Bobby NOW wants to sell in-game cinematics as stand-alones...

Plague_Injected

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
6,621
This cumshot is the absolute master of finding new lows.

In talking about Blizzard's latest hit, the 3 million-selling Starcraft II, [Activision CEO Bobby] Kotick noted that there was more than an hour of prerendered and in-game cutscenes in the real-time strategy title.

"If we were to go to our audience and say we have this great hour-and-a-half of linear video that we would like to make available to you at a $30 price point or $20 price point, you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever," Kotick said. "Within the next five years, you are likely to see us do that. Now that may be in partnership with somebody; it may be alone. But there will be a time when we capitalize on the relationship that we have with our audience."

Full article here.
 
But in that entire article it doesn't say he is planning on removing cutscenes from games and making you pay extra for it?

I mean movies and games have been releasing sound tracks for years, this doesn't mean the movies and games you buy are devoid of music unless you shell out extra money for the soundtrack. I mean I have soundtracks of games/movies that I've never even played or watched. I mean surely there'd be people who'd want to buy say Metal Gear movie without having to play the game (lol...).

I honestly don't see any negatives with how this is currently presented. If anything with the added revenue from this we might even have higher budgets for cut scenes.

I'm still longing for the day when someone will take a chance on another big budget "non cartoony/for kids" CG movie following the financial flop that was Final Fantasy. I mean these might actually be better game movies then the current game movies hollywood is putting out.
 
But in that entire article it doesn't say he is planning on removing cutscenes from games and making you pay extra for it?

Give him time. We'll probably end up getting the bare minimum cutscenes to explain the plot and what you're doing, and then have "get the FULL STORY by buying this fucking thing here." They're already removing content from games to flog them as DLC - of course this will follow into movie packages. It will start with "see exclusive never-seen-before cutscenes!" and then lo and behold there will be nothing worth watching in the actual game.

Do you honestly think the revenue generated will go into making better CG movies? Like Kotich is interested in such things.
 
Another reason to not buy Activision Games. Its sad too cause I use to love Blizzard games.
 
Give him time. We'll probably end up getting the bare minimum cutscenes to explain the plot and what you're doing, and then have "get the FULL STORY by buying this fucking thing here." They're already removing content from games to flog them as DLC - of course this will follow into movie packages. It will start with "see exclusive never-seen-before cutscenes!" and then lo and behold there will be nothing worth watching in the actual game.

Do you honestly think the revenue generated will go into making better CG movies? Like Kotich is interested in such things.

I'm not quite that cynical yet :p. I prefer too look at it(or hope) as Blizzard possibly entering the film industry (like Square tried to do), and not that they will be cutting the story out of games. This could turn out to be wishful thinking :p But if this means Blizzard would do a full length CG movie, I'm all for that.

But I mean like I said, they've been packaging soundtracks and selling them separately for years. If they want to sell a "cutscene" DVD, I might even be interested in them for certain games. I'm not particularly interested in games like Diablo 3 or WOW, but they do or will probably have some nice CG.

I do believe though higher revenues leads to more investment. For instance there flagship COD series, it is a huge money maker, but with it it also carries a corresponding large budget with high production qualities. Really with the growth of the gaming industry and the corresponding development budgets have really increased production quality in various areas. For instance voice work these days are almost always done by professional actors (and sometimes big name actors), when before it was likely done by some random programmer on the development staff and poorly mastered/produced at that (not to sure the technical term for this). Same with game music, you have very high quality compositions with full orchestra almost standard these days for any large budget title.
 
But really $20 for a 90 minuet download only CG movie....lulz.


I can see Bobby making Diablo 3 have different endings, but you only get to see a short clip of it for each character and then be able to see the "Premium Ending" available as DLC.
 
I can see Bobby making Diablo 3 have different endings, but you only get to see a short clip of it for each character and then be able to see the "Premium Ending" available as DLC.

What about a game with a moral scale (like Mass Effect/KotOR) where you can buy the game, but it only comes with 'neutral' type responses. You could see some potential options for good or bad options, but they'd be grayed out unless you bought the DLC!

Even better - three editions of the same game. Good version (blue box), neutral version (gray box?) and the bad version (red box). You get three separate portions of the same game. Release them months apart so people will eat the $180 cost for a single game without the sticker shock.

Wow, I'm really smart. I'm surprised Bobby hasn't pulled something somewhat similar to this already.




Oh, wait....
 
What about a game with a moral scale (like Mass Effect/KotOR) where you can buy the game, but it only comes with 'neutral' type responses. You could see some potential options for good or bad options, but they'd be grayed out unless you bought the DLC!

I highly doubt any developer/publisher would make core gameplay elements only available via DLC. Generally DLC is extra content to enjoy that is in addition to the standard game content.

As for $20/$30 price points...That much for a 90 minute movie? I won't pay that much even for a regular DVD/Blue Ray movie. Shit, I hate paying $30+ for a full season of NCIS and that's well over 20 episodes per season.
 
I highly doubt any developer/publisher would make core gameplay elements only available via DLC. Generally DLC is extra content to enjoy that is in addition to the standard game content.

I guess you missed the point I was making of one game sold as three... Starcraft II... :)
 
Give him time. We'll probably end up getting the bare minimum cutscenes to explain the plot and what you're doing, and then have "get the FULL STORY by buying this fucking thing here." They're already removing content from games to flog them as DLC - of course this will follow into movie packages. It will start with "see exclusive never-seen-before cutscenes!" and then lo and behold there will be nothing worth watching in the actual game.

Do you honestly think the revenue generated will go into making better CG movies? Like Kotich is interested in such things.

Then don't buy. Besides you have NO evidence that will happen.
 
I guess you missed the point I was making of one game sold as three... Starcraft II... :)

Blizzard is shit now that Activision has them...

I worry about Bioware now that EA has them...

Bungie is toast now that Activision has them on contract...

Can we have more independant studios, please?
 
Guilt by association? Or is this just your average, everyday gamer angst?

It's partially guilt by association, partially the events unfolding, partially me not liking them in general.

Actually, no. Activision and Blizzard go hand in hand...looking at WoW.
 
I guess you missed the point I was making of one game sold as three... Starcraft II... :)
You know what else grinds my gears? That I have to buy Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 separately. They're very similar games that use the same engine - it's such a ripoff that they're both full price! I bet they'll even make me pay full price for Mass Effect 3 too!
 
Then don't buy. Besides you have NO evidence that will happen.

The trend of leaving out content to put back in for additional money is already well under way.

You've spent the last few days championing the "gaming companies deserve to make so much money!" like you're some PR rep for Acitivison or EA here, so your opinion doesn't count for much.
 
You know what else grinds my gears? That I have to buy Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 separately. They're very similar games that use the same engine - it's such a ripoff that they're both full price! I bet they'll even make me pay full price for Mass Effect 3 too!

Next they will make us pay for games period! Oh wait....
 
Blizzard is shit now that Activision has them...

I worry about Bioware now that EA has them...

Bungie is toast now that Activision has them on contract...

Can we have more independant studios, please?

Then buy and support from Indie studios if the others bother you so much. Plenty of them about.
 
Yeah, I shy away from anything from them. I don't care about supporting them. They would have to make the game irresistible, then I might buy.
 
Another reason to not buy Activision Games. Its sad too cause I use to love Blizzard games.


Silly to not buy Blizzard games just because you hate Activision. I'm not fond of Activision myself, can't stand Kotick. But Blizzard still makes top notch games and as long as they do I'll continue to buy em.
 
I guess you missed the point I was making of one game sold as three... Starcraft II... :)

I got the hint you were being sarcastic. But some people really do believe that games will be shipping incomplete and you have to pay more for DLC to get the core experience.
 
I got the hint you were being sarcastic. But some people really do believe that games will be shipping incomplete and you have to pay more for DLC to get the core experience.

Games have been shipping for some years now that contain "DLC" on the game disc itself that needs to be paid for to be unlocked.
IMHO that qualifies.
 
OMG. Future bitchin!

And if you don't already know that Blizzard already sells dvd cinematics of their games, then you weren't really that big of a fan in the first place. BUT OH NO! Wouldn't want you to keep bitching it's about Activision.
 
So if you buy the game the cutseens aren't included? What the fuck? That would kind of mess up the storyboard right? What a greedy fuck.
 
So if you buy the game the cutseens aren't included? What the fuck? That would kind of mess up the storyboard right? What a greedy fuck.

It's not Activision, it's Blizzard, and they can do no wrong. Anyone who disagrees is a complainer. :p
 
Again I don't see why everyone is jumping to the conclusion that you need to buy the games cutscenes separately. Soundtracks have been sold as a stand alone product for years now, and I have yet to even hear of a game that has no music unless you own the official soundtrack as well. What about art books? Are there games being released with no art assets in them?

Really if you are talking about them possibly having more "endings" for purchase, this really is in the realm of DLC, which we have already arrived and popularized in thanks to "horse armor," which in this case was by a relatively smaller company in Bethesda, and not the two evil empires (Activision/EA).

Also the SC2 is "1/3 of a game" complaints I don't understand the reasoning based on the single player campaign. Is Dow2 + expansion only 1/5th of the game then, since you only play as the Space Marines out of 5 races? Was L4D only half a game then (remember the L4D2 controversy)? We've been buying HL2 in 1/4 chunks then as well, with the last part nowhere to be seen or heard of from this day as well.
 
Again I don't see why everyone is jumping to the conclusion that you need to buy the games cutscenes separately. Soundtracks have been sold as a stand alone product for years now, and I have yet to even hear of a game that has no music unless you own the official soundtrack as well. What about art books? Are there games being released with no art assets in them?

Really if you are talking about them possibly having more "endings" for purchase, this really is in the realm of DLC, which we have already arrived and popularized in thanks to "horse armor," which in this case was by a relatively smaller company in Bethesda, and not the two evil empires (Activision/EA).

Also the SC2 is "1/3 of a game" complaints I don't understand the reasoning based on the single player campaign. Is Dow2 + expansion only 1/5th of the game then, since you only play as the Space Marines out of 5 races? Was L4D only half a game then (remember the L4D2 controversy)? We've been buying HL2 in 1/4 chunks then as well, with the last part nowhere to be seen or heard of from this day as well.
GTFO. Logic and reason have no place in this thread.

I'll get this thread back on track: "ONOZ! The sky is falling! Pretty soon games will be sold without NPCs and you'll have to buy the story character by character! At least I can look forward to only buying friendly NPCs...no enemy NPCs = easy win."
 
GTFO. Logic and reason have no place in this thread.

I'll get this thread back on track: "ONOZ! The sky is falling! Pretty soon games will be sold without NPCs and you'll have to buy the story character by character! At least I can look forward to only buying friendly NPCs...no enemy NPCs = easy win."

That actually has happened with Mass Effect 2. Great game btw. Still waiting for a hot deal on all their DLCs I've been holding off on.

No, logic is this: Give a company an inch, then they will go farther. Give them another, and they will continue. Companies will go as far as the almighty dollar lets them go.

A mini-expansion (i.e. a sizeable DLC) is acceptable, if the price per gameplay is right. Cutting stuff out isn't acceptable.

Consumer pushback is what keeps companies in line, and also puts the bad ones out of business. It's not complaining, it's business, and the consumer is important in shaping it. The wallet is one way the consumer has leverage. Voice is the other. This isn't petty whining. If want to see petty whining, look at the Mass Effect 2 forums after it was released where "Character X can't have sex with character Y from ME1." That's petty whining.
 
The way I read it is that Bobby is suggesting a new gameplan where:

Game contains cutscenes and story

He wants to copy those cutscenes and story, add an hour of content that you don't get to see in the game - basically everything in between cutscenes, better battle sequences, more plot, etc - and make all that content a digital download.

Why is this bad? It's bad because the game will end up reeling in players, giving them only part of the story and experience, and then charge for the rest under the pretense of a "movie experience." In reality, this is just going to cause the development of a game to follow this path:

"Hey, this scene is a little too dramatic / gives too much plot / tells too much story. Lets cut it short and leave a clickable that says 'to see more of this *sidestory* click here to purchase the DLC.'"

Going out of your way to leave gamers on edge and wanting more but not giving them absolutely nothing. It will be marketed as bonus content that is not essential to the game experience, but we know that content will end up being very important.

I won't pay in on a system like this ever.
 
Theres (more than!?) an hour of rendered cutscenes in starcraft 2??? I must have done the wrong missions...I saw about...20 minutes.
 
A lot of responses to this make it seem like kotick isn't low enough make you pay extra for cut scenes. The guy that said "If I could charge monthly for Call of Duty multiplayer, i would do it today" and the guy that took dedicated servers out of MW2, is only allowing Gamerservers.com to host BO servers, and would like to rip apart the gaming community for a few extra dollars. kotick is not above ripping apart games to charge an arm and a leg just so you know what happens.
 
the more and more stuff like this becomes prevalent, the less appealing games will be, sure there will be people who don't mind getting nickel and dimed, maybe even the mass majority doesn't mind being nickel and dimed, but they will turn off people like me, who wont' cave in to this.

Nothing that won't be uploaded to youtube or other sites for you to watch at your leisure.
 
Bobby Kotick quotes, courtesy of h3xed.com:

Bobby Kotick said:
"We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games."

"I think we definitely have been able to instill the culture, the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like we are in today. And so, while generally people talk about the recession, we are pretty good at keeping people focused on the deep depression."

"The best of all margins – the 25 per cent operating margin business – has the potential as we can see with World of Warcraft to be a 50 per cent operating margin business."

"really rewards profit and nothing else." (Concerning Kotick's incentive program for Activision employees)

-- San Francisco Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference 2009


"If you think about the success that we've had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise" (Concerning Call of Duty franchise)

-- Financial Call February 2010


"Long-term focus and commitment to providing superior returns to our shareholders."

"And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further."

-- Activision Blizzard Q2 2009 Earnings Call (transcript)


"First, right now we are ahead of our plans to realize the benefits of the combined company, especially our key profit and profit margin objectives."

"Why don’t we start with the Vivendi Games businesses -- there were a lot of different projects and businesses that we identified as not likely to achieve the profit margin potential that we look for."

"With respect to the franchises that don’t have the potential to be exploited every year across every platform with clear sequel potential that can meet our objectives of over time becoming $100 million plus franchises, that’s a strategy that has worked very well for us."

"And again, our strategy, narrow and deep, focus on properties that will sell to a very broad consumer base on the console -- those are strategies that seem to work well."

"there will continue to be opportunities for us to exploit the PC platform in ways that we haven’t yet."

"It’s harder to attract development talent to projects that are more speculative in the long run, and so what we found is that if you have a [need] for innovation in existing franchises, that’s a recipe for margin expansion and you still need to have production of new original intellectual property, but you need to do it very, very selectively"


Really, he's just being honest. Most companies would love to be able to do this. It's just he's been showing that he IS able to do this, and it's scary for gamers. It's not end of the world, it's not infringing on our human rights, but it could be setting a precedent that will make gaming simply too locked down and expensive for MANY of us.
 
Back
Top