Tag: playstation

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League- When Game Development Turns Out To Be A Waste of Time

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Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has been one of the year’s biggest talking points within the gaming industry. It’s been coming to be one of the biggest gaming flops of 2023 thus far, losing Warner Bros over $200 million for the first quarter of the year. Despite being in development for nearly a decade, the long-awaited installment in Rocksteady’s successful Batman: Arkham series could not have been more of a critical and financial disappointment if they tried.

For months to even years, many folks have spectacled just what the hell went wrong behind the development of this game and why it took so long to come out. This was set to be Rocksteady’s next main game after concluding the Arkhamverse in 2015 with Batman: Arkham Knight. After the success of that series, it seemed like they could have done ANYTHING and leave plenty of folks excited for what was to come next for the studio. But yet after all that time and waiting, they come up with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, a game that basically puts all of the worst trends in recent memory in terms of gaming development and pop culture all into one, basically making it doomed from the very start.

Recently, there was an article that was published by known gaming insider, Jason Schreier, which he interviewed over 20 folks from Rocksteady that were part of the creative team of Kill The Justice League to get a sense as to what happened with the development history for this game. And let me tell you, there is some juicy, JUICY stuff in here! Not only going into great detail about everything wrong when it went to making this game but just how you can’t help but feel like Rocksteady wasted nearly a decade of time and money to a game that was basically dead on arrival.

I’m not going to go word-by-word of what was reported by Mr. Schreier but I will certainly give a cliff notes version of what was stated in that article. I will provide a link at the end of the piece of that article along with other sources that have info on what went behind the scenes for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.

  • After Arkham Knight, Rocksteady’s co-ceos Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker set out to make an original multiplayer puzzle-solving game, codenamed Stones.
  • However, Warner Bros was eager to get a Suicide Squad game out ASAP after the 2016 movie was a big hit at the box office.
  • WB Games Montreal already had a Suicide Squad game in development for a few years but it wasn’t coming together. Warner Bros then approached Rocksteady to helm the Suicide Squad game by the end of 2016 and they agreed. This put an end to the development of Project Stones and WB Games Montreal’s involvement with this Suicide Squad project.
  • Rocksteady began development on the game in 2017 but were entering unfamiliar territory, as neither Hill or Walker had experience making online multiplayer games nor did they do much research on it or even played much online multiplayer games beforehand.
  • Nevertheless, they decided to make Suicide Squad an online multiplayer game with live-service elements added to it.
  • When the duo confirmed to the rest of the studio they would be making a live-service multiplayer Suicide Squad game, new hires of Rocksteady were SHOCKED by this, resulting in many of them leaving the project as that was NOT what they signed up for.
  • Due to Hill and Walker’s inexperience with making online multiplayer games, that led to big chunks of the scripts being scrapped and the studio struggling to convey the ideas that the co-ceos had in mind.
  • Devs would have to wait for weeks to months for Hill and Walker to review their work and provide feedback, which caused constant slow downs in production.
  • The constant delays made staff members want to abandon the project, as barely any progress was being made in development.
  • Rocksteady adopted a “Toxic Positivity” policy, where no criticism of the game was allowed, with management kept going on to it’s staff about how the game will turn out great no matter what by the final stretch, just like it did with the prior Arkham games.
  • Hill pitched an elaborate vehicle system that allowed for players to equip their vehicles with weapons and navigate the streets, similar to the Batmobile in Arkham Knight.
  • This BAFFLED the staff as the Suicide Squad members already had their own means of transversal through the skies and wondered why the players would chose to patrol through the streets of Metropolis in a large vehicle over quicker methods of transversal. This idea would later be scrapped.
  • The visions of the leaders kept shifting throughout development, most notably going from an emphasis on melee combat to focusing heavily on gunplay.
  • Changes like that left the staff confused as to why a character like Captain Boomerang would carry around a gun as his choice of weaponry instead of just…..you know….a BOOMERANG, like the name of the character states. However, Captain Boomerang with a gun would stay in the finished product.

And here is some behind-the-scenes info that came from another notable source in the gaming industry, Miller Ross. This goes into the spoilers of the main plot for the game. If by some chance, you haven’t been spoiled yet and don’t know what happens in the main plot of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, then click off this article RIGHT NOW because I’m about to dive deep into the controversial decisions in the story.

  • It was Sefton Hill, the mind behind Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy (JUST SO YOU KNOW!), that acted as the lead visionary behind the story and premise of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
  • The story 100% came from Hill, who took inspiration from Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, with the main campaign acting as Infinity War and the post-launch seasons would act as Endgame.
  • The plot was designed to make the audience believe that the heroes did in fact die for real and the bad guys actually won, creating a shocking twist and setting the groundwork for the post-launch seasons.
  • Developers at Rocksteady BEGGED to include hints that the Justice League were not actually dead to avoid inevitable backlash but Hill was persistent, wanting to keep it a complete surprise.
  • Future seasons is set to see new playable characters that will join the fight with the Suicide Squad to eliminated the remaining Brainiacs, including Mrs. Freeze, Deadshot’s daughter, and Deadstroke.
  • Each upcoming season will have the player resurrecting a previously fallen member of the Justice League.
  • Season 2 will resurrect The Flash, Season 3 will resurrect Green Lantern, and Season 4 will resurrect Batman (still voiced by the late great Kevin Conroy, who did record lines before his passing).
  • This will all come together with Season 5, which will see the Justice League resurrected and coming together to stop the final Brainiac.

And now in regards to the aftermath of all this and what awaits the future of Rocksteady and Warner Bros, going back to what was stated in Jason Schreier’s piece.

  • Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker left Rocksteady in 2022 to start their own gaming studio, which is now titled Hundred Star Games.
  • Their departure SHOCKED the staff at Rocksteady, giving little to no hints that they would abandon ship right before the game was scheduled to come out in 2023, which would again get delayed to 2024.
  • Hill and Walker told the staff that they wanted to make games of their own and free of the mandates and pressure from Warner Bros, giving the confirmation that they will no longer be associated with WB or their franchises.
  • Despite the financial failure of Kill The Justice League, Warner Bros do NOT plan to layoff staff members at Rocksteady and are committed to releasing the remaining seasons of the game.
  • Because Rocksteady is more understaffed compared to other gaming studios they collaborate with, WB doesn’t view layoffs for them to be necessary.
  • Rocksteady staff are now working on a director’s cut for Hogwarts Legacy, the best-selling game of last year, while some members will commit to complete the remaining seasons for Kill The Justice League.
  • The newest leaders at Rocksteady are currently planning to pitch a new single-player game to Warner Bros, hoping it will bring the studio back to its roots.

It’s also worth noting that both Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker declined to be interviewed for this story.

So……..yeah! That is QUITE a development history! When taking all of that info into account, it’s no wonder why this game was in development for so long and why it turned out so bad?! From WB handing the Suicide Squad torch to a studio that had ZERO experience with making online multiplayer games to visions constantly changing to the developers having to wait FOREVER for feedback on their work to the founders literally bailing at the last minute in order to avoid consequences, is it any wonder why the finished product turned out to be as half-assed and half-baked as it comes? There are plenty of great games out there that were able to overcome troubled development, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was certainly NOT one of them!

To make matters worse is just imagine all that time and effort that could have went into something COMPLETELY different! Imagine if Rocksteady spend the last seven to nine years crafting a game or even multiple games that are actually worthwhile and involves them doing what they do best! Just imagine if we got that Arkham-style Superman game that everyone wanted for them! Imagine if they made a Batman Beyond game, that follows the plot threads of the Arkhamverse in a RESPECTFUL way! Imagine if we got a proper Justice League game where we had to take down the Suicide Squad members ourselves instead of the other way around! Heck, there’s some folks out there that would even take a sequel to Urban Chaos: Riot Response, the first video game they ever made and their only video game that doesn’t involve Batman in some way! Instead, we all exist in the elseworld where we just got Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League from Rocksteady! And man, does that all feel like a waste of time!

And that is the worst part of all of this is! Whenever a game has been in development for as long as it has, you have to make sure it has the proper payoff and success that you envisioned! Otherwise, you just get a sense that the entire development cycle felt like a GIANT waste of time! All that time, work, and effort put into a product that was received poorly and failed financially! It’s bad enough when that is just a couple of years but when you have put nearly a full DECADE into something and it turned out so bad, well….that’s just a full decade of your life you will NEVER get back! And I imagine that’s the exact feeling that Rocksteady is feeling right now with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.

It’s bad enough that development of Triple A gaming is now longer than ever in this day and age. Instead of a traditional two to three years of development, it now ranges somewhere between four to five years! That’s why you are always seeing teasers for games when they first get announced and then you literally hear NOTHING about that game until at least two or three years later on down the road! Ex.) Insomniac with Marvel’s Wolverine, Monolith with Wonder Woman, and MachineGames with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. You don’t hear much from them until much later on because they are no where close to being done! That is why it’s apparent that video games turn out as great as they should to not only justify the 70 dollar price tag but also justify the long as hell development cycle of it. When it doesn’t, you get games like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, a game that was a waster of time to not just the players but also the developers who made it.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League should act as a perfect example of what NOT to do when developing Triple A games. The whole idea and premise of a game where you play as the Suicide Squad and literally kill the heroes of the Justice League was questionable at the start and it was only made worse with what Rocksteady put out after over seven years of work! WB should have NEVER given this project to a studio that was known for making single player experiences, Sefton Hill and Jamie Walker should have done more research on developing these online multiplayer live-service games and brought in staff members who had that experience and they CERTAINLY should have known better to rely on tiresome trends that was going to be dated by the time the game was released. Making games is already hard enough as it is but it’s even harder when so much time goes into making a game and it brings very little satisfaction to players and the companies themselves.

While I’m glad that Warner Bros will not layoff staff members from Rocksteady, both sides are going to have to work BIG TIME to win back the trust of gamers everywhere! A pitch of a single-player game and developing a director’s cut of Hogwarts Legacy is a good start but they have a LONG way to go before being trusted to deliver high quality games again. We can all only hope they learn their lesson with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and never feel obligated to put this much time and effort into a project which does not suit their reputation whatsoever. If not, then I look forward to them throwing another decade of development away in favor of chasing the trends from the 2020s! Let’s all hope we don’t have this exact same talk when Insomniac releases Thunderbolts: Kill The Avengers in 2035, which will have Peter Parker being shot and killed by Screwball!**

Jason Schreier’s Full Article

Miller Ross’s Tweet About The Story Direction and Spoiler-Filled Plans For The Upcoming Seasons

Batman Arkham Videos on What Happened with Suicide Squad and What’s Next for Rocksteady?

**That’s actually gonna happen, isn’t it?!

Updated Thoughts on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: The Great Web

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Earlier this month, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 released it’s very first update on the game. This was an update to add features to the game that players have been asking from Insomniac since its initial release and also elements that the company perhaps couldn’t add in time to meet its deadline. These include new game plus mode, the ability to replay missions, day and night cycles, new suits to unlock, tendril color changes, photo mode action figure mode and new stickers, suit tech fusion, golden gadget styles, and ultimate levels. And if the new debug of this update that some players have discovered is any indication, there could be a change we could see actual upcoming story DLC in the near future! While there will plenty that will argue that these are all things that should have been in the game when it came out last October, at least Insomniac was able to make time to listen to the feedback and add in those elements to the game, in spite of all the recent events that has surrounded them.

I reviewed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 around the time the game came out and I gave it a very glowing review! I claimed it was a triumph and basically Insomniac’s Magnum Opus, just a perfect culmination of everything we love about the Spider-Man games and movies up to this point. My score for it was a perfect five out of five stars. It was for me the best Spider-Man game, the best Marvel game, and my #2 favorite superhero game of all time, with my #1 still being Batman: Arkham City! However, when letting my thoughts sit for a while and keeping my distance away from it since it first beating, could there be a chance that I just let the hype get to me? Does this game really hold up? Well, let’s see!

I will say right off the bat that I still love the hell out of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and still think it’s a fantastic game! The gameplay is incredibly layered and immensely fun, with the combat in particular being even more polished and improved over it’s predecessors. The overall core story is still among my favorite Spider-Man stories in recent memory, with my favorite version of Kraven the Hunter and Harry Osborn in any Spider-Man medium to date. I love exploring the bigger and more open world of NYC, aided greatly by the quicker transversal and the excellent new addition of the web wings. The side missions have more variety than the previous game that don’t feel like as much busy work as it did in the first game. The graphics are very stunning and help showcased the power of the PlayStation 5. The voice acting is top notch from top to bottom of the main cast! And not to mention, YOU GET TO PLAY AS VENOM FOR 20 MINUTES AND IT’S AWESOME!

However, when playing this game again through New Game Plus mode, I did notice a few cracks in the armor for my experience that I glossed over in my review. First off, are the missions that mostly relies on walking around with the other characters during an exposition scene or a flashback sequence. While I didn’t necessarily hate doing them, the way they are implemented in terms of gameplay makes the pacing of the game come to a screening halt. It’s odd to have a game as action-heavy and fast-paced as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and then you throw these parts of the game in and it feels like the game stops completely just for the sake of having these sequences play out. It’s honestly makes me wish that those scenes were just animated cutscenes instead of part of the gameplay. Considering how much of a fast clip Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 moves at, it can be seen as a needed break where you can put your controller down and relax for a moment before getting back into action.

Even if the MJ stealth missions are a big improvement over the first game and I even admit to being that one guy who actually likes the puzzle sections of these games (The music is just so chilling during those!), I do think it’s for the best for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 for Insomniac to just focus on the Spider-Men (and Spider-Woman) heroes themselves for the gameplay. Just put the core focus on Peter, Miles, and (supposedly) Cindy Moon as their individual spider-people and just make those kind of scenes I just mention for strictly the cutscenes and not gameplay. There’s a reason why the Batman: Arkham series rarely had you playing as anything other than Batman and allies in their superhero forms. That’s just what people play these games for!

Another grip has to do with the final phase of the final boss fight with Venom. It’s still jarring how you go from one phase where you face Venom as Peter and then the next one where you face Venom as Miles but then don’t have a phase where you take on Venom as Peter and Miles together, similar to their opening fight against Sandman. All it amounts to is a long cutscene with occasional button mashing and QTEs thrown into the mix. Not to say the sequence itself is bad but it felt like the final fight was missing that one-two final gut punch where you truly feel like the two Spider-Men together.

There has been some speculations that Insomniac was rushed by Sony to get the game out last year when they might have want to push it back to earlier this year. There was even an interview from the game’s creative director, Bryan Intihar, where he admitted that the team of the game had very limited time on the latter half of the game and were forced to cut ideas and sequences they envisioned out of the game to make sure it was released on time for it’s October 2023. This theory was approved even further when someone recently uploaded an unreleased feature of the game on Twitter that saw the Spider-Men fighting Venom and his allies in broad daylight, something which was not in the final game but was a part of the marketing for the game.

It likely will never happening but if it’s possible, I would love if Insomniac would one day release a director’s cut version of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. A version of the game that perhaps saw all of their ideas for that last third of the game with Venom take place along with possibly other features to the game. Perhaps then this game could surpass Batman: Arkham City as being my favorite superhero game of all time instead of just a comfortable #2 place for me.

A couple of other minor grips include a parry feature that didn’t really need to exist, the new ultimate level mode that you have to grind the HELL out of to get all the unlockable spider-suits with, and the new added suits that really do nothing for me. Also, I am ENTIRELY grateful, that I get to switch suits in the final boss with Venom so I don’t have to play in that godawful hoodie with Miles. Please, Insomniac, do NOT stick to that suit in Marvel’s Spider-Man 3! If you do, I am IMMEDIATELY changing suits the first chance I get.

You might think I’ve turned on this game all of a sudden but I’m really not. I love Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to death and is the most fun I’ve have playing a video game for a long time. It’s just those cracks in the armor that I felt was worth acknowledging that I didn’t in my originally review because I might have been too blinded by the hype. This still acts as my favorite Spider-Man game to date and still possibly my favorite game of 2023, although I still have a few games left to play before making that overdue list. When you find yourself constantly thinking about the game during work and the first thing you want to do is go home as fast as you can and continue playing it, that’s the sign of a really good game.

I don’t know if the new update for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will change the opinion of those that didn’t initially care for it but I do think it will fix those grievances that some fans have with the game when it came out. Even then, this game is still a blast to play for me and I hope there is more to come with this game, especially if the potentially leaked DLC ends up still being a thing. Even so, thank you Insomniac Games for providing another great Spider-Man game. I can’t wait to see what you guys do in the future and I hope you are recovering greatly from recent hacking events.

I guess I would change my initial five out of five star rating to four and a half out of five star rating now if you were to ask me but I still love Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 all the same.

And btw, I guess I should mention the leaked trailers for that cancelled live-service game, Spider-Man: The Great Web, that got released last week. For a while, a new live-service Spider-Verse game was in the works by Insomniac. It would have seen players from all around the world getting the chance to play as their favorite Spider-Man or Spider-Woman together as they face off against Spider-Man’s greatest foes. Of course, you would have Peter and Miles in the game but also other known characters from Spidey’s rose gallery such as Spider-Man 2099, Venom, Spider-Gwen, and Silk. There had been rumors and speculations of the Spider-Verse playing a role in either it’s own game or potential DLC for Spider-Man 2. Spider-Man: The Great Web looked to confirmed those rumors and speculations as legit but it is now cancelled.

One one hand, it would be so dope to get to play as your favorite kind of spider-person with anyone else around the world in what would be the Spider-Man equivalent of Grand Theft Auto online. It would also appease those that have wanted to play as any other Spider-Man character that they likely would have never gotten the chance to do so in the main Insomniac games. Plus, getting to play as any kind of version of the most popular superhero of all time would no doubt make good money for Sony. It’s easy to see why on the surface fans would be upset this never got made but at the same time, Insomniac has more than enough reasons not to follow through.

First, with so much time and money spend on a live-service game like Spider-Man: The Great Web, that would have undoubtedly took time away from other upcoming titles such as Spider-Man 3, Wolverine, and that new Venom game (if it’s still happening after the leaks). With how much of the budget when into Spider-Man 2, I don’t think Insomniac would want to take their chance on a live-service game that would likely lose it’s appeal the first few months after its release. The Great Web might be an interesting game in concept but I doubt that would be good enough to warrant 2-4 years of focus put into it, especially in the light of recent live-service game failures in the superhero subgenre.

Speaking of which, have we all learned nothing from Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the latter of which has seen a significant drop of sales and players since it’s release? Have we all learned by now that live-service games and superheroes are just not a good mix for each other? Live-service games have become a plague within the gaming industry. If not immensely successful, it will lead to nothing but layoffs and disappointment. Sure, you can argue a reason or two for Spider-Man: The Great Web working where the other three games I mentioned fell flat but it’s not worth taking the risk in my eyes, and I think even Insomniac would agree with that.

But yeah, that’s all I got on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the recent confirmed leaks on the cancelled Spider-Man: The Great Web. I hope you enjoyed reading them and let’s all hope for nothing but the best of our favorite friendly neighborhood hero!

Is Microsoft About To Become The Next Sega?

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This week, it has been reported that Microsoft is considering bringing most of their exclusive IPs and upcoming games to PlayStation. These games include Starfield, Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, the Gears of War franchise, and Indiana Jones & The Great Circle. This was all reported by Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb, an insider within the gaming industry. While this is all not 100% guaranteed, it is certainly being considered by Microsoft.

To see this many prior exclusive games and franchises from Microsoft consoles such as Xbox Series X and PC potentially going to their main competition of Sony and their PlayStation 5 is quite mind boggling to here. While it’s far from the first time that a previously exclusive game off Microsoft consoles would make it’s way to Sony consoles (Just look at, Rise of the Tomb Raider!), to have a big portion of Microsoft biggest IPs and franchises working it’s way to their main competitor is certainly a sign that things could be changing drastically for Microsoft and for gaming. So much so, that it’s starting to make folks wonder whether Microsoft’s days in console wars are being numbered and shall soon fall into the footsteps with the likes of Sega, abandoning console making and going full-third party with their games.

In case one doesn’t know, Sega at one point in time did in fact develop consoles of their own. This included the likes of the Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega CD, Sega Dreamcast, and many others. However, in the 2000s, due to not selling enough consoles and facing potential bankruptcy, Sega had no choice but to stop developing consoles and sell software onto the consoles of their previous rivals. With the Dreamcast failing to compete with the original PlayStation, Xbox, and the GameCube, the days of Sega consoles were no more and would eventually see the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends on every other console known to man for the foreseeable future. While this is likely won’t be as sudden as the way Sega dropped out of the console war, one has to wonder whether Microsoft is destined for a similar fate. The main difference being that this has been in the making for quite a while, a making that is the textbook example of death by a thousand paper cuts.

I plan to make a separate piece about this in the future but Microsoft has had a hard time keeping up with Sony and even Nintendo for quite some time now. This largely goes back to their reveal of their eighth generation console, the Xbox One, back in May 2013. The Xbox One was promised to be more than just an evolution in gaming but evolution of entertainment medium in general. Microsoft marketed their console as an “all-in-one entertainment system”, which was the reason it was called Xbox One. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the concept of the console itself involved a lot of controversy.

From the overreliance of television features to the required online connections to the lack of backwards capabilities to the potential erasure of physical media to barely any focus on their upcoming exclusives/IPs, it was about the worst possible reveal for a new console imaginable. Things got even worse when E3 came around and Sony promised the PlayStation 4 would be the exact opposite of everything that Microsoft was trying to force onto gamers. It would put the major focus on gaming, online services weren’t required, backwards capabilities would still be a thing, physical media still had a major presence, and there would be plenty of exclusives/IPs made strictly for that system.As if all of that weren’t bad enough, a little salt in the wound was added when previous Microsoft CEO Don Mattrick responded to the criticisms of required internet by telling those who didn’t have internet to just get an Xbox 360.

Despite having all the momentum in the world heading into the eight generation with coming high off of the Xbox 360, Microsoft fumbled the ball big time when it came to trying to sell the Xbox One. Sony was basically handed the eighth generation console war on a silver platter and made for the best use of it. They were able to steamroll the Xbox One and made way for the PlayStation 4 being one of the most successful gaming systems of all time. Microsoft found themselves passed by Sony during the mid to late 2010s and eventually Nintendo once the Switch became a thing. The mistakes that Microsoft made for the Xbox One before and after it’s release was simply baffling. So much so that one could argue that they are still paying for it to this day.

Even if the way Microsoft handled the build up to their next console, Xbox Series S/X, wasn’t nearly as bad as the way that they handled the Xbox One, some of their biggest fatal flaws from that console would eventually carry over. From still too much focus on other entertainment assets such as televisions and music to not enough intriguing exclusives or IPs to doing jack s*it with the exclusives and IPs from companies that they actually bought to it’s confusing as hell console titles, unable to tell the difference between which is which, the Xbox Series S/X was not the answer they were looking for, following their humiliating defeat in the eight generation. To this day, I still am confused on what the Xbox Series is even to suppose to be. And when I’m confused about something that should be so simple, then that must mean the majority of the human population would feel the same way.

Because of all of the mistakes I’ve mentioned and more, one can’t wonder if what’s happening with Microsoft right now could be something that has been nearly a decade in the making. The aftermath of a disastrous console reveal, the constant focus on everything except the actual games themselves, the lack of self awareness with the consumers they are suppose to cater to. It’s now all beginning to crashing down hard on Microsoft. Over ten plus years of bad company decisions and focusing on the wrong things had led to this moment. The moment where Microsoft waves the white flag to Sony and Nintendo and will now find themselves joining alongside SEGA and others where they will only deliver software to consumers and no longer hardware.

Regardless of what the future holds for Microsoft and the Xbox, things are not looking too bright right now for them. According to Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer, the company will share details about what their future awaits them sometime next week. It’s only then will we know exactly where Microsoft head is truly at and if it’s heading in the direction we all think it’s going. And if it is, then I would be lying if I said I didn’t see it coming. And Microsoft has no else to blame but themselves for letting it happen.

Another link with more detail from Jeff Grubb himself:

Insomniac Games Got Hacked….And It’s Messed Up

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Last week, it was reported that Insomniac Games, the studio responsible for some of the most well- received triple AAA Sony exclusives in recent memory such as Marvel’s Spider-Man series and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, got hacked by a unknown ransomware gang called Rhysida. The hackers behind Rhysida claimed to have accessed to massive amounts of info regarding Insomniac Games’ future projects and threatened to release all of it to the public, unless a ransom of two million dollars was paid in one week. I’m willing to bet that Insomniac didn’t meet that offer because it was then reported yesterday, just mere minutes after the supposed ransom deadline expired, there were numerous of files from Insomniac Games that leaked out everywhere all over the internet.

These leaks could each of the following:

  • Massive amount of info regarding one of Insomniac Games’ upcoming installments in Marvel’s Wolverine. These include concept art, cast leaks, gameplay footage, and the entire plot of the game!

  • Insomniac’s entire slate of games they have planned and their intended release dates up until the year of 2030. These include games that were already announced to be in development such as Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Wolverine along with a couple of titles that were not confirmed yet with a clear desire to reveal them later on down the road. I won’t say though what those titles are here but the road map of their upcoming games are all out in the open.

  • Personal info regarding many of the employees that work for Insomniac. These include possible phone numbers, email accounts, home locations, and direct names of folks who work at the company. This indicates that a fair amount of doxing has taken place. Pray to god for the safety of all of those that work at Insomniac Games!

  • More than 1 TB of internal data leaked, estimating about 1.3 million files total. These involve just about everything that I have just mentioned and even more.

While I can’t give 100% confirmation just yet but this may legit be the biggest hacking scandal in regards to video games in a very long time! Not even the hacks of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI or the recent plot leak of Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could compare to this! At least that was just one game that didn’t include data about anyone’s email account or the company’s future plans for the next decade. This hacking scandal on the other hand is comparable to that of when Sony Pictures got hacked back in late 2014 (which also ties back to Sony given their current partnership with Insomniac Games). Just about every bit of juicy info that can make for as much clickbait-y headlines in articles as humanly possible! It’s all messed up!

You might think this article might be going over every single detail and game that got leaked but I rather not do that. Not just because if I did that, then I would literally be here all day because of how much stuff got released but out of respect to those at Insomniac Games. Not a single person working there deserve this level of hacking and doxing at any kind! This is a company that has been one of the most consistently reliable gaming studios out there at delivering huge quality games that gives players their full money’s worth! To have all this info that has been revealed of what goes on from behind the scenes is incredibly disrespectful and quite frankly, dangerous! Even if you are someone that don’t care for their games, you would be genuinely heartless to claim that anyone working at Insomniac deserves this kind of treatment!

Hacking has been more prevalent than ever before! With how so much folks spent their time on the internet nowadays to the advancement of technology to the emergence of A.I., there are now over numerous ways to hack into things, particularly in regards to big companies such as Insomniac Games. Whether it’s to force out leaks to upcoming titles to build up anticipation or just to be a dick, it’s much easier to hack than it was in the early days of the internet. Of course, this is not just for gaming as it goes for just about everything involving entertainment and politics but in recent memory, it’s mostly been the gaming industry that has been affected by this.

It just makes you wonder how Insomniac themselves will respond to this scandal! Of course, you pray for the safety and stability of everyone that works there in the hopes that this does NOT lead to any harm of any kind to come to them or their loved ones! Once that is taken into consideration and is dealt with, how will this impact the releases of their upcoming games? Will they push Wolverine back even further to change elements of the story since the entire plot as been leaked? Will they actually commit to an open-world *bleep* game now that cat is out of the bag? Will any of the other previously unconfirmed games be in the works anymore? Those are questions that everyone has got to be asking themselves right now and hopefully will be answered in the best way possible by Insomniac.

If you desire to seek out all the information that got leaked by hackers for the planned future at Insomniac Games, I’m not going to stop you. I understand being tempted to see what’s going on from behind the scenes since there are now plenty of info out there that will give you just that. Even I’m tempting to do so! But, just know when you are looking through all of those leaks is that NONE of this is what Insomniac had in mind! They clearly wanted to give out info about their upcoming entries of their gaming library whenever they felt the desire to and when they felt the most eager to give their fans a taste of what’s to come. They wanted to give out all of this info when they felt the most confident and the most good and ready to do so! This was all clearly not the moment of time that Insomniac was aiming for and that’s just messed up!

I can only hope that those from Rhysida that took place in this awful action that they are jailed and fined in the harshest way possible! I’m talking decades behind bars and fines that they won’t be properly paid off even after they die! They took private information from all those great folks at Insomniac Games and let the whole world see it! That is cruel, distasteful, and absolutely f*cked up! I wouldn’t wish that kind of action on my worst enemy! I can only hope this will not lead to any harm to any employee at Insomniac Games or potential firings of any of the staff! They all deserve better than this!

To the great folks of Insomniac Games, I’m so sorry all of you have to put up with this crap! You are perhaps my favorite gaming studio working today, delivering some of my favorite gaming experiences of the past several years! Speaking as a die hard fan, you all deserve much better than this! I can not stress that enough! Good luck getting through all of this and I eagerly await to see what you guys and girls have in store for the future!