Games Inbox: What does the EA buyout mean for gaming?

The Tuesday letters page questions whether GTA 6 will be as big as most people are expecting, as one reader is excited by an indie homage to Parasite Eve.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Wheeling and dealing
So this EA buyout thing seems horrible. An investment group is going to own it now? I’m going to bet they’re all keen gamers with the best interests of the company and the industry at large in mind… not. From my knowledge of these kind of investment companies, they immediately saddle the company with tons of debt, to pay for the purchase itself, and just let it die because they’ve already made their money.

The execs in charge won’t care because they got a cut of it all but any ordinary person, that actually makes games, is going to be constantly looking over their shoulders. I guess the best case scenario is that EA will now have more money to spend on making games, but I bet that never becomes obvious in anything we see.

All the money will be spent on gold-plated bathrooms and exec bonuses. The whole games industry feels like a bubble that’s going to burst. All this business stuff is constantly going on, with the buyouts and the acquisitions, and yet developers are still being laid off all the time. I feel it’s a miracle we’re still getting good games released on a regular basis but I fear that could end soon, at least for Western companies.
Zeiss

Too big to succeed
I would be all for a new big budget Lord of the Rings game but I have zero faith that Embracer Group could even get it made, let alone that it would ever be any good. I don’t understand why Warner Bros. didn’t buy the rights to the series, considering what a gold mine it is. Instead, they did the opposite and shut down the developer that had made the best game in modern times.

I don’t even know if the ultimate Lord of the Rings game, as I imagine it, could even been made anymore. Like Star Wars, it’s almost too expensive to do, if you add in the cost of the licence. Considering the quality of the last few games I’m not sure if it’s worth trying. Between the Gollum game and the Amazon series the whole franchise seems to be on a downward slide.
Orion

Beyond All-Stars
GC, will you be reviewing the Mario Galaxy collection release this week? I’ve seen a video online and it seems like there’s been a texture overhaul on the games and possibly more.

I know you’ve already had to re-review Mario Galaxy 1 before, as it featured on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection but it would be nice to have your thoughts on how Super Mario Galaxy 2 holds up under it’s its revamped incarnation.

I’m really looking forward to giving the games a go on Switch 2 this week.
Nick The Greek

GC: We will be reviewing it, but since it’s Nintendo we can’t say when.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Tribute band
A reader mentioned Parasite Eve the other day and it seems Inbox magic has struck yet again. There’s not a literal new game but there is an indie homage called Parasite Mutant that looks very similar, the main character has even got the same haircut.

I assume if it’s got this far that means Square Enix isn’t going to sue it, but it does look almost identical from the trailer, just with cel-shaded graphics. I’m all for it though. If big publishers won’t give us what we want they shouldn’t stand in the way of indies that want to do it instead. The combat looks identical, I can’t wait!
Marlowe

GameCentral: The Video Game
A few weeks ago a kind soul wrote into the Inbox also-rans mentioning my card game Battlechips.

As a thank you I thought I’d make a little fan game for GC called GameCentralForever. It’s 21 with the twist of being able to spend your own score (‘chips’) to manipulate your final hand. No account needed, you just create a username.

I’ve populated the leaderboard with a couple of the great gaming mags of yore, but it would be cool to see some of the Inbox regulars on there!

All the best,
Battlechips

GC: That’s great, thanks very much for doing that!

Souls adjacent
After 58 hours I felled the final boss at the second attempt in Silksong, for the basic ending.

There’s a whole alternative outcome to that fight that opens up a whole new, really interesting chunk of the game. I think my final playtime will be double or more what it is now. Team Cherry also plan DLC on top.

The difficulty I found par for the course for a Souls-leaning game. It’s hard and at times the game feels like it’s taking things too far. Traditionally, for Soulslike games, Silksong included, that aspect is at its zenith in a swampy poison area.

But the game does provide all needed to overcome all challenges and it’s the players resolve that’s the real deciding factor. I think we all know the score for these hard games now and if they’re our cup of tea. I like ’em.

Standout improvements for me over the first game is the more open-ended world design and exploration, along with the expanded combat options and movement.

A glorious game all-round really.
Simundo

The Xbox approach
That Battlefield 6 trailer trying to take a shot at Call Of Duty is pure cringe, if you ask me. It all feels very Microsoft to me, where they’re trying to latch onto something fans complain about and are showing off that they don’t do it. Even though the fans that complain about that sort of thing are going to be like 0.01% of the total players.

Also, I have never heard of any of those ‘famous’ people except for Zac Efron, and now I stop to think about it I can’t quite put my finger on where I know him from, he’s just a low-level celebrity. I hope EA has got more up their sleeve than this.
Stryker

Nothing is impossible
I don’t understand the hype about GTA 6. Sure, the graphics look good and, sure ,there hasn’t been a mainline GTA game in 12 years, but I just don’t get the hype. I know GTA is a big franchise with lots of players, but from what I know the only thing that changes with each new release is the graphics and maybe a new map or some new missions.

I’m expecting GTA 6 to be successful, don’t get me wrong, but I doubt it’ll make all this money people are predicting. It’s actually almost impossible for some of the predictions to even come true. Billions of dollars in two months? That’s impossible. I also think Rockstar is over-glorifying GTA 6, saying games like Mario Kart World can’t compete with it and saying it’s worthy of a AAAAA title.

First of all, Mario is a platformer franchise (the title Rockstar called out is a kart racer however) and not even close to the open world game GTA is. This is already an unfair advantage because comparing an open world game where you can literally do anything you want to do to an open world kart racer. It’s not fair to do that kind of thing, especially in the way Rockstar did it.

Then second of all, I understand GTA 6 production cost is rumoured to be one billions big ones, but that doesn’t mean your game is the best. Maybe I’m overreacting and GTA 6’s launch will be like any other, but I still don’t get why people are so excited for the same game with slightly better graphics and a slightly different map (from what I’ve heard they’re reusing an old map). I do however want to see how it plays out and how bad it breaks the internet when it releases.
Colton

GC: It’s always a new map and all-new missions, even if it’s the same city as an earlier game. GTA 5 made $1 billion in three days, so multiple billions in two months is essentially guaranteed for GTA 6. The Mario Kart World comment you’re alluding to was by one ex-Rockstar developer, not the company as a whole.

Inbox also-rans
If Konami is desperate to reboot every franchise they own other than Castlevania then I hope they get around to Bloody Roar at some point. Fighting as a literal wererabbit is an experience I want again.
Tacle

I don’t understand why the new Mario movie is called Super Mario Galaxy either, but if it means we get a game sequel I am all for it. I would’ve bet that would’ve never happen.
Scolar

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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