News

Black Ops 4 Balances Shotguns, Adds Depth to Pistols

Published

6 years ago

August 2, 2018

Anthony DiMoro

Black Ops 4 has made a few tweaks that are certainly noticeable and have an impact on overall gameplay.

Shotguns have been rebalanced and placed in the secondary weapon slot next to the pistols.

“We talk about shotguns all the time,” Treyarch expert game designer Tony Flame said, according to VG247.

“They’re the hardest guns to balance. According to players, they’re either underpowered or overpowered, even when they’re actually both at the same time. For example, when we see the shotgun gets just near the level of effectiveness of an assault rifle, from the players’ experience they feel too powerful.

“So we have to get that balance just right. It’s always a tricky one. We wanted to make sure they weren’t overly frustrating – that’s the number one [priority] – but also make them satisfying.”

The intention is to redefine the shotgun’s role in the game.

“We’ve gotta balance them in line with a secondary,” Flame continues. “They’ll be balanced against pistols, each in their own role.

“Shotguns have their own unique playstyle where you get a consistent number of hits to kill. It’s not going to be as much about getting the one hit kill with the shotgun. It’s more about getting the first hit, taking cover, rechambering the shotgun, then popping out for the second hit.”

Additionally, shotgun players can use all of their customization points into attachments for their gun, providing it with better range and more power with longer barrels and chokes.

“Then you can actually extend your one hit kill range quite a bit, but you’re investing heavily in your gun from the attachment side,” Flame says. “That’s an example of the attachment strategy we’ve got for each weapon.

“Internally, we’re going back and forth. By the time we come into beta, we think we’re going to be in a really good spot.”

Business

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

Published

1 month ago

March 16, 2024

Anthony DiMoro

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.

Business

Microsoft Bringing Four Games to Rival Consoles

Published

2 months ago

February 15, 2024

Anthony DiMoro

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.”

Business

Sega’s Revenue See Rise to $27 Billion

Published

2 months ago

February 9, 2024

Anthony DiMoro

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.