That's one thing. Good game design/good scriptwriting and the values of diversity, inclusion and accessibility are largely independent of each other. There's some fantastic narrative media out there with an all white all male cast, and there's some really crappy stuff out there featuring mostly female POC. And vice versa, of course. Whodathunk?

It's kind of a good sign that these folks are developing ever less credible theories like "Woke games always make characters look as ugly as they possibly can, on purpose." Hopefully their peers finally wake up and understand they've been bathing in the same toilet since at least 2014.

This stuff destroys any sensible discussion of the matter at hand. And it gets thread after thread closed. There's some good stuff here in this thread, really. Some people actually try to understand why the Concord game failed, they worry about the industry, and they try to understand the actual and valid reasons of the failure. We've been an informed fellowship of gaming enthusiasts, what, 10 or 12 years ago, and look at us now. Thanks, Donald!

Yes. Well, in theory at least.

But that applies to both loans at higher interest rates and loans at lower interest rates. So better go through with the product placement - because it is embedded marketing regardless of being a brand of toilet paper or a brand of ideology if there's money in some form at the other end - and get the lower interest rates.

If you think that it's not a financially sound move to do it because making sure you've ticked all the required checkboxes it's sure to spell failure you're wrong, that has very little to do with financial success or failure. Just ask the likes of Larian or RED if doing it is worth it or not.

Thing is, there are plenty of reasons as to why a game fails and in the specific case of Concord that reason is corporate disconnect.

The push back that people seem to feel a need for and would like to believe is already here it's simply not happening, not where it matters anyway. It is happening at an individual level but it's not happening at a corporate level and not even at a consumer level - once again i refer you to games like BG3, if a game is "good" folks will want to play it regardless and very few will equate playing it or not at a "principles" or "convictions" level, so in that regard not unlike what happens with drm.

All these alleged signs of a push back are merely incidental. Concord failed because corporate disconnect, the product placement being there is irrelevant outcome wise, it would have failed regardless. Black Myth's success is also incidental in this regard, it has to comply with impositions of a, uh, "cultural credit system" which incidentally align themselves opposite from the impositions of the "cultural credit system" we're currently mired in over here.

Bottomline, they do it because for the time being there's still money in it.

As for Concord going down in flames, for someone like myself who thinks that every single cent thrown at anything other than singleplayer experiences is a waste of a perfectly good cent, well, there are obvious reasons to smirk a little :)

Yeah, the times seem to be changing. It is getting more and more obvious that the majority of people doesn't want forced diversity, doesn't support sexism in the name of anti-sexism and racism in the name of anti-racism. They are sick of getting preached to and of bending the knee to a vile ideology that values group identity over individual identity.

It is funny to see the usual trolls in this threat coping harder and harder while everybody in the room knows why concord failed. Really not worth arguing with them, they know they are wrong just aren't able to admit it yet.

Relevant, not only to Concord but the current state of the industry as a whole:

September 3. The Day We Took Back The Video Game Industry. Concord Shut Down Industry Speech

The transkript, because this is too good and on point:

"September the 3rd.
Where were you on September the 3rd? Where were you when you first heard the news "Concord has fallen"?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed with our very own eyes the most important event in the video game industry in decades. Today, September the 3rd Sony has announced that its latest title "Concord" will be discontinued and servers will be shut down September the 6th.

Mainstream media outlets defending Concord have destroyed their credibility and revealed a glaring flaw in the game industry. How can you trust a company who tells you the sky is not blue? We can no longer trust those major companies. The fall of Concord is not cause for celebration. We cannot afford to devolve into a culture that dances on the graves of those who tried and failed.

But there is cause for celebration:
To all my fellow gamers out there who let your voices be heard in comment sections and forums - I am proud of you. I beseech you: Revel not in the failure of others. The road to a better tomorrow cannot be travelled by tearing each other down but by helping each other up when we stumble.

To the content creators out there who made strong the voice of your people, your fellow gamers - I am proud of you.

To those with true journalistic integrity who researched and brought to light the unacceptable grotesque behavior of those who would masquerade as our game developers - I am proud of you.

Sony has become a tyrant, a dragon of wealth at all costs.
All the gamers out there who stood their ground and let their voices be heard, who united from all around the world, they became a powerful spear.
All the content creators out there who brought to light the truth of the situation as it unfolded day to day, they became the blade of the spear that pierced the dragon's heart.

There is a philosophy that exists in the professional world, something I've learned working in industry from watching, from listening to the world around me:
People love nothing more than watching a tyrant fall.

For years, talented, skilled and deserving artists and developers have been discriminated against instead of game companies hiring people for their ability or qualifications, they hire based on the color of someone's skin, their sexual identity and their political views.

For years the video game industry has bent further and further toward appeasing an extremist radicalized cult raised entirely in an isolated bubble of hyper reality on the internet.
The game industry has bent further and further, being infested by people who do not care about making a good product, who do not understand what a good game is and who do not care about what really matters: The gamers, diversity, inclusivity, equity.

I've said it before and I will say it again:
Those things matter, they're important but the people who are pushing those concepts into the public space lack the maturity, self-awareness and understanding of social responsibility to do it correctly.

These radicalized extremists are so focused on their own egos they do not realize the damage they have caused to our culture.
Never before in the past decades has there been a greater hatred, fear and resentment towards minority groups which they think they are empowering. Instead they are framing marginalized groups as villains and painting targets on their backs, and this has happened because of the incompetent implementation of supposed diversity in media.

We cannot afford to go back to a time when hatred and fear was allowed to rule our hearts and minds.
No more, to you radicalized extremists receiving millions of dollars to produce products for stroking your own egos instead of serving the gamers, I say to you: No more.

To you tyrants who fund this radicalized movement, who focus on pandering instead of creating something of value, I say to you: No more.

To you developers who would dare to call my fellow gamers, my people "talentless freaks", I say to you: No more.

Rejoice, celebrate my fellow gamers, for today you have made history: Today we tear down a tyrant.

Let this be a warning to all the AAA development studios and publishers out there: The balance of power has shifted.

There is no amount of money you can pour into marketing to hide the flaws of a product created by the wrong people with the wrong intentions. The balance of power has shifted in a way that you cannot control.

Your audience has a voice, they have power and they are your equals.

September the 3rd.
Remember this, let it be heard all across the world: Today is the day we took back the video game industry.

To any developers or publishers out there who would dare to call my fellow gamers, my people "talentless freaks": Do this at your own peril because I will not stand idly by and let you demean my people.

Lastly, to Sony: You have earned some respect by issuing full refunds to all the paying customers of Concord. This is the best course of action you could have taken.
Were I to give you a review on your performance in this situation, I would say:

7 out of 10.
Good."

"Where were you on September the 3rd? Where were you when you first heard the news "Concord has fallen"?"

I can't even. This is so silly.

This is probably the most hilarious video of this year. This poor soul there means it really serious and there are more poor souls who actually agree with this nonsense.

"Where were you on September the 3rd? Where were you when you first heard the news "Concord has fallen"?"

The truth is that the term "gamer" is becoming more and more an insult, a strong and deep one. The whole incident shows how dumb and moronic game discussions have become everywhere.

Have not watched the video, but read the transcript, thank you for it as its easier to read and understand without being influenced by vocal neurolinguistic strategies of manipulation of emotions.

Radicalization is not a problem when the motives are really good and it is balanced with prudence and wisdom.
The problem is that those radicalized extremists ideology is mostly based on revenge, anger and hate.

Through supposedly "fighting against hate", they practice it covering it with the coat of virtue signaling.
In this path, many honest people that truly defend said causes are caught, without fault of their own, but hurting real people that do indeed care about such topics.

Overall, a masterful speech - but will it generate any impact on those who can actually change things?
I doubt it, albeit the data already impacted companies and higher ups.

Most radicalized ideological proponents, though, are too blinded by said hate and desire for revenge coated with false virtue for causes that they not necessarily understand deeply enough to really offer solutions that really work in the long term.

Higher ups, though, they only understand one thing: Data, as said above.
Data apparently shows / is showing that this radicalization is destroying the industry on the long term, albeit giving profit on short term for some specific areas of the media industries - and they did noticed this.

Changes are already being made in games in-dev because of this, and the result will be seen in the next years.
Those that don't want to see it, won't see it though - so be it, do not see it. We will all understand it at the end.

Anyway... this is just my opinion.

With gaming it is more complicated. Frankly I wish they would all be taught the same stuff they USE to be taught in the 80's and 90's, working on RISC chipsets like they use to do for consoles. Now they will need to understand RISC-V. I think they need to learn OpenGL, practice making games in Assembly, look at how to work on complicated architecture like the N64 and Saturn were.
The Japanese need to teach them how to make arcade games as Westerners have largely lost the skill by NOT exercising it. Cheap Thrills doesn't count as their products are largely trash, and look like low rent PC or console product for some even. Other times it clearly looks like the games were made on a PC graphics character design absent AA versus console. Also that Cruisin' game is NOTHING like the previous Cruisin' games were, a Western Outrun. By that I mean you drive until your timer runs out and have to keep making checkpoints to keep it up. The latest "Cruisin'" in the arcades ends it at the first leg regardless and charges you AGAIN to continue. WTF?!

edit: I REALLY appreciate my thoughtful note on what Organic DEI is being pre-blocked on an eternal loading screen or just NOT being allowed to be posted. I am PRO-Diversity but not when it is forced.

I heartily disagree :)

If they see more positive examples of well-selling single-player games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Hogwart's Legacy, and fail enough times with online multiplayer games, they might start their own #metoo movement where they want to make popular single-player games too.

I am still left incredulous that they wish to lecture us. They think they are so smart but they never seem to be able to use the devices of their craft well, be it for cinematic devices or literary ones. For games this includes gameplay and character design to name a few. If you were so clever and talented with the games you made they would sell well or at least be critically acclaimed by gamers at the jump or shortly after. Look at HiFi Rush, it didn't take off immediately but once people found out it was good, it did quite well.

Agreed. But one can be woke/diverse and still have decent character design, at least at a base level. Kinda like the difference of having a gay superhero (who is subtle or keeps it on the down low) vs a GAY superhero. A side content for a pen and paper system had character concept examples; One was a gay superhero, who shot buttplugs from his ass. Something being tastefully done is one thing, and then there's coating it in unicorn diarrhea. But i think everyone with any class and taste is out of the industry now, and all they can produce is bad products.

I'd expect this to continue (AAA game studios and Hollywood) for probably 10 or 20 years until they get people who actually are trained and know what they are doing and can make proper entertainment compared to what we've been getting the last 10 years. And most of what's come out in the last 10 years will get wiped out of existence.

If nothing else; watching all these games 'journalist' screech about concord is funny AF to me. It's almost as if they're just weird propagandist against gamers.

At the end of the day that game was just a bad game. The fact that sony was dumb enough to throw an enormous amount of money into a poorly thought out project just shows that the industry has problems.

Most big MOVIES aren't worked on for that long. Also most games are done in development by the 4 or 5 year mark so I want to know how they tricked someone to pay for this for EIGHT years!

I am reminded of the trope/etc of the high school theatre teacher that acts like they're the next spielburg because they know some of the basics and wear a silly hat.
....hmm....