Another Year Has Ended, A Year In Which Many Events Occurred In The World In General And In The Gaming Industry In Particular, Including Good, Bad And Unexpected Events, But In General It Was A Good Year In The History Of The Industry As It Was Full Of Diverse And Different Games Suitable For All Tastes. However, Nothing In This Life Is Perfect And There Is Always Something Missing. The Year 2023 Was Like That As Well. Although It Contains A Large Amount Of Games That Make It One Of The Best Years For The Gaming Industry, It Contains Many Bad And Disappointing Things. .
If It Weren’t For These Disappointing Things, 2023 For Gamers Would Have Been Very Different And Much Better; But The Question Remains“What Are The Disappointing Things About This Year?”
The Unity Engine Charges Game Developers
This May Not Be A Disappointment For Players, But It Is Certainly A Disappointment For Game Developers, Especially Independent Game Developers, Because Most Independent Developers Use The Unity Engine To Develop Their Games, The Most Famous Of Which Are Fall Guys, Among Us, Cuphead, Hollow Knight, And More. Last September 2023, John Riccitiello, Then Head Of Unity, Announced The Strangest Decision In The History Of The Industry, Due To Which He Faced A Fierce Campaign From Developers And Players Alike.
At That Time, It Was Announced That Fees Would Be Imposed On Game Developers Who Used The Famous Engine To Develop Their Games, But This Was Not The Problem. Rather, These Fees Were Imposed On Old Games As Well, Not Just New Ones. Not Only That, But These Fees Are A Payment Of A Certain Amount In Every Time A Person Installs A Game Developed Using The Engine, Even If It Is A Pirated Game, And If The Same Player Deletes And Installs The Game Several Times, A Certain Amount Will Be Charged To The Developer Every Time The Player Installs The Game.
These Fees Were Supposed To Be Applied To Developers Starting From January 1, 2024, That Is, After Only Several Days, But This Decision Was Met With Anger By Game Developers, Most Notably The Among Us Developer, Who Expressed His Extreme Anger At This Decision, While Announcing That He Would Redevelop His Games. Using Unreal Engine 5.
After All This Attack And Anger That Unity Was Subjected To, It Announced A Week After The Decision That These Fees Would Not Apply To Developers Who Use The Free Version Of The Engine And To Games With A Low Budget, While They Would Apply To Games With Huge Budgets. But Last October, Unity Completely Retracted This Decision In Order Not To Suffer Further Losses, And Company President John Riccitiello Resigned From His Position Due To The Severe Attack On Him.
Expected Games That Disappointed Us In 2023
We All Know That The Year 2023 Was One Of The Best Years In The History Of The Video Game Industry Because It Presented Many Wonderful Games That Varied Between Linear Story Games, Open-World RPG Games, Horror Games, Shooter Games, Action And Adventure Games, And More Games, But As Usual, This Year Contained Games Disappointing. It Was Expected To Be A Great Success, But It Disappointed.
During This Year, We Witnessed The Introduction Of 6 Disappointing Games That Were Expected To Succeed, Especially In Terms Of Ratings, Most Notably Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Which Presented The Worst And Shortest Story In The History Of Call Of Duty, With A Total Of 5 Hours, As It Was Originally Just An Add-On (DLC). ) For The Previous Part, While It Received The Worst Rating In The History Of Call Of Duty Ever, Despite That, It Achieved Good Sales, And Presented A Zombie Mode That Is The Most Played In The History Of The Series So Far.
There Is Also Another Game That Has Sparked Controversy Among Players Since It Was First Announced Until Now, Which Is The Action Game And Third-Person Shooter The Day Before. Unlike The Rest Of The Games That Were Released, Failed, And Then Disappeared, This Game Has A Slightly Different Situation, As It Is Considered A Public Theft Of Players’ Money, As The Studio Presented The Developer “Fntastic” Promised That It Might Be One Of The Best Games, Or This Is What The Game’s Advertisements Suggested, But We Discovered That It Was Just Stealing Players’ Money, As 100,000 Players Bought The Game, But It Ultimately Failed And Its Servers Will Be Closed Next January.
The Biggest Reason Why The Game Was Just A Rip-Off Is That It Stole Several Ideas From Different Games. The Map Was Even Pre-Made And The Studio Bought It For $300, Which Led To It Getting Ratings Like 1/10 And The Number Of Players Dropping Significantly From 35,000 Players. To 0 Via SteamStore.
There Are Also Many Disappointing Games That Were Disappointing Even Though Players Were Waiting For Those Games, Such As RedFall And Forspoken. We Had Talked About These Games In Detail And The Reasons For Their Failure In A Previous Article“Worse 6 Games Released In 2023”You Can Read Them To Learn More Details About These Disappointing Games.
Many Development Studios Close Their Doors After The Catastrophic Failure Of Their Games
Speaking Of Disappointing Games, There Are Many Game Studios That Closed Their Doors After Their Games Failed Catastrophically, Especially If That Game Was The First Game The Studio Presented In Its History Or It Did Not Provide Many Games. The First Of Them Is Fntastic, The Studio That Worked On The Day Before. After Days Of The Game’s Failure On A Commercial Level And In Terms Of Ratings, And A Significant Decline In The Number Of Game Players, The Studio Announced That It Was Officially Closing Its Doors After Launching Only Four Games, And Losing Huge Sums Of Money.
There Are Other Studios That Also Closed Their Doors Due To The Failure Of Their Games, Such As The Game Forspoken, Which Despite Providing An Average Experience, Did Not Achieve The Profits Required Of It, And Even In Terms Of Evaluations, It Did Not Achieve The Success Required Of It, Which Is What Made Square Enix Dismantle The Luminous Studio. Productions, Which Developed The Game And Included All Its Developers In Its Internal Studios; The Game Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Also Caused The Same Thing To The German Studio Daedalic Entertainment, As It Was Supposed To Get A Second Part, But Due To Its Bad Reviews And Poor Technical Performance, The Developing Studio Announced The Cancellation Of The Second Part And Moved Away From Game Development And Contented Itself With Publishing Games Only. Looks Like 2023 Has Been Really Tough For Developers!
Game Awards 2023 And Not Giving Developers Enough Time To Give Speeches
At The Beginning Of December Every Year, Critics, Players, And Influencers In The Video Game Industry Eagerly Await The Game Awards, As It Is The Ceremony That Crowns The Efforts Of Developers With Various Awards And In Which Our Favorite Games Receive Awards. What Makes Us Wait For This Ceremony Is The Curiosity To Know What… It Is The Game That Will Outperform Everyone And Win The Best Game Of The Year Award. Perhaps This Year’s Ceremony Was Different, As He And The Presenter, “Media Personality Geoff Keighley”, Were Subjected To Harsh Criticism, Not Because Of The Injustice Of A Game, For Example, Or Something Like That, But Rather Because The Developers Were Not Given Enough Time To Deliver Their Speeches.
During The Ceremony, Everyone Noticed That The Winning Developers Are Given A Very Short Time To Speak And Deliver Their Speeches, Which Is Only 30 Seconds, Although The Developers Who Showcase Their Games During The Ceremony Get Much Longer Than The Winners To Deliver Their Speeches, Such As Japanese Director Hideo Kojima, Who Showcased His New Game.” OD” During The Concert; I Understand That Developers Who Review Their Games Need More Time To Talk About Their Game And Reveal More Details About It, But This Does Not Mean That They Get More Than 10 Minutes For Some Of Them, Especially Kojima, While The Winners Only Get 30 Seconds! Ultimately, It Is A Ceremony Dedicated To Honoring The Efforts Of Developers.
The Most Prominent Person Who Suffered From This Matter Was Sam Lake, The Director Of The Distinctive Horror Game Alan Wake 2, Where He, Like The Rest Of The Developers, Was Given Only 30 Seconds To Speak, Even Though His Mother Tongue Is Not English, But Rather Swedish, Meaning That He May Need A Longer Time, And In Fact He Did Not Speak During The 30 Days. Seconds Freely And Even Music Was Played Loudly While He Spoke. There Is Also Swen Vincke, Director Of Baldur’s Gate 3, Who Faced The Same Thing, But It Was Worse With Him Than The Rest.
When Swen Vincke Took To The Stage To Accept The Game Of The Year Award For His Game, He Had The Same Allotted Speaking Time, And During This Time He Was Dedicating The Award To His Colleagues Who Died During The Development Of The Game, But He Was Interrupted By The Words “Return To Completion” Appearing In Large Print On The Display Screen – Which Is What Happened. With All The Winners – He Was Supposed To Announce The Availability Of Baldur’s Gate 3 For Xbox Platforms, But He Could Not Due To Time Constraints. Some Saw This As Disrespectful To The Winners While Others Said They Would Get Angry If They Were Interrupted Like This By Loud Music And “Please Finish.”
After The End Of The Game Awards 2023 Ceremony, And After All The Violent Criticism That The Ceremony Was Subjected To, The Media Presenter Of The Ceremony, Geoff Keighley, Admitted Through His Official Account On The From The Speech Quickly.
“By The Way – I Agree That The Music Was Played Too Quickly For The Award Winners This Year, And I Asked Our Team To Relax This Rule As The Show Went On. Although No One’s Speech Was Actually Interrupted, It Is Something That Will Need To Be Addressed In The Future.”
Statement By Geoff Keighley.
Although The Ceremony Lasted For Approximately 3 Continuous Hours (3 Hours And 30 Minutes), The Distribution Of Awards And The Presentation Of The Winners’ Speeches Took Only Approximately Half An Hour, According To Estimates, Even Though It Is A Ceremony Dedicated To Game Awards, Which Has Led Some To Say That The Game Awards Is In Fact An Alternative To E3, And Its Primary Goal Is Not To Honor The Developers.
After Two Decades…We Bid Farewell To E3 Forever!
Over The Past Two Decades, The Games Fair Has Been Considered The Arena And Ideal Place Where All Gaming Companies Gather To Showcase Their Products And Games. During The Past Years, The Exhibition Witnessed The Unveiling Of Many Gaming Devices Such As PlayStation 1, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo GameCube, And More. This Exhibition Also Witnessed Many Surprises And Wonderful, Unforgettable MomentsSuch As The Surprise Appearance Of Actor Keanu Reeves In The 2019 Edition – The Last Edition Of The Exhibition – To Reveal The Game Cyberpunk 2077 From The Developers Of The Witcher 3 For The First Time And Confirms His Participation In It.
Read Also: The Biggest Event In The History Of The Industry… How Did E3 Start?
While The E3 Exhibition Was Considered The Favorite Place For Media Professionals And Gamers, Where Media Professionals Could Try Out Games With Their Followers, Players Could Try Out Anticipated New Games Before Their Release During The Exhibition To See What The Game They Were Waiting For So Much Looked Like, Which Is What Happened Throughout The Years In Which The Ceremony Was Held.
The Year 2019 Was The Last Year In Which The Annual Gaming Exhibition E3 Was Held, And After That Came The Corona Virus (COVID 19), Which Caused The World To Close In On Itself And Cancel Everything That Might Lead To People Mixing With Each Other And The Virus Spreading More Among People, Such As Conferences, Seminars, Parties, And Events, Including… The E3 Exhibition Was Canceled In All The Years After 2019, And Since Then Companies Have Been Holding Their Own Events Digitally Or In The Presence Of The Public, Especially PlayStation, Xbox, And More.
After Canceling The Exhibition Over The Past Few Years, Specifically Canceling It For Three Years In A Row, December 12 Of The Year 2023 Came As A Final Blow To The Annual E3 Exhibition, As It Was Announced In A Sad And Surprising Official Statement That The Annual Exhibition Was Canceled Forever And Irrevocably. We Thank All Players For The Memories. Beautiful In The Show.
“After More Than Two Decades Of E3, Each Bigger Than The Last, It’s Time To Say Goodbye; Thanks For The Memories.”
“We Know That The Entire Industry, Players And Creators Alike, Have A Lot Of Passion For E3. We Share This Passion. “We Know It Is Difficult To Say Goodbye To Such A Beloved Event, But It Is The Right Thing To Do Given The New Opportunities Our Industry Offers To Reach Fans And Partners.”
The E3 Exhibition Tried To Withstand Many Difficult Challenges And The Struggle To Continue Its Presence In The Video Game Industry, But It Did Not Withstand The Progress Of Time And Other Challenges, Starting With The Corona Virus, Which Was The Beginning Of The Fall, Then Publishers And Companies Presenting Their Own Events Away From The Exhibition, And Now The Exhibition Ends Forever, As Is The Case With Everything. Fine, Which Was A Huge Disappointment, But Those E3 Moments Will Live With Us Forever.
The Worst Year For Sony… With The Hacking Of Insomniac Games
Although The Year 2023 Is One Of The Best Years In The History Of The Gaming Industry For Players And In Terms Of Games Released, It Is Quite The Opposite For Companies, As They Consider It The Worst Year Ever, Especially Sony And Its Gaming Division PlayStation, Where Hackers Target Gaming Companies Extensively. Recently, With The Aim Of Seizing As Much Data As Possible To Blackmail Companies And Obtain Millions Of Dollars Or Sell That Data On Dark Web Sites.
After The Huge Hack Of Rockstar Games At The End Of 2022, Which Led To The Leaking Of Dozens Of Images From Inside The Awaited GTA 6 Game, The Hackers Returned Again To Target A New Studio With A Cyber Attack, And This Time The Target Was Insomniac Games, One Of The PlayStation Studios And The Developer Of Marvel’s Spider Man, Ratchet And Clank And Many Other Distinctive Games, And Indeed The Hackers, Specifically The Rhysida Group, Were Able To Penetrate The Studio And Obtain More Than 1 Terabyte Of Data.
The Hackers Threatened The Studio To Publish This Data Online Within Two Weeks If An Amount Estimated At About $2 Million Was Not Paid, But The Studio Did Not Respond To These Demands, So The Hackers Then Published More Than 1.7 Terabytes Of The Studio’s Data Containing 1.3 Million Files, I.E. The Largest. Even From The GTA 6 Leak Last Year. These Files RevealedAll Of The Studio’s Projects Until 2030Among Them A Game For Venom, X-Men, And More.
The Matter Did Not Stop With The Leaking Of All The Studio’s Projects, But The Initial Version Of The Awaited Marvel’s Wolverine Game Was Leaked, And Some Were Able To Play It On The PC, Which Led To The Leaking Of Gameplay And Fighting Style Footage, And Even The Entire Story Of The Game Was Leaked, In Addition To The Leaking Of The Files For The PC Version Of The Game. Marvel’s Spider Man 2 And Players Trying To Play It, Which Was Considered Disastrous For The Studio And Sony.
Some Players May Have Thought That The Development Of The Studio’s Games, Especially Marvel’s Wolverine, Would Be Affected By This Leak And Would Be Postponed Beyond 2026 Or Canceled Forever, So The Studio Came Out A Few Days Later With A Statement Reassuring The Players And Confirming That Despite The Disastrous Hack, They Would Continue The Process Of Developing Wolverine Normally As If Nothing Had Happened. .
