interview is him copying and pasting replies, completely blowing off questions, and flagrantly displaying a complete indifference toward anyone who has supported their company over these decades. Also lying. They may as well have just said, "We lost our passion for this somewhere around 2008. Fuck you all. Give us money now."
Same thing.
NHL 2015 was a pretty good example of that philosophy in action, actually.
-
Ubisoft
Historians who pay more attention to Ubi than I do can probably trace back the company's habits of not giving a shit, but for the last year or two, it's become painfully obvious. I'm not just referring to rushing unfinished products out the door and bait-and-switch downgrades (though these habits don't help), I'm talking about the company's completely brain-dead replies to questions and criticisms.
Instead, they'll try and flip it, like when they finger pointed at Japanese games who were, to Ubisoft, "literally gibberish," but forgiven in reviews. Yeah, because everybody loves Lightning Returns and Omega Quintet, right? Admit your own flaws, don't point at other games' reviews and try to justify your own bullshit practices, Ubisoft.
Their best comments are laughable purely thanks to mathematics. Saying, among other things, that 30fps is superior to 60fps because it's "more cinematic" and expecting people to nod and say "Oh yes, of course, that makes sense," shows complete disdain for your audience. Just say that you couldn't hit 60. Just be honest, man. People would at least respect that.
They'd respect it even more if you'd put out a game that could start at 30 and stick to it, rather than feature 30 as the peak it occasionally reaches. Holy shit.
-
Square Enix
Dear gods, where do I begin? This is practically a whole article on its own, since RPGs are kind of what I do.
I suppose the recent tease of Final Fantasy VII for the PS4 is the best example of a company that has completely lost any self-awareness. I'm not even sure if this was real or just a joke, but whichever it was, Square Enix personnel don't realize the real joke: them.
While an artist should always make what they want to make, a business needs money. It's an interesting crossroads. You can't make everything that your fans ask for, but it's like Square Enix takes this idea to an extreme, and then the executives are puzzled in years when finances are in the negatives.
Square Enix is doing alright now, but history has shown that its successes can be fleeting. If you're going to try and get a rise out of the multiple millions of people who played Final Fantasy VII, and then turn it around and make them feel stupid for assuming you were doing something worth paying attention to... don't be surprised by those negative financial reports.
