With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.
2K Sports Pressure The Sixth Axis to remove NBA 2k18 Review
Alright so according to a post by NeoGAF it has come to light that due to emails received from 2k Games a review for NBA 2k18 that received a 3/10 due to the inclusion of microtransactions was temporarily taken down. 2K Games originally raised issue with the review being a “protest vote”, whatever they think that is, I’m not sure. As of writing this the review score has been reinstated and can be seen here.
Wiggin’s Thoughts: Alright so the fact that 2k Games cares so much about the review on a site that gave their game a bad score based on the grind of the game is quite interesting. It seems kind of strange that 2k Games would care at all, the reviewer gave a review of the game and posted why they felt this way about the game. This was not a random Steam review that said “10/10 had fun” it was a well thought out and proper review so the fact that 2k Games cared so much about it is kind of concerning. 2k Games claimed that they thought the score was a “protest score” and frankly I’m not sure what they mean by that. The game garnered a bad review due to the grinding and microtransactions being shoved down players throats after already shelling out for a full price game. There is no reason it’s any of 2k Games business what score was given. Unethical business models implemented into a full price game need to be called out and when they affect the core experience of the game so much that it ruins the game as a whole, you better be scoring the game appropriately. These developers and publishers are putting so much into integrating these microtransactions and loot boxes into the core game play loop that it clearly now has detrimental effects to the rest of the game, these mechanics have now become the game. They have removed the line between cosmetic items that don’t effect game play and have injected microtransactions straight into the game play. This is not consumer friendly game design and it most certainly needs to be called out. At the end of the day, a review is a review assuming it’s done in a way that is well thought out and well explained. I find it fascinating that 2k Games took such interest in a potential “protest score” because if that was the case consumers should of been able to determine that from reading the review themselves. The Sixth Axis has released an update to the situation here.
PUBG devs callout Fortnight
Bluehole, Inc. released a statement today calming that “PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS is the first standalone Battle Royal survival shooter game.” They are concerned with similarities to the Epic Games game Fortnight that has a similar mode being released later this month. Now while you can’t trademark game mechanics it’s the part at the end of the release that is interesting. “Chang Han Kim closed, “The PUBG community has and continues to provide evidence of the many similarities as we contemplate further action.”” is where Bluehole brings up the potential of a lawsuit or further action. Here is a link to the original release and to Gamespot covering the same release .
Wiggin’s Thoughts: It’s quite concerning to that Bluehole Inc. is that concerned with other games joining in on the battle royal genre that is emerging. PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS is a juggernaut already and the idea that they want to fight legally against potential other games infringing on their player base instead of just creating a better product and letting consumers play the one they think does a better job. This is one of those cases where trying to beat down competition in a public setting only gives more validity to Fortnight and gives it more publicity. I really think Bluehole Inc. needs to stop worrying about potential other games stealing their player base and focus on making their game more optimized and getting it out of early access.
