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Rare's Craig Duncan: ''we still have a super successful ongoing service-based IP in Sea of Thieves that still has millions of people playing it''
- Thread starter SuikerBrood
- Start date
So low? Its above other games with million+, Ark and MK11. This is also just applies to just console. This is how a massive games like Minecraft & Roblox don't top the list.
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The same people kept saying Halo 5 and other games were doing poor even though developers were stating otherwise.
Most played is a weekly chart of total hours played depending on the country it is searched in.
Yeah, the most played charts on xbox is hardly indicative of actual numbers.
Tbf, the Fort of the Damned was a very long, arduous process. I thought it looked cool but didn't want to go through the hoops to do it.
SoT is no Dota2 or Fortnite but so many people here are acting as if it had the sharp drop off of something like Anthem.
I'd wager SoT is doing better than Fallout 76 too (but I don't have numbers to back that up)
You two understand that your anecdotal evidence means nothing ultimately right?
Like...I actively dislike the game. Tried it once, hated it. I don't know anyone (irl) that plays it.
But I don't know anyone irl who plays RDR2, LoL, DOTA, GTAV, Minecraft...etc.
See what I'm getting at?
What's with everyone jumping into MS PR threads basically saying "I don't think so! No one I know plays it so your lying!"
MS PR: "it's done really well! We're very happy with the results"
Era "You're full of shit."
Rando "No one plays Sea of Thieves. No one."
Era "Finally, some solid data!"
MS PR: "it's done really well! We're very happy with the results"
Era "You're full of shit."
Rando "No one plays Sea of Thieves. No one."
Era "Finally, some solid data!"
This logic of I don't know anyone that plays this or that game doesn't make any sense.
Don't know anyone that plays minecraft yet millions upon millions play the game?
Don't know anyone that plays minecraft yet millions upon millions play the game?
I'm sure the gameplay can be fun under the right circumstances. I just dislike the "well go to Island X and dig up a few chests" play style. Even skull forts or islands where you have to fight waves of skeletons/skeleton bosses aren't that fun for me. I've never done Athena stuff so maybe when the stakes are much higher, it feels more rewarding.
My favorite player aspect is goofing around with other players. Hijacking ships, player vs. player stuff. But, Rare has pretty much considered any of that Pirate-y stuff to be griefing (imo). So now I just sail the seas.
This is the one game that I regret not starting. I bought it day one and just have always put it off. How approachable is it now?
Hey I was just as surprised as that user. I guess my interests and the demographics that play SoT do not overlap AT ALL. That or it's one of those weird anomalies where a game is stupidly popular but nobody has the need to talk about it on social media all the time so it stays 'hidden.
Good for them either, way it's nice having a successful new IP, but I'm not lying when I say I've literally never heard of the IP since it's initial reveal like 2(?) years ago? I can't even remember that.
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But.. it has been front and center at every event Xbox has held since. It had a Twitch Rivals event. Ninja and DrDisrespect streamed it this year. Hell, it even has 10k viewers on Twitch right now.
They've been to GuardianCon, Gamescom, E3 2019, PAX, etc. And there have been dozens of threads about the game on resetera since launch.
So.. if you would have had any interest you wouldn't have missed the game, I think.
Great post.
I've hated Craig Duncan from the first day he opened his mouth at an interview, not just because of his contempt for legacy IP but especially because of his terrible reasoning behind it. It's nothing new. But I've never seen him being as explicit as he's been in this interview.
REALLY no room for doubt. And I doubt this reflects the hearts of most of the staff. I'd wager very few game devs have an intrinsic passion for GaaS as a model. It reeks of bullshit and it's very obvious the new studio direction came from the top down.
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Nah moreso was weird to me because I offhand know a good dozen people into both games (or just see them playing them on discord) and havent seen a single SoT in over a year so was just a bit odd to me ig.
Dozen or so, family friends kids always talk to me about it lmao.
i've tried it twice. I like the look and the sounds. the controls are fine. The boat stuff is cool. navigating is cool
but i just can't jump into a game as a service with no progression. If i can't get a better weapon than what i start out with default. Why bother.
couldn't get past that
but i just can't jump into a game as a service with no progression. If i can't get a better weapon than what i start out with default. Why bother.
couldn't get past that
It's both VERY approachable and not at all. I can try to explain.
1. There's no level or loot advantages. Everyone starts out with the same abilities, same access to weapons etc. So it's not like you're getting annihilated by super ships and crazy guns.
2. I believe they added a muuuuch more robust onboarding system. At launch there was an incredibly minimal tutorial AND it was bugged so many people didn't even get it.
3. There's a crazy amount of content compared to launch but a lot of it is still dependant on how much you like crossing off commendation/goal lists in games or playing "for fun" or creating your own fun. It's still very much a sandbox game, almost like Minecraft in a way. But resources won't follow you between sessions. So you can fully stock your ship with the best food, cannonballs, etc. but it will be gone next session. A lot of people don't like this. It's the "well whats the point of it all?" crowd. That being said, the Anniversary update added in Tall Tales which are story oriented missions. If you only play enough to complete those I VERY HIGHLY recommend it. I also highly recommend doing them blind. They can be very simple in mechanics but can feel very satisfying when you figure them out. There's no waypoints. Like a real pirate adventure you have to decipher clues and maps and riddles to progress. Definitely try these out. Feel free to look up the answers after you get stuck for a bit since I will say some of the riddles did require knowing your way around the map/islands a bit.
All that being said.... There is a surprisingly decent skill ceiling in this game. A great pvp player can solo sink an entire mediocre 4 player galleon. You may run into a person who just wants to kill you over and over again. YOu might also run into a friendly crew who would love to take you under their wing. That's part of the beauty of the shared world.
Yeah lol at people in here doubting SoT's success just because of personal anecdotal "evidence" of not knowing anybody in real life who plays it or has tried it.
I personally don't know anybody who has even tried the game either. Let alone actively plays it. That doesn't mean shit. It's like some people are still stuck in March 2018.
I personally don't know anybody who has even tried the game either. Let alone actively plays it. That doesn't mean shit. It's like some people are still stuck in March 2018.
Today's Rare is very comparable to Naughty Dog. They both still make great games, but neither have any interest in going back to older IP.
I'd say give Banjo to another team. Vicarious Visions and Beenox have both done justice for Crash Bandicoot. I think Rare making entirely new games is fine, but I don't believe leaving Banjo alone now that he's back in the spotlight is a wise decision.
I also find irony in Craig Duncan still insisting revisiting old IP would a bad move, when Rare has done nothing but promote and attach their name to the new Battletoads on social media.
I'd say give Banjo to another team. Vicarious Visions and Beenox have both done justice for Crash Bandicoot. I think Rare making entirely new games is fine, but I don't believe leaving Banjo alone now that he's back in the spotlight is a wise decision.
I also find irony in Craig Duncan still insisting revisiting old IP would a bad move, when Rare has done nothing but promote and attach their name to the new Battletoads on social media.
I think "hate" is definitely a strong word for Craig Duncan, but I definitely see where many posters in this thread are coming from. Craig has been pretty much saying the EXACT SAME things for the last 5 years when it comes to Rare's legacy IP. This kind of stuff just gets old, you know?
I'm also not a huge fan of Rare throwing their IPs out to other developers. I've said this a million times and I'm going to keep repeating this ad nauseam: I want Rare to work on their own IPs. I want to see what Rare's own vision and ideas for their IPs are, not someone else's.
I appreciate that Rare is making new stuff and Everwild looks like it could be super cool. I just wish they also cared more about their older IPs. Constantly handing them out to others has always seemed like carelessness to me.
I'm also not a huge fan of Rare throwing their IPs out to other developers. I've said this a million times and I'm going to keep repeating this ad nauseam: I want Rare to work on their own IPs. I want to see what Rare's own vision and ideas for their IPs are, not someone else's.
I appreciate that Rare is making new stuff and Everwild looks like it could be super cool. I just wish they also cared more about their older IPs. Constantly handing them out to others has always seemed like carelessness to me.
to be fair to the man....they keep asking him the same questions every time lmao
It's salty. He's the person who said he wanted to fist fight Phil Spencer. Hate is in his dna
Indeed it is no Anthem situation. Thing is you have to remember how exponential popularity tends to be. Fortnite's CCU on Xbox is quite likely in the ballpark of Sea of Thieves' MAU on Xbox. There's an absolutely enormous gap between first and fifth, fifth and tenth, tenth and twentieth, twentieth and fiftieth. Sea of Thieves is 47th on the Xbox Most Played charts in the US (admittedly not its best region but obviously the most important region). It's not exactly a booming example of GaaS but it's buoyant - the servers aren't going to die.
The games towards the top of those charts are behemoths that, competently monetised, make more money than you can really get your head around. Microsoft haven't really had a game like that this generation despite trying a lot (Halo 5 probably got closest). It feels now that their focus is shifting quite a bit now with game pass, to which end I think Sea of Thieves was pretty successful as its first good exclusive offering.
Not in terms of the number playing it. Even just on Xbox.
Most played games - Microsoft Store
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ITT some people can't handle a little figure of speech. Yikes.
Holding modern Naughty Dog's and current Rare's output in the same regard is a laughable statement. I know taste is subjetive and everything but we're talking about about a developer that has made 2 or 3 GOTY contenders in the last 10 years, with likely another one coming next year, vs. a developer that in the same time frame has made a couple of Kinect shovelwares and a preposterous game about getting in a Discord channel to do nothing with other people, that was met with lukewarm reception from both critics and players. And they likely have another one of those coming who knows when, judging by Everwild's bullshit description and vague promises of "unforgettable experiences".
There's a reason why you see way more clamor about Rare going back to their old IP than Naughty Dog. If Rare was putting out the kinds of game ND does, most people would have moved on a long time ago and Craig Duncan would not need to answer the same question in every single interview.
Holding modern Naughty Dog's and current Rare's output in the same regard is a laughable statement. I know taste is subjetive and everything but we're talking about about a developer that has made 2 or 3 GOTY contenders in the last 10 years, with likely another one coming next year, vs. a developer that in the same time frame has made a couple of Kinect shovelwares and a preposterous game about getting in a Discord channel to do nothing with other people, that was met with lukewarm reception from both critics and players. And they likely have another one of those coming who knows when, judging by Everwild's bullshit description and vague promises of "unforgettable experiences".
There's a reason why you see way more clamor about Rare going back to their old IP than Naughty Dog. If Rare was putting out the kinds of game ND does, most people would have moved on a long time ago and Craig Duncan would not need to answer the same question in every single interview.
I believe he said something like "punch him in his face"
They could clear alot of this skepticism up if they just showed the actual numbers. Don't really understand why they can't be more specific.
Because it's a throwaway line in a random interview 18 months after the game's launch. Do interviews normally have the interviewee take out his Powerpoint slides with the up-to-date stats on everything he says? This wasn't an official announcement in the form of a news like "look at how many players we have, what a milestone". It's a random line in a cool and lengthy interview. That's it.
They don't have to say the numbers in this specific interview though. They keep talking in vague terms about numbers all over the place without ever getting specific.
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Would it matter if it was 800k active players instead of 1.1 million?
There is an interesting interview. It shows the game has been successful.
I mean, seriously. As if games like Fortnite or Minecraft tell you how much time the players who logged on spend on the game instead of just boasting the total number. This thread is bordering parody levels.
Tks for the write up. Cool that it exist but definitely not a game for me. I have never really cared for "create ur own fun" type of experiences except for Minecraft and all that's because all your creative progression stays with you. Even with that I'm mostly just impressed by what kids build, not actually playing all the made up content in the universe.
Also another thread in my ignore list...guys are the worse
Oh don't get me wrong, Salty. I'm not saying Rare and ND are comparable in terms of sheer quality or anything. My comparison stems from the fact they both were known for making platformers in the 90's, have no interest in returning to develop those, and both make very different kinds of games nowadays.
I think a lot of why you don't see people asking for ND to work on Crash is because Sony doesn't own it. I still see plenty of requests for a new Jak and Daxter, but obviously no one at that studio is interested in doing it. It's very similar to how Rare is uninterested in revisiting their old IP.
Of course, I still wish they would. That or lend the IP out to a passionate development team that would do the games right.
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Gotcha. That is certainly true. It's a funny comparison because in the 90s ND used Rare's games as inspiration. Crash took from DKC, CTR from DKR and Jak 1 from Banjo. The CTR team even recreated a DKR track during development to test whether they could achieve the same kind of scope.
Would be cool if modern Rare did the same these days.
I'm sure that's the case. Just like they were very "passionated" about Kinect. Until it made no financial sense.
Rare under Microsoft has had a history of pure freedom, it's only logical we assume that is still the case. It's not like in the past there has been a ton of project cancellations and a bunch of departures motivated by disagreement with the studio's direction indicating otherwise.
I see what you did there..but seriously Xbox and MS as whole has seen a lot of changes since the early days of the xbox one. This narrative is pretty old and tired by now.