RallyCarDelta Gaming

When Sony was handing out live service money, it was possible to put together a pitch and get a studio funded (or you needed to know the right people in the right places). Deviation Games was one of the "winners" of that process. The Deviation deal fell apart. Instead of just letting it die, Sony tried to salvage some of it by bringing them in and calling it Dark Outlaw. Now we're seeing the big publishers come to grips with the fact that they have a massive cost base with little to show for it. Everyone is trimming, again. Just like we saw in 2025, 2024, 2023, etc., if a studio hasn't pushed their project into full production, or an concept was restarted several times, they are a prime target for cutbacks. Everyone is cutting back cost base.

This isn't that clear, and in most cases won't actually play out in any noticeable way. The general rule of thumb, even when using CPU bound games, is that rendering ANYTHING at a lower resolution should be easier on the machine as a whole, even the CPU. A game would have be hitting the CPU so intensely that the game is barely operating as-is to be truly CPU bound. An example might be playing something like Teardown and blowing up every square inch of terrain at the same time. That would render the game so slow that no amount of DLSS upscaling would help. It's unplayable. In most games, CPU bound just means the CPU is being hit the hardest in processing and that by reducing internal resolution, you should relieve some stress on the CPU as well. In the vast majority of cases, using DLSS to reduce the internal resolution and just upscale to the desired output will result in better performance and input.

@PeterP_1985 No he's right depending on the game. The only time you should use DLSS/FSR is if you're gpu bound CPU bound games wont benefit from it and will actually increase frametimes.

This is absolute nonsense

Coming out of the 2010s, and into the early 2020s, every video game company was saying the same thing about mobile: "We need a mobile offering." That strategy is quietly being cancelled, as more people realize that succeeding in mobile is now much more complicated, and challenging, than it was 5-10 years ago. A company can succeed in mobile, but it doesn't look like the traditional model. If a company didn't buy in, or be lucky enough to already have a hit, the chance of success is now significantly lower than it used to be. The cost base that was set up to support mobile development will be slashed, or moved into something else.

@PeterP_1985 Just using DLSS (without any of the other enhancements like frame gen) arguably makes response time better if you're generating more real frames. It's only when injecting Nvidia's other enhancements does the system introduce lag to handle that processing.

This is at Epic, where they print #Fortnite money. It brings home a harsh reality that I've been talking about even prior to COVID over-hiring. The numbers in the games industry don't make any sense to me. The industry over-hired for certain business models, and just in general, if I'm being honest. Now layer on the strategy of making fewer games (because they need to stop flooding the market) and you're going to see layoffs. Now, TBF to Epic, this is a very healthy severance package. This will put someone on their feet for several months, hopefully long enough to find work. epicgames.com/site/en-US/new…

The "exclusive" thing is fair debate. I don't even know what it really means for them anymore, especially since MSFT isn't ever going to go back to a hardware exclusive game (it would kill their new strategy). That leaves PlayStation and Switch 2. If we remove obvious multi-plats like CoD, does it help or hurt MSFT to hold certain brands on Xbox + PC for some time? I genuinely don't know the answer, but I generally don't follow the sentiment of social media. It's the real market, outside of this hellsite, that matters.

I think history will be kinda to him especially when details come out in relation to what went on during the Xbox Series Era (Margins/Gamepass/Console price increase - Microsoft) If Forza, Gears & Halo do well it won't have technically released under him, but it was more or less completed under him. In relation to their current strategy I do like it... But I do think it would be more effective with exclusives. The PC market (Prebuilt) has good potential of market properly and the more unique selling points you have the better.

Phil Spencer deserves a lot of credit for revamping #Xbox after MSFT took their eye off the ball during the Xbox One launch. He fought for Xbox to remain a consumer facing brand, especially with MSFT having failed in numerous other consumer product lines. He completed the acquisition of ABK despite numerous roadblocks (some of which were hilariously off base). However, given the updates over the past month, it's starting to make logical sense that he already had one foot out the door. Even from the outside you can tell that new leadership at Xbox is using a revamped consumer approach to the product. I'd also argue that what we saw at GDC was good for developers, though that was set in motion years ago, during Spencer's watch. You can tell there are two parallel, but complementary strategies at Xbox right now: Consumer AND Developer. How do we sell it? How do we make it easier to develop on the platform? Does this work over the next decade? I don't know, and neither do you. I like what I'm seeing, but my personal view doesn't mean market success. That's a much more complicated answer, especially when a company sees a mix of results.

I believe it's also important to call out the elephant in the room here. Scopely spent hundreds of millions of dollars on user acquisition. They essentially entrenched themselves by risking hundreds of millions of dollars on UA. Did it work? Yes. Is that a viable strategy for everyone? Absolutely not.

The mobile games marketplace is now in the midst of a very similar problem compared to their desktop / living room counterparts: Entrenched consumers and saturation. The CEO is Scopely is correct. 6-10 years ago, there was a "need" for new experiences. End point consumers were bouncing around and trying new things. That isn't the case today. Entrenchment has set in (Monopoly GO is a prime example) and people generally stick with their comfortable games. New games today need to be less expensive, nimble in development, and exceptional to the end consumer. The only way you can move people today is with the exception, not the norm. thegamebusiness.com/p/scopely-ceo-…

@Tayetalks_ Definitely builds solid ground for a sequel. Agreed

@GameOverThirty Good numbers especially given it's their first venture into this kind of game. New IP and I expect the sequel to be much better. Very good start. Now what they expect is anyone's guess but I'm leaning they'll be happy.

Crimson Desert sold through 3M units. I don't know what the company set as expectations. 3M units is likely a good start given environmental factors.

A console can't provide any value in a region where you can't get one (or they are extremely costly due to import / supply chain challenges). That's actually the bigger point above. People in the US don't appreciate the fact that in other regions of the world, it's not just "go out and buy one." It is often the case that mobile phones and PCs already have viable supply chains. This has nothing to do with "bang for the buck" in Western markets.

@GameOverThirty This might make some sense of mobiles and PCs provided anywhere near the same bang for buck as a console.

The weakness of game consoles lies in their global viability. Bespoke consoles primarily thrive in the wealthiest global regions (a trend that has lasted 50 years). This is simply the reality of those devices. As various global regions experience economic growth, there's a strong likelihood they will shift towards PC and mobile platforms. Why? These devices are easily imported or already integrated into existing, viable supply chains. Furthermore, PC and mobile offer a greater variety of in-country options. Publishers, particularly those targeting broad sales, understand this. While console sales remain important, especially given the high spending potential of the users, growth opportunities lie elsewhere. This presents itself as the biggest opportunity for mass market publishers, explaining why we see many of them mention PC sales. They can sell to their existing base, but that doesn't fuel overall growth for the next 20 years.

@baundiesel I looked it up. Interesting weapon. I don't think we've seen it since, right?

@GameOverThirty No gun in a game will ever make me as happy as Hardline's HCAR.

The "bank robbery" version of #Battlefield, Battlefield Hardline, will be remove from Xbox One & PlayStation 4 consoles storefronts. Online functionality will also cease. This does not impact the PC version.

@MrDachi87 People don't talk enough about their positive experiences, and when they do, someone comes along to shoot it down. Just the other day I posted about how much I enjoy Toxic Commando (Saber's new zombie game), and like clockwork, someone came along to say how awful it is. 😐

@GameOverThirty Playing Avowed and South of Midnight this year has taught me to play games when the noise around them is gone. I've enjoyed those games and not had to listen to how great, bad or "woke" they are, and from now on, I plan to continue doing this for most of the games I play.

I can't figure out if I'm supposed to proclaim Crimson Desert is the greatest thing ever, or write essays about why it shouldn't exist. 🤷‍♂️

@JezCorden I've reported this issue every time I get the survey pop up. I simply do not understand how a search query can fail like this. That said, I do think they are genuinely looking to improve experience. We'll see if they get there.

The Xbox PC store is still unacceptably unreliable in general. Why can't I find the game from the search bar? This CANNOT be the Xbox Helix experience.

Crimson Desert should've been a big win for Xbox PC / Xbox Play Anywhere. Instead it showed that there's still so much work to be done to fix Xbox PC. With Xbox Helix merging console and PC together, Microsoft has its work cut out ahead of launch. windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/cr… 👇

MSFT announced an #Xbox partner preview, scheduled for March 26 at 1pm EDT. The new Expanse game, among others, will be part of the preview. news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/…