Tencent Unveils Big-Budget Open-World Game (bloomberg.com) 19
Tencent revealed one of its most ambitious attempts at a big-budget console game on Friday, betting on a new franchise to fire up fans and help the global expansion of China's most valuable company. From a report: Last Sentinel is an open-world adventure game set in a dystopian future Tokyo, developed by Tencent's California-based Lightspeed LA studio. The 200-member creative team is headed up by Steve Martin, a quarter-century veteran of the games industry who has worked on marquee games in the genre like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.
The new title, four years in development, is testament to Tencent's long-term pursuit of foreign gaming assets and talent. The WeChat operator still relies heavily on domestic game sales in China, but in recent years it's amped up efforts to acquire slices of up-and-coming studios from Europe to Japan to complement its ownership of League of Legends creator Riot Games and large stake in Epic Games. Last Sentinel is part of its push to create new intellectual property from scratch. "We have a global gaming community that's screaming out that it wants something new. It wants new IPs, it wants new characters. We get to provide that," Martin, who left Rockstar Games to join Tencent in 2019, said in a video interview before unwrapping his work at The Game Awards in Los Angeles.
The new title, four years in development, is testament to Tencent's long-term pursuit of foreign gaming assets and talent. The WeChat operator still relies heavily on domestic game sales in China, but in recent years it's amped up efforts to acquire slices of up-and-coming studios from Europe to Japan to complement its ownership of League of Legends creator Riot Games and large stake in Epic Games. Last Sentinel is part of its push to create new intellectual property from scratch. "We have a global gaming community that's screaming out that it wants something new. It wants new IPs, it wants new characters. We get to provide that," Martin, who left Rockstar Games to join Tencent in 2019, said in a video interview before unwrapping his work at The Game Awards in Los Angeles.
Restricted to 30 minutes of play during (Score:2)
school days in China.
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So... it's not overrun by China farmers, is that what you're trying to say?
3 paragraphs to say "adventure game in Tokyo" (Score:1)
Maybe next time less marketing fluff and more about the game itself.
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You expect an awful lot from a Slashvertisment.
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True, true, I have standards. My apologies.
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If you had any standards you would have left long ago. :)
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I'm here for the l0lz. That bar gets met every day here. :)
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Maybe next time less marketing fluff and more about the game itself.
Yes, they should have included that. The central theme is that you run around this open world and collect loose data that you assemble to build your own empire. It's inspired by real-world events!
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I wouldn't even care if it was trying to trash Japan and glorify China if it at least was a decent game instead of just yet another life service crapfest.
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It is safe to assume the usual CCP touchy subjects, if in the game at all, will be handled in a way that aligns with the official CCP view.
I'm not sure how much of that might apply in a Tokyo setting, though.
It is a foreign studio (Score:2)
Hard to tell these days if something like this is a game for gaming's sake, or something to dis Japan and boost China. You can do a lot for propaganda in a virtual world.
I'd say 50/50 odds of it being manipulative, given it was developed outside China. Two things to consider:
1. The people making this are not controlled directly by the CCP, only financed by it. Those financing this can either make CCP propaganda or they can make TONS of money. It makes a lot more logical sense to funnel billions into the CCP's coffers and "borrow" the code across gaming studios to jumpstart their gaming industry than make propaganda for foreign audiences.
2. Video games can be res
Steve Martin (Score:2)
If Steve Martin is leading it, I hope we get Bluegrass music mixed with slapstick comedy in this dystopian Tokyo.
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Maybe. He's a wild and crazy guy.
creative team is headed up by Steve Martin (Score:2)
Steve Martin the comedy actor?
It'll be dogshit (Score:2)
Like most Tencent games.
Dystopia is played out... (Score:2)
Given how dystopic the world has already become, and where it's trending, a maverick gaming company might be more edgy if they created a utopia.