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Valorant using Beta drops on Twitch is both genius and frustrating

As a marketer and a gamer who thinks all players should have an equal opportunity at playing a game, this op-ed has me torn.

Valorant, the new hotness from Riot Games that's very similar to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, has been doing this beta drop marketing for a few weeks now. The idea is that in order to get a beta code, you have to watch a streamer on Twitch playing Valorant and wait for a beta code to randomly drop for you.

This is a great marketing scheme as it shows off the game better than any other marketing avenue could, but it's also an elitist form of marketing: those with huge reach and a big following get the beta codes while everyone else, the plebs, have to spend hours and hours waiting for a random drop. It's eerily similar to stories of lower-class waiting for crumbs from the upper-class.

In a way, this is just a natural progression of marketing for a new release. We're all used to gaming outlets who have a large reach getting a promotional copy of an upcoming game so they can publish articles about it and market the game, so isn't Riot Games' marketing scheme the same?

The difference that I see is that in the promotional copy situation, everyone has an equal opportunity to play the game on release date. Nobody is having to contribute more resources than others to play a new release (except for rare occasions of games selling out). With Valorant's marketing, only those who have ample time to watch streams for hours upon hours have the chance to get a code. That just seems unfair to me.

Sorry about the long rant, I've been thinking about this one for a while. What's your thoughts? How many hours have you spent watching streams for a Valorant code?

Image credit: Riot Games

dualshockers.com  

How deeply personal RPG The Wagadu Chronicles explores new realms of Afrofantasy

I love video games, but like a lot of media, it's really barren when it comes to ethnic diversity, so it's great to see devs like this who want to change the industry. One of my favorite parts about this article is how the development of this game brought a family closer together. It's articles like these that remind us how video games can bring people together and make the world a better place.

If you want to check out more about the Wagadu Chronicles, you can check out the website here.

Image credit: Twin Drums

gamasutra.com  

One Year Later, Mortal Kombat 11 Is Just Getting Started

Mortal Kombat is in a renaissance right now.

I remember how brutal the first trailer for MK11 was, but I didn't expect for the game to be this popular. I thought the resurgance of Mortal Kombat games was going to be short-lived, but how wrong I was. With the way that NetherRealms and Ed Boone are talking about, it looks like we'll see a lot of Mortal Kombat 11 support in the upcoming months.

Image credit: Mortal Kombat

gamespot.com  

Doom Eternal's official soundtrack wasn't mixed by its composer, and you can tell

It's always sucks when an artist's work is changed by forces outside of their control. That seems to be the case in DOOM: Eternal's soundtrack. There's evidence that has been confirmed by the game's composer that many tracks were mixed by someone else, which negatively affected the quality of the music.

Could you hear the difference?

Image credit: id Software

p.s. if you want to see more DOOM: Eternal content, check out some of the devs reacting to their game being beaten in under 30 minutes here.

pcgamer.com  

The Sick Story of the Tony Hawk’s Series

If you were around gaming in the late PS1/PS2 era, Tony Hawk: Pro Skater was a game that you had heard of. It was a game that seemingly everybody had, and it was the first one to be pulled out when everyone was hanging out together. The ability to screw around and just skate was perfect for a party setting, plus the music was always incredible.

I remember trying to play Pro Skater so many times, but I was just so bad at it. I could never hold out grinds or do awesome tricks, so I just skated and enjoyed the music. Even then, I still loved the feeling that brought me.

What's your favorite memory from the series? We just won't talk about Tony Hawk: Ride.

Image credit: Tony Hawk

p.s. this article made me remember the Neversoft logo and the horrifying experience of watching that eye on a stake at a young age. Who thought that was a good idea?

greenmangaming.com  

Google abandons Stadia Base branding as it launches free tier

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I was debating on whether or not I should link a Eurogamer article about the current state of Stadia and how the service is starting to make sense now. I was leaning towards not linking it because it's a very technical article as a member of Digital Foundry retests the streaming capability and lists the technical performance.

Luckily, GI.Biz put out a "breaking news" article that ties this all together. Stadia has removed the "Stadia Base" option and is replacing it with a standard Stadia account. This allows people to use Stadia's streaming service at no cost, the only thing they have to do is buy games from the Stadia store.

This is how they should have done it from the start. The Stadia Base nomenclature made things much to confusing and scared off consumers because it seemed like there was far too much of a chance of being sucked into a subscription scheme.

With this article, I can talk about Stadia in good conscience and not feel like I'm boring you to death with technical details. If you still want a deep dive on how Stadia performs now, you can still read the Eurogamer article here.

Image credit: Google

p.s. let me know you like reading deep technical articles and I'll link them more!

gamesindustry.biz