The Monday letters page wonders about the future of PlatinumGames, as a reader asks what was so amazing about the Xbox Developer Direct.
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Motion to include
Now a few weeks have passed, it’s kind of surprising how little we’ve really learned about the Nintendo Switch 2. So I just wanted to ask one question I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else and that’s whether the Switch 2 will have motion controls?
Watching the reveal trailer, they go out of their way to show the Joy-Cons working in terms of pressing buttons and moving the analogue stick, plus the new mouse feature, but they never show them using motion controls.
I know they have a bad reputation with some people, thanks to the Wii and Kinect, but the Switch’s motion controls were really good and I’m looking forward to seeing them improve again with the Switch 2.
I’m also curious to know whether it’ll have HD Rumble or an upgrade of that, as I’d like to see that improve too. Like all haptic stuff it’s underused in games but when it works it really adds something to a game, I feel.
Gorgo
GC: Considering the Switch 2 is backwards compatible with the Switch 1, and lots of its games have motion controls, it seems almost certain it’ll have them.
Priced out
EA profits down, other studios with the same complaints, is it just possible that… nobody wants to shell out £70 on games with the way everything is right now?
My gaming habits have changed now. I used to think nothing on taking a gamble on a £40 – £50 title but that stopped as game prices crept up and up.
I buy PSN credit online to put towards digital games now but when having to pay over 60 bangers to buy a £69.99 title – nah mate, I’m not having it.
Perhaps selling more at a cheaper price could be the answer.
RAMB01STBL00D
A fine cup of gaming
Just on the recent chat about the late, great David Lynch’s influence on gaming. Totally agree about Deadly Premonition, etc. but I started a replay of Persona 5 and a rewatch of Twin Peaks last week. Total coincidence but I’m getting some heavy Twin Peaks vibes from Persona 5 now, that didn’t really hit me before. Totally different setting but there are stylistic and music cues that seem very Lynch inspired to me, when experiencing both at the same time.
This might be a well known thing but I genuinely hadn’t thought about it before. It’s been four or five years since I last played Persona 5 and 20 since I last watched Twin Peaks.
Somasonic
GC: Twin Peaks was very popular in Japan and its influence can be found in many Japanese games, and often not necessarily where you’d expect it, such as Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
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What you missed
Can someone tell me what was so amazing about the Xbox Developer Direct? I don’t remember Ninja Gaiden being that big of a deal back in the day. I played it on the first Xbox. And a game by the We Happy Few developers? A dumbed down Doom and a promising Japanese role-playing game from a French developer. And Ninja Gaiden Black 2 available now? Am I missing something? Halo, Gears Of War, Forza, etc. are amazing games on Xbox, are the people praising it deluded?
I decided to not have both consoles this gen, as it was too expensive, to have both plus two subscriptions but I’m all for buying Gears and Halo on PlayStation 5. Starfield? Yes, I’ll buy it. I just don’t see what was so great about this showcase.
Zombiekicker
GC: The fact that it was not that big a deal is the whole point. None of the games, with the possible exception of Doom (which is not necessarily dumbed down), looked like they’d be big sellers and yet Microsoft funded them anyway – with an extra bonus of keeping PlatinumGames in business.
Change of plans
There is no way that Assassin’s Creed Infinity didn’t get drastically cut down from what Ubisoft was originally planning. They might never have shown it, but I don’t think anyone assumed what they were talking about was just a launcher.
They blatantly meant it to be some sort of 3D hub that you could explore and do things in. I imagine it was meant to be a free game tempting people into buying the other ones, maybe with a free mission or two. Something like that anyway, not just a couple of menus and extra achievements.
Poor old Ubisoft, it really does feel like their number’s up, especially if (when?) Assassin’s Creed Shadows underperforms.
Winston
No limits
Couldn’t disagree more with Grackle’s weekend feature saying that if games did go to a £100 there wouldn’t be any need for in-game purchases. I’m sorry, but if anyone believes that, they will have a shock. Take EA Sports FC, they have already said they make more money from in-game purchases then they do from selling the game and they have also said they make so much money from them they could give the game away for free and still be stuffing money in their mattress.
Take Fortnite, the game is free but from in-game purchases they have made billions. The real reason developers are losing money is they’re not making good games. They’re thinking, ‘We don’t care what the players want, we are going to tell them what they want.’ They could charge £400 for a game and they would still put in-game purchases in them and still say there not making enough money. There is a word in this world, and it’s call greed, and it means it’s never enough.
David
Locked out
I guess we’ll have to wait until the next Nintendo Direct, but I wonder if the Switch 2 will be region-locked?
If it is, it would mean one more device to keep around in a drawer somewhere as current Switch 1 owners would have to keep the older hybrid around, instead of selling it or giving it away to family members, as NTSC games won’t work on the Switch 2.
LeighDappa
GC: It seems unlikely, given the backwards compatibility.
Just a name
I would love an Astral Chain sequel for the Nintendo Switch 2 and I would like to think there is a chance, given the rumours. However, I do have to wonder just how long Nintendo’s generosity will last when it comes to PlatinumGames. A reader recently described them as the ‘nice’ one out of the three console manufacturers but that’s only true to a degree.
They helped out Platinum with Bayonetta 2 and 3, even though they knew they probably wouldn’t sell, and other things like Astral Chain, but that isn’t going to last forever. I think of when the developers of Hotel Dusk and Mario & Luigi went bust. Nintendo could’ve saved them, and had given them work to help them out, but eventually they said enough is enough.
At this point you’ve got to ask whether Platinum is even worth saving. All the best people have left and the main problem with the company seems to be the bad management, which is all that’s left now beyond some less experienced developers.
I’d love to see Bayonetta 4 but with its creator and many of the main staff gone I can’t imagine it working out. It’s a shame when talented developers go under,, but the real talent is the people that work there. At the end of the day PlatinumGames is just a name and no guarantee of anything if the people have gone.
Bayonetta was originally just Devil May Cry by another name so there’s no reason the same people can’t reinvent the same ideas in a different way again. To be honest, I think I’d rather have that then risk things getting stale by the time you get to Bayonetta 6. At the moment there are three great games and I’d rather it keep that 100% record to be honest.
Lutem
PS: Bayonetta Origins doesn’t count.
Inbox also-rans
At this point the only way Sony can redeem themselves, for ignoring Bloodborne for this long, is having a surprise reveal of a sequel that’s out this year. A remake alone is no longer going to cut it. I have no faith this will happen though.
Heathcliffe
I struggle to believe anyone particularly wants a Resident Evil Zero remake. Not enough to spend £70 on it anyway. Should’ve done Code: Veronica first.
Slimer
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