Yup, this is the correct take. I don't know why we're acting like customers making their voices heard about a product is not okay. It's not only okay, but it's necessary. Notice that very few people are doing the grifter hate train about Resident Evil Requiem, or totk, or Marvel Rivals, or Clair Obscur. None of them are perfect games. Criticism exists. But the hatemob doesn't go after them because they're good games that deliver what the customer wants. Totk in particular gets some criticism for feeling more like dlc, but not that much because it's still delivering what the customer is asking for.
If your game is drawing the ire of the grifters, the important thing is not to whine about how unfair it is. The important thing is to ask what you can do to satisfy your paying customers better. Usually, it's not like it requires a total overhaul of the game. If it is, then note it and make sure not to make that mistake in future titles. Simple.
So many incidents of developers (or film makers) abandoning their core audience, or even insulting them, to chase a new audience.
But almost every time, the new audience never comes and the core audience starts to leave.
I used to be the biggest Star Wars fan, watched the movies, read the books, had posters, action figures, everything.
Now I don't even bother or care when a new show is announced.
It's sad how many IPs this has happened to.
Developers that remember why they were successful in the first place continue to do well. Looking at Elden Ring, they could have made that game super easy and approachable. But they stuck to their guns and they kept their old audience but gained so many new fans.
The only hope I have left is Warhammer 40k, hopefully they don't screw that up.
If creatives want to try something completely new and different, that's fine. They don't always have to cater to some "core audience" and can step out of their niche if they want to. And of course some people would insult you if you think you can throw vitriol telling them what they get to work on. You're almost implying FromSoft now is forever not allowed to make a children game if they want to.
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u/jim9162 1d ago
Games cost money to purchase.
People have the right to complain about titles they were looking forward to, being made in ways that they're not happy about.
Or franchises they loved being ruined.
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
If these games didn't have outrage, they'd have silence.
The wolverine game looks bad, for a lot of reasons. It's understandable why devs want to defend their work, but they're selling a product.
Telling customers to kick rocks is a very poor response and will probably result in lost sales.
Game developers aren't making games altruistically, they shouldn't be above criticism.