TGO Daily | January 25, 2021 | Xbox Raises and Decreases Cost of Gold
January 25, 2021
In The News
Xbox Live Gold
Last Friday, Xbox announced their plans to double the price of Xbox Live Gold (the service that allows players to play games online). What was originally $60 USD/year was going up to $120/year. Analysts suggested that it was an aggressive attempt at getting users to subscribe to the Game Pass, which is $180/year and includes Xbox Live Gold.
The reception to this change was less than pleasant. There was criticism about making such a large price hike during a pandemic (and thus economic instability), as well as the clear attempt at transferring people to the Game Pass which would also increase in price over time.
18 hours after their initial announcement, Xbox reversed their decision in response to the public outcry. Not only that, but they announced that free-to-play games will no longer require Gold to play (a frequent point of criticism, as PlayStation has done the same for years).
We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day.
I was surprised by this reversal, because price hikes almost always receive a public outcry which then fall on deaf ears.
Vicarious Visions Merges Into Blizzard
Source: bloomberg.com
Activision Blizzard is really three companies — Activision, Blizzard, and King. While they may live under the same name, they are still distinct developers with different cultures. One example of that happened this weekend, when subsidiary Vicarious Visions (VV) was moved from Activision to Blizzard.
You’ll recognize VV for their work on a number of Skylanders games, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and the recently released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 +2 — all Activision titles. Despite the massive success of VV’s games, it’s been determined that their 200 employees are served better merging with Blizzard. This means they will no longer be working on their own games, and instead will lend support to Blizzard’s upcoming titles, such as a planned remake of Diablo II.
According to Bloomberg, the company has also dismantled what was once a studio called Team 1. They were the people who were responsible for remastering the Blizzard “classics,” which also led to the horrendous release of Warcraft III: Reforged. They were also responsible for Heroes of the Storm and StarCraft II, which explains why development on those games have slowed down so significantly.
Tencent Acquires Klei
Tencent (the largest gaming company in the world) has purchased a majority stake in Klei Entertainment (Don’t Starve, Oxygen Not Included). They have a previous relationship when Tencent helped Klei publish their games in China.
“As part of this agreement, Klei retains full autonomy of creative and operations across all aspects of the studio, including projects, talent, and more…
We looked at a lot of different companies, and over the years, we’ve worked with a large number of publishers and distributors. Tencent is the only company that we felt would let us retain the level of control that we demand.
We’ve been working with Tencent for years and even at points where we disagreed, they were always willing to work with us to find the best solution for everybody involved and defer to us when we felt strongly.”
— Forum post from Klei founder
Tencent is known for letting their subsidiaries work with relative autonomy, to the point that its easy to forget that they own companies like Riot Games and Grinding Gear. For that, I am happy that Klei is getting the resources they’re looking for, because they have some really good games. I’m excited for what they have in store.
The Grab-Bag
GameStop stock skyrocketed over the last week thanks to…Reddit. I didn’t write this one out as a segment because a lot of it went over my head (and I’m not particularly interested in promoting the subreddit that made it happen), but it’s a pretty wild ride. It will be interesting to see how the story develops further.
Cyberpunk 2077 is now the biggest digital release of all time. This SuperData report claims that it sold 10.2 million units on release. They also claim that Fortnite is more popular than ever, and Among Us is still the top mobile game.
“Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town expansion pass announced”
“Mass Effect 2's Jack Was Originally Pansexual, But Non-Straight Romances Were Cut Because Of Fox News”
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