This is a terrible idea. Team 4 don’t often do interviews, so when they do it’s important you keep them on your side otherwise in future they’ll go with another journalist page.
You’ll see interviewers callout dodgers if the company the journalist works for is big and the interviewee was independant.
There is no way in hell we are going to lose our cosmetics - that’s completely nonsensical. But “as it is” - I’m sure it’s going away. Example I have everything unlocked on my main account and I never payed a dime on a lootbox - and I’m sure many players are the same. Credits are easy to earn and sooner or later you have everything or everything you want. But that isn’t making Overwatch a lot of money like a battlepass would, and overwatch clearly costs more money to make and maintain than any other online game (apart from wow that has a monthly sub fee) - So we can expect that, but everyone expects that anyway. And we can def expect it given that by adding PVE - the cost of making the game is skyrocketing.
I don’t agree it’s hostile now as someone who bought the game for little to no money on a discount and has every single item unlocked just via playing… I would be insanity to call it consumer hostile as it is now.
You haven’t been on reddit I guess, because there are 2 things everyone (including me) wanted to hear and heard: 1) New big things are coming soon 2) PVP is not getting sidelined and is considered the most important aspect of the game
He contractually can’t - he is not going to lose his job to just to give forumers behind the scenes gossip that are none of their business - OW2 will release, it will be monetized how it will be monetized - and you as the consumer will then have your opinion on it voiced the only way it matters and the only way you can - with your wallet.
For most of us - we just care that game isn’t trash, activision can put up any paywall they want, as long as they aren’t making balancing decisions and implementing pay to win mechanics
Way more than one interview and he spoke out during the blitzchung incident. Sure he could be making it all up but tiny bits of it slip out in unexpected places, especially when discussing how OW was made from the remains of the titan project.
but if you look at the launch of Overwatch and when we first released it, it was really different than just about any game out there. It launched with over 20 heroes and 12 maps for people to play on
Think he was referring to OW1 there…
Going forward I think that, especially for Overwatch 2, players ought to be able to look back at what we’ve created for Overwatch 1, we have created almost as many maps for the live game as we did for the game when it launched, almost as many heroes for the live game as when it launched. We have put a lot into this game. We have brand-new ways to play, brand-new types of maps and game modes, and we run our seasonal events every year.
He also says this though…and despite reading it several times I can’t tell if he’s referring to
Of course, they’re not going to reveal monetization yet. If he said something like “we’re considering x business model”, despite not actually confirmed, people are going to go nuts imaging and comparing what it is and it’ll end up having people acting overly positive or negative based on assumptions. That will turn off a lot people early on rather than letting them see it at face value once the game and amount of content is revealed in tandem with such model, whatever it is. And even if they eventually see it, those early imagined impressions would just leave a bad taste anyway.
It was what would have happened in the case of OW2 being a “true sequel”.
I’d like to think they can think of better ways than “what everyone else is doing”, but I understand battle passes are the tried and true in the market right now. I can only hope they aren’t as greedy as some of the other models I’ve seen out there.
Overall OW is the least predatory system of lootboxes and monetization out there for a “recent” game. Agreed. However I’ll never really enjoy or get behind FOMO tactics. It’s not anti-consumer, it’s just not in our favor.
I would put a ™ after that soon.
I … don’t think anyone thought PVP was being sidelined? But what do I know, I avoid reddit.
Maybe I used the wrong word there then. It lacks the answers MANY of us wanted to hear.
There are ways to reassure without detracting or downtalking. Jeff was REALLY good at it, I’m guessing Aaron isn’t.
I don’t know where you ever got the idea I thought different. I don’t need to be told that regardless of my input, OW2 is going to happen and I can choose to buy it or not. Are you asking me to stop speculating or criticizing the way this is developing just because I am not a significant factor in it’s eventuality? Cause… NO.
The game isn’t going to be trash. At least as far as if right now is fun, I’m sure I’ll have fun with whatever they put out. I’m not even really considering NOT buying/trying OW2, I’m just voicing dissatisfaction and concern with how these last few interviews and announcements have been turning out.
I think he meant both combinations. What we already know is that we will get these maps:
I’m sure we will get a lot of maps which are for PvE and PvP… so this could fit what he meant during the interview.
Hilarious if these 2021 yule logs were to be Jeff like in appearance, and then Aaron can occasionally take out the fireplace poker to the said “Jeff” logs.
That or just common sense, haha
The activision meme is fun and all but I think most people in the industry would be wary about just outright dissing a whole company of connections, especially if they handle your paychecks.
Gamespot is big enough to pretty much demand proper answers.
Jeff cameo…
true, but NDAS you know
What do you want the guy to say? Have you ever been interviewed and publicly talked crap about your boss?
People are so ridiculous sometimes…
Everything Aaron could not say was probably under an NDA. And during an interview, I know that a PR person is present to guide so that nothing gets leaked.
Jeff leaving could’ve been planned for a year, or for a month, but the truth is that we will only know after the NDA has expired. This happened with Mike Morhaim as well. It would absolutely not surprise me if Mike approached Jeff offering him a place at Dreamhaven.
Big shoes to fill…
So I read the interview, and I’m honestly not sure I know more about OW or OW2. Outside of a new feature coming “soon”. A lot of questions were asked, but not a lot of answers were provided.
Not coming away from this interview with a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dodging questions is answering the question by telling you exactly what you don’t want to hear.
They aren’t stopping any monetization, for those who need people to hold their hand.
Yessss
Yesss
Hell no
Terrible ideas
Yes, I have. I could talk about how tight budgets caused certain problems to arise and how people on the team stepped up proactively to fix things, without ever directly saying that a certain someone was AWOL from their post the entire quarter.
There are ways to spin it positively. There’s always stuff one can say about promoting a good ecosystem, finding a balance and not losing sight of why people stay in the first place. This is a position that demands tact.
Is it fair to expect this of everyone? Probably not. But swaying the suits draws from the same skillset as swaying the public.
In my experience, it’s always best to be “aloof” when a question like that comes out. There’s really no good answer, even the ones you suggested admit that Activision is doing something wrong. Which is what the interviewer wants to hear anyways. I think he was professional in how he handled it.