[WesternBlood]

Indiana Jones looks awful. Mad uncanny valley, gameplay looks whack, but I think the worst thing was the overlong cutscene. Could they not even be bothered to try and emulate the cinematography? Dutch angles!? FFS

…it looked like a video game cutscene. Skin suit stuff.



Also for film dorks, a great video by CinemaStix "when the director is reeeally good at their job" is about blocking in Indiana Jones.

This video is a 'memberberry masturbation. Hey fans, remember the good times you had with Indiana Jones? We are going to completely fuck it up just like the last couple of movies.

If you don't buy it, then you are a crybaby, etc...

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Exhibition 33 might be game of show for me

This. Completely out of nowhere also.

 

[WesternBlood]

Next Microsoft system called XX Box confirmed. #stunningandbrave

Missed opportunity for the XYX box.

Mongoloid console, confirmed. One Chromosome too many.

 

[Mal]

Exhibition 33 might be game of show for me

Agree, stylish turn base

 

[Dacon]

 

[GreyHorace]

Yup. I posted a thread way back on how a troon was the director of this game.

Dragon Age 4's New Game Director Is Trans And That's Rad

https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-4-new-game-director-transgender/ Folks, I’m extremely worried about Dragon Age 4. The launch date is pretty much the last thing on my mind, and I’m not particularly fretting about any plot strands either. The game is finely poised after Inquisition’s...

d-pad.life

Good to see our predictions that it would be shit are being proven right.

 

[Saruhashi]

You know, just thinking more about this show and I really can't stand the current state of gaming. I've been buying consoles and games for over twenty years. Thousands of dollars given to this industry (I even bought the PSVR2 lol). How do these companies repay people like me, they tell us we're not welcome anymore. They got to where they are off our dollars and they have the fucking nerve to make games staring a bunch of ugly lesbians.

They chastise us for wanting to see an uncensored attractive female. They mock us when we complain about changes to dialogue. I don't have a big enough "FUCK YOU" for this industry right now. I hope more and more studios close because we know they're filled with DEI hires. The good developers will still make good games. I have enough of a backlog to last me the rest of my life. Just like Hollywood, modern gaming is toast.

It'll be interesting to see how these games do as we go forward.

I think the fact that Ubisoft was perfectly comfortable selling $130 pre-orders for a game with no gameplay shown at all implies that these companies know that there are many guaranteed sales among the traditional gaming demographics.

I don't believe that black women are watching the South of Midnight trailer and thinking they should rush out and get an Xbox but I do believe that there are gamers who will just blindly buy and buy and buy.

This is an industry where you can actively smear your customer base and tell them to fuck off and they'll still open their wallet for you.

 

[CAPTAIN RAINCOAT]

Even if these games land are really good the sad fact is that there will be no shortage of media agencies lining up to take a shit on it
the Hellblade 2 reviews pretty much proved that....this game was better than the first in every way but somehow ended up being reviewed lower

 

[Be-Gone]

Yup. I posted a thread way back on how a troon was the director of this game.

Dragon Age 4's New Game Director Is Trans And That's Rad

https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-4-new-game-director-transgender/ Folks, I’m extremely worried about Dragon Age 4. The launch date is pretty much the last thing on my mind, and I’m not particularly fretting about any plot strands either. The game is finely poised after Inquisition’s...

d-pad.life

Good to see our predictions that it would be shit are being proven right.

Wait for gameplay.

I think low expectations will play to Bioware's benefit. After yesterday's trailer, everyone will be pleasantly surprised by anything above "terrible".

Transgenderism is a rotten ideology that must be defeated but there's no automatic link between having a trans game director and the game turning out shoddy.

It's possible, even probable, the game director and the studio themselves won't resist temptation to use Dragon Age as a vessel for their real-life advocacy. However, from a purely visual and gameplay perspective there's still a chance tomorrow's trailer might impress positively, especially when you take into account the screenshots circulating today, which paint the game in a much much more favourable light.

 

[Amorous Biscuit]

Wait for gameplay.

I think low expectations will play to Bioware's benefit. After yesterday's trailer, everyone will be pleasantly surprised by anything above "terrible".

Transgenderism is a rotten ideology that must be defeated but there's no automatic link between having a trans game director and the game turning out shoddy.

It's possible, even probable, the game director and the studio themselves won't resist temptation to use Dragon Age as a vessel for their real-life advocacy. However, from a purely visual and gameplay perspective there's still a chance tomorrow's trailer might impress positively, especially when you take into account the screenshots circulating today, which paint the game in a much much more favourable light.

The trailer makes this utterly irredeemable for me.

Nothing about the tone, style or characters seems appealing or in keeping with what fans enjoy about DA and instead appears to be chasing that stupid Marvel trend of quippy one liner sort of shtick. This lurch in direction for the series suggests some sort of meddling, somewhere. Board rooms filled with old heads saying "what do them young'uns like" and deciding this was the best outcome for their dark fantasy IP?

Yeah, no thanks EA.

I think the success of Baldur's Gate 3 shows that there is room for more mature takes on fantasy settings without having to sacrifice your product on the altar of the "modern audience"

 

[John Matrix]

I am so disgusted by that Dragon Age trailer. I thought I was watching a new Hero Shooter game being announced or some shit. I'm gonna be honest, I hope this game fails and EA closes Bioware. Just the thought of these people doing Mass Effect 4 turns my stomach. DA: Origins & the ME trilogy are some of my favorite games of all time and I'll always remember them fondly. Kindly Bioware fuck off.

 

[Amorous Biscuit]

I am so disgusted by that Dragon Age trailer. I thought I was watching a new Hero Shooter game being announced or some shit. I'm gonna be honest, I hope this game fails and EA closes Bioware. Just the thought of these people doing Mass Effect 4 turns my stomach. DA: Origins & the ME trilogy are some of my favorite games of all time and I'll always remember them fondly. Kindly Bioware fuck off.

It just isn't the same since Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka left. The studio isn't that RPG powerhouse any longer.

 

[Be-Gone]

The trailer makes this utterly irredeemable for me.

Nothing about the tone, style or characters seems appealing or in keeping with what fans enjoy about DA and instead appears to be chasing that stupid Marvel trend of quippy one liner sort of shtick. This lurch in direction for the series suggests some sort of meddling, somewhere. Board rooms filled with old heads saying "what do them young'uns like" and deciding this was the best outcome for their dark fantasy IP?

Yeah, no thanks EA.

I think the success of Baldur's Gate 3 shows that there is room for more mature takes on fantasy settings without having to sacrifice your product on the altar of the "modern audience"

I think the screenshots point to the possibility the trailer is not representative of the overall tone.
If that turned out to be the case, why would anyone hold on to the trauma caused by a misguided trailer?

I'm not a fan of the series , nor am I claiming the screenies are fine art. But there's a gap there , wide enough to accommodate hope the game's not nearly as bad as the trailer suggests.

I'm not addressing you specifically, but It amazes me how frequently forum members presume to know more about the market than executives whose job is to figure out the market. It seems to be the default assumption execs are clueless. I mean, you can take risks with somebody else's money. Sure, it's easy to tell others what to do when it's not your money on the line. AAA development is very expensive and therefore very risky. A flop can sunk that ship. The frivolity with which management is attacked, berated and scorned comes form people who stand nothing to lose should their absolute assurances there's another, better way be proven wrong.

Maybe this is the intersection between the game they wanted to make and the game they thought they had to make to foot the bills.

 

[GreyHorace]

Wait for gameplay.

I think low expectations will play to Bioware's benefit. After yesterday's trailer, everyone will be pleasantly surprised by anything above "terrible".

Transgenderism is a rotten ideology that must be defeated but there's no automatic link between having a trans game director and the game turning out shoddy.

It's possible, even probable, the game director and the studio themselves won't resist temptation to use Dragon Age as a vessel for their real-life advocacy. However, from a purely visual and gameplay perspective there's still a chance tomorrow's trailer might impress positively, especially when you take into account the screenshots circulating today, which paint the game in a much much more favourable light.

You're kidding me, right?

NOTHING about that trailer or these screenshots is inspiring confidence in me that this will be a worthy entry into the Dragon Age saga (and I'd argue DA: Origins was the only good game in the series). This game looks to be infected with the woke virus and DEI'd to Hell and back, which is not surprising given Bioware's overtly liberal leanings. Like I said before, the game looks less LOTR and more like a fantasy version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that these woke idiots love to emulate. So it fails on capturing the tone and feel of epic fantasy which is what Dragon Age is supposed to be.

And no, I'm not going to wait for gameplay. I already lost faith in Bioware giving us some excellent real time strategy rpg combat after the abomination that was DA: Inquisition. That game somehow had worse combat than the much derided Dragon Age 2, a game I enjoyed despite it's numerous flaws.

And yes, I'm bothered by the fact that game's director is a troon. Why did they feel the need to advertise who he is and what gender he identifies as? I've said this before, unless you're a Hideo Kojima, I really don't give a shit about the people making the game. The end product is what matters. And the fact that they're proudly touting this game is directed by a troon is already preempting whatever negative reception this game will receive.

 

[Amorous Biscuit]

I'm not addressing you specifically, but It amazes me how frequently forum members presume to know more about the market than executives whose job is to figure out the market. It seems to be the default assumption execs are clueless. I mean, you can take risks with somebody else's money. Sure, it's easy to tell others what to do when it's not your money on the line. AAA development is very expensive and therefore very risky. A flop can sunk that ship. The frivolity with which management is attacked, berated and scorned comes form people who stand nothing to lose should their absolute assurances there's another, better way be proven wrong.

Maybe this is the intersection of the game they wanted to make and the game they thought they had to make to foot the bills.

You're not wrong, it is easy for us all to sit and say "they're doing it wrong!" but it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the property to suggest this more lighthearted and goofy take on DA is hitting anywhere close to home for a lot of people.

One of the major issues for me, large corporate entities whose execs are simply looking for the thing with broadest market appeal and highest potential return. This reeks of it.

It can never be anything special, exciting or risky because it's just the safest, paint by numbers, market researched thing that the team at EA could slap the Dragon Age name on. Now, obviously I don't know better than the teams at EA (or maybe I do, I'm forecasting a flop) but I can't see why this idea was even greenlit in the first place.

Given how DA is known for being a dark fantasy property, this pivot to being a less serious entry (at least from what the trailer implies, it would be a weird tonal dissonance should the final product be more in line with what was expected beforehand) sort of feels like a death knell for the series. I don't want for the IP to lose its identity, I understand that things change over time but it's not as though this franchise has been around long enough to become more experimental or tonally different.

 

[John Matrix]

Btw the new Trackers Alliance quests in Starfield is pretty damn good. And now with the Creation Kit out modders are finally going to cook. Entire planets at their disposal to create new locations, quests and more. I'm really excited for the future of the game.

 

[kiNeMs]

Well fuck me dead and call me a Yankee. That was the best xbox showing I've ever seen. But is it a little too late? This needed to be done 2nd year in to this gen. Not now


Mgs3 for me
But other games they showed looked pretty good and even if they didn't tickle my fancy they seemed to be trying different things.

Dragon age thought. Wtf. That seems like it's a joke.

Cod actually looks good. I suppose it's of this time era so it relates more.

Doom looks good.

Perfect Dark is looking ok. But that face man. Cmon guys. Enough is enough. The poor thing is dead already. So this has me cautioned.

That starfield expansion looks cool

The diablo trailer has blizzard back in the game for cgi trailer tech.

Avowed looks like dog shit. Just stop with purple, orange an blue glowing particle effects. It's shit design from the ps2 era.

Fable. Did they fix her face?

Gears of war. I've never played gears but willing to try if they bring it to my ps5. But that's hopefully good for the gears lovers. But obviously 5 years away.

South of midnight looks interesting. Didn't expect that from the gameplay. Monitoring.

That Mixtape game started playing the track from the old movie thrasn. Had my ears perked but it looks too much made for Modern Audiences.

Wuchung. Yes please more 3rd party precise combat games please.

Xbox series X digital. I'm interested.


Well done xbox. It's taken 10 fucken years. Better late than never I suppose.

 

[Be-Gone]

You're not wrong, it is easy for us all to sit and say "they're doing it wrong!" but it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the property to suggest this more lighthearted and goofy take on DA is hitting anywhere close to home for a lot of people.

One of the major issues for me, large corporate entities whose execs are simply looking for the thing with broadest market appeal and highest potential return. This reeks of it.

It can never be anything special, exciting or risky because it's just the safest, paint by numbers, market researched thing that the team at EA could slap the Dragon Age name on. Now, obviously I don't know better than the teams at EA (or maybe I do, I'm forecasting a flop) but I can't see why this idea was even greenlit in the first place.

Given how DA is known for being a dark fantasy property, this pivot to being a less serious entry (at least from what the trailer implies, it would be a weird tonal dissonance should the final product be more in line with what was expected beforehand) sort of feels like a death knell for the series. I don't want for the IP to lose its identity, I understand that things change over time but it's not as though this franchise has been around long enough to become more experimental or tonally different.

I understand your concerns and don't think they're unfounded. The 15-minute gameplay trailer tomorrow should tilt the expectations one way or the other.

The mistake is jumping from "I don't like the trailer" to "I know how to run a AAA studio and a multi-million dollar business". I didn't like the trailer myself - in my head I was thinking "what's with the pastiche?" - but I plead ignorance on operating a big corporation. On the contrary, NeoGAF is filled with posters who write as though they knew better, but if we were to combine the most popular demands we would have:

1. shorter AAA development cycles
2. no crunch
3. higher wages
4. ever-increasing production values
5. handcrafted, extensive quality content, not procedural
6. constant, or marginally-increasing game prices
7. no microtransactions, even if optional
8. no GAAS
9. minimal to no AI asset generation

to which some would like to add:

10. riskier IPs
11. less reliance on franchises

How do you square this circle?

From the comfort of my couch, I can shout "Hey, Bioware, do this, nor that!" because if in the end they go belly up, I can just shrug it off and "oh well, tough luck". I am completely insulated from any negative consequences of following my own business advice. Plus I get the social cred that comes from bashing the "evil greedy corpos". I'm sorry, but I don't think this is sustainable.

To have a culture that craves the fruits of capitalism, but disdains capitalism itself, that demands RTX 4090s at 100 bucks, but hates the very system that made GPUs possible in the first place, a culture that applauds high production AAA titles but seeks to undermine the viability of the only studios capable of producing them.

Something has got to give.

 

[Neil Young]

I think the screenshots point to the possibility the trailer is not representative of the overall tone.
If that turned out to be the case, why would anyone hold on to the trauma caused by a misguided trailer?

I'm not a fan of the series , nor am I claiming the screenies are fine art. But there's a gap there , wide enough to accommodate hope the game's not nearly as bad as the trailer suggests.

I'm not addressing you specifically, but It amazes me how frequently forum members presume to know more about the market than executives whose job is to figure out the market. It seems to be the default assumption execs are clueless. I mean, you can take risks with somebody else's money. Sure, it's easy to tell others what to do when it's not your money on the line. AAA development is very expensive and therefore very risky. A flop can sunk that ship. The frivolity with which management is attacked, berated and scorned comes form people who stand nothing to lose should their absolute assurances there's another, better way be proven wrong.

Maybe this is the intersection between the game they wanted to make and the game they thought they had to make to foot the bills.

The execs may not be clueless, but they know that pushing "the message" is more important, and possibly, more lucrative than producing a good game that sells well. Unless, of course, you believe the execs of Saints Row, Suicide Squad, Red Fall etc etc were brilliant leaders.

This game will suck. Why? Because it's being made by people who hate us. Who hate what was successful that came before them. They are not nearly as talented as the people they replaced.

Take a look at this trailer for Dragons Age Inquisition. Notice a difference? Yeah, we ALL do.

 

[Be-Gone]

.

 

[Neil Young]

The point is not that gaming CEOs are brilliant masterminds that never screw up. The point is forum members often make pronouncements from a position of ignorance.

I think most of us make pronouncements from a position of ignorance when it comes to gaming. I know NOTHING about what the finances or decisions inside a gaming studio look like. But what I DO know is what they show me and what they tell me. They have been over confident in their anti male, anti white, anti straight agenda. They have NO problem going to social media to tell us WE'RE the problem. They post pictures of them wearing gay flags, of all female development teams etc. I may not know whose making these decisions, but I'm pretty confident in saying that it's pretty fucking retarded to alienate a giant portion of your fanbase by announcing your pleasure in alienating them. And the proof is in the pudding, games produced in this way tend to suck.

I may not have the inside knowledge of how a game is made but that doesn't prevent me from seeing the typical signs of "the message" and instantly being turned off.

Another poster mentioned that a lot of people are too quick to judge because something MAY appear woke. I agree, but that's not our fault. They have PROUDLY shoved it in our faces for years that they want to change this industry. They have destroyed once beloved franchises with their bullshit. Most of the games that appear woke ARE woke. It sucks for games like Hellblade 2, but again, that's not our fault.

 

[WesternBlood]

I think most of us make pronouncements from a position of ignorance when it comes to gaming. I know NOTHING about what the finances or decisions inside a gaming studio look like. But what I DO know is what they show me and what they tell me. They have been over confident in their anti male, anti white, anti straight agenda. They have NO problem going to social media to tell us WE'RE the problem. They post pictures of them wearing gay flags, of all female development teams etc. I may not know whose making these decisions, but I'm pretty confident in saying that it's pretty fucking retarded to alienate a giant portion of your fanbase by announcing your pleasure in alienating them. And the proof is in the pudding, games produced in this way tend to suck.

I may not have the inside knowledge of how a game is made but that doesn't prevent me from seeing the typical signs of "the message" and instantly being turned off.

Another poster mentioned that a lot of people are too quick to judge because something MAY appear woke. I agree, but that's not our fault. They have PROUDLY shoved it in our faces for years that they want to change this industry. They have destroyed once beloved franchises with their bullshit. Most of the games that appear woke ARE woke. It sucks for games like Hellblade 2, but again, that's not our fault.

In addition, companies have gone out of their way to prove how woke they are in the hopes that they created a new cultural norm. Looking at how DEI is in everything right up to the Investment firms doling out their ESG scores and Unions who have put it into their policies, it is up to them to prove to us they are NOT woke.

There are generations of people who have been playing games since before Atari was a thing, we know what reality is, and the assumption that something is woke tends to be the correct assumption. Because we have been paying attention.

The Gold fish brained and the indoctrinated will have a hard time wrapping their heads around this concept.

Too bad.

 

[quickwhips]

Oh shit you get to play during Emergence Day. I'm in

I'm so worried is going to suck but I've read the books and look forward to playing more with Marcus and dom.

 

[CloudNull]

Why no Expedition 33 thread? You all suck ass.

 

[Dacon]

Why no Expedition 33 thread? You all suck ass.

Make one bitch. This was one of the standouts of the show though ngl.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

@CloudNull
@Dacon

Done.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 [Early OT] The French Connection

Once a year, the Paintress wakes and paints upon her monolith. Paints her cursed number. And everyone of that age turns to smoke and fades away. Year by year, that number ticks down and more of us are erased. Tomorrow she'll wake and paint "33." And tomorrow we depart on our final mission -...

d-pad.life

 

[kiNeMs]

It's pretty easy guys. DEI us definitely what's impacting the results of these games and what happens to these studios. It not just because they want the game to be inclusive and represent. It's because the meat and potatoes of the corporation is in fact impacted by this culture. The executive suite, the wattle bottle replacement guy, the account receivable clerk, the game designers assistant, the 2nd floor cleaner, the lead IT services network admin and on and on are all impacted. What does this culture ensure? That one cannot criticise for fear of repercussions.

Across all positions and jobs in the business there is now competency problem. People are hired and placed due to other metrics other than being good at the job, especially when those people are in lead positions. Meetings would most likely occur on design and direction and everybody's idea must be included. That's how we get to this hodge lodge of a game result where it doesn't know what the fuck it wants to be and is just a meld of all these ideas from other successful games on the market currently.

There is now no auteur, no creative one single mind with a vision of something great, no little creative team that are all on the same page of creating something brilliant and cutting edge. The sole incubation process of creative brilliance is now stifled due to this. It's culled back by psychopaths and narcacism. No one can say no to a shit idea, and all ideas seem awesome and amazing.

Places where this is not seeping in to the corporate and enterprise culture is where we will see great and brilliant games. Because a cunt of a person who doesn't give a shit will be throwing and shit ideas and saying no. That's why the good games come from Japan, Korea and China now.

 

[GreyHorace]

The execs may not be clueless, but they know that pushing "the message" is more important, and possibly, more lucrative than producing a good game that sells well. Unless, of course, you believe the execs of Saints Row, Suicide Squad, Red Fall etc etc were brilliant leaders.

This game will suck. Why? Because it's being made by people who hate us. Who hate what was successful that came before them. They are not nearly as talented as the people they replaced.

Take a look at this trailer for Dragons Age Inquisition. Notice a difference? Yeah, we ALL do.

I say this as someone who LOATHES Inquisition, at least the trailers managed to sell it as Epic Fantasy. The new game looks like a fantasy version of current year slop like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Disney Star Wars.

 

[Amorous Biscuit]

Having had a few days to sit and think about this presentation, what is everyone's thoughts? I think it was a pretty strong showing from MS with a good mix of genres. Probably their best showing in recent memory?

 

[TaySan]

Having had a few days to sit and think about this presentation, what is everyone's thoughts? I think it was a pretty strong showing from MS with a good mix of genres. Probably their best showing in recent memory?

It was a good show overall but a little too much for 2025 and beyond and not enough for 2024. Gears having no gameplay or date was a huge disappointment

 

[Spiders]

Missed opportunity for the XYX box.

Mongoloid console, confirmed. One Chromosome too many.

Saving it for the mid-gen refresh

 

[Be-Gone]

The execs may not be clueless, but they know that pushing "the message" is more important, and possibly, more lucrative than producing a good game that sells well. Unless, of course, you believe the execs of Saints Row, Suicide Squad, Red Fall etc etc were brilliant leaders.

This game will suck. Why? Because it's being made by people who hate us. Who hate what was successful that came before them. They are not nearly as talented as the people they replaced.

Take a look at this trailer for Dragons Age Inquisition. Notice a difference? Yeah, we ALL do.

I stand corrected.
Trailer was terrible.

 

[WesternBlood]

I stand corrected.
Trailer was terrible.

'Bout time you figured it out. Good-assed job.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Good for them they finally get some games out there. At least to show off.
But damn, modern western AAA gaming just isn't for me anymore.

Crappy art styles, lame quippy humor, DEI trash on everything, plus "cinematic" cut scenes cut scenes cut scenes.

Happy there is still a vibrant indie scene and Nintendo around for people who want to actually play games.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

It was a good show overall but a little too much for 2025 and beyond and not enough for 2024. Gears having no gameplay or date was a huge disappointment

You're getting Towerborne, Shattered Space, Avowed, Indiana Jones, Flight Sim, CoD, and Stalker 2 off the top of my head scheduled for this year.

There are almost too many games for 2024.

 

[Saruhashi]

Good for them they finally get some games out there. At least to show off.
But damn, modern western AAA gaming just isn't for me anymore.

Crappy art styles, lame quippy humor, DEI trash on everything, plus "cinematic" cut scenes cut scenes cut scenes.

Happy there is still a vibrant indie scene and Nintendo around for people who want to actually play games.

I was surprised watching the presentation just how many games were leading with female characters and voiceovers and so on.

You would think that, especially in the current climate, it would be an easy win for Xbox to just drop the DEI shit and go all in on a more early 00s "games for the boys" approach.

Sony and Ubisoft played their hand years ago. They are all in on "our games aren't for straight white men". Xbox is struggling. It should have been easy for them to place themselves as the console that is going to give you the AAA experience you want without the bullshit.

It's not like anyone can seriously cancel Microsoft FFS and it's not like they can do any worse than they have been doing.

 

[Be-Gone]

I was surprised watching the presentation just how many games were leading with female characters and voiceovers and so on.

You would think that, especially in the current climate, it would be an easy win for Xbox to just drop the DEI shit and go all in on a more early 00s "games for the boys" approach.

Sony and Ubisoft played their hand years ago. They are all in on "our games aren't for straight white men". Xbox is struggling. It should have been easy for them to place themselves as the console that is going to give you the AAA experience you want without the bullshit.

It's not like anyone can seriously cancel Microsoft FFS and it's not like they can do any worse than they have been doing.

As far as I can tell, their HR departments believe and enforce the creed, top management believes and enforces it as well and so do studio leads and rank-and-file devs. When was the last time you heard a prominent game developer on X decrying DEI, even if in the lightest, most indirect way? The CD Projekt Lead Weapon artist ? Why do you think he had to retract after a few hours?

The problem is wokism hasn't been a top-down issue for a long while now. All signs point to the vast majority of devs being devout believers. If sceptics exist, they seem to remain awfully silent. There would be a mutiny, internal, plus backlash from peers from other studios, plus relentless pressure from the press, plus criticism from the left-leaning public, which could very well be in the majority, all combined into a formidable leaver capable of smacking Xbox out of whack.

So, no, not going to happen.

 

[thebigR]

 

[cryptoadam]

I was surprised watching the presentation just how many games were leading with female characters and voiceovers and so on.

You would think that, especially in the current climate, it would be an easy win for Xbox to just drop the DEI shit and go all in on a more early 00s "games for the boys" approach.

Sony and Ubisoft played their hand years ago. They are all in on "our games aren't for straight white men". Xbox is struggling. It should have been easy for them to place themselves as the console that is going to give you the AAA experience you want without the bullshit.

It's not like anyone can seriously cancel Microsoft FFS and it's not like they can do any worse than they have been doing.

DEI is ingrained in corporate culture. You cannot work at a corporation without having DEI shoved down your throats.

There is no way MS would abandon DEI. It's part of corporate DNA. It's a requirement at every company.

Unfortunately there is only 2 options. DEI or studio goes under. You can't escape it. And once a studio closes down the lesson is not learned it's just doubling down on DEI until the next studio death

 

[Be-Gone]

DEI is ingrained in corporate culture. You cannot work at a corporation without having DEI shoved down your throats.

There is no way MS would abandon DEI. It's part of corporate DNA. It's a requirement at every company.

Unfortunately there is only 2 options. DEI or studio goes under. You can't escape it. And once a studio closes down the lesson is not learned it's just doubling down on DEI until the next studio death

Exactly.

The perverse incentive structure is in place. When some say that "Woke has peaked" they seem to be forgetting the apparatus. HR departments, DEI departments, academic departments, theoretical magazines, privatetly-funded and/or state-subsidized NGOs, all working in tandem for the same goal. These people directly and materially profit from the perpetuation of the ideology. Would they sit idle should their bread and butter be threatened?

Add to that waves of peer pressure, all the devs who are devout DEI believers, post on X, scream out of their lungs at GDC. They would like to have a word with you during the next coffee break and re-educate you. They'd certainly not work at any renegade studio. What they'd do is encourage a very public weekly rebellion, which all the gaming journalists would willingly put a spotlight on.

The boycotts would ensue.