The Wednesday letters page is worried about the future of Mass Effect and BioWare, as one reader looks at the history of summer console launches.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Fan bubble
So, it’s a pretty busy February this year, with a lot of big titles, and one of them is Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There’s been a lot of talk of Ubisoft being in trouble so they’re going to have a lot riding on this. My question is, will it be a success?
On one hand you’d probably say not, because of all the stuff with it not being historically accurate and whatever. But normal people aren’t going to have heard about all that. Assassin’s Creed is one of the biggest franchises out there, only a few steps down from Call Of Duty and EA Sports FC in terms of something that always seems to sell no matter the quality or controversy.
I’m sure sales go up and down between different games, but I’ve never heard of Assassin’s Creed actually being a flop. I think too often we – the sort of people that would be reading this – get caught up in a kind of fan bubble where we assume everyone knows and thinks what we do.
I know I’ve been guilty of that before, and I’d be very surprised if the vast majority of people looking at Assassin’s Creed Shadows didn’t just see a cool samurai game and think about buying it. The biggest issue I can see is that there’s a lot out that month, rather than anything about the game.
Futterman
Summer loving
A June release date seems pretty weird for the Nintendo Switch 2; doesn’t seem like something you’d choose on purpose at all. I can only guess it’s either to stay out of the way of GTA 6 or Nintendo are worried they’d go too long without anything to sell.
I’m not a wholesaler or a manufacturer or whatever but I just can’t imagine many people in June are going to have £300+ to spend on a new video game console. Especially as it’s six months to Christmas. The super fans will though and I guess that’s all you really need when a console comes out, to build up the hype.
I think there’s an obvious reason why so few games are released during the summer but a portable console? That makes a bit more sense. Plus, it gives time for hype to build up for the Christmas season. Either way, I doubt Nintendo’s going to have trouble selling it.
Nix
GC: March releases are relatively common for portables, but you’d have to go back to the Mega Drive and SNES to find a major format that launched during the summer, and even then it was August.
Beware BioWare
A lot of people are worried about the future of Bungie at the moment, but I never really played Destiny, so I can’t really comment on that. What little I’ve read doesn’t sound good, but I couldn’t say whether they’ll pull through or not.
What I do know though is that I’m really worried about BioWare. I just read that they haven’t even started full production on Mass Effect 4 yet, which means it’s going to be at least three years more. After the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard I really do worry that EA is going to shut them down before they get much further.
A reader asked yesterday why EA keeps making more Battlefield and Need For Speed games and I couldn’t really tell you. But I do know that they’re not nearly as patient with anything else and at this point BioWare feels like it must be on very thin ice.
84Colbat
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
From summer with love
With all the talk about Nintendo Switch 2 at the moment (understandable, I realise) I can’t help thinking about what FromSoftware are doing right now and when they’re going to announce it. Elden Ring Nightreign is clearly just a quick and dirty spin-off, so what is their next main game? They’ve said it’s not Elden Ring 2 and I can’t imagine them going back to Dark Souls after all this time, so it’s either a new IP or a new Bloodborne.
I do think there’s a good chance of Bloodborne 2, as it has a very good reputation and it’s exclusive to PlayStation, but Sony don’t have to worry about making it themselves. But From have said they’ve got multiple games underway at the moment and that means that at least one of them has got to brand new.
The best thing is that, except for Bloodborne, this is something to be excited about for Switch 2 too, since it’s bound to be on that too. Only thing is I don’t know when any of this will be announced. The Xbox event this week? The imagined Sony one after? I think Summer Game Fest is probably the most likely.
Iceman
A better year
Do you plan on reviewing Eternal Strands?
Last year was a great gaming year but lacked any really big releases. This year we are expecting some heavy hitters, but the first few months of this year already has a healthy list of games that I wouldn’t say are massive releases but look very promising.
Eternal Strands, Avowed, Split Fiction, Atomfall, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii all look good.
Simundo
GC: It does look interesting, so we’ll try.
Number value
GTA 6 $100 is £81.63 normal price. This raises standard prices by £10 above the new release of EA Sports FC 25 and Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6.
People are seeing the US market prices and not realising the price difference via currency exchange.
Games are making more money over DLC and virtual currency, where GTA 5 is lacking from due to the number of mods now making the impossible very possible.
This didn’t exist until the PlayStation 3, where developers want more for very little. A suggestion to CMA to level the online playing field would be a singular price for battle passes, that include all features instead of charging a battle pass and single features such as skins.
Console games are becoming expensive and going digital has ruined the gamers market, because of several reason a) You don’t own the game and as soon as it’s removed from store the game disappears b) GAME, CeX, and various gaming shops would be forced to close their doors like Gamestation c) store closures mean more unemployed d) no more resales or trades and finally e) gaming storage will quickly fill up.
Kyle
GC: If, and it is an if, it’s $100 in the US it’ll almost certainly be £100 here. The same happened with the price rise to $70/£70.
Astronomically unlikely
With the Switch 2 release nearing I’m wondering if there’s any chance we might see Astro Bot on the platform.
I think everyone would agree a game like that would find it’s natural home in Nintendo land and I’d assume sell well, something it unfortunately hasn’t seemed to do on PlayStation. It just seems like a win-win situation for both platforms.
Chris
GC: Not unless Sony radically changes its multiformat policies.
Big bang
I would absolutely love it if Nintendo made their last Switch game a big fan service title that was doomed to failure. Unfortunately, unlike the previous reader, I can’t really imagine that happening. Nintendo might be the ‘nice’ console maker but that doesn’t mean they’re happy to just throw money away. No company ever wants to do that, least of all one that’s savvy enough to be over 130 years old.
Unfortunately, I think it is the fate of all consoles to fade away rather than go out with a bang. I’d love to be proven wrong, but I think we should feel lucky that last year was a good one for the Switch, rather than just being filled with remasters and other low rent stuff.
I do hope though, that some of the forgotten franchises get updated for the Nintendo Switch 2. F-Zero might be a tricky one, in terms of what to actually do, but Star Fox is pretty malleable and can be almost anything sci-fi. There’s lots of other older franchises they could be back too, like Golden Sun, Kid Icarus, StarTropics, and Wario Land.
I know they could just make a new series instead, but I think there’s always a novelty in updating old games and seeing what can be done with modern technology and some new ideas. If anything was going to happen I’d say Golden Sun was the most likely, as it’s by an outside developer, but I’m still not getting my hopes up.
Darth Ryan
Inbox also-rans
I was gonna write in about there being no games I want coming out in 2025 but then I read your release list. I was incorrect.
Bobwallett
This GTA 6 trailer theories are so insane. I can’t believe the fans really believe them; it’s probably just an inside joke. The phases of the moon one was the best.
Doug
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.
MORE: Select Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 worth paying £100 for?Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 worth paying £100 for?
MORE: Games Inbox: What are the Nintendo Switch 2 launch games?
MORE: Games Inbox: Was the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement a disappointment?
