‘WoW’ approaches 20 years thinking about 40 – 09/27/2023 – Tech

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In an industry where many “live service” games cease to exist after a few months, “World of Warcraft” can be considered an old man, almost 20 years old — it was released in 2004.

“We don’t want to say we’re old, but as you know, the industry has matured and MMOs have certainly matured. It’s a big challenge to mature together, and looking ahead to the next 20 years, that’s what we’re going to focus on: where do we go from here ?” said Holly Longdale, vice president and executive producer of “World of Warcraft”, to Sheet.

Why this matters: Blizzard’s RPG is considered one of the most successful MMOs (massively multiplayer online games) in the world. It has more than 100 million registered players and an estimate of around 5 million active subscriptions — the company does not officially disclose the number.

Its popularity has set benchmarks for how games as a service work — both in terms of the pace of launching new content and monetization strategies.

New x Tradition

Success also creates difficulties for developers. With a large and demanding fan community, the inclusion of new content and mechanics must be considered carefully so as not to upset the already installed player base.

“Our responsibility is to care for the millions of people who choose to spend their time on Azeroth [local fictício em que o jogo se passa] with us. Listen to them, give them what they need and continue to evolve the experience for them,” says Ion Hazzikostas, game director.

No obligations

Even though they see obstacles to implementing changes in this scenario, the guide that developers seek to follow is not to impose any type of content on the player. An answer that fits perfectly with a game that stands out for the variety of activities that can be carried out by players.

“We try to offer content with tons of different options so that players can do whatever they want and, if necessary, ignore the parts of the game that they don’t like as much,” says Ion.

“We consider ourselves a ‘lifestyle’ game. This is where people come in to chat with their friends and do all sorts of activities. The challenge is to stay relevant while making sure everything stays up to date,” adds Holly.

AI against toxicity

Even after so many years, the toxic behavior of a minority of gamers is a problem with online multiplayer titles like “World of Warcraft.” The development of new artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, however, renews developers’ hopes for combating this problem.

“We recently implemented a system that, before the message is displayed to the recipient, detects whether it contains insults or hate speech. We alert the recipient and ask if they want to see it and if they want to report the person who sent the message”, says Ion , who stated that there is also an integrated effort within Blizzard — including other games, such as “Overwatch” — to inhibit bad behavior from players.

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Play

game tip, new or old, for you to try

Moonstone Island

(PRAÇA)

The debut game from the Supersoft studio uses a series of successful gaming formulas. It’s a “farm game” in the style of “Stardew Valley”, with dating simulator mechanics and art inspired by Studio Ghibli films. It is also a “Pokémon” style RPG game, in which the player needs to capture little monsters and use them in turn-based battles to advance in the story. Furthermore, it encourages exploration, with secret areas and puzzles that seem taken from the 2D games in the “Zelda” series. Despite being inspired by so many classics, this is not simple plagiarism. Several of these classic mechanics have been revitalized, resulting in a completely original adventure.

A copy of the game was provided for testing.

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Update

news, launches, business and what matters most

• A series of documents from 2022 with confidential information and Microsoft’s plans for the future were leaked amid documents presented to the American court in the case that the FTC opened against the purchase of Activision Blizzard. The main revelations:
  • In an internal email, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, showed his willingness to make a proposal to acquire Nintendo. The idea was discarded because the Japanese company was “sitting on a pile of cash”.
  • Spencer stated that bringing a top-tier title to Xbox Game Pass would cost anywhere from $300 million (in the case of “Star Wars Jedi Survivor”) to $5 million (“Return to Monkey Island”).
  • Bethesda would be preparing for the future the releases of “Dishonored 3” and remastered versions of “The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion” and “Fallout 3”, as well as a sequel to “Ghostwire: Tokyo”, among others.
  • The company has plans to launch successor consoles to the Xbox Series X and S in 2028. Before then, however, the company planned to launch improved versions of current products next year, including a Series
  • Also for 2024, the company planned to launch a new controller with haptic feedback (like Sony’s DualSense) and the possibility of directly running games in the cloud.

• Phil Spencer lamented at X the leak and stated that much of the information and plans revealed are out of date. “We will share the actual plans when we are ready,” she said.

• Amid the leaks, there is at least one good news for Microsoft. The CMA, the UK competition regulator and the last barrier to completing the purchase of Activision Blizzard, gave provisional approval for the deal. A definitive decision must be made by October 18th.

• After the clumsy announcement of its monetization strategy, Unity made a series of revisions to its new fee. Among the most significant are the exemption for games developed with the free version of the “engine”, the possibility of opting for a revenue sharing charging model and the non-application of the fee for games that are ready or close to launch.

• Amid disagreements between senators about the inclusion of “Fantasy Sports” in the Legal Framework for Games, the project was removed from the Senate’s voting agenda after the thematic session last Wednesday (20). This week, the proposal should be forwarded for analysis to other House committees, starting with Education and Culture.

• The restructuring (or meltdown?) of Embracer Group continues. The company fired more than 24 employees from the Beamdog studio days after the launch of the cooperative shooter “Mythforce”. Saber Interactive (a subsidiary of Embracer) announced that it will not make extra content for the multiplayer “Evil Dead: The Game”.

• Brazilian mobile game studio Wildlife announced a partnership with Lionsgate and Millenium Media to include in its game “War Machines” elements from the action film series “The Expendables”, including characters from the latest film in the franchise, “The Expendables 4 “.

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Download

games that will be launched in the next few days and promotions that are worth it

September 28

“Chipmonk!”: R$ 24.99 (Switch), price not available (PS 4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

“Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai”: BRL 249.90 (PC), BRL 319.90 (PS 4/5, Switch, Xbox X/S)

“Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon”*: free (PC, PS 4/5, Switch, Xbox One/X/S)

September 29

“Cocoon”**: R$51.99 (PC), R$99.99 (Switch), price not available (Xbox One/X/S)

“Cypher 007”: free*** (iOS)

“EA Sports FC 24”: R$319 (Switch), R$359 (PC, PS 4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

2.out

“Bilkins’ Folly”: R$ 59.99 (Switch), price not available (PC, PS 4/5)

3.out

“Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless”: R$ 314.99 (Switch), price not available (PC, PS 4/5)

“Scorn”: R$ 199.50 (PS 5)

“Silent Hope”: R$ 125.99 (Switch), price not available (PC)

*Expansion

**Available on Xbox Game Pass

***With Apple Arcade subscription

Promotion of the week

• Sony announced a promotion for PlayStation 5 pre-orders with the game “EA Sports FC 24”. The set costs R$4,199.90 at the country’s main retailers, a discount of R$600 compared to the original price. The offer runs until October 15th.