This Week In The Business_ Condolences For Consoles

QUOTE | “The betdog console as it exists today, and your TV… In five years time, people will still have them, I imagine, just out of retro [sentiment]. They look good. But in 10 years, they will be in one of the other devices you have.” – Electronic Arts VP of strategic growth Matt Bilbey sees an eventual merging of consoles with Smart TVs, smartphones, and other such devices QUOTE | “It’s been a long and beautiful journey with many ups and downs. When I started EmuParadise things could have gone either way. But right now the direction they are going in could not be more than clear.” – EmuParadise founder MasJ explains why the site took down its extensive collection of console game ROMs rather than risk legal action from rights holders. QUOTE | “It’s our responsibility in y1 games Germany to have a very serious and careful look on this part of our history. The law still says, and will for many years say, that flooding the market with Nazi symbols is not something we want – it’s forbidden… There will always be a discussion, and a discussion in society, about where the limitations are.” – Felix Falk, managing director of German games industry trade group Game, talks about the government’s recently relaxed rules on the depictions of Nazis and Nazi symbols in games QUOTE | “Literally an hour ago, someone came up and said, ‘Thanks, your game made me a socialist.’ Our game wasn’t meant to be evangelizing or anything, but I think enough people saw their own experience, and just didn’t have words for it.” – Night in the Woods’ Scott Benson was one of several developers discussing whether or not their message-laden games had changed people’s minds QUOTE | “We just never worked overtime when I was on the Hearthstone team. The culture on the team was really rigid about making sure people didn’t burn out. It comes from the top” – Second Dinner co-founder and former Hearthstone director Ben Brode says crunch isn’t required to create a hit game QUOTE | “In terms of pacing and smoothness of the gameplay we were absolutely right to get inspired by Hearthstone. But [regarding the] business model we should have stayed true ourselves.” – Abrakam CCO and studio founder Jean-Michel Vilain explains why the Faeria developer went from a premium business model to free-to-play, and why it went back QUOTE | “It took us a long time to get the script but we felt like we had something that was really interesting and felt like it belonged on Showtime in terms of its character depth, and it’s gonna be a big show.” – Showtime president and CEO David Nevins y1 com says the cable network’s 2020 Halo TV series is its “most ambitious series ever.”  QUOTE | “We always wanted there to be more than just ship combat between players. We wanted people to watch the sunset, drink grog and adventure together” – Rare design director Mike Chapman talks about the studio’s approach to Sea of Thieves and how adding communication tools cut in half the number of ship encounters ending with combat QUOTE | “We are wholly dedicated to supporting the live game, and made the decision to stop Steep development on the Nintendo Switch platform to focus on bringing new live content and challenges to Steep players instead.” – Ubisoft’s official Steep Twitter account announces the cancellation of the winter sports game’s Switch version in a reply to a fan QUOTE | “Why then is Arena of Valor struggling in the US? Partially, it’s a victim to market trends, but mostly it’s a game lost in translation. By being stripped of China’s unique cultural and market context, Arena of Valor lost much of what made Honor of Kings work, and has suffered in the process.” – Mintegral’s GM of the Americas Jeff Sue explores why Tencent’s Arena of Valor, the localized US version of its hit Honor of Kings, is underperforming its counterparts STAT | $2,295 – The asking price for a Magic Leap One Creator Edition, the first version of the much-anticipated, heavily funded AR system that launched with minimal fanfare this week.