https://panic.com/blog/firewatch-one-month-later/
Half a million copies sold. Their entire initial investment made back in a single day.
Why does shit like this and the Witness and Undertale and Gone Home sell so goddamn much? Why couldn't we stop this? Are we really that powerless, unable to do anything but sit idly by as our hobby goes down the shitter?
My question is what makes you think video games aren't a big enough medium for this type of thing to exist alongside games you're interested in playing?
Oh how awful people buy games they like.
>>331354135
Why are you upset that 3 perfectly decent games sold well
If you don't like the genre don't play them
I preordered this game and The Witness
>>331354135
>complains about AAA games
>complains about indies
>complains about non-AAA games
What do you want?
>>331354135
>putting legitimately alright indie games in with a real genuine review scandal
Nice meme.
Why do you care? What does it matter? These shitty indie games selling doesn't affect you in any way.
If anything it gives us an out the next time one of these devs decides to complain about piracy. Now they have no excuse when their games do sell like shit.
>>331354135
>my preferred hobby can't have variety!
>my taste is the only one that should be pandered to!
>>331354135
The game is good. Overpriced, with a disapointing ending, but good.
[Spoiler]Should have been about Ron & Dave[/spoiler]
I bought this
I knew it would be boring shit but I bought it anyway
I have to much money
Oh so you hate games that are made with heart selling well?
Let me guess you also hate corporate games like The Division selling well too?
Why do you even like video games?
Same reason popular movies pull in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. People like being able to sit in a chair and just have a story told to them without having their skill tested.
It's just casuals, OP. No need to get bent out of shape over them.
>>331354458
>Titanfall Shill
filtered
>>331354526
They listed a puzzle game with next to no direct narrative
I like all the games you listened faggot. Stop being an elitist games can take the form of whatever the dev wants them to be, don't worry your precious Call of Duty isn't going to all of a sudden become a walking simulator
>>331354135
i loved this and welcome more like it.
AMA
>>331354348
OP is faggot but that doesn't mean /v/ is one person
>>331354654
>he liked gone home
weak bait senpai, pretty sure the only people who genuinely like gone home are literal lesbians
>>331354135
Being good games mite be part of the answer dummy.
btw you said like a big baby
>>331354759
>Being good games
It's definetely not though.
>>331354458
I was the original titanfall shill
Because those games have soul, say what you will about games like Undertale, FW, GH but those games have a feel that AAA devs have failed to achieve for years now
Firewatch is a stupid walking simulator with a dumb story no matter what anyone tells you. And these types of games are bullshit because they think you can sell a boring product as long as you tell a decent story (i.e Telltale games, FW, GH)
People now believe that games are either
>Pure gameplay with no storytelling and no soul
>Just a story with minimum player input througout it
Say what you will about Undertale, it's a shit bullethell whatever, but i think that was the only game that came out recently that managed to have both excellent gameplay (As simple as it was) and excellent storytelling (Story is simple but the things around it are great)
>The Witness and Undertale and Gone Home
What the fuck is the similarity between these three games besides the fact that they're popular, you sperglord piece of shit? I didn't like Gone Home and Firewatch because they are narrative-focused walking sims, but if people enjoys them, who the fuck cares? Undertale is just a fun rpg with smup mechanics and a neat pacifist mechanic, and The Witness is just a puzzle game (which of course you'd know, if you actually played the games you shit on before artistically calling them "meme" or "tumblr" games).
What the fuck is wrong with you? Can't you accept others have different taste and enjoy other games? Other games sell pretty fucking well too because guess what, video games encompass a bunch of different types of games and narrative-focused ones are just one type.
Get your fucking head out of your ass, Jesus Christ.
>>331354823
But Ron & Dave ! The subplot that is more interesting than the main story in Firewatch !
>>331354135
>The Witness
At least its actually a game. You may not think that puzzles constitutes gameplay, but they do.
>Undertale
Its also a game. You may think it's a meme game, but it also has gameplay, albeit fairly boring.
>Gone Home
That's not a game.
>Firewatch
Also not a game.
I'm not seeing the parallels you're trying to draw here.
>>331354135
>Why does shit like this and the Witness and Undertale and Gone Home sell so goddamn much? Why couldn't we stop this?
I hope you realize these are rare cases. Extremely infrequent, uncommon, non-standard examples. You can probably name all the games this has happened for. You probably can NOT name the HUNDREDS of other games like it that don't make it. Probably can't name all the games that are UNLIKE your examples and DO make it, too.
The point is. this doesn't happen as much as you'd think, and the only people really buying them are the same who will inevitably write articles about them. But, to answer your question, the answer is marketing. They marketed their game to the right people at the right time and got lucky.
>>331354135
you are no different from idiot SJW who bitch and complain that shit they dont like exists. People supporting and wanting titles like this dont take resource and power away from other game companies that make games you enjoy. People are always going to make different things that they like. More games that dont fit your tastes are being made, but it has no effect on the development of games that do fit your taste. fucking deal with it.
>>331355139
Tell me what marketing Undertale had.
>>331354348
Not OP, but I just want good games. Firewatch isn't a even a game, let alone good.
>>331355207
None
He'll post some meme image about tumblr and a conspiracy theory with no evidence posted by anon on 4chan
>>331355238
>I don't like it, so it's not a game
Firewatch was alright, just overpriced.
>>331354135
Low overhead. A lot cheaper making a game with just a few guys compared to say 100.
>>331354748
Well I'm a man and I yeah Gone Home was fun, I wouldn't pay $60 for it but the $20 I spent I don't feel robbed. Firewatch is the only one on the list that wasn't good.
>>331354135
>be a san fransisco SJW
>get all your friends who are SJW's who are journalists living in SF with you to write endless articles about how "groundbreaking" your walking simulator is
>sell it to normies on steam
What a racket they have going.
>>331355452
It wasn't a game because it didn't meet the criteria to be one. Honestly I enjoyed Firewatch up until the last hour of the story where it pissed everything away.
At least this seemed more interesting and actually interactive than Gone Home.
>>331355207
The dude who made it was freinds with the right people who, themselves, were associated with known products so the marketing was like a grassroots campaign?
>>331356080
What is or isn't a game is subjective. Are german simulators games to you ?
>>331356080
>message of the game is "escapism isn't healthy"
Then why the fuck is there a massive, fenced off facility in the middle of fucking nowhere and why didn't anybody tell the firewatch or the rangers?
There's still a fucking mystery there and all of your fucking attempts to make it seem like it's mundane and your paranoia made it seem like a bigger thing is bullshit.
>>331356445
Honnestly, to me, Firewatch should have been more about Ron & Dave.
>>331354135
It makes reviewers feel smart so they score it high and hype it up.
>>331356298
It's not subjective, and no they aren't games. A game is an activity with established win-loss conditions and some kind of challenge imposed upon the player. Firewatch doesn't have these things and your choices don't matter at all.
>>331356445
Honestly it felt like they wanted to go somewhere and just said "fuck it" somewhere along the way.
Firewatch was actually really good for a reasonable price. It kept me invested in the story at every point and has some pretty intense moments.
>>331357241
I don't know about that. It felt like an intentional choice to me to break off the plot where they did in order to prompt an emotional response. They just didn't do it correctly. You can't just say " you're so desperate for an escape you're willing to believe in this mystery" have actual, interesting mysteries in the game.
Because this shit is in demand. Cry fucking harder. Its not like you are losing games.
>>331354135
>Why does shit like this and the Witness and Undertale and Gone Home sell so goddamn much?
Overwhelming positive coverage by the San Francisco-based video game sites constantly shoving it into people's faces 24/7.
>>331355139
How did Risk of Rain make it?
>>331355207
Homestuck, Earthbound, pixelshit crowds from the getgo
LGBTQWA, hipsters, tumblr, Games As Art, and "I'm only into games because it's the cool thing now" crowds when people found out about the characters and story
>>331357241
>It's not subjective, and no they aren't games. A game is an activity with established win-loss conditions and some kind of challenge imposed upon the player. Firewatch doesn't have these things and your choices don't matter at all.
Okay, it's not a game. What does it fucking matter? What are you hoping happens, that steam takes it off the market because it's not a game or something? Don't be stupid.
>>331358832
I never said any of those things though. I just said it wasn't a game. There's plenty of software on steam that aren't games you know.
>>331359101
Where did I say you said it?
>>331354348
Good games.
>>331354427
>Why do you care? What does it matter? These shitty indie games selling doesn't affect you in any way.
It does matter. More sales == more shitty games like this, leaving fewer resources for real games for real gamers.
Our hobby is being taken over by hipsters, SJWs, liberals, and other non-gamers, and you're just going to sit idly by claiming they not harmful as they fuck our hobby?
I'd rather have more games like Firewatch or Undertale than shit like Skyrim, Witcher 3, Dragon Age Inquisition or any other generic shitty AAA fantasy RPG
>>331360375
Cyanide and arsenic are both pretty bad for you, it's not like one is better than the other.
