The Thursday letters page is concerned AI is not being used to help developers, as a reader takes issue with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet’s name.
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Play now, pay later
I’m a little surprised that Marvel Rivals is doing so well as I haven’t found it to be much fun. Maybe I’m just not getting it, but it seemed too random and unbalanced to me. For my mind the best free shooter is still Apex Legends. The characters and world are kind of bland, but I find it’s the best action by far and the one that sells itself the most on just being a good game.
Call Of Duty: Warzone is too tame for my tastes and Fortnite has always had bad gunplay, as far as I’m concerned. I do keep meaning to try Warframe though, if anyone could recommend it?
It does feel wrong to complain about any of them though, as I’d say they were all very high quality for something that’s free. I know they have to be if they want to get you addicted and spending money but 20 years ago, I would’ve never imagined that the most popular games in the world would all be free.
Dweeble
No problemo
I think the thing I hate most about all this AI stuff is the pretence that it’s for any reason other than being able to lay off even more people. As usual for techbros it’s a solution in search of a problem and the only benefit is to greedy CEOs who want to buy an extra yacht – and the easiest way to do that is to sack a few hundred more people.
I’m wiling to bet AI doesn’t speed up making games at all. It’s like a sponge, they’ll just realise they can do even more in the five or so years. Nobody’s going to go back to make a whole game in just a year or two, even though they should.
The minute that happens then sure, I’ll be all for AI. But none of this is about improving anything for anyone but the shareholders and execs. Voice actors have been on strike for seven months so far, because of all this. We just don’t realise it because the games that will be affected aren’t yet. So when all the new games in 2026 have creepy AI voices instead of real people you’ll know why.
Cranston
Worst job in the world
I honestly can’t believe this news about Marvel Rivals. It becomes a mega hit and then they just dump the creators and do all the updates from China, now the game’s set-up? A company can be as heartless as it wants but who’d ever work for NetEase now, knowing what they do to you even if everything works out?
Never mind that, who’d be a video game developer at all? 1 in 10 have lost their jobs in the last couple of years and now with all this AI nonsense from Xbox that number is only going to go up. I remember when making games seemed like it must be the coolest job in the world, but now it seems like a nightmare where neither the publisher or the general public appreciate you.
The guy talking about ‘bloat’ in the comments section of that story should be ashamed of themselves. I’ve never seen any fandom have such contempt for the people that make the things they enjoy. I’m surprised they didn’t offer up a death threat while they were about it.
Ronson
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Lost Factions
I can’t help thinking that the obvious compromise for Naughty Dog cancelling The Last Of Us Online is adding Factions to the remake of The Last Of Us Part 1. It was pretty shameful that it wasn’t included in the first place, because now neither of the games have a multiplayer mode on PlayStation 5.
It always makes me laugh when companies talk about game preservation and it’s not the old ones we’re losing, it’s the new ones. Factions basically doesn’t exist now, unless there’s a fan server somewhere, and what about Concord? Millions of dollars to make and now it’s as if it never even happened.
I don’t expect anyone to do anything about it but there should be a law against it. Although I see Parliament already said no to that, so publishers are free to do whatever they want.
Zeiss
Switch Extra Lite
The Switch 2 might be the first Nintendo console I haven’t bought at launch since the GameCube. Nothing announced so far has me excited for the launch.
One thing that might tempt me though would be a cheaper non-portable version. My Switch stays permanently tucked away under my desk and I always use a Pro Controller rather than the Joy-Cons. A mini version of the console with no screen, battery or Joy-Cons would suit me fine.
JulianH
What’s in a name
I know bad names, especially for indie games, is a bit of a pet peeve for GC and I can’t help thinking Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is one of the worst I’ve ever heard in quite a while. I remember when the name leaked and everything thought it must be some low budget Japanese role-playing game or something. And then it turns out to be a mega budget Naughty Dog game.
And then the trailer didn’t have anything about prophets or heretics and the tone seemed to be some kind of flippant Guardians Of The Galaxy style knock-off. Except afterwards Naughty Dog said it was about religion and faith? I don’t know who would’ve guessed that from the trailer.
We know virtually nothing about the game and yet I already have a bad feeling about it. I guess maybe Sony are out of practice with game reveals, given how few of them they do now, but this one seemed to do nothing but damage.
I can’t say the one for Saros was very good either, some guy going on about dying on a beach is all I got. Returnal wasn’t exactly a big seller so I’m not sure how many non-fans that managed to excite. Not many if all the complaining about it being a bad State of Play are any sign (I thought it was pretty good, overall).
I do agree with many that there seems a sickness almost to the games industry at the moment. Nothing is happening, everyone seems off their game, and nobody is happy. We really need the Switch 2 and GTA 6 as soon as possible.
Falco
Constant consolidation
So now Niantic is being bought out as well? There’s going to be like three companies involved in gaming by the time we get to the next generation and that barely seems like an exaggeration.
Not that I’ve played Pokémon Go since it first came out but when even a game that big isn’t self-sustaining you’ve got to wonder what the point is. Although it probably didn’t help constantly remaking the same game but with a different licence on top. I had never heard of that Pikmin game before.
Lumpy
PS: I do realise that $3.5 billion is a pretty good booby prize.
The wasted generation
We’ve heard from other developers, I think Rocksteady was one of them, that it’s often the developer’s ideas to do these live service games, even if their hearts don’t seem to be in it. I never understood that before but this explanation from the ex-Sony guy, of them just wanting to get ahead of an even worse idea, makes a lot of sense.
I couldn’t say whether it was Jim Ryan’s idea or not, but it seems pretty obvious now that he or someone else made it clear that live service games were the future for Sony and that everyone needs to get on board. Which set them on the road to Concord.
Unfortunately, Helldivers 2 means they’ll never give up entirely but I’m hoping the Saros reveal, and hopefully more to come, means we’re finally getting back to some kind of balance. They’ve wasted a whole generation of this U-turn though and they should feel very lucky that they’re not being punished for it, because Microsoft us even more clueless.
If Sony thinks they’ll just reset the clock with the PlayStation 6 though I’m not sure. If Microsoft can leverage AI and streaming to their advantage, you could be looking at a phoenix from the flames situation.
Although, if either of them get their act together again can we just have some slow and steady competence at some point? Instead of this wild shooting from the hip stuff that never works out.
Gambol
Inbox also-rans
Life Is Strange is 10 years old already? Yikes. Life is short more like.
Trexn
I hope these Tony Hawk’s remasters (remakes, whatever) are the Underground games. 3 and 4 were just worse versions of the first two and I’m not sure anyone has any real nostalgia for them. Underground was great though.
Rosau20
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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
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