Daily Arcade Gaming Podcast

Who do you believe are the top three developers in the world right now? Not just from a subjective viewpoint, but also an objective one?

Well, if you ask Marcin Iwinski, CEO of CD Projekt RED, he might be able to tell ya. About a month ago, during an interview at infoShare 2016, he named the world’s top three game developers... and whatdya know, he didn’t bellow CDPR at the top of his lungs; the developers were Blizzard, Bethesda, and Rockstar Games. Yes, he might have been extremely critical of his company, but his reasons for the top three were actually quite justified. Anyway, here was his response:

“Yeah, I actually think I said the best. The goal for the last five years was to be among the best three roleplaying game developers and I think we got there. The Witcher 3 is the proof. For the top three, this is our perception: I’d definitely put there Blizzard, I’d definitely put there Rockstar, and I think I would put them at number one, and probably Bethesda as well. We want to get there, so one will have to go.”

Oh, dem’s fighting words right thar.

But is his statement true? Well, thanks to a little analysis and speculation, I would have to say yes, these three developer giants are certainly top in the world, but that’s only if we’re excluding Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, and Microsoft as developers (especially from a financial point-of-view, but do note that the link provide is from the end of 2014). Seriously, I’m sure Nintendo has been lately duking it out for the top spot thanks to the advent of Pokemon GO! and several other clever business strategies. Then again, Nintendo didn’t exactly develop Pokemon GO!, only published it.

Anyyyyywaaaaaay... the reasons as to why these three developers might have earned the crown? Well, let’s check it out:

Blizzard Entertainment

It’s probably important to first note that as of the 2015 fiscal year ending March 31, Blizzard raked in $1.1 billion USD in revenue. Yes, that’s a gargantuan amount of revenue right there! How does Blizzard continuously rake in the riches?

Two words: quality games. Not to mention it often boasts a very clever and accurate business model for its titles. It seems that every game released by Blizzard thus has been eaten up by gamers worldwide. In fact, I can’t think of a game that hasn’t been popular with the crowd!

To drive the point home, every game and DLC scored at least a 73 on Metacritic, with the overall average being 87. That’s pretty damn good for Blizzard’s career.

Not to mention, this year, one Blizzard game managed to win the hearts of gamers everywhere. Which game? Overwatch, duh! Just recently,Overwatch was home to over 7 million players within just a week. A WEEK. That makes the game one of the most successful global game launches of all time. Holy shit, that’s a lot of players. So now, you see exactly why Blizzard would be a prime candidate of “the top three devs.” Not one game of theirshasn’t been popular.

Rockstar Games

Net revenue of $1.083 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015. But it was down $2.351 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014.

I mean, look at freakin’ Grand Theft Auto V! As of May 18, 2016, the game shipped over 65 million copies across all platforms and it’s still chugging along. It doesn’t need to release a lot of games, and it will continue raking in the moolah.

Sure, it’s Metacritic score chart isn’t as flashy as Blizzard’s, but it’s still pretty high. 75 games have positive ratings, with 21 games wielding mixed, and finally, two being completely negative. Overall, the average Metascore for Rockstar Games’ profile is 81, with the highest rating going to Grand Theft Auto IV (98). Yet, Grand Theft Auto V, being only one point lower, obliterated Grand Theft Auto IV’s sales.

Hell, Grand Theft Auto V’s online mode, Grand Theft Auto Online, generated well over $500 million, when it was reported back in April of 2016.

The studio is pretty much set money-wise until the release of Grand Theft Auto VI... whenever that will be!

Bethesda

I don’t know how much revenue Bethesda pulled from its games for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, but Zenimax Media managed to rake in $86.565611 billion for that year. But for now, we’re going to focus on two particular hits of this year and late last year: DOOM and Fallout 4. On May 31, 2016, 500,000 copies were sold just on the PC. It was also considered the se...

I can still recall the time, at the ripe and impressionable age of 13, I pulled my first-ever all-nighter with my older cousin to beat Diddy Kong Racing on his Nintendo 64. No, it wasn’t the greatest game ever made for the N64 (though I’ll still argue that it was criminally underrated), but it didn’t need to be. The thrill resided in simply staying up all night, hanging with my older cousin, and finally beating Wizpig as the sun was coming up. Fortunately for me, relatively strict parenting and a knack for socializing prevented these all-nighters from becoming a regular occurrence (I will admit that later on in college I had a couple more restless nights when Skyrim was released).

But still, some diehard gamers go down into this sleepless rabbit hole of video game addiction and are unable to pull themselves out. Now, we all probably have our stories about staying up late on a school night to beat that last mission, but for some, this has led to an unhealthy and potentially dangerous lifestyle. A new study conducted by the Hamilton, Ontario-based McMaster University took an in-depth look at how video game addiction is a proponent of sleep deprivation, which in and of itself can bring about a number of health-related issues. The research, which was recently published in the academic journal PLOS One, was pioneered by Dr. Katherine Morrison, an associative professor at McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

The case study, which was a collaborative effort by researchers from both McMaster and California State University, Fullerton, featured data analyzed from a group of 94 children and teens between the ages of 10 to 17. These young subjects all played video games and were enrolled in lifestyle management programs for either obesity or lipid disorders. The focus of the study was to research the extent that the video game habits of the group had impacted their sleep habits, obesity risks, and cardio-metabolic health. The research team used fitness trackers to monitor the sleep habits of the participants, which was then compared to their video game usage.

What the research showed, unfortunately and— in my opinion— unsurprisingly, was that video game addiction habits did indeed result in a shorter amount sleep, which in turn increased chances of having elevated blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high triglycerides, and high insulin resistance. Still, as Dr. Morrison acknowledges, this sample set of kids was both specific and quite small, it’s uncertain how these numbers would relate to the general population. But that didn’t prevent Dr. Morrison from finding strong evidence in her research.

“That said, we were amazed that amongst gamers, video game addiction scores explained one-third of the differences in sleep duration,” Dr. Morrison said. “Sleep is emerging as a critical behavior for cardio-metabolic health, and this data shows that gaming addictions can cause numerous health issues in at least a segment of the population.”

The research team plans to expand their study further, looking to study the effects of video game addiction in more general populations, while also analyzing video game usage and addiction tendencies of gamers over a longer period of time. But what can we, as gamers, do to prevent ourselves, our friends, and our family from falling into the rabbit hole of addiction? As someone with quite the addictive personality, I can sympathize with those who have fully replaced a bulk of their sleep schedule with gaming, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a viable lifestyle alternative.

According to Dr. Morrison, those avid and sleepless gamers who are dealing with obesity or some type of lipid disorder should take part in some type of intervention, for their cardio-metabolic health is vital to their long-term well-being. It’s something that some of us, as major video game advocates, hate to admit or deal with as a real issue. Although Dr. Morrison’s study does cast gaming under a relatively negative light, I think it’s important to note that addiction comes in all types of forms, and indulging too much in anything will lead to negative side effects. So, next time I power up my PS4 to get my Phantom Pain on, I’ll try and keep the words my Grandfather has said to me so much, that it’s basically become his motto at this point. “Everything in moderation my boy, everything in moderation.” FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://equityarcade.com/2016/05/14/study-on-video-game-addiction-hints-at-harmful-and-sleepless-consequences/

Today the guys discuss overhyped games and how reviews can really hurt large releases.

This week we talk about all the new hardware Sony has recently released and announced. Who in the office will be getting the PS4 Pro? Matt found a pretty good deal on a 4K TV and PS4 Pro combo. Also covered was Pokemon Go. Is the game an empty rotting corpse of its former glory? Will the new additions in game play mechanics bring you back to the game?