That time is fast approaching, the time when – post a gaming drought – it rains AAA titles and our wallets cry to the heavens for sweet relief. Plenty have lamented the crazy end-of-year rush for the Christmas dollar, but Bethesda’s Pete Hines, think it’s “healthy for the industry”.
“It’s probably healthy for the industry because the industry gets a lot of attention when there’s all these things happening, just like the movie industry gets a lot of buzz when there’s a bunch of really big things at the movies and everyone’s talking about them all,” claimed Hines.
He did concede, however, that it’s unfortunate for the games that get lost in the mix.
“It’s probably not healthy for everyone who has one of those titles, because as you rightly pointed out usually someone gets the short end of the stick. Someone ends up falling short and not doing quite what they expected to do.”
With Uncharted 3, Skyrim, RAGE, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3 – the list goes on – it could be an expensive one for consumers, and there could be more than a few casualties.
Aaron
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:09 AMI suppose it’s no different from the Summer blockbuster window for movies.
We got all our quiet interesting games out of the way these past few months that reviewers squee over and don’t really sell in big numbers, From Dust and Catherine. Now it’s door kicking blockbuster time.
Hugo the Hungarian Barbarian
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:17 AMHealthy for the industry, but not healthy for my wallet.
The Cracks
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:21 AMThis. In November alone, there’s Halo Anniversary, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Skyrim, Saint’s Row the Third, Metal Gear Solid HD Collection…
And those are just the ones I want. There are others (*cough* MW3 *cough*).
andy
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:23 AMI’m unhappy that Steam pricing for Skyrim is $30USD MORE that the US price on the Australian store …It’s 89.99USD in our Australian store but it’s $60USD in the US store! … oh and Rage has give the $30USD Aussie TAX as well — that’s pissed me right off!
Richard
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:33 AMFallout 3: GOTY Edition is $22.50 in the US store, and $37.50 in the Australian store. Suck my dick, Bethesda; after being fooled by Brink it’s your turn this time.
alinos
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:37 AMboth a bethy games which like EA,2k,Activision always get a price hike
sadface
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:55 AMPiratebay time!
Ben
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:48 AMOzgameshop to the rescue!
Glenn
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 12:36 PMYep, got my pre-order from there for $35!
Trjn
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:25 AMHealthy for the industry as a whole, not necessarily brilliant for individual publishers or consumers.
I think spreading it out over a longer period would definitely help. The current trend of games being pushed back to early into the next year is probably the best thing for the industry and their rush period (although I’d have preferred it to go the other way so that the rush starts earlier, as unfeasible as that is).
Brewer74
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:32 AMI would have thought that some dev’s would be a bit cluey about this and release their games around this time of year. There has been almost nothing for over a month now, a perfect oppertunity to get exposure with not much competition. I think that was Call Of Juarez tried to do, pity it was mostly shit.
Whiplash
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:48 AMI guess this is that time of year when the kiddies all make up their Christmas wishlist. The big games are trying to shove their way onto said kiddies wish list, Along with a nerf gun :D
andy
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:33 AMNamco Bandai are the Australian distributors?
Astroboy440
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 12:37 PMMeh money isn’t the problem if the games are good enough…the question is whether I’m prepared to sink another 30/40/50+ hours into another Bethesda rpg that doesn’t have that ‘next gen’ appeal.
gamey mcgamington
Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 12:55 AMHey Bethesda, how about releasing games when they’re done? Oh wait, they don’t make games. They just grab an off-the-shelf engine and add some “content”.
Fallout 3 release: buggy as hell
+3months: Final patch released, still buggy as hell
+every 3 months after: Paid-for DLC content like clockwork
Game design is not an industry. It is an art. Real game designers seek to perfect their creations.
This is how a real games company supports their games:
Starcraft released 1998, latest patch 2009
Diablo II released 1996, latest patch 2010
Servers still online.