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COVID19: what should the gaming industry do?

YuSuzzune

YuSuzzune

Member
Nov 21, 2018
4,850
So I'm currently locked in my house, as the rest of Italy since as you know the whole Italy now is a red zone until April 3rd.
But many industries are moving to support the forced quarantine in several ways. Of course the best, profitable way to fight Covid19 is to donate money to several institutes and hospitals like:


or crowfunding campaigns

www.gofundme.com

Coronavirus, rafforziamo la terapia intensiva, organized by The Ferragnez

In questa fase davvero delicata, dal punto di vista sociale e sanitario, … The Ferragnez needs your support for Coronavirus, rafforziamo la terapia intensiva
www.gofundme.com www.gofundme.com

Amazon in example is offering free access to Amazon Prime Video until the end of the quarantine, same is doing Infinite TV.

Solidarietà Digitale|Agenzia per l'Italia digitale

La digitalizzazione a servizio di tutta la comunità
solidarietadigitale.agid.gov.it solidarietadigitale.agid.gov.it

So, in your opinion, should the gaming industry do something similar? Maybe free Game Pass access until April 3rd? Free PsPlus, even the ability to play online with friends without paying the sub? What else?

Of course the big, big thing would be do donations to our hospitals which are collapsing because they can't support the amount of people that needs assistance right now.
 
OP
OP
YuSuzzune

YuSuzzune

Member
Nov 21, 2018
4,850
funky said:
For the sake of public health. We need good games now more then ever.
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I had Nioh2 pre-ordered along with Persona 5 Royal, can't retire them because of the lock-down, considering I need to move to a nearby city and I can't do that, cops won't allow it.
So I think providing access to some services for free would be a good thing, stuff you can use from home.
 

Deleted member 5028

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
9,724
COVID19: what should the gaming industry do?
Answer: Look after their employees first and foremost. There are plenty of games to be getting on with.
 
Ahti

Ahti

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Nov 6, 2017
9,170
Cancel TLOU Part 2.
And release it later with the multiplayer mode.
 
Rotobit

Rotobit

Editor at Nintendo Wire
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
10,196
Sales with proceeds going to charities seems like a good option - people get something new to pass the time with, charities get more money to reach affected areas

Also delay games if it's necessary to keep their employees safe and healthy. The new consoles too, if it comes to that.
 
OP
OP
YuSuzzune

YuSuzzune

Member
Nov 21, 2018
4,850
This was supposed to be a serious thread in order to support in some ways what's happening, but I think some people seriously don't understand the gravity of what is going on.
 
Torpedo Vegas

Torpedo Vegas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,572
Parts Unknown.
YuSuzzune said:
I had Nioh2 pre-ordered along with Persona 5 Royal, can't retire them because of the lock-down, considering I need to move to a nearby city and I can't do that, cops won't allow it.
So I think providing access to some services for free would be a good thing, stuff you can use from home.
Click to expand...
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cops would never stop a potted plant.

source.gif
 

Deleted member 2180

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
727
When you boot up the game advice the player to wash their hands with soap and water 20-30 seconds and when you cough do it in your elbow
 

Deleted member 2180

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
727
In fact it's should be considered cool to cough in your elbow, and shaming the ones who keep coughing in their hands or nothing. Let Sonic show how it's done Let's do this
 
Serious Sam

Serious Sam

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,354
Take extra measures to ensure well being of employees, not just bare minimum what governments recommend/require.
 

Oracle

Banned
Nov 7, 2017
1,932
You know whats funny? Initially the dissapointment of seeing events/reveals and other gaming related news slowly being thinned out I for one find it to be quite relieving.

We have an over abundance of games, reveals and constant anticipation for more on a daily basis. I now realize how exhausting it all is. We simply cant keep up, and to me, each new things seems to make yesterdays "new" think less relevant. Its a cycle that IMO needs to slow down.

I know at some point it will pick up again, but maybe forcing the industries hand like this allows them to focus on new strategies. Of course its easy to say I am my own enemy and not everyone is like me, but the vast majority of us are. We are constantly rushing to play, finish, repeat for the next weeks/months new games. its unhealthy.
 
sirap

sirap

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,209
South East Asia
It would be nice if they could address their use of slave labour first.

I realise not many people give a shit about Uyghur Muslims, but even a perfunctory statement would be better than silence we have now.
 
Mr_DyZ

Mr_DyZ

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Jun 12, 2019
776
Release Halo Infinite right now so I can go into quarantine
 
Lobster Roll

Lobster Roll

signature-less, now and forever
Member
Sep 24, 2019
34,287
Atlus is sitting there sweating things out, hoping nobody asks for P5R prior to that sweet, sweet fiscal year-end.
 

Deleted member 42472

User requested account closure
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Apr 21, 2018
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CheeseWraith said:
This would just make the best business case ever for the VDI industry.
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That doesn't really address the security concerns in a meaningful way. You are still potentially allowing people to show your proprietary, and very valuable, content in a public place. And potentially allowing bad actors to pull a Patsy and sneak on your computer while you are in the bathroom for just long enough for a dramatic google search.


Security (concerns and mockery) aside: Coding would be fine and is how a lot of people develop in general (even locally a lot of devs in various industries will never run any code on their workstation). I can't imagine modeling or texture work being anything but frustrating with any significant delay. I don't know how game music is made so can't comment much there. And testing/debugging now adds streaming lag without google infrastructure.


You could have a zero latency remote connection solution and just the various hops to get from your home to your office are going to be significant. A lot of that can be alleviated by using google/amazon infrastructure but a lot of companies don't want to put everything in The Cloud for a lot of reasons. Some good and some stupid.
 
Thatguy

Thatguy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,207
Seattle WA
Since games can be bought and played in isolation, I expect sales will go up across the industry this spring. So celebrate I guess? Let workers work from home otherwise. The difficulty is on the hardware side where manufacturing is getting hit. I really wonder if it's going to delay console launch dates.
 
Greywaren

Greywaren

Member
Jul 16, 2019
9,899
Spain
Obviously, the right move is to release Animal Crossing right now. Can't think of a better way to go through a pandemic than by living in a happy town with your animal friends.
 
Christo750

Christo750

Member
May 10, 2018
4,263
The only one in a pickle is Nintendo, because they're in the middle of their console cycle and it's pretty difficult to build that system's momentum when there's a global pandemic.

The other two are fine. Delay the new machines to next year if need be and push software on digital storefronts. They're not in the position where they need to sell more consoles to make their revenue.
 
AppleKid

AppleKid

Member
Feb 21, 2018
2,494
Probably The Last of Us if you want to use this as an opportunity to prepare for the future

Edit: Thought this was the "what should I play thread" lolol.

In regards to the actual topic, I don't really know that they should do anything special. Games by nature lend themselves to being forced indoors
 
EVIL

EVIL

Senior Concept Artist
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
2,782
Go play warframe, or destiny 2, those two are already two excellent free to play offerings that keep you busy plenty
 
Menx64

Menx64

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,774
Expecting Era gaming side to be serious for a minute is too much of an ask OP.

I hope the big guys donate some money to support hospitals, caring centers or any other medical facility in need.
Huawei donated thousands of mask to health centers, I expect others to do the same.
 
wenis

wenis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,100
Be realistic about launch dates. If more cities start locking down and it becomes harder for production to continue (working from home is fine, but it's a lot harder to get things done for a litany of reasons from internet speeds, data caps, distractions, maybe a lack of access to key individuals that you normally would have in office) than I wouldn't be surprised to see soft moves of release dates for an extra month or two to account for slower production times.

care for your workers well being over meeting goals in unrealistic timelines under extraordinary conditions.
 
CheeseWraith

CheeseWraith

Member
Oct 28, 2017
618
Gundato said:
That doesn't really address the security concerns in a meaningful way. You are still potentially allowing people to show your proprietary, and very valuable, content in a public place. And potentially allowing bad actors to pull a Patsy and sneak on your computer while you are in the bathroom for just long enough for a dramatic google search.
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VDIs address all those concerns with unique ID watermarks than can track down the exposer in many different ways. They're also widely used in many indutries with strict IP policies (e.g. automotive, aerospace, etc.). As for the Patsy...well, that would be up to the user :-) For example I lock my screen any time I'm not at my desk, even just for less than a minute.

EDIT: As for 3D, the situation improved a lot in the last few years. It's basically the same as using GeforceNOW or Stadia.
 
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