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I can't believe I'm saying this, but now that last gen is over it's time to give Activision some props

MidnightCowboy

MidnightCowboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,730
Let's get it out of the way: I think Bobby Kotick is by and large capitalist scum and I don't appreciate what he represents. They've definitely mismanaged some of their studios, especially Blizzard. Same thing with Bungie, that partnership didn't work out. But man, they've published some serious heat the last few years! Of course the first thing I've got to mention is Sekiro, it's quite possibly my game of the generation. Obviously FromSoft did the heavy lifting, but hey Acti still published and didn't interfere at all, in fact it might just be their most hardcore game yet. Then you've got the brilliant slate of remakes that started with Crash (N Sane Trilogy, CTR, Spyro, THPS all rock!) and culminated in a brilliant sequel that blows the previous games away. Seriously, play Crash 4! It fucking rules. There's also Call of Duty, which I'm not big on, but I know Warzone is beloved and the games are generally well-received year in and year out. Overwatch was another massive success. Destiny. Anyway, yeah Activision is pretty scummy but they had a pretty darn good generation if you ask me.

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Deleted member 5491

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
5,249
Nah, they deserve jack shit with their tax evasion, glorified gambling, patching in MTX afterwards and how they handled that Blitzchung thing.
 
White Glint

White Glint

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,617
They handled Sekiro better than Sony did demons souls or bamco did any dark souls.
THPS is incredible too and Vicarious Visions' other stuff seems top notch.
 
Bardeh

Bardeh

Member
Jun 15, 2018
2,700
Don't give props to the bloodsucking middlemen, give props to the creatives they exploit. Fuck Activision.
 
KartuneDX

KartuneDX

Banned
Jan 12, 2018
2,381
There's few circumstances I can think of where publishers deserve recognition over the actual developers
 
Redcrayon

Redcrayon

Patient hunter
On Break
Oct 27, 2017
12,713
UK
Multinationals don't deserve praise for buying up the talented studios that actually deserve it. They didn't buy them to make those games better for us.
Activision is pretty scummy but they had a pretty darn good generation if you ask me.
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I mean, 'they were pretty awful but made a ton of cash' isn't really praiseworthy.
 
eraFROMAN

eraFROMAN

One Winged Slayer
Member
Mar 12, 2019
2,874
They have a lot of money, that was picked up in unsavory ways; the games were good despite Activision, so nah, not necessary. They've been given enough cash as thanks anyway.
 
Dolce

Dolce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,235
Activision has always made good games. What makes Activision garbage is milking them until they die, then discarding the corpse.
 
OP
OP
MidnightCowboy

MidnightCowboy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,730
I mean if it wasn't clear of course I'm giving props to the developers of the games. They are clearly the ones most responsible for these great products lol, I thought that would go without saying. I'm grouping these games together because of the publishing umbrella, ala Sony or MS or Nintendo. Gaming catalogues matter.
 
TheMoon

TheMoon

|OT|
Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,777
Video Games
MidnightCowboy said:
I mean if it wasn't clear of course I'm giving props to the developers of the games. They are clearly the ones most responsible for these great products lol, I thought that would go without saying. I'm grouping these games together because of the publishing umbrella, ala Sony or MS or Nintendo. Gaming catalogues matter.
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you wanted to give credit and then you gave it to someone who doesn't deserve any.
 
Meg Cherry

Meg Cherry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,261
Seattle, WA
xendless said:
these games happened despite activision
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Yes, these games were developed by a sleeper cell within Activision - released under cover of night, with heavy casualties. From Software actually illegally put their name on Sekiro, just to help the cause. A team of wizards actually printed and distributed the game in the US.

Activision saw money in their old IP. They did the correct thing, and tossed money at high quality remakes & seuqels. They used their production power to elevate strong third party developers, without getting in their way. This is the exact thing people begged them to do for a decade. It went well. Give credit where it's due. The CoD stuff continues to be a morally depraved trash fire, but it's encouraging that they are choosing to branch out instead of putting every conceivable egg into that one basket.

(For the record, I think the Blizzard side of things deserves no accolades. Overwatch feels like a missed opportunity that doubled down on eSports instead of making an enjoyable experience for all players. The Blitzchung situation was despicable. The Warcraft remaster was a disaster. Diablo 4 is years away at this point.)
 
Slackerchan

Slackerchan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,374
Austin, TX
Activision doesn't deserve any praise, only the developers. Look up the 2008 Vivendi merger they did and see just how many developers and projects were screwed. Then think about the list of studios they've closed in the past decade. Activision is just as bad (if not worse) than EA.

When your an Activision employee, you either eventually leave your developer (probably involuntarily) or you stay long enough to make Call of Duty your career focus.
 
Conal

Conal

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,868
astro said:
They were only good because of the time and resources given to the devs.
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Fixed that for you. I mean come on guys, it's perfectly reasonable to hate the company while admitting that these games were treated with more respect than the usual rose tinted cash grabs.
 
Ovvv

Ovvv

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10,030
Conal said:
Fixed that for you. I mean come on guys, it's perfectly reasonable to hate the company while admitting that these games were treated with more respect than the usual rose tinted cash grabs.
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Too much nuance used in this post
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
56,887
Conal said:
Fixed that for you. I mean come on guys, it's perfectly reasonable to hate the company while admitting that these games were treated with more respect than the usual rose tinted cash grabs.
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All you did was show a fundamental misunderstanding.

Time and resources have been thrown at games that ended up a mess many times.

Talent is what makes great games, without it all the time and money will mean fuck all.
 
Ovvv

Ovvv

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astro said:
All you did was show a fundamental misunderstanding.

Time and resources have been thrown at games that ended up a mess many times.

Talent is what takes great games, without it all the time and money will mean fuck all.
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It's almost like both are necessary for a large scale production.
 

Deleted member 68874

Account closed at user request
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Isnt Overwatch responsible for loot boxes coming to AAA gaming?

Then there's the whole China thing with Blizzard.

They did okay in terms of games.
CoD still isnt where it used to be for me.
It's hard for me to give a company props because they remade old games.
 
Ovvv

Ovvv

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astro said:
Not sure what's confusing you, the reason for my post is very clear if you just read the thread.
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You're making an assumption about OP that just isn't accurate. Not once did OP disregard the point that those devs deserve most the praise lol
 

Deleted member 81119

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I'm not giving Activision props for green lighting PS1 remakes during the height of PS1 nostalgia. It was the developers that made them good.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,580
I mean, they published some good games last gen as well to be fair.
Sure, they published a lot of shovelware, but CoD was a juggernaut in the industry for 6 years/most of the gen, Skylanders made toys in games happen and was the only one to really get anywhere with the concept, and they published some cool Transformers, Marvel, and Guitar/Whatever Hero titles, along with things like Prototype.

Obviously these titles from this gen are more to the liking of your average Era member, but it's not like they've had some successful comeback story or bounced back or anything to deserve props though. They released the Modern Warfare trilogy, 2 Black Ops, and an entire series of Skylanders games last gen: publishing some great titles is expected at this point lol.
 
eraFROMAN

eraFROMAN

One Winged Slayer
Member
Mar 12, 2019
2,874
MidnightCowboy said:
Of course. Why is this such a black and white issue for some of you? It's like by praising Activision's IP management you think I'm dumping on the hard work of the developers. That is not that case. Both can be true!
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Excuse the snark, I'll admit that wasn't necessary, but I'm not suddenly gonna forget that they laid off a ton of people in an instant to save some money. Again; despite, not because of.
 
TheGhost

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
Long Island
They definitely were my main publisher last gen as they were the gen before that and probably this gen as well.
They put out the games i put the most hours into.
 
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