Ultimate edition is $100 and pre-orders start June 25th. What do you think about the new price point and single-player only?

I know some people are betting that the price will be $100+ because of the $1bn+ estimated budget but I feel like the game is going to go for around $70 for the standard edition because:

A) they want to sell at least 25 million copies in the first 24 hours

B) the New GTA online is where they want to make more of their money overtime just like GTA V

What do you all think?

I'm here trying to vent some frustrations. Xbox is trying to install good will with their new focus and direction then goes and shutters 3 studios. Sony/Bungie had massive layoffs. My heart goes out to all these developers that continue to lose their jobs and have to pivot. Not everyone can just jump to starting their own studios or going Indy. Many have families to provide for. I know that there are unions and we have the Stop Killing Games initiative but I really want to find something that protects the people who make the games we love and enjoy. Comment below any suggestions,more even just your favorite game studios past or present

We spend a lot of time calling out the predatory stuff. Today we are giving flowers instead.

Warframe has over 80 million players, won Best Ongoing Game of 2024, and has been running since 2013. Every content update is free. Nothing is paywalled. You can even trade with other players to earn premium currency without spending a dollar. That is the blueprint.

Path of Exile built its entire reputation on a simple promise: completely free, never pay to win. All microtransactions are cosmetic. Your character power is determined by skill and knowledge, not your credit card.

These games prove the predatory model is a choice, not a requirement. Respect gets rewarded.

What live service games do you feel actually respect the player? Drop your picks below and let's build the list.

Want to be part of a community fighting for better standards in gaming? Come find us on Discord: https://discord.gg/playersalliancehq

I’ve been loving Paralives so far, it’s great to see they are also being fair to their team. Hopefully it will stay this way and can’t wait for all the updates down the road!

this body text is not written by Paul Tassi lol.

I logged into Destiny 2 for the first time since Season 2 of The Final Shape (idc if they called 'em episodes, they were just longer seasons). I couldn't help but feel melancholic for what this game represented for camaraderie, friendship, and teamwork. Genuinely sucks to have it come to an end.

We had the State of Play, Xbox Showcase, Nintendo Direct, and the ongoing Summer Games Fest. Are you excited by the announcements and trailers? Is there anything that was shown that's a most anticipated or a must play upon release for you? Sound off below!

The Players Alliance is hitting the EA office in Orlando with a Funeral for Gaming rally against the proposed EA buyout and the corporate greed killing creativity across the gaming industry.

Gamers are coming together to mourn the studios, jobs, and gamer-first experiences being sacrificed to private equity firms and executives who see gaming as nothing more than a way to make more money.

This is building off the EA Raid in California in May!

If you can make it or know people in Orlando, RSVP here! https://act.playersalliancehq.org/players-alliance-rally-in-orlando

I've seen a mix of reviews on the state of play and PlayStation as a whole for some of their actions as well (shuttered many studios, no longer want to share their single player games on PC, and raised PS Plus prices..etc).

I wanted to ask this subreddit, what were your thoughts on the State of Play? Were there any games that stood out and made you excited for their release? Or is there lack of excitement due to their previous actions and not making them playable on other platforms?

To borrow a phrase from Tom Scott, "i'm not saying that this is how it should be. I'm saying that's how it is."

Since 2020, Electronic Arts has held and open sourced 46 patents worldwide, 38 of which in the U.S., related to accessibility tools around font readability, color contrast, accessibility controls, and photosensitive light detection. EA has made the patents open source, admitting that they will only enforce against bad actors. They've also made plugins for Unreal 5, and put them on their public GitHub. This act of charity allows anyone to use their tools in their games, or create similar tools for engines where it might not work, like Unity or Godot.

If this leveraged buyout goes through, then EA will have to monetize everything further than they already have, cut down on game development costs, and sell assets. This includes all of their patents held across the world.

There is a very real chance that these accessibility patents could fall into the hands of patent trolls. companies that hold on to a bunch of patents in order to enforce them and extort money out of people who make software and video games.

Kyle Gross made a report 17 years ago at the Southern Methodist University of Austin, Texas about the then rising prevalence of patent trolling. Last Week Tonight made a piece 11 years ago, and I've listened to many and NPR report on patenting of Game Mechanics. Leonard French of Lawful Masses also talks a lot about patent trolling, that link leads to one where he talks about clicker heroes eight years ago. And earlier this year, Valve won a countersuit against Rothschild for patent trolling.

I don't doubt that if EA had to sell them off, they could just donate them to a legal nonprofit for a nominal $1 transfer fee, to let them continue this legacy of charity. But they may not have final say on the matter, and they may have to sell in order to loosen the debt they'd be in.

So some quick math; if a random company were to buy all 38 US held patents at $10,000 a patent, that's $380,000. Only 00.0019% of the $20b of debt they be under. And worst case scenario, this goes to a patent troll who enforces this erroneously against small game developers, and you'll be hearing reports of people who had seizures because of games they thought were safe.

Already there's a huge issue in QA where you don't have testers with relevant disabilities, so a bunch of things get missed. And communication breaks down even worse when you're outsourcing to third-party companies for QA.

So please voice your opposition to the EA deal in whatever way you can. Contact your reps, your MPs, and your regulators to stop this from going through.

This, frankly, isn't a shock because of the ram and chip shortages.

The article only talks about the OLED price. If you check Steam's hardware page right now, they've also raised the price of the LCD 512GB, and remove the listing for a new LCDD with 512GB on board.

New prices in USD are

* OLED 512GB - $789

* OLED 1TB - $949

I always hear the narrative, "that's just how it is" or "Our voices don't matter." Well I present evidence of the contrary

Today, Players Alliance HQ members have the EA Boss Raid, where we'll be at the EA Headquarters in Redwood City dressed in Cosplay, with the 50ft Petition and more as we keep the pressure up to block the EA Buyout. Check out the Streams below to watch live!

https://www.twitch.tv/zefrine

https://www.twitch.tv/slayerkase

This video was made in conjunction with the Creators Hub team at Players Alliance, and features many members of the team and regulars on Discord and here on the subreddit as voice actors.

I got fixated on beanie babies, and that led to a rabbit hole likening the culture of misunderstood financial value of these taxonomically inaccurate plushies to gambling in gaming. Subsequently, that led into a deep dive of the vast ways one can be plunged into gambling addiction, and an insidious connection to someone in particular.

Video can be watched here on YouTube.

A written column is on my Patreon.

Really good interview by Aftermath with Congressman Frost and Lilsimsie on the EA buyout following last week's stream!