Path: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:45:10 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Kingdom Come Deliverance II Wins Big Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2025 10:45:06 -0500 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 45 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-K3maBp+C3kbZVBAqjvWsT67dN1mXf/6o4pRcljMtjIq+ih4b+5vzTbdAPUJ/mc+4T0P9NQP0Q2iu8DN!xwG2n9PHixmQaKYBgC6yIyfZZjrBCdPNKbCS+njwBZM3t/ivKyUkjMVELmrCcyy4WB0JB2n7 X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 3331 So, the developers of the recently released action/RPG "Kingdom Come Deliverance II" must be smiling; the game sold 1 million copies within its first week. Pretty good for a game made by a tiny Czech studio that has all of two games to its name. Whether you like KCD2 or not, this is good news, because what this industry needs is more successful mid-tier development studios / publishers that stand in-between the tiny Indies (makers of interesting but too often niche and unpolished games) and the corpulent triple-A studios that just shit out the same MTX-encumbered games year after year. These mid-tier studios had become increasingly rare over the last decade --either because they went out of business, or because the triple-As bought them up-- and it's good to see them making a comeback. They're the competition the triple-As need, whilst not being as locked-into the need to keep cranking out the same old chum. Their resurgence is a win-win for gamers. But as important, KDC2's success proves that not only are single-player, non-'live service' games still popular, they're also financially viable. You /don't/ need to make a $500 million game to be successful. KDC2's development budget was ~$40 million, and it looks as good as anything Ubisoft or Electronic Arts shits out. Is it a bit smaller? Is the gameplay perhaps not as refined? Maybe. But I'd rather a dozen 'slightly imperfect' games released per year to one of EA's mammoth annual blockbusters. [Meanwhile, EA is suggesting that "Dragon Age: Veilguard" might have been more successful had it been released as a live-service game. Because the lack of 'shared world features' in DA:V was what held it back, right?] Personally, I'm still on the fence with KDC2. It's not that I don't want to play the game; I just don't feel that I'll be getting $70 worth of enjoyment from the game. Reviews indicate it's 'more of the same' when it comes to the gameplay; fun albeit slightly clunky mechanics and controls, and the usual slew of day-one bugs. I'll get the game, I'll eventually play it and I'll probably like-not-love it, but I'm in no rush to pay day-one prices for the experience. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled at the game's success. I hope we start seeing many more similar stories.