EA's baffling comments on Veilguard flopping + Xbox console sales down 30% | This Week in Videogames

Learning more about the brand new Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs here: www.nvidia.com...
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You're never gonna guess what EA blames the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard on.
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#thisweekinvideogames #dragonagetheveilguard #Xbox
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If you want to check out While Waiting (or any other game I profile in the 'Put This On Your Radar segment) you can find a link to it on my Steam Curator page:
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News collation and run-sheet by Edmond T.
Written and voiced by Ralph P.
Edited by Stuart K and Austin B.
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Bluesky: bsky.app/profi...
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[@SkillUp]

Learning more about the brand new Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs here: www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/graphics-cards/50-series/

[@phamquanghuy8000]

Paper Launch...

[@iamtheforce14]

Oh cool, can I buy one?

[@therealw04]

Learning more about the 50 series online is just all about anyone can do since they, just like the previous 3 generations, are SOLD OUT WITHIN 5 MINUTES OF LAUNCH TO SCALPERS.

[@illianias]

I got a 5090 fe xD prolly one of the few in the netherlands that didnt go to a scalper. Im pretty happy with my new space heater.

[@escapeffgalaxy614]

Oh I would love to get one, believe me...

[@MichaelChurchill1982]

Basically what this EA guy is saying is "it flopped because of the Devs not because of us, we wanted it to be live service, the Devs pushed back, so we let them have their way, and that's why it flopped, if we gotten out way it would have been a success that's why we fired them all" 😂😂

[@Bellonii]

Nothing about the game was good tho...so blaming the devs does make sense but it's definitely not just the devs fault for the gigantic flop.

[@Marksman3434]

​@@Bellonii you try making a decent game when you have dumb out-of-touch suits like Android Wilson breathing down your neck and forcing you to make a live-service game only to change it back to single-player halfway through

[@TheJols]

It flopped because of EA and the devs probably.

[@TaiAngel01]

Games are a team effort, no matter what...

[@jesusbarrera6916]

​@@Marksman3434Andrew Wilson had nothing to do with Veil guard's garbage writing.... There's only so much you can blame the execs for.... This is the 3rd failure BIOWARE has developed now

[@Byrvurra]

That quote from EA tells me that Dragon Age was completely doomed from the start. The game was getting it from both sides. Absolutely no one knew what they were doing. It was the victim of a total collapse of competence and it gives me absolutely no hope for ME V.

[@kunimitsune177]

ME WILL be trash. Accept it now & move on.

[@Mediados]

They changed direction halfway through and got completely nonsensical orders from management. The devs didn't do much wrong, they were just unable to do their job when they keep being threatened.

[@CPSPD]

I still can’t believe how many people defend veilguard on the games subreddit. Idek if they could even acknowledge the game’s total collapse that you mentioned.

[@psprinny5348]

@@CPSPD It's Reddit. Accountability to Redditors is like sunlight to vampires

[@drewb3490]

@@Mediados Didn't do much wrong ? shit writing, shit characters and shit gameplay. They screwed up what make games great.

[@Bloodlustian]

Andew Wilson unapologetically saying Dragon Age failed because it wasn't a live service game. Jesus Christ dude. Read the room.

[@jayjay6156]

Exactly they know it failed by pandering to they/thems and poor writing

[@chriswihulu]

Considering that was the original idea behind it and they spent a good year+ undoing that, I'd say it's straight up an insult to the developers 😂

[@TheRealSlimsagey7]

Baldurs Gate 3 literally did crazy numbers with no live service. EA and Ubisoft will never learn.

[@Khasym]

Hey now, don't be like that. Android Wilson DID read the room. He just read it as "OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD!!! GOTTA SAVE MY JOB!!! DEVS!!! I'LL THROW THE DEVS UNDER THE BUS!!! WE CAN FIRE THEM ANYWAYS!!!"

[@Daniel_C_Griffin]

He did, unfortunately for us the room was filled with investors.

[@daLukasMain]

0:10 - Gamers/ Earnings call season intro 0:25 - Xbox earnings call & news 3:59 - Nintendo earnings call 5:41 - EA earnings call & news/ CEO comments 10:26 - Meta Labs & Facebook VR losses 11:11 - Warner Bros. Games earnings & news/ Multiverses dies 12:46 - Lightning Round of News 15:45 - Announced & Delayed 19:24 - Review Round-up 26:51 - Out This Week 28:47 - Put This On Your Radar 29:38 - Sort Of Free Stuff 30:33 - Feel Good Story 31:25 - Outro

[@Lenariet]

Thanks

[@TheTrueRandomGamer]

Wish Ralph bothered to do this.

[@dsjgfxxkhrx4050]

awesome thx man

[@CargoShorts7]

@@TheTrueRandomGamer Yea I don't know why he doesn't. Like, I understand that a KZbinr would want their viewers to watch the entire video, it benefits the creator, makes sense. But man, people only have so much time to consume content and not everyone cares about every single news subject lol

[@alargefarva4274]

I blame Austin

[@yaron_izzikf]

Andrew Wilson's announcement (5:59) just comes to show us how detached are C-Level executives. They don't, and will not, care about video games as their intended use - entertainment for all ages. All they care about is their corporates' bottom lines. No accountability for poor sales or under performing video games, just corpo-jibrish through and through.

[@Ziggyvu]

Any failures will net them a. Golden parachute to the next company they ruin

[@Mediados]

I particularly despise this corporate speech. This sort of statement is used to talk around a problem without actually addressing what it is, so you can deflect all responsibility from yourself. This is the most inefficient way to run a business.

[@Khasym]

@@Mediados It's only inefficient to gamers. The Board doesn't answer to us. They answer to Shareholders. And as long as they can bury a studio or a project as being someone else's fault, the Shareholders will ignore whatever the Board does.

[@nailinthefashion]

We needed govt regulation years ago instead of letting greedy people quite literally ruin everything lol

[@cykeok3525]

It's downright incompetence. They released it as a single-player game WITH POOR WRITING and VESTIGIAL LIVE-SERVICE FEATURES. He doesn't realize that QUALITY WRITING and SOLID DESIGN proven from past games in the same series (Dragon Age) are what is needed for future games to succeed, and instead, his takeaway is that they need to pivot to live service... even as the sky is filled with the fiery contrails of live service games crashing and burning all around us. Whether as a consumer/customer/gamer or a stakeholder/shareholder of the company, it shows Wilson is completely out of touch. Everybody wants to see success. No one wants to see failure. But decision makers like Wilson are the source of failure and discontent ALL ACROSS the industry, yet face zero accountability for any of their endless plethora of poor choices.

[@aspinnycracker]

The thing is, Dragon Age has never really been a mainstream game, but it had a very core and loyal audience. But Dragon Age Veilguard not only didn't appeal to the mainstream audience, but ALSO didnt appeal to the existing fanbase And blaming it on NOT being a Live Service is even worse

[@itol2398]

If people had just said exactly what you said without getting all 4chan-y about the game, the conversations would've been much more palatable

[@lorebiter]

DAO was always basically just a modernised (for the time) Baldur's Gate, and Baldur's Gate 3 and the recent Pathfinder games have been much better at that than Bioware.

[@jesusbarrera6916]

Dragon Age Inquisition sold 12 million units..... How is that not mainstream?

[@deathgorilla782]

​​@@itol2398asking for that means you didn't want a conversation in the first place, like people have their own opinions. You can't complain if not everyone wants to soften their own opinions no matter what they are

[@aspinnycracker]

@itol2398 Alot of people did tho, including SkillUp's own review!

[@OTH89]

So that's why Skins in COD are now £25/28. Absolutely mental people are actually paying this.

[@imitenotbe]

the big packs usually have blueprints that end up being broken af lol

[@nailinthefashion]

And weapon skins in Overwatch are even more expensive, and not even fully complete lol. Imagine paying for a deluxe edition of a full game ... but getting a skin for one weapon instead, no customization or anything. Absurd

[@Dystinction1]

The marketing costs are unreal for COD

[@un_kn0wn427]

​@@Dystinction1 Activision and Blizzard are absolute criminals when it comes to microtransactions its baffling anyone would spend that much

[@popcornfilms1]

Terminology MUST change. ‘Micro transactions’ haven’t been micro for years. They are transactions.

[@patépété]

"This video is brought to you by NVIDIA new Geforce RTX 5090 series GPU delivering… nowhere."

[@d4r1us2]

I'm so tempted to talk about appaling performance, fake frames, prices and availability.. must... resist

[@fakedemocracy]

@@d4r1us2 I wanted to upgrade my 3080 to a 5080 but I’m not jumping through hoops anymore to nab something. Covid is over and if I can’t simply walk into a store and buy it with no hassles, I’ll pass. I work 50-60 hours a week and don’t have time for shenanigans or scalpers.

[@TheGooseChaseMusic]

"This video is brought to you by paper"

[@steel5897]

You don't need one anyway. Path traced Cyberpunk 2077 can be played at high resolutions and frame rates on a 4070 Super, and it looks awesome thanks to the DLSS4 tech that just dropped (this works on ALL RTX cards btw, no need to get a 50 one). That's pretty much the peak of modern rendering technologies and it runs on a $500-600 GPU. No one needs a 5090, stop being mindless consumers. Also a reminder: any of these midrange cards absolutely wipe the floor with even the PS5 Pro, and games are made for console first. Still think you need a $2000 GPU?

[@Yinzermakesvids]

Veilguard would have bombes even worse if it was a live service, they're so oblivious to what's happening to live services

[@CyberkillGames]

At this point, Bioware is pretty much the TF2 Spy head in Medic's fridge begging for the Medic to kill him. And EA always says later.

[@Mediados]

Later won't be so far away at this point. By cutting their staff in half and giving them the assignment to make the sequel for one of the biggest RPGs ever, they set them up for failure. They're not interested in the success of Mass Effect, they are just waiting for an excuse to shut Bioware down for good and pocket the money previously spent on 200 jobs.

[@Nikkska]

“Kill me” “Later” 😂

[@xensonar9652]

Bioware is finished. They massacred it.

[@lotusthemermaid]

Mike Laidlaw basically confirmed on Bluesky that he left the company years ago because EA pushed the dev team to add live service elements despite the IP only ever being single player because he knew it would ruin the franchise.

[@Arrestedrabbit]

I'm glad they could ruin it on their own terms then

[@LastRookie]

​@@Arrestedrabbit But it won't be the people who really ruined it who get the "pink slip". Andrew Wilson will still likely get a 7- to 8-figure salary for his work this past year, and devs who never got the chance to make a proper Dragon age game will be fired and that stain of a game on their record.

[@Arrestedrabbit]

@LastRookie I don't care about the cope about how development had to reboot or how corporate executives are the ultimate evil in the world. Artists are fallible and can fail, get over it.

[@tdspkhype3042]

Oh no bluesky… Like wow lol

[@tdspkhype3042]

@@LastRookie”Execs are the reason for its fAiLuRe”, do you guys cope harder?

[@greed-1914]

Wilson: still stuck on the idea that people don't want single player games. People do want single player games, but they don't want just any single player game.

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

I'm about 85% certain that that guy is actually a robot wearing a human skin bag with that answers he comes up with for everything

[@KeytarArgonian]

Well, I despise having to play devils advocate for Android Wilson, but there is an argument to be said that people have games included in their roster that are multiplayer, or have multiplayer elements. I am a long time returning OSRS player, Ralphy boy is a returning Destiny player. Look at the numbers for fortnite, Cod, Path of Exile, even Elden Ring. People will guaranteed have at least one multiplayer, or somehow multiplayer game in their circle that they return to on update and the money those games make says that people will enjoy enough to spend there.

[@TheAkustikus]

​@@KeytarArgonianyeah but first you need to make a good game. Dragon Age was not just poorly written but also played terrible. There was nothing good at it. Can't polish a turd

[@nailinthefashion]

​@KeytarArgonian multi-player and live service aren't synonymous tho. Helldivers for example, made no explicit promises as to what dlc was coming. They just said free updates. Thats what Veilguard could have done, but, instead, they went the soulless route

[@Dumbledoresarmy13]

They don't want the carcass of a live service game wearing a single player mask.

[@carteryost176]

Glad to see that my habit of repeatedly refreshing KZbin every Thursday morning pays off yet again

[@mtanve2319]

It used to be Wednesdays right? That was part of my weekly ritual

[@Lo-Kag]

​@@mtanve2319 Same here, still getting used to Thursdays but at the very least, ShillUp hits right on the dot even if the day changed

[@illianias]

Shouldve used that energy on the 5000 series launch xD

[@Deliveredmean42]

​@@illianiaswhy? I am certain it's not an exciting launch if you already have a 4000 card.

[@illianias]

@@Deliveredmean42 not all of us have a 4000 series card though

[@e2rqey]

That EA statement on Veilguard is ridiculously bad. Idk if its worse if he actually believes what he is saying or if he's just selling a story to investors to try and pretend they didnt just completely screw the pooch on Veilguard by taking the IP in just an awful direction. With the wrong people in charge of making the game.

[@Sevaria]

Oh so Bioware is at fault for hiring and giving terrible people leadership positions. DA 4 was not a live service game for 4-5 years; thats long enough to make an entire game from scratch if you are not terrible at your job, that you still have tons of the original heist game DNA in it after all that time is telling.

[@Doc_Cocked_Glock]

They believe it. Think about it... 95% of their money comes from FUT and MUT.... Both live service models. Combine that with them losing a ton of cash on DAV, and yeah, I can absolutely believe they believe that.

[@Satsaru]

It's rather obviously spin for the investors. They know _exactly_ why it really failed, hence they fired basically anyone who wrote _anything_ for Veilguard.

[@juanvillacis4690]

The answer is both - they’ve convinced themselves they’re right and they’re trying to piss on investors heads and tell them it’s raining

[@kujiko88]

Honestly, in regards to Xbox system sales, I've got some firsthand experience with that. I work the tech section at my job, and in the entirety of 2024 we've sold 14 Xbox series X systems and 5 series S systems. Towards the end of the year, we received the white digital only series X systems, and have so far sold none of those. As soon as I tell customers they can't use their old physical games with the digital console, they understandably lose all interest. Backwards compatibility was what drove my interest in the system to start with, and taking that away removes that interest, so I get it. Especially all those 360 owners.

[@chriswihulu]

I understand and agree to basically everything written here, except the "tell customers they can't use physical discs on a digital console" which is honestly a 'no duh' IMO. Although, if they could introduce their own separate disc drive or allow third party readers to interface with the Xbox, I can see this being an easy fix.

[@purefoldnz3070]

Microsoft are pivoting away from plastic gaming boxes and more to digital with Game Pass on everything which is the smart play.

[@BatteryBee]

The only reason I'd ever buy a Series X is because of strong backwards compatibility (going back to the OG Xbox) and emulation. Take away half those benefits, while also failing to offer any first-party exclusives, and it's no wonder digital-only Xbox consoles aren't selling.

[@hopefullyhigh]

God I hope EA gets a reckoning. To lack that much awareness and be in that position is inexcusable

[@esaedvik]

lol. They've been there for decades. Just stop giving them money. (not you specifically).

[@Sevaria]

I hope they just close Bioware for shitting the bed that hard; EA was not to blame for Veilguard

[@BiggerK]

So long as people keep buying mtx, they won't care.

[@hopefullyhigh]

​@@esaedvikfor sure, i dont think ive bought an ea game since before star wars battlefront

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

Battlefield: we're determined to not make the same mistakes as the last two games.. Also Battlefield: our corpo zombie overlord, Andrew Wilson, in still in charge at EA so...

[@Mediados]

Wilson: "We only failed because we didn't commit to it hard enough!"

[@brektheogre1183]

5 was actually pretty good. The maps were small, but it worked. The character creation stuff was a nice addition, but a bit too much

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

@@brektheogre1183 It gets a lot of flak but V is my go-to. My only gripe is the lack of maps. I've tried to get into 1 many times but the guns feel so bad and explosion spam kills my enjoyment every time. I was considering renting a server and making it Back 2 Basics only to see if i still enjoy that as much as a couple years ago when dice had some official servers running it. I need some variety lol.

[@brektheogre1183]

@ I personally prefer 1, just because the snipers feel better to use than 4 and there aren't as many automatics, plus the maps are super large. 2042, for all its flaws, had some entertainment value in it. I seriously wish that 4 had more online servers and players, it was so fun back in the day

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

@ Agreed. I basically skipped 1 and played 4 hardcore right up until V came out. I got some hours of fun out of portal but vanilla 2042 didn't do it for me at all.

[@skyriotAndKadeGaming]

Genuinely after Concord & Suicide Squad, you would've thought gaming companies would've learnt their lesson that not everyone wants live service games

[@tanvir.m85]

that patrick bateman cosplayer line got a big chuckle outta me 😂

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Yes, EA knows exactly what the players want: more live-service games that are fighting for your time and money. And that is precisely why Dragon Age: Veilguard didn't sell gangbusters, it wasn't a live-service slop game. My eyes are twitching trying to contain my disappointment.

[@Mediados]

It's funny how EA goes "We must commit to Live Service even more!" while Sony actually learned something after being burned and now go "No more Live Service".

[@BritBox777]

"Why invest in people and studios when you can just give money to Blackrock and Vanguard and get the same result?" You joke, but this is the first thing game companies are considering.

[@kesamek8537]

If you think any of this is about money, your brain has been hijacked.

[@Sir_Robin_of_Camelot]

Blaming Veilguard's failure on not being live service is the kind of blatant ignorance and naivety keeping AAA gaming down (and/or a pathetic attempt to save face)

[@Mediados]

It sounds like the corporate version of "I may have made the decisions, but it's not my fault! If they had listened to me it would have been great!". At this point it's the argumentation of a 12-year old being called before the headmaster.

[@TheTrueMerrio]

"We fired lots of developers, we squeezed our player base to their last dimes and NUMBERS GO DOWN? Clearly, they are at fault here!" - Some €A dev, coked up his mind, while checking the numbers.

[@THEONETRUEOVERLORD]

4:52 those numbers are probably inflated. Mario kart was bundled with every switch during the holidays.

[@Greippi10]

Or maybe it's that the Switch was bundled with every Mario Kart during the holidays :D I'm only half joking, at this point I could see parents buying an extra Switch just so that even their youngest has their own MK console.

[@RenegadePandaZ]

They don't report digital sales iirc, so those bundles wouldn't count since they're just digital copies inside.

[@Katie-hb8iq]

they would have bought the game anyway. It's not like the unbundled options were not available - they had a choice to pay extra with the console for mk8, or not. Those sales count.

[@aragornelesar3862]

On the subject of Spiderman 2...Nixxes have released Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn remaster and now Spiderman 2 in 10 months...and the last of part 2 in April...that's 5 ports in 13 months which is insane. Sony are not giving them enough time to properly port these games.

[@bradhaines3142]

i mean they're going from basically a pc to pc, its not that huge of a project to move it over. they dont have to remake the game like in ps3 days

[@boxhead6177]

The quantity of work has to come at the sacrifice of quality. Like if Sony increased the studios size, they would of made a press release to boast about it.

[@chriswihulu]

Weren't they also given their own game to develop, think I read that at one point, but it may have just been a rumour 🤔

[@peterf9006]

This seemed to be the case then Spiderman 2 happened, and not sure what went wrong but that’s the first port that’s been completely not ready and unfinished for PC from them.

[@98sucoo]

15:10 Our boy doesn't know that Sony requested the removal of the mod just because the game is already playable on the PS4 emulator...

[@kingghidorah6200]

Warner Brothers chasing that live service dragon hit rock bottom. It is crazy that these studio never learned anything from the 2010's MMO gold rush that left many publishers holding an empty bag. Anyone remember Tabula Rasa???

[@Mediados]

I have had Project Management classes. Chasing trends is exactly what managers are formally taught to do as the correct business choice. This whole thing is built to fail from the start.

[@play_history]

Richard Garriott hasn't forgotten...

[@Dystinction1]

I remember the unending mistake that was FEAR3

[@nielsB_FPV]

Live service is the new MMORPG gold rush that saw tons of games fail because they all thought they could be the World of Warcraft killer. Now they want to be the Fortnite killer

[@onemilliongecs]

The Multiversus shutdown is especially stupid because literally everyone was asking for a faster game like the beta but they refused to make those changes until the final season. It's like they wanted this game to fail

[@RussellMC]

my fav part of 'this week in video games' is when I forget what day it is and then see a new upload on my feed

[@gtor1388]

Excuse me! Where is my KCD2 review Ralph?

[@duhvidian2369]

You know what KCD is, so just play it or don't. It's the same as before but a little better. There's your review

[@handlechar568]

Surely BG3 is due first? One can hope.

[@Chopzi11a]

He’s taking his time reviewing the optional ghey quest lol

[@8Paul7]

Ralph talks about it in the video. He loves it so much he does not want to rush it, so review is still work in progress.

[@caldale4941]

@@8Paul7 Oh okay awesome. I was worried because sometimes he wont review a game he does a preview or "hand on impressions" for. Am playing it now and I can guarantee you he's going to recommend it (perhaps very strongly).

[@madmanvarietyshow9605]

Ya know, if Microsoft would just release an xbox that was also a full on PC and could do all the PC stuff I bet it would sell really well.

[@purefoldnz3070]

Game Pass is doing gang busters on PC

[@yomamasohot6411]

​@@purefoldnz3070hold on now that number was inflated because people bought the 1 month subscription in the release month. Lets see that growth sustain itself before xbox fans declare it to be going "gang busters"

[@yomamasohot6411]

I don't think that would benefit Xbox though because people would just end up playing on their usual gaming stores like Steam/Epic/GOG etc. But if they do end up doing that I would be interested.

[@duhvidian2369]

My Xbox is just a DVD player now

[@itol2398]

and even then, the PS3 was "just a DVD player" first lol

[@xIQ188x]

Congrats, you bought a console. I’ll take it off your hands for $50.

[@LogicalError007]

It plays game but I guess it takes a lot of thinking.

[@MrMich1lol]

Xbox subscription is still superior to ps+ and I doubt it's coming to PlayStation anytime soon

[@bandanna2388]

I have both a PS5 and Series X, and imma be honest…the Xbox is objectively better as a main console. It actually has innovative features like quick resume, play anywhere is great as well, smart delivery is underrated, better UI and Gamepass is just genuinely great value and always has something new and fun to play. I rarely use the PS5 for its small pool of “exclusives”.

[@Antek_S]

The 'Sleeping Dogs' movie already exists. It's called: 'INFERNAL AFFAIRS.' It's a triology and I highly recommend it. The film 'The Departed' with Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson is a western remake of this triology. Literally bought the rights to use the IA script.

[@victorfroes6650]

Thank you!!!

[@Antek_S]

@victorfroes6650 Enjoy mate!

[@vilevagrant2712]

I would suggest to skip the third movie. Without ruining stuff, it does feel more like a fever dream than anything. One and Two though, excellent stuff!

[@whelp5142]

Kind of crazy about how you just amplify the good reviews about Civ 7 while overlooking all of the UI backlash covering the Steam reviews. Makes me wonder how much other criticism has been swept under the rug for other games.

[@bigmclargehuge1170]

that's not how you pronounce corps, but "blast corpse" does sound like a pretty good video game

[@Freestylar]

Wow, I'm 35, and I'm only just learning this now. To be fair though, Corps is not a word often spoken in the Australian vernacular. Thanks dude, always nice to learn something new.

[@undeadMonk]

'Corps' is pronounced 'Core'. Just a general PSA to the KZbin void.

[@cyclonejoker-]

How cool, EA doesn't need to pay for QA now. How can you say this is a good idea, man?

[@boxhead6177]

They didn't listen to the QA staff they hired to play internal betas... and they haven't listened to players in years.... what makes anyone think they going to listen to players who have beta access

[@Diszzzon75]

I think you mean play-testers. QA's job is to find and report bugs

[@play_history]

Yeah, it's playtesting. I tested Multiversus in its beta period - I didn't directly apply for it though I did get paid.

[@benjiusofficial]

You are, of course, assuming that EA ever had a QA dept.

[@boxhead6177]

@@benjiusofficial They did at one point... last two years EA has downsized a lot of studios which included a significant amount of QA. Oct 2023 Bioware Edmongton was downsized, losing 50 jobs which included most of the QA staff there.

[@tenkrisnowak]

I just sat with my lunch having a work break and my fav show was uploaded 2 minutes ago. Feel like the biggest win of the day ✨

[@saviduhk]

PSN requirement being "OPTIONAL" didn't solve much, it even being there as an option means those games are still not listed in the steam store for my country.

[@bakutie]

this

[@ashleejones586]

EA saying gamers don’t want single player, story driven games is CRAZY. 😂 They are beyond out of touch

[@rickdagless5817]

The Bloodborne patch dmca is more likely due to increased interest in the patch and piracy of the game itself due to recent progress on the ps4 emulation front.

[@chriswihulu]

I assumed it was because they wanted to make their own and didn't want people to compare that, with a free, fan-made mod.

[@rickdagless5817]

@@chriswihulu Make their own what? The way the original patch worked was it lowered the rendering resolution to 720p (there was a 1080p version also but it was pretty much pointless prior to emulation) which allowed the PS4 Pro to run it at about 40ish fps when mars was in equinox and the gods smiled upon you.

[@chriswihulu]

@@rickdagless5817 I meant making their own port, remake or whatever they come up with, since I can't find any legit reason to take it down, I feel safe assuming that is the case and they don't want people too compare a free version, to whatever Sony would charge for theirs.

[@Fazeshyft]

Thank you for calling out Blackrock and Vanguard. Though, that should not be called an exaggeration. Bankers steer the rudder of cultures like ours, and they approve the slop that's being produced.

[@brycebitetti1402]

4:38 Actually, that number pretty much tracks with usual 2D Zelda sales numbers. Really, unlike Mario, which moves units in just about every category just by BEING Mario, Zelda has kind of a tiered appeal. 2D Zeldas sell pretty middling, with traditional 3D Zelda sales usually hovering around the 8-10 million sales mark, and the new open world titles selling double to triple that number.

[@DannyStuart]

I'd like to congratulate EA on inventing, rebranding and outsourcing the concept of a QA department.

[@abduktedtemplar]

Rockin that 5090 ad when it is nearly impossible to get it at all is peak. 😂

[@belsamethtaken4107]

I really like how you don't feel like you need to rush a review but actually take your time, even if that makes you miss the launch day with your review

[@claytonrios1]

Butters must be delighted at the Hello Kitty Island Adventure reviews.

[@englishiowa]

Phil Spencer looks unwell....hopefully just Ozempic.

[@Gerry484]

Kingdom come deliverance II is the proof that we don't need a RTX 5070 or 5080. WE NEED DEVELOPERS TO OPTIMIZE THEIR GAMES

[@kirkshanghai]

8:45 I'd say the most baffling design decision of BF2042 was not having a SCOREBOARD. That one really blew my mind. Genuinely, it's been years and I can't wrap my head around that one. WHY?

[@xIQ188x]

What does the scoreboard actually do? I’ve never had my experience improved by the presence of a scoreboard, even in multiplayer games. But then again, I’m a weird little freak who plays games because I think they are fun.

[@hollylucianta6711]

@@xIQ188x It's just fun to compare with your friends how well everyone did

[@kirkshanghai]

@@xIQ188x Not trying to sound mean but that is definitely an odd opinion. Would you watch a sports game where nobody's keeping track of touchdowns?... Multiplayer games (even co-op) are basically competitions, so having a scoreboard is crucial.

[@The_Last_Data_Hound]

@@xIQ188xCompetition is fun believe it or not, especially with friends as mentioned earlier.

[@xIQ188x]

@@kirkshanghai I would watch a sports game for any reason. I would however shoot hoops or a soccer ball with friends without keeping score, which seems more similar to playing a game than watching.

[@Sock66]

Microsoft shot themselves in the foot long ago when they decided to split their own market, if everything is an Xbox nothing is, exactly what's the point in cornering yourself on an Xbox when my fridge could play Halo next week

[@ahmedAli-in5cy]

Also people are tribal they like to belong to something. And xbox lost that

[@flyingplantwhale545]

Has Microsoft ever answered that question? Seriously, What is the point of owning their console anymore

[@fitzwits]

That's beyond the truth. Did sony shoot themselves in the foot letting games go to steam? Like helldivers and Spiderman? I'll save you the time in responding, it's a fat no my friend. Xbox is shooting for being a competitor to steam in 5-10 years time. So far they are doing great, I don't know a single person that doesn't have the Xbox app installed on pc due to gamepass.

[@bruceyawen6160]

​@@fitzwitsif they're trying to compete with Steam then good luck to them. Valve is currently making moves into the hardware realm and there are rumors about a revival of the Steam Machine concept. Microsoft just spent too much money on all the acquisitions and now has to make a profit in anyway they can, even if that means burying their console

[@Spaceman5pff]

They lost so much market share to Sony in the Xbox one generation that they had to look for a new angle. They didn't think this was going to sell more consoles. They hoped it would generate revenue from new sources that weren't fighting from behind against Sony and Nintendo.

[@R0CKETFOX]

Why is corporate always so extremely disconnected from the rest of us? "HELLO? YOU, UP THERE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? WHO PUT YOU UP THERE? COME DOWN HERE, YOU DON'T BELONG UP THERE".

[@Zeoran]

It's clear that Microsoft plans to continue to blur the line between consoles and gaming PCs. Eventually, and Xbox will just mean a specific game PC with Xbox branding. Although I would be not surprised if Microsoft was already working on Windows console edition.

[@KieranHamilton-y7s]

The whole industry is heading that way. Consoles are a dead market.

[@pixeljauntvr7774]

​@@KieranHamilton-y7sRight. Go tell Nintendo that they're doing it all wrong 😂😂😂

[@bandanna2388]

@@pixeljauntvr7774 the switch sold extremely well because it was the first of its kind. Nintendo cornered its own market with portable handheld home gaming after the Wii U failed and it was the right move. Xbox is simply doing the same thing.

[@bandanna2388]

@@Zeoran the moves they’ve been making to combine the Xbox OS with Windows, as well as the mentioning of Steam and Epic Games tells me that’s exactly what they want to do for the next gen. Create a Xbox branded PC hybrid.

[@LogicalError007]

​@@pixeljauntvr7774And they'll sell their games on that too. Xbox isn't just a hardware.

[@Kechioh]

The minute Anita Sarkeesian walked into BioWare studios, their fate was sealed

[@replay717]

KCD2 is going to be another BG3 for skillup - he doesn’t want to rush the review out because he wants to play more of it, and then the review never comes out lol

[@russellcarey3568]

Kingdom Cum_in_a_bum 🚮

[@roganbray2108]

SkillUp not seeing that Battlefield Labs is just outsourcing QA jobs to fans as a means to minimise labour costs is a bit sad.

[@FengLengshun]

31:22 took me a second for the joke to register, but when it did I laughed out loud. That's a good one.

[@lightningrodofh8509]

In a world full of Marios, be a Luigi.

[@kaingates]

Yes Andy. Use UE5 standard shaders to make a Dragon Age game look like a Fortnite mod, change gameplay from strategy to action and then have a 1 month marketing window but yeah, it was the lack of a battlepass that made people not buy the game. Jfc what a tool.

[@btd0ja]

Multiversus had so much potential, and the only people WB can blame are themselves. Live service games are killing the industry

[@onemorescout]

Andrew Wilson has a point. Veilguard was made for a “modern audience” made up of exactly 3 gamers, and the game would’ve made a couple hundred more dollars if all 3 of those gamers were converted to whales for a live service.

[@hihihi1q23]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'modern audience?' Are you trying to argue that the game was too niche or is this just culture war screeching? Inquisition had way more LGBT themes and was Bioware's biggest game of all time. KCD2 just came out and is insanely 'woke' (first AAA game to feature a preset gay male protagonist) and is a massive hit.

[@dotanuki3371]

a whole battle pass of therapy sessions

[@onemorescout]

@@hihihi1q23 There's a difference between having gay people in your game and making your game for Twitter. Those games have gay *options,* and the Citizen Sleeper games have a couple they/thems, but nobody cares because they don't hurt the game. There's still a full game outside of them and you aren't forced to engage with it. Veilguard literally rips you out of the game to make you watch that Taash gender argument cutscene, which feels like the writer put their last Thanksgiving dinner argument into the game 1:1. It literally suggests that you pull a barve for saying the wrong pronoun. It literally pushes dialogue options for your protag to go trans into your face several times. There's a difference. Also, KCD2's protag isn't even gay by default, you have to go out of your way to access that romance.

[@danielwisniewski6962]

@@hihihi1q23 Better writing, better companions, you were allowed to be a bastard in Inquisition, and there was no lecturing about "woke" topics but genuine exploration (Krem's entire OPTIONAL conversation about being trans)

[@Sevaria]

@@hihihi1q23 nice revisionist history, at no point did I do a Barv for misgendering some one in Inquisition. The game was thinnly veiled training Video for an aggressively terrible HR department. It never cracked a million sales and i hope it is the final nail in BioWare, just so they stop embarrassing themselves and ruining IPs.

[@youngkhronic2243]

We will never see that kingdom come review ☠️

[@Veekmon]

0:10 GAMERS!

[@elumy97]

Came here looking for an update on your KCD2 review. I’m glad you’re taking your time with it. It certainly seems like a game that leads the player to live in that world.

[@Zeoran]

I'm kind of upset that Skill Up screwed up the EA and Veilguard topic. Veilguard did not miss sales targets by 50.The ENGAGEMENT was down by more than 50%. Sales was clearly down even more. Engagement would include people who are signed up to AEAs monthly subscription program who were able to play the game for free. And even those people are only at half at best.

[@KeytarArgonian]

EA access is on Gamepass Ultimate. DA:V dropped on Gamepass day 1 at no extra cost. 1.5 million ‘engagements’ including Gamepass 😂

[@jamesaldridge4257]

Skill Up has stated exactly this fact at least twice on prior videos. He just didn’t state it on this video, perhaps as some of us have better things to do than listen to repetition.

[@LifeOfBAM42]

​@@KeytarArgonianI'd be willing to bet money that failguard only had 500k actual sales if they are playing PR wordsmithing.

[@OurBenefactors]

He's literally said the exact thing you just said multiple times in at least two videos, now. Also, "upset"? Really?

[@Rutherfordbcrazy12]

It's not on gamepass. ​@KeytarArgonian

[@matyboomstix]

These earning call statements make me realize how much I hate the corporate jargon regarding games and gamers

[@DirtMG]

Waiting for some crazy gaming news to drop 30 min after this vid comes out yet again.

[@eurotransient]

“Patrick Bateman cosplayer” is such a deeply fantastic burn. Kudos to you, SkillUp. Never change.

[@shadushio9682]

No need for me personally to have an Xbox. Have a nice gaming PC. They (if a Microsoft-owned studio game) get my money either way.

[@TheEverythingBagel]

Listened on Spotify, but stopping in for a like and a comment. You’re the best in the business, Ralph!

[@StormyG]

It's actually insane how bad critic reviews have become. Civ is at a 40% on steam but an 82 on open critic. It's mindblowing the difference between critics and actual players. Same shit happened with dragon age veilguard. Why do we still give a damn about critic scores when they are obviously the outliers now and not the fans.

[@goosewithagibus]

Because generally they are on the same page and you're just remembering the few times it's not.

[@LogicalError007]

I don't like how ShillUp includes Steam reviews for some games but exclude them for others.

[@chromesucks5299]

@@LogicalError007 He will include the steam rating next week because thats when the game launches for everyone

[@ArmadaOne]

Electronic Atrocities is the worst thing that has ever happened to video gaming. Everything they touch turns to shit and the only people who get fired for these fuckups are the people we like and want to keep, whereas the villains who piss on us get a raise.

[@ArmandtFourie]

"corps" is pronounced "core"

[@babyyoda6468]

WB has the licenses to Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and instead of making massive Singleplayer RPGs in the style of Arkham they are making .. whatever this is.

[@Maybe.Leopold]

The Series X is the last time I'll buy an Xbox console. They've lost so many customers because of their terrible decisions, mediocre games and not being able to properly handle their once monumental 1st party games.

[@KieranHamilton-y7s]

They actually haven’t lost barely any customers at all. It’s the same split as always.

[@zombeepixel133]

As far as the Nintendo games not selling, I personally have not been buying any new games for the Switch for the past year because I've been waiting for the Switch 2 so that I can play them at higher quality. Maybe that's a factor for more people.

[@xIQ188x]

“None of this is to say it’s a bad strategy, mind you.” I have no idea what has prompted this 180 degree flip in sentiments but it’s appreciated. It’s tiring when people pretend like it matters. PlayStation games haven’t been exclusive in a very long time and you never hear them whine about how Spider Man on PC ruined their PS5.

[@js1879]

I'm thinking because PS gaming library has been strong and plentiful over the last 2 generations. Xbox fans have been starved for so long that this seems like they "wasted money" on their hardware....just speculating. Could be wrong

[@simonjeremy1776]

​@@js1879the ps5 hasn't had any "strong" games

[@xIQ188x]

@@js1879 but that’s entirely unrelated to whether or not you can play Halo on a PlayStation. If the Xbox is a bad buy, having a few exclusives doesn’t magically make it better. Either it’s a good box that plays games or a bad box that plays games. Exclusives haven’t existed in like a decade, everything PS does goes right to steam and they never complain about how nothing is exclusive.

[@js1879]

@xIQ188x that is a recent trend. All of PS3 to almost all of PS4 life cycle has been exclusives available to playstation only. Now Its been on average, maybe 2-3 years for a ps exclusive to be ported over. We can start saying sony has very long timed exclusives. The frequency of PS games being pumped out compared to what Xbox has done over the last couple generations has hurt the brand/hardware.

[@xIQ188x]

@ okay, but if the problem is Xbox not making enough games, you can see how selling less of the games they do make compounds the problem? If you want Xbox to make more games, do you not believe selling more games is going to be a component of that for them? I don’t understand the argument of “this box doesn’t have enough games, so we should make the games in this box sell less copies which will make them make more games”

[@violentpursuit]

On the one hand, take all the time you need on the KCD2 review. We really value your thorough and well-thought out analysis. On the other hand, PLEASE DON'T BG3 THIS REVIEW!

[@niccolomanahan7775]

19:56 "at least that PSN account thing is optional now" except for the 177 countries that still don't have these titles available to purchase on Steam. Fixed that for you, Skillup.

[@chriswihulu]

Yeah, I don't understand how this didn't happen automatically, but considering it only one update to turn PSN requirement on/off, I think it might not happen any time soon.

[@niccolomanahan7775]

@ yeah, feels like some PR spin from Sony, but would be nice to be proven wrong. Not holding my breath though, hahaha.

[@chriswihulu]

@@niccolomanahan7775 same really and at this point, as loathed as I am to say it, I think we need some kind of government to come in and tell Sony they can't just update a game to be region locked, after they sold to world wide. Hell, they updated Horizon ZD Remastered to have PSN requirements, little more than a week before coming out with this update, so it still feels disingenuous.

[@niccolomanahan7775]

@didn’t know about that news on the Horizon Remaster. Maybe there’s some internal conflict in Sony/Playstation about the PSN issue? Regardless, I’m sure they have bigger headaches to tackle right now with the live service debacle 😆

[@chriswihulu]

@@niccolomanahan7775 I think their internal conflict was a given, considering they had two CEO's at once, which I still don't know why they did. And true, their Live Service fumble honestly feels worse than the "TV, TV and more TV" line, when the Xbox One was announced, it's just unfolding over a longer period of time, but it still screams "we don't actually know what our target audience wants!" 🤣

[@ProfChocMilk]

So stoked for you to have shouted out The Finals again! Such a slept on game, it’s way too much fun

[@Philosophical24]

15:40 literally puked when I heard that news too

[@WeekendGamerTX]

"This video is brought to you by Nvidia RTX 50 series GPUs that you can't buy even if you did have the asking price. Here is a middle finger for your troubles" - Nvidia

[@maxslender4668]

The other thing about Andrew Wilson's statement that is baffling is that he said DA: The Veilguard "didn't appeal to a broad enough audience". My dude. Part of the problem with that game was precisely that it was TRYING to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and in turn ended up appealing to nobody. When will these companies learn that there is no point in trying to appeal to the kinds of people who were never and will never be interested in your product and are never going to buy it.

[@INMATEofARKHAM]

Nintendo lawyers losing a lawsuit should be story one no matter how small of a lawsuit it is.

[@Saz103]

echoes of wisdom didn't undersell lol, 2d zelda isn't gonna sell as well as the 3d ones, and this is super expreiemental and on aging hardware, 4mil is extremely good for what it is.

[@kunimitsune177]

Cope

[@Saz103]

@@kunimitsune177 if you can tell me how 4mil for 2d zelda spinoff is bad Please I am all ears, just to clarify links awakening remake sold a similar amount in the same timeframe and its considered one of the best selling 2d zeldas

[@DiabloLOD5]

I don't see how having the consumer base testing games for EA (next Battlefield) is a good thing. I'm sure some good testers lost their job there recently and now they are being replaced by consumers who AREN'T PAID, just so they can have early access to the next game. Also, forcing customers to sign NDA's? Wtf EA? Give the paid testing jobs back to employees!

[@morometegaming]

Imagine putting an ad for a graphic card that is released only on paper….this guy reached such an all time low

[@timur7381]

You need to touch some grass

[@maciejkamil]

That last news about Nintendo losing lawsuit was gold.

[@CasTacTV]

Jason Schreier writing about Veilguard failing after "owning the chuds" on Twitter is extremely funny and cathartic.

[@user-ne9sd4ow1o]

2:18 Aussie guy said "microwave" exactly as i opened the microwave to warm up my tea 😳

[@TheJukeboxzero]

Need announcements for Dino Crisis and Parasite Eve remakes

[@MayorW3st]

Your Blast Corps comment activated a long dead neurone. I had to look it up and damn I do remember playing that, the rocket bike thing was the best. Must have been a blockbuster rent as I didn't own it!

[@EliseFaith22]

Prognosticating improbable predictions on Peter Piper's picking pecks of pickled peppers... wait that isn't how it goes

[@AlmissaGaming]

Can we get KCD2 review

[@BTMaverick707]

Hey @SkillUp who was the biggest Publisher in December?

[@LogicalError007]

He won't know because he cannot to math. Only if he knew that 2% increase in a quarter is great when it is followed by 60% increase in the same quarter last year. Disrupted by sudden inclusion of ABK revenue. Will take one to two years to get normalised.

[@BTMaverick707]

@LogicalError007 Agreed... or he chooses to Purposely choose ignore Xbox positive news unless if he can't ignore it. Can really see through his cheap plastic bag Veil Hate boner for Xbox. Some how they're failing like Meta lol but yet Xbox is making over 22Billion in Revenue a year... ok @Skillup

[@bandanna2388]

@@BTMaverick707 I also found it weird how in his Indiana Jones review when he listed all the platforms the game was available on, he straight up didn’t mention Xbox at all and just said: “it’s on steam, Gamepass and it will come out to PlayStation later”. Found that very strange to ignore the main console people will be playing that game on right now…

[@Syldarin]

Are you xbots really that desperate for any other news than going multi platform? Jesus…

[@BTMaverick707]

@Syldarin No, i just hear a Sony Simp read it out Allowed

[@acercon553]

What’s the game called at 14:31?

[@personalmelon-y7hiz]

Expedition 33 Clair Obscur

[@Kamuzle]

The Meta headsets must be tanking because it's woke tech or something. Am i doing it right? Anything that doesn't sell well = woke and absolutely no other factors caused it to fail? Yeah, that checks out with my smooth brain.

[@Kiserai]

Blast Corps is the best game that everybody forgot. I spent hundreds of hours as a teenager getting platinums on every level and unlocking all of the missions on other planets. Such a good game.

[@KungThulhu]

Ah yes players dont want quality single player games (like BG3 which only won GOTY and is universally loved) they actually want more live service multiplayer. You know the thing that everyone is tired of? If only baldurs gate 3 was a live service game with a battlepass and not a single player masterpiece. Handsome jack at it again.