Everytime people bring up Halo, I mention this. You hit the nail on the head. Around the time Bungie moved on and 343 took over, Call of Duty went from growing into dominance to the expected standard that dictated what mass audiences wanted from FPS games. RPG progression (treadmill), gratification (killstreaks,…

“So while Rockstar’s own Grand Theft Auto Vlet you edit the character’s appearance, their lack of depth, and the way the game had you jumping between each star, meant we never really got to know them, so those changes didn’t mean much.”

In most other situations, that’s highly logical concern/potential outcome. It’s most likely mitigated in this case for two reasons.

“Fooled ya, didn’t I?” ~ Charlie Bucket from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory/Bethesda Softworks-Zenimax

You’re me, friend. Except swap Revelations for ACIII. I was out for years until they rebooted the franchise and cleaned up the HUD. Never touched Unity/Syndicate/etc. Origins brought me back, and I was immediately hooked. Fastest I’ve finished a game this generation (and I wasn’t even trying to barrel through the…

China. And, apparently game publishers have found loopholes and ways around it, but people at least still have the knowledge of the odds to make a somewhat informed decision. 

I understand your point, but a lot of that (similar/identical criticism not being leveled at Activision and their COD studios) comes from COD having been one of the most performant games on every platform for over a decade now. Bethesda catches a unique amount of flak because their games are notoriously the buggiest…

I just got smarter. Thank you for taking the time to type this and share some of your experience. 

Xbox One X Enhancements 

I'm sure it didn't help, giant studios like Rockstar going with Piggyback is a killer. Not many games where there's any demand for Strategy Guides. Losing out to a (what seems at least) more flexible company that doesn't skimp on quality was probably the final nail in the coffin. 

It's the nicest book I've ever owned, which is saying something, considering I'm blessed to have a lot of super high quality books printed on top tier paper with great color illustrations and artwork. Piggyback Games did an unbelievable job on this guide. 

It's stunning. Literally stunning. Not to mention, all the screenshots used for everything are 4K quality (Thank God for enhanced consoles) as well. 

Ditto. I wasn't expecting it to be as nice it is. Nor that they would do full character bios and artwork. 

Let the church say amen. I’m an avid supporter of print media. For most people, it’s purely about the information, which can now be easily accessed on different websites and YouTube. I totally get it (and use some of those services myself). That being said, there’s an experience with print media that can’t be…

Yes indeed. Near strictly quick play for me. 

I literally just rewatched the Giant Bomb Livestream of that Microsoft E3 briefing earlier today. Rod Ferguson pivoted so fast from that Gears Pop lol. Within 8 seconds, he immediately cut to Gears Tactics, which was also relatively sparse, before cutting to the thing he knows people care about/want in Gears 5.

I agree with some of the other responses you've gotten, but also think the character aspect is a big component of why Blizzard games tend to take forever. I've watched a lot of their GDC panels (specifically for Overwatch). Their art department might be the biggest/most influential in the entire industry. In look and…

Blizzard should’ve learned from Microsoft. They did it right earlier this year. If you’re going to show Gears Pop on stage at a console focused E3 briefing, absolutely have to follow up with “and here’s Gears of War 4, that you’ve all been waiting to see”. If the new Diablo isn’t far enough along to warrant even a…

Apples and oranges. Not to mention, have to take into account all the individual music licenses in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1/2 on the Playstation as well. I don't think Activision is in such a position. Otherwise, they wouldn't have rushed out that terrible THPS5 in 2015 to get something out before the license expired,…

In fairness to Activision (sort of, as they have a laundry list of other offenses), they probably can't grant permission for Sony to use Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, as they know longer have the license. It expired in 2015.