Morning DLC: Video Game News & Rumors 2/5/2016

"In a Weekly Famitsu interview, PlatinumGames CEO Tatsuya Minami and Game Director Eiro Shirahama spoke about the gradual move into contract work and the freedom the studio is often given.Minami: We used to have the idea that we wanted to be a studio that only made 100 percent original games. However, it turns out that only doing that is considerably difficult, and so now we take on various work.Shirahama: The IP holders also are like ‘Let Platinum Games do what they do for the action parts,’ so we are given tremendous freedom with development."

Platinum Games Details Shift To Contract Work

Platinum Games has been the subject of much interest in the last couple of years as they have switched from their own ambitious original titles into contract work. They are the hired gun of all IP holders working with Nintendo, Microsoft, and others. Similar to Ninja Theory, the reason is simple: Their games are all very distinctive on their own due to the fighting styles they put in play.

For a developer with that kind of niche, it makes sense to hire yourself out to do contract work. Similar to the way Bluepoint Games is the hired gun for the ports of existing titles to get them running as best as possible. It is a way to keep the money rolling in and business steady while also still getting a chance to be yourselves as a company and explore multiple different kinds of games.

"The toolset isn’t available yet: the above video is a summary of a longer Twitch stream the studio recently hosted, showing the technology in thorough detail. As for when it will release, well, there’s another Epic Games stream coming on March 16, where they’ll likely make an announcement."

VR tools coming to Unreal Engine 4

There is not much to say here, but as the might of the industry’s development has latched behind Unreal Engine and Unity it is cool to see the game industry’s best toolset developers getting behind the new ideas and technology around it.

Of course, all tools are still dependent on creative wielders, but it looks at least like the Unreal Engine will make large-scale development on these VR platforms more feasible in the long run by cutting down on the time needed to create a toolset for many developers.

"It’s only been a few days since Godus Wars launched on Steam Early Access, and it’s already managed to cause an uproar. As 22Cans’ early access follow-up to the infamously abandoned Godus, Wars has the difficult task of trying to build bridges between the studio and their betrayed community… so what better way to kick things off than include microtransactions!When it launched, Godus Wars was given for free to those who owned Godus, or cost $11.99/£10.99 for those who didn’t. There was also a $4.99 microtransaction available in-game, which added a whole new continent with 40 new missions, a new opponent, and a load of new units. For any other game that’d be generous, but with Godus Wars it made a lot of people quite rightly angry."

22cans’ Godus Wars Removes Microtransactions

I am not really sure this game will ever make this studio money. There are less people than ever working on it including the founder of the studio, Peter Molyneux. As part of the redemption of the game, Godus Wars was supposed to bring players back in. If you made a game that people hated, then added an expansion people loved, the time to present the total cost of the expansion is up front. Do not hide it behind a completion marker.

Be honest with your consumers. It is something Peter Molyneux himself spoke on after the release of the expansion with Eurogamer, the site which notoriously sent the developer into a media blackout. He wanted to take a step back so he could only speak on the things they are looking to deliver. Instead, they delivered a paid DLC expansion which then only existed to funnel you towards more previously unannounced DLC. It is a really bad look for a game whose entire existence has been a really bad look.

That’s your Morning DLC. Happy Friday, readers!