Nostalgia Ain't What It Used To Be | Cold Take

[@argentoAFK47]

"Because it felt icky". I can imagine monetization experts across the globe shuddered in unison, feeling a disturbance in the Force.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

Modern monetization is basically the Dark Side of game design. You take all the psychological tricks and tactics used in game design, and instead of using them to make games more fun, you use them to manipulate people out of their money.

[@theexaustedslime]

The naked financialisation of most AAA games, regardless of genre, has had me give up on basically all of them. The trend of removing older games when remakes come out is just disgusting. If your remake is threatened by the availability of the original, it's a bad remake.

[@neonsamurai1348]

Yep even the highly lauded games by the community (Eg Space Marine 2, a good game that is rather light on content unless you like skins) are loaded to the gills with monetization schemes, and schemes to drive engagement (login bonuses, endless grinding, twitch drops, etc). I just want a good fun game where I don't feel like the developer/publisher doesn't constantly have their hand down my pants trying to find my wallet, or trying to normalize 10-20-30-40$ skins as being ok.

[@Notsowisesage]

Thanks for including the names of the game footage. Too many other videos you need to search the comments to find out what game was at what time.

[@Kannakin-x3p]

I'm sorry but I was the 70th like on your comment 😭

[@LordBeef]

"Do the players like you for you, or do they just like you while you’re changing." This is brilliant. I’m all for games getting updates and becoming a better, more full version of themselves, but they need to have a self to be.

[@auno94]

Yeah, I liked the chaos of OG 1.0 Overwatch. OVertime it grew into a sweatfest that tried the porrly emulate Esports.

[@hazukichanx408]

"They burned away their future to fuel the hype train, ran out of steam and started burning their past." This line not only goes hard, but accurately sums up a large part of my grudge against the mainstream game industry; they keep saying "The next one will be the most amazing experience, you can pre-order today for only a hundred dollars!" And it's never worth it. Bland slop narratives, repetitive gameplay, lackluster scenery full of invisible walls. No thanks, I'd rather go indie.

[@deadhead4077]

hellllzzzzz yeeeaaaaahhhh, glad to finally see the result of some great convos on Frost's twitch streams

[@thepancakemann]

This is why I keep physical media. I want to walk down memory lane, I'll boot an old console and take a stroll.

[@DJCerealSauce6455]

When that sax hits, I know I’m in for a good time

[@YawaruSan]

I think something that’s really caught me off guard gaming since the 90s is how often corporations are victims of their own success. Like the deluge of remasters comes in part from a resistance to invest in modern game development unless they know the formula works already. We expected big publishers with a bunch of studios to take more risks and subsidize less successful studios to cultivate them, instead they close unsuccessful studios and acquire/create new ones. We expect developers to have steady jobs with long-running studios but they cut costs by hiring cheaper contractors instead. Corporations find something that works and they keep pushing it over and over again until people hate it. Then there are the executives that get massive compensation packages (so it isn’t taxable income) while they lay off the developers that actually make games. Any developer that actually makes a breakout success risks being acquired and gutted, the big publishers feel like more of a looming threat to game development than a boon to it.

[@vaderwalks]

Capitalism baybee

[@HashSl1ng1ngSlasher]

this is everywhere. There's a lot of 80s/90s/early-2000s economic theory, particularly globalism/Chicago-school/Reaganomics based, that suggested large economic actors will be more innovative because they can afford to invest in relatively "small" risks. If Visceral develops Dead Space and it flops, goodbye Visceral, goodbye Dead Space. But if EA BACKS Dead Space and it flops, that's pennies in the pocket of the publisher compared to their overall output. Like Coke testing out new drink flavors, the thought was "they can afford it, and innovation rewards the innovators, so they'll do it." Ignoring, willfully or otherwise, the plentiful counterexamples to this behavior, presumably in large part because the entire school of thought was founded and funded BY large businesses looking to statistically justify their own deregulation.

[@shiroganetsuki9634]

Frost talking at length about Warframe and Digital Extreme put a huge grin on my face. So glad it got highlighted and the praise it deserves.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

Modern monetization is basically the Dark Side of game design. You take all the psychological tricks and tactics used in game design, and use them to manipulate people out of their money. That's why as a game designer, I can't help but hold a begrudging respect for games like Diablo Immortal, whose monetization methods are so elaborate and insidious as to be downright artful. It may be a monstrous perversion of everything I stand for, but I can't deny the effort and skill involved.

[@retro_451]

Oh yeah. Hey Frost!

[@imjust_a]

I think one differentiating factor between games that do and do not have that "strict presence" is often whether they have someone in charge who has a clear vision. While this can still backfire (as in the case of Helldivers 2), it often mitigates that "uncontrolled growth" issue. Masahiro Sakurai had a video that mentions this: Game development is not a democratic process. While it's important to listen to those around you, if you don't have someone to steer the ship you find yourself going around in circles.

[@LifetimeThiccness]

If you look at Dark and Darker, that's EXACTLY it's issue.

[@maherthemage1458]

One game always comes to mind when the topic of a game staying true to itself and not destroying itself and it's player base: Deep Rock Galactic. Rock and stone.

[@nickspencer190]

If you ain't Rock and Stone, you ain't going home

[@aturchomicz821]

Tropico 5? Transport Fever 2?

[@Mick0Mania]

I kept hearing about this game whenever someone wanted to bring up a good example of an online game with battle passes. I finally managed to convince my friends to jump into it with me. Not only did they like it, they keep playing it even when I'm not available. I tried getting them into Sea of Thieves and Deadlock, and had to basically drag them in. So it was a breath of fresh air to finally land on a game that is so good that I no longer have to try and sell my friends on it. Thanks Deep Rock Galactic fans. Rock and Stone!

[@Brown95P]

"Why do these live services end up succeeding? Because they make *_enough money_* to comfortably grow and sustain themselves, and that's all they could ever ask for." -Frost

[@Reahreic]

Investors: "I don't want one -position- monies, I want all -positions- monies!"

[@kapsize_8251]

I never realised how valuable employee retention could be for games development until you mentioned it here. You might have discussed this on a stream in detail but I might have missed it. On the top of my head I can think of many benefits: 1. You don't have to waste time and money training new devs on the game engine and tools you use 2. Even if the new devs already know about the engine and the tools, you still have to align them to your vision and practices. 3. A stable team of devs means faster turnaround times and consistently meeting deadlines, that's critical in games development. No wonder Warframe is so successful!

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

I like that nostalgia isn't disparaged as a dirty word in this. I've gotten sick of it being used as a thought-terminating clichè that more or less just means "There cannot ever exist a genuine reason to enjoy anything that is old."

[@hazukichanx408]

If we loved something way back when, there's probably a reason. Often a valid one. Often, it still holds up today. There will be cases where we look back, cringe, and think "what did I ever see in that?" ...But also times when we go, "Yeah, the Jazz Jackrabbit soundtrack is still a parade of absolute bangers, as evidenced by the fact that people are making remixes from it to this day (or at least, not too long ago)." As long as we're aware that not everything back then was great, it's okay to say some things were.

[@AstralDragn]

I had recently reread a series of books that I had nostalgia for. And at least for me, I fortunately did recall the flaws I saw in it back then, and noticed new ones. But even so, I still enjoyed myself, and found a few more things to enjoy. Razbuten recently made a video talking about nostalgia. I'm someone who on average does not have nostalgia for things, I am eager for the future and wish to see things be better than what has come before. Don't get me wrong, I do have certain things that of course I am nostalgic for, but usually, unless it is something I can determinedly say I'll enjoy again, I don't tarnish those memories by re-experiencing them, I don't go for that lightning in the bottle effect. I think that this approach isn't very popular, people go at the objects of their nostalgia forgetting that whatever their object is still undoubtedly has flaws, and that their overall opinion of those flaws may have changed without their realization, and it leaves them with a messy taste in their mouth for that feeling of nostalgia that drove them to try to relive that time again. So at least for me, I don't put much stock in others nostalgia because they usually haven't considered it too much in reality.

[@Brioshie]

Nostalgia is now a consumable product

[@markhettenbach3141]

Always has been.

[@xRosaliax]

Always happy to hear Warframe getting recognized for the things it does right, especially in an industry where so many studios refuse to recognize the lessons that could be learned. Looking forward to your assessment as a long-time Warframe vet.

[@andrewhickinbottom1051]

Man, you've got such a great way with words Frost! Several parts of this made me smile at how smart, amusing and well written they were!

[@LordBeef]

Right? It’s almost like he’s a talent that a group benefited from more than he benefited from the group. He really stands on his own two feet.

[@aturchomicz821]

8:45 God this just makes me respect Frostpunk 2 EVEN MORE. 11Bit Studios just didnt listen to their "fans" at all and they made a BLOODY MASTERCRAFT. It truly is Game of the Year🥰🥰

[@tubazo1989]

One of the games I think hits this balance of old and new really well is Monster Hunter. Every main entry has flagship monsters and/or unique gameplay mechanics that get refined in later entries while adding new and returning monsters. With the upcoming Wilds, they are the only team i feel confident in pre-ordering because I saw how they handled 4U, Generations, World, Iceborne, Rise, and Sunbreak. They all felt like complete products in the present, with aspirations for the future and dipping their toes in the past in small enough ways to make me happy to play their games during the present.

[@Jaspertine]

The thing I loved about Rise was that it really felt like they tweaked and fixed all the things that kind of put me off about Worlds without tossing the good ideas in the trash. Game publishers are constantly saying "we're listening and we hear you" but with Rise, it felt like they actually did.

[@solokanto3808]

Absolute banger ! Thanks for posting.

[@likeagentlesir]

I really enjoyed the second and third sections specifically: a presence in the present and uncontrolled growth. I played a lot of OW and OW2, finding myself unable to put into words why I've recently developed a distaste for it. Hope you're able to keep finding success, my good man.

[@vi6ddarkking]

19:17 Sonic the Hedgehog. With the renaissance is experiencing right now is easy to forget just how close it was to burning itself out before the Sonic movies and Sonic Frontiers relit the flame. That and the extremely relaxed relation that Sega has with fan projects. Kept the series afloat through stuff that would have and did kill many other franchises over the years.

[@thegrouchization]

For me it was the IDW comics that got me in. Saw a video covering the Metal Virus arc, thought "Oh wow, this looks sick", and promptly got more interested in the franchise than I had ever been before.

[@isaracloress471]

Minecraft has provided me with more entertainment than anything else in my life, from vanilla to modded. I may have my issues with Mojang Studios, but the fact that they're still chugging along providing regular content updates for free, while keeping things like MineCoins limited in nature, has cemented my respect for them. Are they perfect, no, they're a corporate entity, but I appreciate the work the team running the show continues to put in.

[@ribz4539]

Crazy how I've only started to really enjoy these post escapist and second wind. Keep it up, if you keep posting I'll keep watching!

[@MNeko]

I appreciate that there was not shade given at people who tend to like new or changing games, just that it's your preference. (And it's good to understand your preference and not shame/harass others for not sharing the same preference )

[@jeffersonderrickson5371]

"Uncontrolled growth" section perfectly described the issues with Dark and Darker.

[@kpods1116]

Thank you for your deep dives into subjects like this. I use to think I was getting to old for da vider games and movies in general, while in reality, my tastes were/are evolving. Once I understood that, I looked for different games in different genres. Now, I play a wide variety of games. I have Xbox Game Pass so, trying out new titles has never been easier for me. This helped me get off the nostalgia treadmill. I'm in my 40's and now I finally feel like I'm not chasing the my nostalgia for the 90's to late 2000's media. I'm just playing games and enjoying new experiences. GG Frost.

[@BondorianReich]

Deep Rock is my security blanket these days when I find myself losing a drive to game due to a number of factors. I hope they keep true to themselves and what they do/believe when it comes to making games

[@nickspencer190]

Rock and Stone brother

[@Mick0Mania]

Did I hear a Rock and Stone?

[@knightforlorn6731]

an excellent speaker, damn. I feel like you are very conscious of the rhyme and rhythm of words you choose. Almost musical quality. first time viewer.

[@dionisiosmarinos4285]

That man just gave a free seminar on how to succeed at live service

[@ThisChangeIsAwful]

Ive been saying for YEARS someone needs to do an in depth look at Warframe's economy and I'm so glad its you Frost!!!

[@TaLuVs]

I'm an old "gamer" who's seen the industry and the culture do its thing over the past decade and a half. These days I don't care for gaming content on KZbin, unless of course if it's coming from Mandalore or you. Keep up the good work, bro

[@ilyatepeyolotich6459]

Nick just unlocked supervillian backstory: zombie apocalipse started with a managment of a gaming company investing into a development of a new virus.

[@parkerdixon-word6295]

Talking about Live Service games with a reasonable pace of content so you can drop it and come back as much as you want definitely made me think of Deep Rock Galactic, which has been an absolute delight of a game. No Microtransactions, they just release a new cosmetic DLC each time they make an update that you can treat like a tip jar. The grind is real, but it's fair- you can generally get something new every 2-3 missions, and you don't have to get too terribly deep into the game to feel like you've unlocked your first choice of options to make yourself stronger, and now you're collecting cool new sidegrades to experiment with. Plus it's managed to foster one of the best, friendliest, and absolutely goofiest player bases that I've ever seen. The silly space dwarf game does not want you to take it too seriously, and wants you to have fun, and that does wonders for making players actually be nice to eachother.

[@Surkai25]

Great video frost. Look forward to the next one!

[@hammieli1875]

Every December around Christmas season I feel a heavy nostalgia for Red Dead Redemption 2. It reminds me of back then staying with my parents, and the only responsibility I had was shoveling the tons of snow in the driveways.

[@hammieli1875]

Also here’s a scary thought: Red Dead Redemption 2 is now old enough to have nostalgia for.

[@HatsAlEsman]

I swear i was looking to see for the first time in a month if there was a new cold take, and you uploaded minutes later heh

[@akathesk]

'newstalgia' is the marketing hype that makes people unhinged, buy games day 1 then have a growing quiet sense of buyers remorse later

[@ryanlanders3234]

Great video great journalism and hopefully some great recommendations

[@Roccondil]

The thing with Horizon Zero Dawn getting remastered is that there was a severe quality difference even within the game itself, which is quite jarring when you go from the main game to the DLC area... and then back to the main game, since you can encounter and play the DLC midway through the main story (as well as leave the DLC and return any time you want). The Remaster basically brings the main game up to par not just with the DLC, but also approaches the graphical improvements of the sequel.

[@DarthKotEI]

I see it as balance of art and commerce, where they both push and pull the other. Commerce seems to win out in the decision-making because it is quantifiable and demonstrative, leading the way when the way feels scary. The trust and communication in a work environment eases that uncertainty and encourages hesitancy and mindfulness. You explained it very clearly imo and helped bring together notions in my mind that weren't then connected. Thank you.

[@NSGrendel]

Love your content. Keep going.

[@dustinmillar120]

And it's hard to learn integrity. Companies run by greedy people never learn their lesson honestly

[@MrMichealHouse]

Seeing anthropomorphized game cases reminds me a lot of the glory days of Extra Credits with the original artist

[@Galgamos]

Nice question! I have simply stopped playing any games that keep changing. I buy full, complete games, even if that means just playing something fun from years ago I have yet to touch. Occasionally, a gem like Divinity OS2, Armored Core 6 or something similar slips in. Anything with daily logins, a live service model or a subscription fee won't get bought, and the moment something like that gets introduced, it gets uninstalled immediately. The only MMO I still play is Guild Wars 1, and only on occasion. And this has made me so much happier. :)

[@traviscushing2973]

I wish volition had become almost a parody game company, making other "clones" of other franchises and pushing them to the absolute max insanity within the confines of the genre. Imagine an Assassin's creed trilogy clone made by volition where Adam Sandler lives long enough to fight Adam and Eve in that weird garden of Eden.

[@noxlunesia]

"I can't think of one that started off great, lost it's way, and then found itself again after a new team took over" might I interest you in a little Old School Runescape? It might not be 100% exactly that, but it's pretty damn close!

[@Shaderaygun]

You mentioned never seeing a game or series that started great, lost its way and became beloved again when a new team takes over. One idea comes to mind: Metroid Beloved until Other M and Federation Force, returned to previous heights with Samus Returns and especially Dread, which were handled by Mercury Stream.

[@ZeroKitsunei]

The fucked up thing is Saints Row had the perfect set up for something crazy at the end of 4. Saints in Time. They had access to a fucking time machine. Keep the goofy powers and guns. You could've made whole games off one setting. Saints in Time: 1942. Civil War. Feudal Japan. Medieval Europe. Shit had legs, but no. "We want a return to roots!"

[@mnstrz0]

FROST you never disappoint

[@adiadiadifere]

Good video Frost, keep 'em coming

[@someonelikeable616]

How quaint you post this on day of TGAS

[@TheOtherFrost]

First

[@LordBeef]

@@someonelikeable616 What is TGAS? The Game AwardS?

[@aturchomicz821]

@@LordBeef Show...

[@This-Was-Sparta]

Really great video as always. That part about a negatives turning into positives always being better than the opposite is so good. In my own experience with early access games the importance of good, realistic expectation management cannot be overstated. And to be able to properly manage expectations you have to have a solid idea of what you're even making to begin with, of course. Lacking that, even the smallest implied promises stick around, slowly combining into more and more expectations as the game goes. "Oh but before update _x_ you promised _y_ !" "But you said you would add _z_ !" It really is like borrowing goodwill from the future, like you said. The moment it's all gone, it's gone.

[@M_Zeep_]

Age of Empires 2 team has been very responsive to the community. After some great innovations/new civilizations, a sect of the community began to decree the civs were becoming overwhelming at 45 options to choose from. So the developers focused on single player campaigns, and unique scenarios for their next two DLCs, and consolidated 2 years of DLCs into the base purchase of the game. This is in addition to focusing on more patches/bug fixes for a game released over two decades ago.

[@Xellos14]

Boils down to corporate ego. "We can't do wrong, we're multi million dollar entities! You think you know what you want, but you don't." says Blizzard balking at the mere notion of bringing back Vanilla, rose tinted nostalgia laden WoW. And oops, Vanilla WoW is a huge success. They can't fathom they're doing wrong and some random inquirers could blow their carefully calculated and strictly focus-grouped testing out of the water with something as simple as "Go back." And thus, they will either knowingly or unknowingly sabotage their own nostalgia bait, unable to help themselves, far too many cooks in the kitchen and blind to their customers desires for their own ego stroking. No, that old stuff is old. We can do better, reimagine it. Make it nicer, improve it. Where their 'improvements' are the kinds of changes that made, as an example, Vanilla WoW no longer Vanilla.

[@Mene0]

I do think there's also that point that people don't actually miss older games, but the way their lives were when they were playing them. I hold fond memories for Ragnarok Online that I played in my teens but man I would never do that grindy thing again lol

[@chrisjones5949]

I'd put No Man's Sky on the list of games that have maintained a strong presence and identity. Even with the frequent updates that have added new content, they've still kept the core sense of what NMS is supposed to be, and they've also always paid attention to fixing bugs in addition to adding stuff - as opposed to just constantly being NEW NEW NEW without even making the things that are already there work correctly.

[@davedunmire2278]

Thanks for keeping this going!

[@moondog548]

Hmmm indeed. Much to ponder. 🤔

[@Ukyoprime]

Fighting games are a fascinating microcosm of identity, nostalgia, and change hype. Mortal Kombat as a franchise is actively choking to death on this very topic as we speak, and genre diehards often stand up tournaments for games that are done changing - they CAN go back. Fighting Games also might provide a counter-example to the "franchises don't recover after losing their way", because after 15 King of Fighters games, there have been some real gems and some real shitshows, the graph is far from a smooth curve. (Now, of course, SNK is owned by a genocidal regime, please don't give them your money)

[@dukelornek]

as always love you thoughts

[@RTDice11]

12:08 - Me checking the PS Store because I want to experience Lair and Heavenly Sword again, only to find the former missing and the later gated behind PS+

[@musicenjoyer4203]

So good as always

[@nunyabiznes7446]

Huh. Y'know, I've never thought about it before, but Warframe is one of only a tiny handful of games that I've quit and then come back to two or more times. It's basically Warframe, Dota, and then single-player games I replay. The common thread between those two is a reasonable development cycle and humane monetization. It's nice to have a game you're just comfortable with and though I don't play either today I still look back on them fondly. Maybe I'll return again. It's nice to have games you're just comfortable with.

[@sydberetta4649]

I feel like this is also a perfect critique for the way NC is guiding SW, constantly trying to repeat the past, stuck in his ways, with ever diminishing returns. Failing to understand and realize this is no going back, and those days are long dead.

[@deadhead4077]

@@sydberetta4649 for realz, the problem with if it ain't broke don't fix it, is ones ability to recognize whether it's broke or not, and not letting frost see his own metrics on KZbin till right before he quit is def broken and NC probably in major denial especially as frost puts it, sabotages any chance to be held accountable

[@tyrus1235]

You know Digital Extreme are good at what they do when they've been doing it more or less for 30 years. Unreal Tournament '99, Unreal Tournament 2004, Dark Sector... And then Warframe, which was what Dark Sector was originally supposed to be. They had some growing pains with Warframe, but found their stride eventually without losing the core feel and concepts of what made the primary gameplay loop fun. In fact, they changed stuff precisely to make it more fun - removing the Stamina bar, reworking frames so they had cooler and more useful abilities, removing the weird daily revival restrictions, etc.

[@mrdubtee1873]

CDPR, Obsidian, and Devolver. Companies I trust within the gaming space

[@danixyea4463]

I will comment mostly to increase engagement and affect the algorithm. Your videos are honestly amazing and I personally think they deserve more attention.

[@sams.975]

As easy as it is to pick at Hasbro's control over and decisions for it, Magic the Gathering is a game where the designers have always understood that the quality and fun of the game is the first and foremost key to a successful, well selling, long-lasting product.

[@ejgeorge23]

Man brilliant, always worth the wait. Even the warframe trailers was good, i had to constantly rewind de video a couple of seconds because I found myself too invested in the trailer and lost your train of thought 😂.

[@Ruskles06]

Another amazing video. No notes.

[@markhettenbach3141]

Old Doctor Who reference for the win. “Wibbly wobbley timey wimey stuff”

[@miloharding3010]

Always love these languid put downs

[@hazukichanx408]

I kind of suspected, or perhaps rather wanted to believe that the Warframe team were different... that they valued one another, that each team member's efforts were appreciated in ways that more traditional game-corpo cubicle-cavern setups do not. I'm thrilled to hear there's some truth to that rosy idealization. I'm sure it's not quite as simple or clear-cut as that, but there does at least seem to be an _element_ of seeing the human beings on your team, of trying to understand them, learning to work with them. And that creates value and quality _far_ beyond what a team of strangers can do. This is why the "normal" corpo approach of "treat people like coal, burn them out and then shovel the ashes out in the street, shovel in another load of fresh eager minds and repeat" is so fundamentally flawed and - quite frankly - moronic. When you keep burning through the creative minds on your project, you _continuously_ reset the overall competence level of your team to a very low value. Add to this the fact that constant layoffs (to pad those quarterly profit reports and deceive investors) will utterly ruin any semblance of team morale you may have had slowly building up, and it all comes off as incredibly short-sighted. But none of this matters to the investors, the CEOs, the boards of directors; to them, all they need the teams to do is make products that technically count as "games", and that gamers will keep buying. They dig their hooks into games media with the simple trick: "If you want early review copies, you play ball with our review guides. You say what we tell you to say, or you don't say anything until everyone's already played the game." And so the average gamer is hyped up for every release with glowing, favorable reviews that don't mention any unfortunate, irrelevant little side concerns like "the game is utterly broken" or "the game is not fun". To these people, these corporate decision-makers, the games shouldn't have to be fun, or even very good. All they need is to make us _think they will,_ just long enough to snake their fingers into our wallets and relieve us of ever more of our limited disposable income. We need to stop indulging them. All of them. With tears in my eyes, I hope to have the strength to say "we should do the same with DE, if they ever lose their way so badly that there's no hope of recovery". From what Frost reports here, it sounds like they've managed to keep their souls even with the highly sussy Leyou/Tencent buyout of their company. I guess even a corpo clock is right twice a day? Some CEO went "This seems to be working. Generating a lot of income. No need to stick our dicks in it." That, or they just didn't notice DE exists yet. Or they keep trying to interfere in decision-making, and the actual game developers who know what they're talking about are having to shut them down with relevant data, examples and reasoning every time it happens. Wouldn't surprise me if the latter was the case... if so, good work holding them off so far, and keep up the good work! Anyway, this has gotten rather long, so for anyone skipping to the end... in summary, game development should always be mindful of the many, many benefits of a positive, respectful and sustainable work environment, a stable environment where each team member is steadily accumulating skill, expertise, understanding and confidence in their field. This is how we get quality, innovation, fun, and most of the other qualities that make a game attractive to players. Short-term benefits bought with costly sacrifices, on the other hand, are what's hollowing out the heart and soul of mainstream video games. Only someone completely disconnected from reality would make those kinds of decisions. Someone rather like a corporate CEO, director, or shareholder...

[@Psychosaur]

Ooh! I can't wait to see your look at Warframe. I've been a longtime player who has left and come back a couple times. It has it's flaws and bizarre artifacts of abandoned design directions, but as a whole it's a fun game.

[@WMan37]

Warframe is my favorite game right now BECAUSE Digital Extremes never rests on their laurels. There was a time that I would openly call Warframe a "Bad game" when it was still finding its footing, and even at the midpoint of the game's life cycle they were making the same mistakes that Helldivers 2 was where they were nerfing a lot of beloved things. Years later, they seem to have realized "Oh right this is a space ninja game, you should feel powerful" and a lot of their decisions lately are buffs and reworks that are kind of buffs. They also try weird stuff like a Y2K plot instead of strictly going "no we're a distant future game through and through". Like final fantasy, I define warframe by its diversity of content. Sure the core gameplay identity is "Kill all the things quickly in a combat sandbox ARPG" and always will be, but the fact that you can do it with everything from dual butterknives to a laser whip that drops extra credits, a plot that fluctuates from "Alien bad guy simply being an asshole" to "eldritch figure messing with the main characters in 1999 earth" is what keeps me coming back.

[@noneofyourbeeswax7379]

Engagement

[@davidharrison1859]

I now pronounce you person and algorithm. You may kiss the bits.

[@chadjones1266]

Thanks again

[@SkylerLinux]

With Regards to Presence in the Present, and Strong Identity. Everything Microsoft tries to do with MC that isn't Minecraft suffers horrendously for it

[@edmond4005]

I have started playing Warframe this year, and it has been my main game. I play it co-op online with a transatlantic friend. Cheers from Argentina Frost. I love your videos dude. Keep on keeping on.

[@Deliriumend]

Helldivers 2 and Warframe are the two games I never felt bad giving money to, because the games were clear about what they were and are completely comfortable with me taking a break and going off to do my own thing for a while. No FOMO is just wonderful. Things Frost pointed out in this video just make me love DE even more. One thing I am curious about. The fall of HD2 popularity did have the heavy nerfs, but it was also the 3-4 month mark for a really popular launch based on meme status. How much of that fall is actually the nerfs? and how much is it just the natural movement of the mainstream moving on to the next big thing?

[@Banalytical]

Engagement. Also great video frost! Missed ya this past weeks.

[@deadhead4077]

@@Banalytical frost streams nearly every weekday on twitch, in the mornings love service audits and afternoon warmup puzzles, crosswords and then covering news. It's a real chill chat and you get live interaction with frost and contribute to the stream discussions

[@martini7454]

HONEY WAKE UP!!! FROST UPLOADED!!! 😮❤🎉

[@Pro-gressive]

Great video, so happy when i see you post a new one mate. I hope you continue :)

[@muntantmonsterx4365]

Love to see gunfire reborn in a video even if brief. Underrated fps rougelike if you ask me

[@Danger_Dingus]

One game that has long been my game of choice and has nothing that feels icky has been Deep Rock Galactic. You get so much game for your money and any micro transactions get you only cosmetics and there are so many other things to unlock in the game just by playing the game that you’ll never feel fomo compulsion to buy a dlc cosmetic pack unless you feel like giving the devs some more money to make more great gaming experiences. Also they made the most wholesome community in gaming, bar none. God bless deep rock galactic

[@Jameslongstrider]

Another excellently well thought out piece.

[@404Errored]

Honestly i only find nostalgia works if the thing it's for is still of quality. Any other time i just see it as a crutch people use against criticism. But...man it's nice when it actually holds up. Burnout 3 and revenge especially still have it for me because they're just damn fun games that play amazing even today.

[@pawn288]

+1 Engagement damn algorithm

[@Dexvox43]

Nowadays, it really feels like nostalgia is just a "free ideas" bucket for the game industry, especially in the AAA sector. It's kind of sad, especially when it doesn't fix the general problem of preservation and availability of older games, not when they can monetized by publishers via "remakes" and "remasters"

[@DragonNexus]

I just wish the free ideas were things like Crash Bandicoot, Sly Cooper, Ape Escape. All that good stuff that just doesn't get made any more.

[@Xellos14]

Iunno, I wanted to see if it was nostalgia or not with New Vegas and Fallout 3, and I'm having a blast all over again. Closest I could compare to the time sink I've put into em is the only other 'new' game title I've bought at all in ages, Elden Ring. I can't even say 'nostalgia pushed me through through while covering all the glaring problems with mods' as I didn't even consider modding the game on PC until it dawned on me a few player characters in.

[@Nomadith]

I'm cheating slightly as it's not a love service, but your final segment talking about retention and brain drain stuck with me, so i nominale SuperGiant Games - pretty much 99% of the same core team who have been around since Bastion are here today as of the release of Hades II, they've only grown. The same main principle employees have been working together for..what, almost 14+ years now? Seeing interviews released for Hades I and II and the entire company seems to work as a well oiled machine - it also helps that they're still a private company, not beholden to benign requirements of shareholders.

[@JCMiniPainting]

I almost NEVER do Early Access. I think the last time I bought early access was Rust over 11 years ago. But that Subnautica 2 is looking REALLY TEMPTING.

[@arthurrosensmith-gr5ji]

This is all great. I feel like you could reinforce your argument further with a long look at the fighting games. Marvel Calvin Collections, SNK rereleases, and then of course the future games from the genre and the moneyization of Street Fighter vs Guilty Gear.

[@CashewChickenEnjoyer]

I've played warframe since 2012 (October 13th 2012 to be specific.) I have had ISSUES with warframe but at the end of the day I always come back. Sometimes i'll take a break for a week, or a month, almost a year at one point but I never stopped playing entirely. I do have things I miss about the older versions of the game but I don't hate what it's become. I do have nostalgia for shit like the OLD dark sector stuff where it was a clan owned tax on a planet (I dont miss the tax, I miss the PVP), I miss the old void where it wasn't just a sector on the star-chart, where running it felt special because you HAD to have a key. I miss the old art style, old lighting style, I miss the slower combat that wasn't unreasonable to stealth your way through.. However at the end of the day, the new shit is fun. I also know that the old shit was removed or changed for good reason. Old dark sectors were abused by the biggest clans to levy massive tax-rates against players in the earliest systems. Old void was INCREDIBLY grindy. The old lighting style wouldn't work because at the pace of warframe as it is now you'd not be able to see shit while hurtling through tiles at 90mph, the old art style was for better or worse.. generically Scifi, it had an identity in warframe, but it didn't add any personality. The old combat was slow, and tedious, and at times very very very fucking boring. So I do feel nostalgia for what it was.. but I don't want it to go back to the way it was. It's better off the way it is now.

[@dragon1130]

Gotta Love how CEO's completely miss the point. Like: "We don't know why reorders are going down and people are playing older games." Despite Everyone telling you EXACTLY WHY people are preordering less. Heck, they;ve been telling you hbis for YEARS! I know we on the internet need to touch grass more often, but, and I can't believe Im about to say this, Maybe these CEO's need to stop touching grass so much and open their godd@mn eyes and ears.

[@jonathandear4914]

i believe they confused grass with paper currency

[@user-on1e]

Great video