> Our strategy will more tightly integrate esports, music, and entertainment with our games. Esports isn't just about competition; it's about the highs, the lows, and the communities that flourish around the games.
From my perspective, Riot Games began a course for the rocks the moment they started chasing esports and "meta". Imagine developing a game where you apply punitive actions to players for selecting game play paths you openly allowed them to pick. "Oops! you're having fun slightly wrong so enjoy this ban". I could get over some of this in support of high stakes gameplay objectives, but if it's all the time at every level it's like a cancer. The exact moment I stopped playing League of Legends was the day they released the patch that said we could no longer stack items. I felt the fun go away like a light switch being flipped off.
I am done with consuming games as of 2024. I used to game more than I worked not too long ago. The MBAs and related types have completely sucked the fun out of the room. I feel for the developers and artists who will be job hunting this year. Their leaders have failed them on many levels and over such a long period of time. LoL was the game to play for a solid decade and there isn't any obvious reason it couldn't have continued for another.
Blizzard and Overwatch are a carbon copy of this if you need one. In this case, the original game didn't even survive. They had to increment the integer and completely kill & bury the original title to justify their insanity to investors. The only viable path I can see at this point is to start a game studio from the ground up and avoid all external capital by burning gigantic piles of my own cash. Fun at all costs.
From my perspective, Riot Games began a course for the rocks the moment they started chasing esports and "meta". Imagine developing a game where you apply punitive actions to players for selecting game play paths you openly allowed them to pick. "Oops! you're having fun slightly wrong so enjoy this ban". I could get over some of this in support of high stakes gameplay objectives, but if it's all the time at every level it's like a cancer. The exact moment I stopped playing League of Legends was the day they released the patch that said we could no longer stack items. I felt the fun go away like a light switch being flipped off.
I am done with consuming games as of 2024. I used to game more than I worked not too long ago. The MBAs and related types have completely sucked the fun out of the room. I feel for the developers and artists who will be job hunting this year. Their leaders have failed them on many levels and over such a long period of time. LoL was the game to play for a solid decade and there isn't any obvious reason it couldn't have continued for another.
Blizzard and Overwatch are a carbon copy of this if you need one. In this case, the original game didn't even survive. They had to increment the integer and completely kill & bury the original title to justify their insanity to investors. The only viable path I can see at this point is to start a game studio from the ground up and avoid all external capital by burning gigantic piles of my own cash. Fun at all costs.