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Rocket League Patches Eye Optimization For Future

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There is no denying the insanely robust popularity of Rocket League and the momentum it has built.

It’s popularity, which continuing to climb, is proof of that.

Recent patches have two arenas in the game that featured erratic terrain have been removed, replaced by flat fields.

The development team used social studies to gauge player experience and concluded that  the alternate arenas didn’t offer enough strategic differences to offset interfering with player’s muscle memory.

“We didn’t have a strong belief in the future of different layouts given our internal explorations and the mixed success of our ‘Rocket Labs’ arena testing playlist,” Davis said in an email interview with Compete.

“And ultimately we think Rocket League has a lot in common with traditional sports where standards give players and teams the consistency they need to truly master things.”

Players have also noticed a change to car body types. For example, steering and handling are being standardized to fit certain car and represent what that car is expected to do based on it’s build.

“First, our standardization efforts are categorically NOT an attempt to change how a car like Batmobile feels to you” Davis wrote.

“We are not interested in making everything an Octane clone. However, we did want to provide consistency within groups of the most popular vehicles – e.g. Batmobile/Mantis/Twinmill.”

The patches are intended, in part, to create a set of rules for the game as it continues to grow, react to gamer experience and to optimize future car and arena design.

“If this was May 2015 and Rocket League hadn’t released yet I might answer differently [about each car being unique],” wrote Davis.

“But because we’re over two years in and players have become very attached to specific car behaviors like the Batmobile, we aren’t currently interested in trying to take away any of that unique flavor. We’re just trying to bring some of the less used cars into alignment with those favorites.”

 

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Patreon Hires Twitch’s Adiya Taylor as New Corporate Communications Lead

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Content creation platform Patreon has officially tabbed Adiya Taylor as their new corporate communications lead, effective in February, according to an official announcement.

Taylor worked for Amazon’s video game streaming platform Twitch for three years in a variety of roles, most recently serving as the company’s senior monetization communications manager prior to her departure.

Taylor’s hiring comes after Patreon brought on Brielle Villablanca as Vice President of communications and creator advocacy back in November 2023.

“I’m thrilled to begin crafting and implementing a communications strategy around policy, trust and safety, product and more,” Taylor said during an official post on the networking platform LinkedIn, adding that she believes Patreon is a “true advocate” for creators.

“I’m looking forward to more storytelling around how we’re fostering fandom so that creators own long-lasting businesses built around their artistry,” Taylor added.

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Microsoft Bringing Four Games to Rival Consoles

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Microsoft has responded to recent reports that there will be changes to it’s first-party strategy and has confirmed that four game titles will be released on rival consoles.

More specifically, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that ‘Starfield’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ will not be among the four titles heading to other platforms. Both games had a number of candidate platforms, per reports, adding that this is “not a change to our fundamental exclusive strategy.”

“We don’t damage Xbox and we can grow our business using what other platforms have to help us with that,” Spencer said, according to GamesIndustry.biz.  “Looking forward, I think there is an interesting story for us of introducing Xbox franchises to players on other platforms to get them more interested in Xbox. We think there’s a good brand value for Xbox there.”

Xbox president Sarah Bond announced that Activision Blizzard games would begin to be added into Game Pass offerings, starting with Diablo 4, which will be added on March 28th.

Additionally, Bond said that Microsoft is still working on hardware for the future and that their focus regarding the future is “delivering the largest technical leap you will ever have seen in a hardware generation.”

 

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Sega’s Revenue See Rise to $27 Billion

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Sega Sammy has released its financial report for the nine-month period that officially concluded on December 31st, 2023, and that report that demonstrated a rise in overall sales and profit despite a decrease in sales for Sega’s new titles.

That decline was offset by growth in pachislot and pachinko machines, however Sega had lowered its sales forecasts for the full financial year.

Here is a breakdown, courtesy of GamesIndustry.biz.

  • Net sales: ¥349.9 billion ($2.3 billion, up 28.7% year-on-year)
  • Operating income: ¥54.4 billion ($364 million, up 42.4% year-on-year)
  • Ordinary income: ¥57.2 billion ($383 million, up 42.7% year-on-year)
  • Net sales were up 130.3% to ¥120.2 billion ($805 million) in this segment
  • Ordinary income increased by 521.3% at ¥45.7 billion ($306 million).
  • Entertainment Contents segment, which includes video games, net sales were up 4.2% at ¥219.3 billion
  • Profit decreased by 52.5% to ¥19.7 billion ($131.8 million) as a result of weak game sales

You can read a breakdown of the entire report at GamesIndustry.biz here.

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