Tag: Games

Steam Cleaned: Valve’s Latest Ban Wave Tastes Like Laundering


As has become a nearly weekly occurrence, Valve has instituted another ban wave of Steam games and once again it tastes like money laundering.

I’ve been talking about Steam games being used for money laundering for quite a while now, and it’s obvious that the problem isn’t going to be going away any time soon. Back in January I pointed out that there are a lot of games on Steam sitting at suspiciously expensive prices that appear to be asset flips or ports of mobile games. A week later, I reported that some of the titles had gotten the boot while others were still at large.

Still every so often Valve takes a hammer to some of these suspicious looking games. The image in the header is from the game Push Sticks, and it may surprise you to hear that this game was selling for $30. Well “selling” is a strong word because the game had activity for four days in mid-January and then fell off the charts again. But Push Sticks isn’t exactly an anomaly in my research, since many of the other titles we see get the banhammer fall into the same realm of activity. Ridiculous prices, no activity from the developer, and few if any actual play activity. Also oddly expensive specifically in China.

Someone noted that the first level in Push Sticks appears to be impossible to finish, and the game itself might be totally fake since all we see in promotional screenshots are the first level.

Figuring out how many copies of Push Sticks were bought is next to impossible, and it’s not like Valve is going to tell us. The next title on the chopping block was Wear A Rope which conveniently also launched on January 4, also cost $30, and also looks like baby’s first prototype game.

Am I saying that Push Sticks and Wear A Rope are from the same person/team? Yes. Or run through the same horrible translator. Let’s just look at the product description for Wear A Rope;

“You use a rope and a ring to play. It looks simple, but the operation is very difficult. See how long you can persist. A game that looks very simple, but the difficulty is very large, you can pass you Boring time.”

Compared to:

Push sticks – it’s a puzzle game

Introduction – this is a small game of pushing stakes. It seems to be very simple to you, but it is very difficult to play it

How to play – you just need to push the red stake to the exit to win, you don’t want to see it simple, in fact, it takes a lot of time to complete the research

Features – he will activate your brain. Make your brain smarter, and he can also kill your boring time

Kill your boring time indeed. Which brings us to the third and final game on the list; Co-Jump, Fly. A casual game about sorting trash. What.

“This is a casual game about garbage sorting, it is a platform jumping game, and it becomes more and more difficult over time. You need to sort different types of garbage. If you like the characters in this trash sorting game, please buy our DLC. We made very beautiful clothes for the characters. Of course, please contact us after purchasing our DLC. After providing the information, we will give you the exquisite real thing of this character for free. Thank you for supporting our game!”

Steam’s records show that Co-Jump Fly released on December 11, 2019 for $6.99 USD and had its price jacked up to $79.99 USD on January 13, 2020. What happened on January 13, you might be asking? Well…nothing. Valve removed the low confidence rating just a few days prior. The game has been steadily releasing incredibly expensive DLC; $63.79, $73.99, $53.99, and oddly enough $1.99 for “role” DLC that offers…something. It should be noted that these DLC were also on sale for ninety nine cents and were unanimously jacked up on February 10 to the prices above.

The DLC packs themselves are something quite different, being singular skins but with the added offer of a free physical model if you contact the developer.

“The DLC includes a new player skin, you can choose between the default skin and the new skin, and users who bought this DLC package can also get a beautiful physical model of this skin for free. Please contact us to accept the gift!”

I have never seen this on a Steam game. Co-Jump Fly’s developer name literally translates to “Debris Flow.” Going back to my money laundering theory, Co-Jump Fly may have gone a little overboard and flew too close to the sun. The title gained some attention from Steam users after popping up on the Top Selling list, with people wondering how the hell a game that expensive and with nobody playing managed to become a #5 top seller. Great question, I think you already know the answer.

With Valve’s laissez faire policy on the Steam store, there is no doubt in my mind we’ll be seeing many more of these bans in the coming weeks and months.

2010’s: Remembering Those Games That Went Out For Gas (And Never Came Back)


The 2010’s brought us closer than ever with developers and that means a lot more instances of people shall we say fudging the truth and maybe being a little more optimistic about their company’s future than was realistically possible. We’ve seen plenty of games in the past decade disappear after promising us that there was no way in hell that they would be gone forever. Just up and vanished in a puff of smoke. Like they got raptured.

Let’s talk about some of them.

Now I’m not saying I’m perfect, but I spent far more time than this piece deserves looking up each game on this list (plus a hundred other titles that didn’t qualify) and scouring their websites/social media just to make sure I had my i’s dotted and my t’s crossed on the developer going dark. I was specifically looking for games/developers who never announced cancellation but just went silent one day and never came back. I also disregarded Kickstarter MMOs because the workload was big enough already. That’s a piece for another day.

If I missed some comment from a dev, it’s because it was shoved in the corner somewhere nobody would ever see it. Also this list isn’t meant to cast shade on any developers, so please; All comments about how I’m disrespecting the development process by making this list can go in the box below this piece. As always, defamation threats to randy@gearboxentertainment.com, c/o Randy Pitchford.

#1: City of Steam: Arkadia (Mechanist Games)

City of Steam was a not-so-successful game that rebranded and relaunched as a much-less-successful game steeped to the brim in microtransactions. It’s hard to believe that Arkadia shut down in early 2016 with the promise that the game was “resting: not retiring.” Boy has City of Steam been in a long sleep because after four years there is no indication that the game is ever coming back. It’s like a permanent form of narcolepsy, also known as death.

Just check out this quote from the website.

“City of Steam certainly isn’t retired, but we’ll need time to reflect on these things. A sequel would have to do justice to the world in a way that honors the original, addresses as many critiques and quirks as possible, and improves or innovates at the same time. It would also have to be good enough to make up for the shortcomings of the original – stuff that no one was really happy with. Rushing into such a massive commitment would be foolish, and would risk destroying the goodwill that still exists for the game.”

Fans of the original City of Steam may be happier that the game is gone for good, since judging by reviews on Mechanist Games’ current lineup the company hasn’t just stayed the line with their predatory microtransactions, they’ve gotten much worse. Mechanist Games’ follow up titles to City of Steam have pretty much all shut down by this point: Spirit Guardian, Heroes of Skyrealm, War Clash, with Game of Sultans remaining. The players were not happy with them, and that is a horrible track record for four years.

Who knows, maybe Mechanist can surprise all of us with a decently built City of Steam follow up that respects its players time and money. I’m not holding out hope.

#2: The Missing Ink (Redbedlam)

The Missing Ink was a pretty basic MMO with a somewhat interesting concept: Player avatars were two dimensional cardboard cutouts existing in a three dimensional world. At one point the folks at Redbedlam took the servers down and announced that a new game design would be coming that same year.

“We’ve taken the TMI servers down for now, but we’ll be back later this year with a BRAND NEW game design – watch this space!”

That post was from January 2014. Whoops. You can actually play Redbedlam’s last title Bedlam, and I posted a whole article about this company last year. There is nothing left of Redbedlam let alone their 2014 dreams of relaunching The Missing Ink, except for one employee taking Steam residuals and probably making a phone call to get investment. He should hit up the guys that invested in the Juicero, they’ll fund anything with a pulse.

#3: Alganon/Line of Defense (3000AD)

I know I’m going to get a Tweet/comment from Derek Smart himself over this post, but I’m going to add it to this list anyway. Alganon shut down its servers for migration in 2017 and never brought them back online. For the record, I’m going to go on a limb and say that I’m probably looking forward to Alganon’s return at least more than any of my readers outside of Derek Smart himself. Probably more than a large portion of the gaming public. I expect my study points for those three years of downtime, Smart. Literally unplayable.

If Alganon comes back I will be greatly surprised and impressed and will be the first person to jump on board with coverage, as right now it feels like the box set of Matlock that I bought on sale at Amazon Prime Day. Yes I’m actively working on it, no I haven’t actually started watching the DVDs yet. The same goes for Line of Defense which is undergoing an engine change and hasn’t posted a new developer diary in over a year. I’m sure Line of Defense will come out at some point in the future, perhaps not my lifetime and published by the third Sonny android model loaded with Derek Smart’s consciousness. It’ll be at the same point where people stop funding Star Citizen’s alpha client in 2342.

We get it; 3000AD is a small company and things take time. I’m just not convinced that they are going to happen at all.

#4: Earthrise (Silent Future)

The Earthrise reboot is totally being developed by Silent Future, a German team who ironically have been completely silent about the game other than to deny the idea that the game is going nowhere when I brought it up a year ago. It has not been taken out back and shot, no matter what common sense and the complete lack of progress over the past eight years since Earthrise first shut down might tell you.

Will Silent Future have the funds to build Earthrise, now a nine year old game that was out of date even back when it launched in 2011, into a product viable for the current market? I’m going to guess no, just judging by their recent releases peaking in the realm of one concurrent player on Steam. I’m also not sure which company is gullible enough to fund development of a reboot of a game that was wholly rejected by the public eight years ago, but then again Justin Roiland’s company bought that Radical Heights trademark so you never know.

#5: All Of Jagex’s Not-RuneScape MMOs

I could probably fill a limosine with all of Jagex’s cancelled MMO projects, so for the sake of time let’s just roll them into one number. Jagex has hinted at more MMOs over the years than I can count (and I can count to four), but every few years the company likes to drop a hint via press release or in a RuneScape update that it has some new IP in the works. What new IP? Who can say. It’s a fantasy game, a sci-fi game, a shooter, an RPG with MMO-like elements. It’s built on Java, it’s built on RuneScript, it’s built on Unreal. It’s literally three days away from beta and cancelled.

What isn’t it? Getting published. We’ve been having this conversation for over a decade now about how Jagex needs to stop treating its new games like hobby projects. Can Jagex recreate that RuneScape magic? Or push another product to publication? As literally the only person still running a Funorb-oriented website into 2010, I hope so.

#6: Lineage Eternal/Project TL (NCSoft)

But Conrad, I hear you say, Lineage Eternal is definitely coming out! Nah. Lineage Eternal is going so well that the game is ahead of schedule according to NCSoft, which is naturally why it has been delayed and changed numerous times over the course of the last decade. I’d be more ready and willing to believe NCSoft’s promise that Lineage Eternal would be going into closed beta testing this year were it not for the fact that they have literally made this very statement in quarterly reports for at least seven years. That’s not an exaggeration.

It’s been nine years since Lineage Eternal was first announced with the first round of cancelled beta tests dating back to 2013. Now that Lineage is quickly becoming the Duke Nukem Forever of MMORPGs, maybe it’s best if Gearbox buys out the property and Randolph Pitchford helms its launch. Technically speaking he can’t do any worse.

#7: Black Prophecy Tactics: Nexus Conflict (Gamigo)

Black Prophecy Tactics was to be the prequel to the failed MMO Black Prophecy, a game that fared so poorly in its life that it shut down barely a year after launch. Black Prophecy Tactics meanwhile was deep into its second beta test in September 2012 when everything went dark. To the best of my knowledge and research, the cancellation of Black Prophecy Tactics was never formally announced; it’s certainly obvious considering all of the MMORPG catalog websites that still to this day show the game as “in development.” No press releases, no announcements, nothing. Just a poof and roughly three people wondering what ever happened to this game.

Gamigo: The pinnacle of communication.

#8: UFO Online (Gamigo)

Gamigo-published games have a habit of just up and ghosting us. I couldn’t tell you for sure if UFO Online ever fully launched, but I do know that it was announced in 2010 and then went into beta in 2013. Again, we’re dealing with 2010-2015 era Gamigo who tended to treat their game launches like they were the location of CIA spies; not for distribution to the public.

I’m willing to put my money on the notion that UFO Online never launched, but if it did it ghosted us like last night’s Tinder date.

#9: Dynastica (Dynastica Ltd.)

I want to know who the hell is paying for some of these websites. Dynastica went into its second closed beta phase on April 4, 2011 and subsequently went completely dark. For some reason unknown to man on Earth and God in the sky, the website is still online albeit mostly nonfunctioning. Signups are closed, the server is presumably long gone, but the domain and the website are still live.

I can only presume that it’s being paid for by some preloaded Paypal account and nobody’s actually paying attention to it.

#10: Bounty Hounds Online (Suba Games)

Ah Suba Games, the only publisher who can beat Gamigo for the early-mid 2010’s race to “who can advertise their games the least” awards. The prize is a bunch of shuttered games. Bounty Hounds Online has never been cancelled, at least not in an official capacity or in a way that is still accessible today. Suba Games seemed excited to get Bounty Hounds Online approved through Steam Greenlight and the title seemed to be enjoying some attention during the closed beta phases.

And then everything died. We’ll never know what became of Bounty Hounds Online (other than the obvious that it has been cancelled) but like every other game on this list we didn’t even get the courtesy of a goodbye kiss.

#11: Land of Britain (Potato Killer Studios)

I’ve heard worse studio names than Potato Killer Studios but gosh darnit I can’t think of any of them off the top of my head. Land of Britain is a new Dark Age of Camelot at least in the sense that it was going to deliver three factions, innovative gathering, crafting, PvP combat, PvE, and KvK, perhaps a little TlC, CBS, and AT&T as well. What it won’t deliver is a game, since the domain has been dead since June 2018 and is now for sale. You can get it for nearly $4 grand. Don’t buy it.

Outside of Land of Britain, Potato Killer was also supposed to launch a TCG tie-in called Fangold. That never happened either. Their last post is in December 2016 thanking Microsoft for the BizSpark Plus program. Money well spent.

#12: Eden Falling (Razor Edge Games)

Eden Fell and Eden Died, and as such will not be Eden Finished. Eden Falling is a turn based RPG that promises to bring a tabletop experience to the online gaming realm. What it doesn’t bring is a finished game or a present developer, since Eden Falling hasn’t had a press release or a dev diary since 2017. A trailer was released in late 2018 but otherwise the team has been pretty mum. Mums the word.

The website is still online and so are the forums if you want to discuss off-market Xanax and pirated copies of Madden with the hundreds of bot posts that are the only accounts still active.

#13: Lux (Ignis)

Lux is a hand drawn MMO from Chimera (Ignis) and sure the website has been updated with a 2020 copyright but there’s also a link to the company’s Google+ account and that hasn’t been a thing since April.  April, right? Who even remembers Google Plus? I forgot about it a week after Google stopped hardcoding it into Youtube. Lux had a failed Kickstarter campaign back in 2016 to put the title on PC, Xbox, PS4, and Mac. Accompanying the game’s campaign was one for a graphic novel tie-in that despite raising over the paltry goal with 23 backers was also canned. The Kickstarter tells backers to stay tuned for more information.

We all know where this is going. The website lists “pre-orders soon,” and if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. The last sign of life I could find was in 2018 when after nearly two years of inactivity someone posted a link to the Lux website on their Facebook page. Two years to post a link for a website for a game that is absolutely not ripping off Don’t Starve.

The most entertaining part of Lux’s history is that if you look at their Twitter account the last thing that they posted about the game is an expression of excitement that the team is working with Ignis to continue development. In March 2017. Someone decided to use the account five months later in August to ask a couple questions about a rented Conan Exiles server and how to change harvesting rates.

Steam Cleaned: The Mysterious Library Of $200 “Games”


I’ve come across a rather strange phenomenon on Steam and it revolves around games that look like asset flips and sell for $200. Where do these games come from? Who are they selling to? Why are they priced at two hundred smackeroos? Are they all money laundering schemes? I don’t recommend going to the links in this article and buying any of these games, unless you think that burning $200 is worth flexing on the friends who will abandon you once they realize how criminally irresponsible you are with money.

For the record I deliberately left out a number of games that were clearly for educational/training purposes, games put up on Steam for pop-up events, and titles that are clearly trolling. This is also not the complete set of $200 Steam games by a large margin, just a carefully selected sample size of those that would show up with Valve’s wonderful search engine filtering by price.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

#1: MouseRun (pictured above)

  1. Mouse Run showed up on the Steam store on December 20, 2019 and is sold by an “atm games.”
  2. The game is Chinese-made and its original title is ???? which roughly translates to “Uncle Rat Run”
  3. It costs $199.99.

#2: Strike Mole

If you really want to play Strike Mole, I have good news. You can do so without spending more than $25. Plus tax. Strike Mole is a $200 asset flip of the Unity Store game Whack a Mole and you can buy the package for $25, zip it yourself, and play to your heart’s content. Another game by a fly by night developer who happens to also be Chinese.

#3: CrisisActionVR

Crisis Action VR is another game available in English and Simplified Chinese by a developer (Pixel Wonder) that only published one game. SteamDB shows that Crisis Action VR was once $20 but in April 2018 the price inexplicably rose to $200. Maybe the developer no longer wishes to sell it? Maybe they don’t understand decimal points. Your guess is as good as mine. Crisis Action VR is the only game on this list that looks like it came the closest to being a real game.

#4: LLK

LLK is definitely a pre-bought asset package for a mobile game, of what I would be lying if I implied I had any intention of searching around for the answer to. The game peaked at 6 players on Steam and has never changed its price from the $200, so it LLK is a money laundering scheme than it has cleaned at least $1200 USD with $360 going to Valve as their cut. Who knows, maybe this is medical grade memory testing software. I wrote my name down wrong this week, maybe LLK can help.

This one isn’t available in Chinese but the developer is Chenyun0577. I’ll let you make your conclusions.

#5: NUMBER

I’m starting to see a trend here. The previous game LLK was created by Chenyun0577, and NUMBER was created by rongyao0577. Two Chinese developers with names that sound like a bot generated them? Nope, nothing suspicious here. They also released on the same day. Coincidence, surely. NUMBER had five players max concurrently playing it.

Those money launderers sure do like memory games. Maybe it helps them remember where all their money is being funneled.

#6: Adventure Trip

Adventure Trip is available on the iOS store, and I assume it doesn’t cost $200 there. Adventure Trip is available from a developer with one game and, you guessed it, in Simplified Chinese. Unlike the last games on this list, if anyone actually bought into this scheme they haven’t actually played the game. Adventure Trip has five followers but no activity charted.

This game can be played free here. Thanks Reddit.

Epic Game Store Black Friday Sale Highlights


It’s Black Friday sale time and that can only mean one thing; giving Epic your money.

Instead of boring all of you by putting every single game that is currently on sale, I will do the Epic thing and curate the list. There is quite a bit on sale and at a deep discount too. Warm up those Chinese shill comments.

  • Red Dead Redemption 2: $59.99  $47.99
  • Borderlands 3: $59.99 $40.19
  • Sinking City: $59.99  $38.99
  • Operencia: The Stolen Sun – $29.99  $14.99
  • Conarium: $19.99  $6.79
  • Alan Wake: $14.99  $2.99
  • Alan Wake’s American Nightmare: $8.99  $1.79
  • The Division 2: $59.99  $14.99
  • Ghost Recon: Breakpoint – $59.99  $29.99
  • Watch Dogs 2: $59.99  $17.99
  • Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter – $49.99  $9.99

There are over 80 games on sale, so check out the link below and see if anything catches your fancy.

Source: Epic Game Store

Mobility: PUBG Mobile Partners With Super League Gaming


Super League Gaming has announced today that OnePlus will serve as official sponsor for the PUBG Mobile North American Super League 2019-2020 season. The season is rolling out in 16 major markets around the United States in December 2019.

“Super League offers direct access to a key customer base for OnePlus and provides a perfect complement to our professional esports partnerships,” said Kyle Kiang, OnePlus’ CMO. “Many of our customers are PUBG Mobile gamers so we work hard to make sure all of our devices, including the latest OnePlus 7T phone, deliver the best possible gameplay experience.”

The full list of cities includes Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Washington DC. The OnePlus 7T promises to provide the best experience for PUBG Mobile, offering higher fidelity graphics as well as haptic feedback and enhanced power consumption/gameplay stability.

For more information on the league, check out the official website.

Stadia Is Here: Launch Day Price Lineup


Google Stadia is officially here and that means its time to break out those wallets.

MMO Fallout has painstakingly jotted down the full list of prices for launch day titles on Stadia including those that are on sale for pro members (note: All founders are pro members for the next three months). Check out the list below and rev up those “I can’t believe they’re selling that for that much” comments.

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Stadia Season Pass: $39.99 (Pro: $20)
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Stadia Ultimate Edition: $119.99 (Pro: $60)
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – $59.99 (Pro: $30)
  • Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle – $59.99
  • Destiny 2: The Collection – Free
  • Farming Simulator 19 – $39.99
  • Farming Simulator 19 Platinum Edition – $49.99
  • Final Fantasy XV: $39.99 (Pro: $30)
  • Football Manager 2020 – $49.99
  • GRID – $59.99
  • GRID Ultimate Edition – $84.99
  • GYLT – $29.99
  • Just Dance 2020 – $49.99
  • Kine – $19.99
  • Metro Exodus: $39.99 (Pro: $29.99)
  • Metro Exodus – Gold Edition: $64.99 (Pro: $29.25)
  • Metro Exodus – The Two Colonels: $7.99 (Pro: $5.59)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 – $59.99 (Pro: $41.99)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 Premium Edition – $89.99 (Pro: $62.99)
  • NBA 2K20 – $59.99 (Pro: $30)
  • NBA 2K20 Digital Deluxe – $79.99 (Pro: $40)
  • NBA 2K20 Legend Edition – $99.99 (Pro: $50)
  • Rage 2 – $59.99
  • Rage 2: Digital Deluxe – $79.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Special Edition – $79.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition – $99.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Launch Edition – $59.99
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration – $29.99
  • Samurai Shodown – Free
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition – $59.99
  • Thumper – $19.99
  • Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition – $19.99 (Pro: $10)1
  • Trials Rising – $24.99
  • Trials Rising Digital Gold Edition – $39.99
  • Wolfenstein: Youngblood – $29.99

Funcom Quarterly Report Notes 10 Active Projects


Funcom has released their third quarter financial performance and the results are up and down. Revenue is down from $7.5 million last year to $5.4 million this year which can be blamed on Conan Exiles having a strong launch in Q2 and Q3 of 2018. Funcom did not launch a title in Q3 2019, however they did admit that Conan Unconquered has underperformed to Funcom’s expectations.

Funcom’s MMO library has been relegated to a tiny corner of their report, simply mentioning “community events” for activities encompassing Age of Conan, Secret Worlds Legends, and Anarchy Online (The Secret World isn’t referenced at all). The financial report also notes that Tencent recent acquired a 29% stake in Funcom over the quarter, offering no cash infusion to Funcom itself as the stocks were purchased from KGJ Capital AS.

“We are very pleased to see Tencent come in as the largest shareholder of Funcom. Tencent has a reputation for being a responsible long-term investor, and for its renowned operational capabilities in online games. The insight, experience, and knowledge that Tencent will bring is of great value to us and we look forward to working closely with them as we continue to develop great games and build a successful future for Funcom.“ Rui Casais

After quarter activities so far have included the launch of 2015’s The Park on Nintendo Switch, as well as the release of Moons of Madness on Steam. The report does not discuss sales figures, however Steamspy estimates 20,000 to 50,000 total sales and Steam charts show the game peaking at 519.

Funcom’s upcoming titles include a Dune open world title that is currently in pre-production, a cooperative shooter set in the Mutant: World Zero IP, Conan Chop Chop set for launch in Q1 2020, Moons of Madness releasing on consoles in January, and two unnamed titles in development by Games Farm and The Outsiders, a studio created by former Battlefield developers.

Source: Funcom

China Clamps Down On Child Spending, Adult Gambling In Games


Sorry industry!

China, a country famous for its friendliness toward entertainment media, has officially begun cracking down on the gaming industry in the name of protecting vulnerable citizens. As reported by NPR, the move outlines six initiatives to prevent minors from indulging in online games. Minors are restricted to playing 90 minutes of video games every day except national holidays when that limit goes up to three hours. In addition, minors will be limited to spending $28 or $57 per month depending on age and can not game between the hours of 10p.m. and 8:00a.m.

But the restrictions don’t just apply to kids. All Chinese gamers will be prohibited from enjoying games depicting sex, gore, violence, and gambling.

China’s new directives implicate adult gamers too. A state spokesperson says that everyone, regardless of age, is prohibited from playing games that depict “sexual explicitness, goriness, violence and gambling.”

No word on how loot boxes fit into the depiction of gambling.

Source: NPR via MassivelyOP

Ubisoft’s Stock Drops Following Ghost Recon Disappointment


This week Ubisoft announced that it would be dramatically scaling back income expectations following the “very disappointing” reception and sales of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. The latest game in the Tom Clancy franchise left both gamers and critics angry over the abundance of game-breaking bugs as well as what was perceived to be an egregious reliance on over-monetization of various aspects of the game.

In the time since that announcement, Ubisoft’s stock prices have plummeted both in the United States as well as in France. Ubisoft’s NASDAQ listing dropped from $12.60 on Monday to a low of $10.06 before rebounding slightly to $10.35. Bloomberg meanwhile reports that stocks in France fell as much as 29% which brings the year decline to 38%.

In addition to the disappointing reception of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Ubisoft announced that all of its major releases for the rest of the fiscal year have been delayed until next fiscal year. Investors were not entirely satisfied by the announcement.

Source: Bloomberg

Food Reviews: FPS Gaming Supplement


Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I’m a hardcore gamer with hardcore gamer needs. Coffee? Forget that casual nonsense, I mainline Red Bull and Mountain Dew via IV drip 24 hours a day. I’ve had six heart attacks in the last forty five seconds, but you wouldn’t know it while I’m 360 no-scope headshotting scrubs and getting those chicken dinners. Are chicken dinners still a thing? Time to floss dance.

Anyway, I had the opportunity to score a sample pack of FPS gaming supplement in devastated dew flavor. This isn’t a sponsored article, but it absolutely can be. First thing I want to say about this packet is that it tells me I am absolutely going blind. Maybe it’s just the small print but I can’t read the back of the package without a magnifying glass. Actually it might be the lack of focus from not having FPS in my body.

So you mix the package with 8-12 oz of water. Since I’m not a baby, I decided to use as little water as recommended. I also chose my toxic consumer advocacy mug to drink this out of, since I thought it would be funny that if FPS kills me that my death be somewhat related to a SidAlpha product. Some fuel for those Kotaku “the gaming industry just got a little better” articles that would no doubt follow.

This stuff doesn’t look great.

But how does it taste? FPS Devastated Dew tastes a bit like flat Mountain Dew that someone dropped battery acid into. It starts out on the sweet side but you quickly get kicked in the teeth with a very bitter aftertaste that digs deep into your throat and nestles in the back of your tonsils and refuses to go away. It has the same bitterness like chewing on the rind of an orange, and I’d hate to call it painful to drink, but it is. It really is.

I understand the bitterness since the ingredient list is just a ton of bitter components and no sugar, but it doesn’t change the fact that every time I burp I get the taste of stomach acid in my mouth. It probably doesn’t help that against my better judgment I forced myself to drink the entire cup.

So how well does it work? I will admit, pretty well. It does exactly what it says it does and I found myself more energetic, better focused, and video games. Also video games. Don’t judge me.

Video games.