Pachter Factor Questions April 2018

can you think of any game that they have span that same games so many time that they kill the game and the franchise

Hey Mr. P. :-) I hope you and yours are all well! Love the scotch lessons, still can’t quite get the ‘tasting’ technique to work though... I work in games distribution, and we had a bumper year last year - something I attribute to the length of this console cycle so far. It seems to me that the longer the console cycle, the greater the installed user base - and thus the more people buying games, and games make more margin per £ than hardware. At what point might it become more profitable for Sony and Microsoft to end this console generation and start a new one, rather than continue to reap the benefits of increasing amounts of people buying games for their machines?

Ok Pach ... time to show us the boat.

Here we are at episode 100 of the Pachter Factor and hoping for another 100 more which means a long time pledging for SIFTD. My question for this occasion is, where do you see console systems in 100 episodes from now? With free to play becoming a frequent success story from PUBG, fornite, Clash of Clans etc. will the console landscape adopt a similar model or will the tradition of ~$60 games being sold at retail stores still be a thing? Much respect and love to Shane and his crew and hope for another 1,000 more questions answered by the Pach man himself!

Hey pach i have watched all 99 shows and was a big fan of pach attack, in all the time you have worked with shane what are you top 3 highlights and if any low lights? (Shanghaidan) from siftd

Hi Pach. I'm so tired of multiplayer games; I only enjoy coop (PvE) at this point. Companies keep making these massive online games-as-a-service monstrosities that want my subscription money, expect me to grind 200+ hours a year, and sell me lootboxes on top, and then they spend years trying to balance characters and items while failing to deal with the toxic minority of players. And every 2-3 years they'll make another games-as-a-service and split their user base (see e.g. Ubisoft's Tom Clancy Division, then Wildlands. EA's Battlefront 1, then 2. And Call of Duty, other annual sports games). They seem to be chasing a dream of creating the next big esports sensation, and sacrifice my enjoyment of their game in the process. It just isn't fun to play. Are indie game devs the only ones that still produce 8 hour single-player experiences? Why have all AAA publishers seemingly abandoned the idea of making 'short' games, or only tacking on Coop as a playmode rather than focus on it, despite recent success stories such as Left4Dead, DOOM, etc.? What has caused this focus on turning games into 100+ hour experiences?

Tailen

With Vivendi finally giving up their stake in UbiSoft, what kind of signal is this sending to investors? Is the idea of non-gaming companies (film, tv, bottled water, etc.) trying to invest in game publishers/developers finally over? Is there something intrinsically different about interactive entertainment that makes it immune to the media consolidation boom? (And one last one... as someone who looks at the investment side, would you or your clients prefer to see more outside money coming into games?)

Hi Pach, Love from India. How much money Bethesda spend on porting skyrim to switch and did they make profit on that as 0.65 million copies are sold till now? As you are close to Howard, Are there any chances of fallout 4 being ported to Switch?

Hi Pach, long time fellow baby. Why don't publishers sell physical discs early so people can download the day one patch early with Online only games like Destiny.

Ibrahim Sozer

Hi Mr. Pachter, What impact (if any) do you think services like Xbox Game Pass & EA Access have on how games are made, and how revenue is distributed between publishers & developers?

Hi Mr. Pachter, you have stated before that you're pro repealing net-neutrality regulations, and while I don't agree with you, I respect your argument. Though I'm curios to know what are your thoughts on certain cities pursuing municipal broadband & ISP's suing them to stop it?

Hi Pachter, Long time twitter follower and viewer of your show. What motivates you to continue to do the show? Why do you believe people are so interested on your opinion/perspective ( myself included )?

If you had to buy one stock between AMD and nvidia, which one would it be and why?

Would you play Fallout or Skyrim in VR?

Hey Pach, I was wondering how you got started with Shane. What was your initial thoughts when you were asked to do a show like this? Did you get any good natured ribbing or comments from your family, friends or co-workers? Here's to 100 more episodes, Cheers,

With the recent hullabaloo over the rising costs of game development and advertising, microtransactions and lootboxes, do you foresee a time when games will become priced less like the fixed DVD/Blu-ray model of $19.99-$29.99 and more like, say, clothing or other items, with a less universal MSRP? For example, a new COD could be $73.99 whereas an indie game of lesser scope might cost only $6.99. Is $59.99 just an agreed upon industry standard?

Julian Watkins

In 2018 - when increasingly few gamers are old enough to remember a "classic" Rare title - what exactly does Microsoft have on their hands for 375M 2002-dollars? I would imagine the bulk of that valuation was for then-popular IP; that popularity has no doubt waned. Do they simply now own a talented first-party studio, and has this been a net-positive acquisition for the company?

Hey Pach, Ubisoft recently bought out Vivendi with the help of Tencent. Why is the Chinese company more enticing then the French conglomerate for Ubisoft?