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You might be surprised at how well indie publications can do. Look at Second Wind, they have a bunch of writers and video folks all funded AFAIK through Patreon.
SkillUp’s channel has done so well he’s hired on two more people to make videos and just launched their own site with multiple writers. In fact they just hired another columnist, all reader and viewer funded through Patreon (and directly through the site too, I think).
There are other outlets thriving in the indie gaming journalism and review space too, all most if not entirely reader funded. It’s working.
Good, the game needs some fresh leadership. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that on the same day they announced this, Bungie also announced that all previous season passes will soon return to a kiosk in-game and you can finish them at any time (yes like the Helldivers model). Plus, players who never got the pass before will be able to buy them for a pretty reasonable price (around $6 USD I believe).
He qualifies early on the types of games he’s discussing; anything with a story or that has meaning to us. IIRC he even mentioned the very scenario you bring up: A linear game where we still get to choose whether we finish it simply by not playing. He also mentions we can do this with other media like books.
It’s just an exploration of how we handle getting near the end of something that had meaning for us, both video games and events in our lives.
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There can be a tricky balance between building sequels or something new. Sometimes there is more you can do in a world, and people enjoy returning to worlds when there is good reason to.
I think the recent Doom reboot trilogy is a masterclass example. Not everyone enjoys each game, people often have different favorites. But the point is they’re all Doom and yet id Software did something unique with each one. New mechanics, new ways to play, pushing boundaries of what came before.
Of course, with Greek mythology, there is plenty more source material to explore and build on in a setting like Hades. They certainly hit a great formula to do it, and The People® were clamoring for it. But with SG’s established preferences for going after new ideas instead of sequels, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do something else after Hades 2. Or who knows, maybe they’ll be able to grow enough to work on multiple games at once. That could come with its own challenges, but plenty of studios have done it.
I loved Bastion and Transistor and wished for sequels for both. But SG clearly seemed to prefer to not make sequels for its games all these years; to my knowledge, it has never made one. I’m not sure what or who changed at the company, but Hades 2 is an anomaly.
Has anyone interviewed someone at SG to ask sequel questions? If not, maybe someone will once H2 gets closer to officially shipping.
Just like other aspects of commerce, we’ll see what the market does. I hate to say it that way, but that’s simply how it works. Look at what’s happening to McDonalds right now. They’ve been raising prices for years, now tariffs have made things even worse, and people have responded accordingly and go to McDonalds less. Ball is in their court.
Another good example is the recent news about Beyoncé no longer filling major concert venues. I know there’s a lot of factors going on in these situations, but the truth at the core of it is that prices finally went up to a point where a not insignificant portion of her audience noped out of the transaction. Simple commerce.
I might get downvoted or whatever but Windows 11 is fine. I get it if your PC straight up can’t run it, that’s a tough spot. But as an OS it’s fine, even has a few handy features (besides all the AI crap shoehorned in). I actually like the File Explorer changes and the window snap stuff can work in the right setting.
This is a travesty of travical proportions and I am currently drafting a class action lawsuit against Gabe Newell