EX-CA DEVELOPERS SPEAK OUT

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Developers are starting to speak out against the Management and Leadership at Creative Assembly.
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  • @LegendofTotalWar
    @LegendofTotalWar6 күн бұрын

    Here is a link to the official discord for this channel: discord.gg/6ustjZ3

  • @SuperBald-et1ho
    @SuperBald-et1ho6 күн бұрын

    This isn’t just CA or the gaming industry. This is the corporate world now. Terrible executives making terrible decision, and holding everyone else, even paying customers responsible instead of themselves.

  • @Asrahn

    @Asrahn

    6 күн бұрын

    Standard business operation, indeed.

  • @indrickboreale7381

    @indrickboreale7381

    6 күн бұрын

    Failing upwards in a nutshell

  • @tempestgrav

    @tempestgrav

    6 күн бұрын

    Disney? Lol

  • @NikoMoraKamu

    @NikoMoraKamu

    6 күн бұрын

    ivy league mates they are the top

  • @soybean9098

    @soybean9098

    6 күн бұрын

    That's true, but they are too big to truly fail and too many idiots keep buying bad products.

  • @joncarter3761
    @joncarter37616 күн бұрын

    It's shocking how management and leadership are failing upwards accross the entertainment industry!

  • @zxcvbnmasdfghjklqwertyuiopp

    @zxcvbnmasdfghjklqwertyuiopp

    6 күн бұрын

    late stage capitalism. the only thing executives care about is money and they are so protected that there is nearly nothing that can be done so they are held responsible for terrible choices that cost ppl their jobs

  • @calebbarnhouse496

    @calebbarnhouse496

    6 күн бұрын

    It's across the entire corporate sector, the only people that win are the ones that push blame onto others and focus on poltics

  • @blakeoarmboy

    @blakeoarmboy

    6 күн бұрын

    Tbh they aren’t even doing that well cause they’ve fucked themselves in the long run and will likely slowly be moved out fucked in their personal lives

  • @coffeebeangood1538

    @coffeebeangood1538

    6 күн бұрын

    Not just the entertainment industry. This is what happens when society rewards surface over substance, and ego over humility.

  • @yavvivvay

    @yavvivvay

    6 күн бұрын

    @@coffeebeangood1538 yup, management is vastly skewed towards egos, contacts and skills that have nothing to do with management (aka product skills). A lot of managers aren't trained to be managers and stay "workers with more power now" which is a disaster. The middle management (leads, etc) is undervalued as management which leads to oblivious C-Suites. Those are really complex problems to solve - they usually would be adressed by the C-Suite... which lacks incentive (as they have quarterly financial incentive, what do they care), or the owners... which are just not present in publicly traded companies. Yuckiness all around.

  • @theslumpzone9023
    @theslumpzone90236 күн бұрын

    This part of the article really hit emotionally. Many would've quit on the spot. ''By that time, the rumour had become established that I had been fired, and now that the game was improving, this was taken by many as proof that I was gone and my replacement was doing a better job. So I was having to come into work every day along with those on the patching team and chip away at the problems knowing that those improvements would be taken by many as further evidence of my incompetence. I cannot tell you how demoralizing that was, and the thought of resigning certainly crossed my mind, but I wanted to at least get the game working first.''

  • @PropheticShadeZ

    @PropheticShadeZ

    5 күн бұрын

    That's a good person and i am experiencing rage that people like that are used up and thrown away by suits who then take credit for work they deep down know they didnt do

  • @PropheticShadeZ

    @PropheticShadeZ

    5 күн бұрын

    Join a union, dont let yourself be vunerable like that

  • @ChrisWicks1

    @ChrisWicks1

    4 күн бұрын

    I agree. I know nothing about gaming but I know Julian. He takes this all very seriously and is obviously highly respected in his ongoing career.

  • @rellikskuppin7417

    @rellikskuppin7417

    3 күн бұрын

    ​@PropheticShadeZ so he can be used by the union? Have his savings thrown into some random stock after 18 years of nothing like that happening. My uncle was the president. He has lost over 10k because of follow up presidents decisions.

  • @thomasthefascisttankengine4694

    @thomasthefascisttankengine4694

    2 күн бұрын

    ​@@PropheticShadeZ Unions are hardly better on average

  • @Oh-Deer-God
    @Oh-Deer-God6 күн бұрын

    >And the company, of course, doesn't take care of them Never forget that corporations are *never* your friend.

  • @PlayerSlotAvailable

    @PlayerSlotAvailable

    6 күн бұрын

    They try really really hard to be your friend if you are backed by a strong union 🌹

  • @ManCheat2

    @ManCheat2

    5 күн бұрын

    @@PlayerSlotAvailable Unions are corrupt, and fkin suck. fk em.

  • @kaltaron1284

    @kaltaron1284

    5 күн бұрын

    Unless you're a shareholder. Then they are legally oblidged to care about you.

  • @andrewwaldschmitt4757

    @andrewwaldschmitt4757

    4 күн бұрын

    ​@@kaltaron1284 Nah, they are only obligated to make you a profit.

  • @kaltaron1284

    @kaltaron1284

    4 күн бұрын

    @@andrewwaldschmitt4757 That's the only way they can care.

  • @Colty95
    @Colty956 күн бұрын

    The community forgives them because there is literally no competition. As much as I would like to say "F**k CA, I'm gonna go play *total war game from another company* there is none.

  • @Tex300

    @Tex300

    6 күн бұрын

    they rly have the corner market on this style of game

  • @bensosnowski1128

    @bensosnowski1128

    6 күн бұрын

    Well you can just go play older total war games that will always be good. Instead of pay $100s for the new game plus dlc for a lukewarm experience that may or may not improve over time

  • @loowick4074

    @loowick4074

    6 күн бұрын

    Yeah no matter how people hype other series like manor lords, banner lords or age of wonders they arent comparable. Manor lords is more of a fief builder and is culturally and geographically limited, bannerlords is smaller scale and has worse battle Ai than total war, and age of wonders is a turn based Heroes of might and magic game not even remotely similar. We are stuck with this series for now, coping with mods and older titles.

  • @warcheddar4163

    @warcheddar4163

    6 күн бұрын

    honestly at this point im kinda confused, like surely its not that hard to create a total war like game in unity or unreal, but the closest i ever see are paradox type games and they have their own distinct style of gameplay.

  • @regalgiant1597

    @regalgiant1597

    6 күн бұрын

    @@loowick4074 Yup, so saying stuff like the 'TW community are the most forgiving' - nicer people or, 'the most effing r worded' - some guy call volound (he is pyschotc btw) is just so empty headed, what options do we have, many do take a break from TW or just wait it out etc, is what it is.

  • @thunderbagel3886
    @thunderbagel38866 күн бұрын

    This quote from McKinlay's statement is my favorite: "My view is that the continued success of the franchise is better explained by the patience and goodwill of its players than it is by the stewardship of Total War’s management."

  • @LucasCunhaRocha

    @LucasCunhaRocha

    6 күн бұрын

    so, we keep getting trash games because the idiot consumers can't help themselves from not buying every game?

  • @tonyfranksland428

    @tonyfranksland428

    6 күн бұрын

    If you really want to put it bluntly?​@@LucasCunhaRocha

  • @imperialdoctor
    @imperialdoctor6 күн бұрын

    Whenever I see a lot of hype surrounding a new Total War, I always think to myself "Remember Carthage". The disparity between the hype and expectation vs what was delivered was vast, and as such a huge let down. So I always take any new hype with a huge pinch of salt. It's worked well for me so far.

  • @dojelnotmyrealname4018

    @dojelnotmyrealname4018

    6 күн бұрын

    I guess Cato the Elder got his way on that one.

  • @friendlytalbot4050

    @friendlytalbot4050

    6 күн бұрын

    Same, Rome 2 was one of the biggest low points in gaming expectations for me. There were many others, but it was truly a sign of the times. Times we still live in.

  • @Omega068

    @Omega068

    6 күн бұрын

    After reading the article a few other things started to pop to mind like that. Like the siege artillery on walls in Warhammer or the music used in the trailers never being in game.

  • @haldir108

    @haldir108

    6 күн бұрын

    As outlined in the article: Time spent on making marketing, is time NOT spent on improving the game. Marketing, in the shape of trailers, demos, and playable builds for industry events (rip in piss, E3) eats up developer time.

  • @Sevatar_VIIIth

    @Sevatar_VIIIth

    6 күн бұрын

    Seems to me these executives at development/publishing companies rely heavily on "hype" for their sales numbers. My theory is that they know these games aren't what they advertise and claim them to be. They are aware of all the problems we've come to expect from AAA gaming in 2024, but the hype is what gets their target sales numbers for investors.

  • @strigoi_guhlqueen8355
    @strigoi_guhlqueen83556 күн бұрын

    That cameramode thing is hillarious.

  • @lightworker2956

    @lightworker2956

    6 күн бұрын

    I hate how "just gaslight the peasants" is so often used as a "solution" nowadays. "After we manipulated some statistics, the Biden economy is amazing! Disbelieve your own eyes, peasants, and vote Biden."

  • @Dayz3O6

    @Dayz3O6

    6 күн бұрын

    That camera mode only work if you can go into 3rd person and turn it now into a hack and slash game, like that total war Spartan they made. Imagine controlling a single unit from the whole unit and just run around the map, if that one die select the other or go back to tactical top down. That would be a revolutionary game mode.

  • @dr4g0nsm4sh3

    @dr4g0nsm4sh3

    6 күн бұрын

    ​@@Dayz3O6 this was a Thing in Rise & Fall.

  • @ionutgeanta8741

    @ionutgeanta8741

    6 күн бұрын

    i only found it by mistake about 2 weeks ago, after playing the game for more than 2 years. and i found it to be awful

  • @davidnayr301

    @davidnayr301

    5 күн бұрын

    ​@@Dayz3O6Have you considered Mount and Blade? There's your 1st/3rd-person medieval battle.

  • @thenoblepoptart
    @thenoblepoptart5 күн бұрын

    Fun bit of trivia about that bloated marketing budget for Rome 2: Without it, we wouldn’t have the famous channel “Extra History”. Back when it was Extra Credits they were approached by CA to make a series on the Punic Wars as a part of their marketing campaign, and that was the first series of Extra History…

  • @Clem35530
    @Clem355306 күн бұрын

    Let's prepare for an unlawful NDA clause in every CA contracts soon ^^

  • @slb797

    @slb797

    6 күн бұрын

    NDAs typically expire after a few years. 10 years is definitely clear of what any legal system I am aware of will allow. Unless of course, its military/government secrets, those are typically good for decades under official secrets acts and the like

  • @Clem35530

    @Clem35530

    6 күн бұрын

    @@slb797 Yeah, the legal ones indeed. I'm kinda expecting an abusive/illegal one comming from CA in the few months/years ^^

  • @andregon4366

    @andregon4366

    6 күн бұрын

    @@Clem35530 If it's illegal they can't sue when they're broken.

  • @Clem35530

    @Clem35530

    6 күн бұрын

    @@andregon4366 Won't win the case probably, but yep.

  • @MrRawrCEO

    @MrRawrCEO

    6 күн бұрын

    @@andregon4366 They can always sue. A not uncommon tactic is for companies to just pile money onto frivolous lawsuits (Slapp I think it's called) from any court that'll take the case until they can exhaust the defendant's resources and get them to shut up. It doesn't matter if their suit has no grounds...all they have to do is drag people through the mud until it's not worth it to fight back.

  • @Klongu_Da_Bongu
    @Klongu_Da_Bongu6 күн бұрын

    10+ years later... I feel ancient, skipping school so I can play Rome 2 on launch after being hooked on Shogun 2 in 2011... It was horrible 😂

  • @cerberus2373

    @cerberus2373

    6 күн бұрын

    Same here bro, hooked on shogun 2. Was so excited for Rome 2 that game was so bad it killed my excitement for games 😂😂😂

  • @indrickboreale7381

    @indrickboreale7381

    6 күн бұрын

    I wasn't aware of it's problems for a long time, because Rome 2 Emperor Edition was my first Total War

  • @arkplayer179

    @arkplayer179

    6 күн бұрын

    rome 2 got fixed mostly at least tho and with mods like DEI is probably the best total war right now.

  • @l7986

    @l7986

    6 күн бұрын

    I did that with the original Shogun, so imagine how old I feel.

  • @Klongu_Da_Bongu

    @Klongu_Da_Bongu

    6 күн бұрын

    @@arkplayer179 DEI - Diveda et Impera, divide and conquer DEI - Diversity, equity, Inclusion Hmmmmmmmmmm...

  • @redtsun67
    @redtsun676 күн бұрын

    That thing about the community forgiving them really gets me. It's crazy how quickly people will flip from being rightfully pissed, to being like "CA DID A THING IT'S TIME FOR US TO FORGIVE THEM!" I think this is a problem that affects all gaming communities. All a developer needs to do to quell outrage is to throw some old dried up bone into the mix, then everyone stops barking and returns to sitting down and wagging their tails while the developers run their wallets with shitty DLC and microtransactions. I guess that old saying is true; a fool and his money are easily parted.

  • @billbaggins7355

    @billbaggins7355

    6 күн бұрын

    I still haven't bought dlc or played the game since the SoC debacle. They're dead to me.

  • @asonofliberty3662

    @asonofliberty3662

    6 күн бұрын

    Yep the comments prove that some people still aren’t ready to hear the truth

  • @michasokoowski6651

    @michasokoowski6651

    6 күн бұрын

    Same thing happened to sony and helldivers ;-;

  • @Stormer-vx5kw

    @Stormer-vx5kw

    6 күн бұрын

    I just blacklist the entire company on steam whenever I see one pull something weird which has included CA due to them being owned by SEGA

  • @blakeoarmboy

    @blakeoarmboy

    6 күн бұрын

    @@michasokoowski6651a classic case of fuck the company for fucking over the game all Sony had to do is sit still and enjoy their money but nope they fucked over a game

  • @joel6513
    @joel65136 күн бұрын

    I work in a corporate setting, for all the pressure and stress executives are under and for all the statements of how company performance is their job and “on them”, they NEVER accept responsibility for anything negative but always make sure to cover themselves in praise when good things happen. Gaming needs to go back to small studios full of passion, corporate companies making games suck, see almost every AAA game in the last 10 years

  • @ctg4818

    @ctg4818

    6 күн бұрын

    Great example of the difference between being a boss and being a leader, only one of them takes responsibility.

  • @supasnake8138

    @supasnake8138

    6 күн бұрын

    That's why I get excited for all the advancements in game engines and tooling out there. The barrier to entry to produce your vision is getting less and less.

  • @forestranger4325

    @forestranger4325

    6 күн бұрын

    Gaming can't go back to small studios, large corporation appear as inevitably as sun sets. Problem with modern games isn't large corporations problem is profit motive.

  • @R3GARnator

    @R3GARnator

    6 күн бұрын

    Indie games are where it's at. There have been so many good ones recently.

  • @WolfishJew986

    @WolfishJew986

    6 күн бұрын

    @@supasnake8138like the dude making Manor Lords entirely by himself, and it’s still better than a lot of city making games AAA studios are putting out

  • @thomas2406
    @thomas24066 күн бұрын

    The cinematic camera story is hilarious. How did that feature take that much time to implement, it literally is just a change in the camera position

  • @maxpont8989

    @maxpont8989

    6 күн бұрын

    You also actually get different camera mobility and a mix of free and fixed camera controls, it's very disconcerting at first, there is also a portion of your unit that gets greyed out, and the camera is basically attached to a specific model with the jumps and all without moving at the same time when it fights

  • @maxpont8989

    @maxpont8989

    6 күн бұрын

    TLDR: The camera in itself keeps changing position in FPV since they wanted a stable camera that followed an unstable unit model...

  • @michasokoowski6651

    @michasokoowski6651

    6 күн бұрын

    Because that's how you survive in corporate world. If you say that x will take a week and you will do it in a week, then you dont get anything If you say that x will take a week and something bad happens and you are a few days late, you will get punished If you say that x will take a 4 months and you will do it in 3, then you get a bonus. Meanwhile you have to do job of different people because you are understaffed because menagement doesnt want to hire more people because it would mean more expenses and because they do that, they also get a bonus. The whole thing is a cancer

  • @Nadz203
    @Nadz2036 күн бұрын

    Lying to the player in order for encourage them to do something to their determent or ultimately worsen gameplay is Creative Assembly design philosophy 101.. Its absolutely everywhere in all of their game. Why actually put the work into designing a game when you can just lie to the player.!?

  • @camipco

    @camipco

    6 күн бұрын

    And of course it still doesn't work. Even with the lie, no one uses the first person feature in Rome 2 more than maybe once or twice to try it out and realize it sucks (as a cinematic experience even, quite apart from as a gameplay experience).

  • @kaltaron1284

    @kaltaron1284

    5 күн бұрын

    To be fair, this is also done in good games for various reasons. Take Subnautica as an example. The game does it's best to make you afraid of the fauna and to use evasion instead of violence. But in truth none of the enemies are really that threatening and you can easily kill them.

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@kaltaron1284 that's not lying to you, that's just you being naturally afraid of unknown things and learning from it.

  • @kaltaron1284

    @kaltaron1284

    4 күн бұрын

    @@houndofculann1793 That's one way to look at it and it's true that the game never actually says that it isn't possible but it does its darndest to make you think it.

  • @rency1803

    @rency1803

    3 күн бұрын

    ​@@kaltaron1284 make you think it's that way is severely different from directly lie to you via actual in game text.

  • @happycompy
    @happycompy6 күн бұрын

    This is incredibly damning. The "camera mode increases unit combat performance" lie is hilarious 😂. What an unmitigated dumpster fire. I swear to God nobody hates Total War more than CA management.

  • @stevadr
    @stevadr6 күн бұрын

    Why the F are people responsible for CA's current state still there.. (Management)

  • @polus134
    @polus1346 күн бұрын

    The fact their solution to an unused camera feature was to slap an unrelated stat bonus on it speaks volumes of how little these people understand players and how good games work.

  • @sbranch82au
    @sbranch82au6 күн бұрын

    So many companies are like this tbh, I've worked at several big employers that are just playgrounds for manager/exec egos.

  • @SusaVile
    @SusaVile6 күн бұрын

    Lol, did not realize you had a video on this already. For me, I am interested like I said to you, in what we as a community can do for the time being. 5 key things that I take from this as a player/content creator that our community should do: 1 - Vote with your wallet. Absolutely, works every time. 2 - We never know who is the guilty party. Be reasonable towards those that communicate with us from the ground level, they likely have little say on how things transpire. 3 - Be kind to others in the community with a different view. Rome 2 is still quite good, and so are other games. What he mentions is how good it could have been, but we also need to consider that funding for games always has deadlines that are difficult. So we never get the 100% possible. 4 - Be fine with delays. Stop demanding dlc and titles for yesterday. If time is what they need, assure them they have it and likely management will allow it. 5 - Demand realistic stuff. Honestly this needs to be said. Complete different skeletons and animations serve very little purpose compared to difficulty and AI changes or mechanics. In the end, those are the reasons you return to the game.

  • @unmeclambda5837

    @unmeclambda5837

    5 күн бұрын

    I feel like I've seen people be mostly fine about delays recently, especially regarding Thrones of Decay/ Delay. But the counterpart is that the product has to be good after being delayed (looknig at you Warhammer 3's laucnh) and it can't be delayed again and again if you want to be taken seriously. Again, ToD is the example to follow, it got heavily delayed and absolutely delivered.

  • @bob3ironfist

    @bob3ironfist

    Күн бұрын

    0 - Vote with your vote as well. Vote for politicians who will be more amenable to being pressured into passing regulations and harsh enforcement against bad corporate behavior that we can create organizations to push for.

  • @colbunkmust
    @colbunkmust6 күн бұрын

    I can't imagine why they thought that using the cinematic camera mode would be a popular feature for players to use while trying to manage an army of up to 40 different units at the same time. Did those devs ever actually play the game? They even called it a cinematic camera. Obviously it's not something you are going to want to use when you need attention devoted to micro.

  • @GyroGarrison

    @GyroGarrison

    6 күн бұрын

    Sounds like they want you in a dwarven formation every time

  • @sirjmo

    @sirjmo

    6 күн бұрын

    I think part of the issue is the static definition of 'full stack'. If optimal play exists of just 20 unit armies, how much tactical variety is there to actually pull a victory out of defeat and vice versa? (when you're not master of cheese, legend himself) And of course the max of 40 units of 1 side being on a battlefield with control large armies. The only place I can imagine it would be useful to sacrifice vision for minor stats is a chokepoint battle where vision doesn't really matter and holding the line is most important.

  • @camipco

    @camipco

    6 күн бұрын

    Yup. It could make some sense as a replay feature. Mount and Blade for example has this option once your character is down, so you can follow the rest of the battle first person, which is kinda fun. But obviously far from a core gameplay feature. Mount and Blade come to think of it does first-person with battle tactics quite well, where you both control the individual hero and give orders to the army. And there is a tradeoff in that game where if you stay back as a general you can pay more attention to managing the army while if you're up close fighting you can have more of a direct impact but getting vision on the army / giving orders is harder. Of course, that game is balanced a lot more heavily towards the first person play, where the army level tactics isn't as strong as total war even if you pay full attention to it.

  • @user-kb1su7mg1g

    @user-kb1su7mg1g

    6 күн бұрын

    rome total war had it yet you are not complaining about its inclusion in that game

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@user-kb1su7mg1g that works differently, uses the already existing camera controls and does not lie to the player about what it does.

  • @kmanalpha453
    @kmanalpha4535 күн бұрын

    Pretty sure Games Workshop is just as toxic, so these two companies working together is a match made in heaven

  • @sagacity1071

    @sagacity1071

    4 күн бұрын

    Unfortunately GW gets defended on almost every social media platform by positive toxic morons.

  • @MultiStendhal
    @MultiStendhal6 күн бұрын

    If CA going under means getting a better total war like game from another company, then let it crash like the hindenburg. I know it's harsh but as a gamer my realationship with a gaming company goes as far as playing their games and no more.

  • @WesternHypernormalization

    @WesternHypernormalization

    6 күн бұрын

    That's basically where I'm at too. I think of the fighting game scene and how Capcom screwing up with SF5 and MVC:I allowed other developers to have some air to breath and build a competitive audience. Before that, Capcom was just so dominate they kind of sucked all the air out the entire space.

  • @WolfishJew986

    @WolfishJew986

    6 күн бұрын

    My only worry is that if CA goes under, other gaming companies will look at it as “oh there’s no market for that kind of game anymore, let’s stick to the cheap easy stuff that’s guaranteed to make money.” Companies like Larian swinging big with games like Divinity and BG3 are the exception more than the rule, sadly.

  • @UnintentionalSubmarine

    @UnintentionalSubmarine

    6 күн бұрын

    Nobody has really tried to follow the formula. There are some old games like King Arthur and Real Warfare 1242 (that one is mostly a cashgrab) and smaller passion projects. But any real attempts to match the effort of CA, there has been none. And if CA folds, I don't consider it likely that anyone else will swoop in and give it a try. The simple fact is that CA has shown us what good Total War is, and people are not settling for less, to the degree that they did in the past. The same would hold true for anyone new. Their first project would have to be GOOD from the start. The customer base would be ruthless if it wasn't at least as good as CA, which is something I wouldn't expect. Maybe a few projects down the road, but would they be allowed to get that far? Doubt it.

  • @MundaneThingsBackwards

    @MundaneThingsBackwards

    6 күн бұрын

    Yup. They aren't giving you this crap for free. It's a product with a sometimes hefty price tag. You have no obligation to keep a business that sells bad products afloat. Some of the people engaging in that kind of guilt tripping are engaging in classic toxic positivity. lmfao

  • @resileaf9501

    @resileaf9501

    6 күн бұрын

    Total War is a niche series. If CA goes bankrupt, nobody will do Total War in the future.

  • @shimmereyes8984
    @shimmereyes89846 күн бұрын

    Julian's statement regarding Management's inability to receive criticism and the lack of internal contact between developer departments really was bad to know about, but the icing on the cake was knowing valuable development time was eaten up by forcing developers to work on misleading marketing ridden scripted demos with the sole purpose of raising the hype and sell more copies. Truly hideous corporate behaviour. After reading through the statement, I think the best way the Total War playerbase can do is unite and make this public, hurt the image of the corporation and coerce the heads of tbe company to change their work ethic company wise. Only through our conjoined might can we save this disaster campaign that has been dragging on far too long. Thanks to Legend once again for being a beacon for this community, he has trult become a Legend of Total War

  • @majorl2246
    @majorl22466 күн бұрын

    Didn’t know who this guy was till I saw that still and said ‘OH ITS HIM?!’ 😮

  • @barrysmithers5816
    @barrysmithers58166 күн бұрын

    Having read the article a lot of that rings so true for the state of W3 when it came out. Complete disregard of the programmers by the designers. Sega cops a lot of blame for some of this (and rightly so) but that shouldn't be at the expense of the terrible CA leadership. It's such a shame that passionate, skilled and dedicated employees can be shown such short thrift, by people only interested in saving face and not the product they ship.

  • @maximumrpg3707
    @maximumrpg37075 күн бұрын

    Cinematic mode is basically asking to throw the battle. Fine for custom battles where none of it matters, but on the campaign map, the cinematic mode is only making things a hassle.

  • @729060
    @7290606 күн бұрын

    God I remember Rome 2 ghoul face. What a joke of a launch.

  • @Wallym0h
    @Wallym0h5 күн бұрын

    "I play these games to show you how corporate people lie to you." Straight up G.

  • @Smitty.Bacall
    @Smitty.Bacall6 күн бұрын

    Jesus these bots are fast

  • @confusedravioli2556

    @confusedravioli2556

    6 күн бұрын

    Keep it up smitty your war against the bots is a just one

  • @blackaua

    @blackaua

    6 күн бұрын

    ikr?

  • @steventrotter4958

    @steventrotter4958

    6 күн бұрын

    Hello sir please deposit please redeem code sir to Hindustan National ext +967

  • @indrickboreale7381

    @indrickboreale7381

    6 күн бұрын

    Abominable Intelligence strikes back

  • @torlekjpec5708

    @torlekjpec5708

    6 күн бұрын

    I tried to put a comment in a different reply and was blocked by KZread

  • @Qulize
    @Qulize6 күн бұрын

    Rome 2 was the downfall isn't it? That was a while ago geez

  • @ctg4818

    @ctg4818

    6 күн бұрын

    Around the time SEGA bought them

  • @R3GARnator

    @R3GARnator

    6 күн бұрын

    Shogun 2 turned out really great.

  • @WolfishJew986

    @WolfishJew986

    6 күн бұрын

    I don’t want to count them out yet. I’ve gotten endless amounts of enjoyment from the Warhammer series and WH2 was, by the time 3 came out, the best Total War game since Shogun 2, at least. They still have the capability to produce quality content, and I genuinely think the community feedback to SoC shocked them, as well as people’s responses to the rumored upcoming DLCs. We’ll see what happens going forward, and I’ll cross my fingers that they’ve hopefully learned their lesson. Could just be the dead cat bounce though. I guess we’ll see. 🤷‍♂️

  • @d.cirovic1695

    @d.cirovic1695

    5 күн бұрын

    Warhammer is a polished up turd. The core gampelay is still the exact same as rome 2, its just a shiny reskin of a fundamentaly flawed game.

  • @gustavosanches3454
    @gustavosanches34546 күн бұрын

    "Upper management" try not to be the worst shit in recent mankind history challenge impossible difficulty

  • @michele0076
    @michele00766 күн бұрын

    Rome II was when the decline became steep. Then it got worse with Attila. Then it got exponentially worse with Warhammer II and the fact that they replaced animated cut-scenes with cheap static 2D cinematics, and cut the number of quest battles in half citing a lack of funds as the ostensible reason... Lack of funds despite selling, what, millions of W1 copies!? Finally, with their new line-up of "community leaders" on corporate payroll making their appearance I realized the final set of nails were driven into the proverbial coffin, and indeed nowadays they charge 25€ per DLC while complaining how their business model is untenable. A zombie company, basically.

  • @sinuosalice-1434
    @sinuosalice-14346 күн бұрын

    Rome 2 and imperator: rome, two games that were abysmal but now with mod they are praised by the community

  • @slb797

    @slb797

    6 күн бұрын

    Mods are critical for the longevity of a game. Just look at Star Wars Empire at War. Been around for 20 odd years, multiple mods still actively updating with new ones coming still

  • @S3Cs4uN8

    @S3Cs4uN8

    6 күн бұрын

    The worst part with I:R is that a lot of the games problems were called out far before it even released but Johan just went full ostrich and stuck his head in the sand.

  • @monkian

    @monkian

    6 күн бұрын

    @@slb797 I am scrolling comments while I ponder my next move in my Hutt Cartel campaign.

  • @hatimzeineddine8723

    @hatimzeineddine8723

    6 күн бұрын

    Nah I still hate Rome 2

  • @jrdarby

    @jrdarby

    6 күн бұрын

    At least Paradox admitted they made a lot of mistakes and put a lot of financially unrewarded effort into fixing their game.

  • @michanycz7166
    @michanycz71666 күн бұрын

    Ok, I've commented on your videos of that nature in the past. And I've been with you for about a decade now. Nobody can dispute that you know those games and their mechanics inside out. Nobody can deny that you are passionate about the series and want those games to be good. With that out of the way... I do not see any rational way for CA to improve their conduct until either serious competition appears or people start to put their money where their mouth is. I haven't bought a Total War since Attila. I remember how hyped I was when Rome 2 came out and how it was only about the Emperor Edition when the game became what it should have been at launch. It is reasonable to surmise that what CA is doing is a consistent replacement of theirs consumer base. By pushing out the people who have been with the series, they can try to approach the younger audience (who, it would appear to CA at least, might be less demanding). Personally, I have moved on. I have always been a casual (I came to the series as a history nerd) and always loved the idea of rewriting history. At this point I play CK2 for that. Total War will always have a place in my heart (mostly because of Medieval 1 and 2), but if you are treated as an inconvenience at best, you move on. The best thing that could happen to Total War is a challenger. Thank you for all the things you have done for this community. Greetings from Poland.

  • @kirktown2046

    @kirktown2046

    6 күн бұрын

    If CA isn't profitable they're not going to adjust by listening to the community, they're going to adjust by become a mobile game developer. Making games for PC nowadays is thankless and unprofitable work.

  • @michanycz7166

    @michanycz7166

    6 күн бұрын

    @@kirktown2046 as they say in the Shogun 2 campaign intro "all that begins must end" 😁😁🏯🎎

  • @kodiakjak1
    @kodiakjak16 күн бұрын

    It really is the boardroom meeting meme between CA management and devs isn't it?

  • @Confirmed105
    @Confirmed1055 күн бұрын

    I genuinely believe the biggest issue the gaming industry has is the lack of actual strong unions. As we have seen now during this last period, gaming companies has faced NO repercussions from doing mass layoffs industrywide. All it has done is make sure that the suits gets to continue their hog-like feasting of all the profit that a game creates while workers break their backs crunching just to make an average salary. There never was any kind of counter-force towards this change in focus where we went from creating games, to creating profit. This band-aid solution that gamedevs has found of simply jumping ships means the issues with upper management still exist for those the next line of workers replacing them. And often, the reason they quit in the first place often has the exact same issues still existing in the new companies they start at.

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    One of the biggest issues in any industry is the lack of strong unions, from the perspective of the average worker and customer in general. The entire system is literally built to make money for the very few on the top. Obviously from the opposite perspective having a strong union among your workforce would be terrible, hence why many giant corporations are spending a lot of effort in undermining any attempts at unionising.

  • @empire23
    @empire236 күн бұрын

    Rome 2 broke my heart, changed my view of the industry. I had just had major knee surgery and was so excited to spend my recovery gaming and it was near unplayable and felt empty and flat on launch. At the time it seemed a major mess but the truth is those were the new borders of the gaming industry, every year a couple games get pushed out too early as a chaotic mess. After awhile if you get taken by the hype and buy a new game only to find glitches, server issues and a PR campaign you feel guilty for getting suckered again, like an abusive relationship. Cycle continues because it's profitable.

  • @McZippyMedia
    @McZippyMedia6 күн бұрын

    Remember to think for yourself, and don't let the toxic positive 'community' push you around. I don't work for CA, but in a similar field, and the amount of astroturfing is ridiculous. Vouland vid TLDR : - CA upper manage genuinely believes that showing up with a new sports car every week is an effective morale counter balance to paying their staff slave wages.

  • @McHobotheBobo

    @McHobotheBobo

    6 күн бұрын

    "Work hard enough and I'll be able to afford a second sports car next quarter"

  • @ctg4818

    @ctg4818

    6 күн бұрын

    Bobby needs a new yacht!

  • @calebbarnhouse496

    @calebbarnhouse496

    6 күн бұрын

    Volund is a terrible sources to proce something, he sings nothing but praise for anything in the old games, but anything even slightly new he'll fight to hell and back to avoid saying anything postive no matter how stupid he has to make himself look to make that point, like in one video he tried to say that warhammer sound desighn was shit because a low teir cannon unit wasn't as punchy as a high teir cannon unit in an older game, ignoring completely how powerful every high teir artillery unit looks and sounds

  • @jibbanibba2000

    @jibbanibba2000

    6 күн бұрын

    Slavery got back the moment corporations got THAT big

  • @McHobotheBobo

    @McHobotheBobo

    6 күн бұрын

    @calebbarnhouse496 A bit exaggerated for effect, but yeah yer not too far off the mark. I think Volund has important things to say though I disagree with a fair number of his takes

  • @dauntless0711
    @dauntless07116 күн бұрын

    As a member of the community I also would like to apologize to Julian. The sharp disconnect between what was advertised in that infamous interview and what we actually got was impossible to ignore, and it was easy to make him the scapegoat. While I never went so far as death threats, I did assume he lied about the state of the game and the work he did on it. *For that, I am sorry.*

  • @shorewall

    @shorewall

    5 күн бұрын

    Growing up is realizing that the people you can interact with are scapegoats. Customer Services Reps, Marketing Reps, etc. The people with power are insulated from the consequences of their actions.

  • @rockstar6goalkeeper
    @rockstar6goalkeeper6 күн бұрын

    Best case scenario would be for CA to go under and have the Total War franchise get acquired by Larian. CA is unsavable

  • @jerelly9469

    @jerelly9469

    6 күн бұрын

    CA isn’t going anywhere, they fill the niche in the gaming community, that niche is realtime strategy games, CA is one of the few big time companies that makes decent large scale RTS games, the one of the few companies that make them, the 2 others are is Blizzard (the sad thing is that they are probably worse then CA) and Paradox . so unfortunately unless a new company makes a 10/10 best game of the year RTS CA isn’t gonna go under

  • @rockstar6goalkeeper

    @rockstar6goalkeeper

    6 күн бұрын

    @@jerelly9469 look up Stormgate by Frost giant studios (ex-blizz devs). The rts market is about to receive an absolute banger. And CA games are more 4x than RTS anyways

  • @boynextdoor1951

    @boynextdoor1951

    5 күн бұрын

    @@rockstar6goalkeeper that game is DOA

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@jerelly9469 except that CA is owned by Sega, and if they won't perform well enough it's possible for Sega to shut down the entire studio. Unlikely, of course, but that decision is literally not for CA to make anymore.

  • @manianeusz8654
    @manianeusz86546 күн бұрын

    Always a shame to see stuff like that happen, it baffles me how those corporations don't see that long term commitment and making a polished product will get them way more in terms of sales and fanbase growth than some awful cash grabs that happen all the time, I won't even go into how dlc for warhammer looks to a fresh player.

  • @exantiuse497

    @exantiuse497

    6 күн бұрын

    CEO bonus is typically tied to quarterly or yearly profit figures. That is the reason. It is a ludicrous practice that encourages harmful actions that are bad for the long-term health of the company, such as torching community goodwill in exchange for a quick profit or laying off experienced staff to inflate profit figures

  • @RichSmithson

    @RichSmithson

    6 күн бұрын

    Iv literally just got into TW over the past 2 weeks. I brought TW Warhammer 1 on sale like 2 years ago but never actually played it till 2 weeks back. I loved it, I’m hooked. But everyone is telling me not to bother with TW Warhammer 1 and just go play 3. Except I’m looking at the price and to actually play immortal empires I need the 2nd game too which is mega expensive. My only option is to wait for the steam summer sale or just not get into the franchise. Does CA not understand that if you have a high mark of entry for new players, it’s going to completely kill growth of your game.

  • @manianeusz8654

    @manianeusz8654

    5 күн бұрын

    @@RichSmithson Look at key sites, you can get all 3 games in a pack for less than half of one game. And yeah warhammer one has many things that are really bothersome compared to 2 and 3. The worst thing is how you cant use previous games factions in warhammer 3 if you dont have 1 and 2.

  • @shorewall

    @shorewall

    5 күн бұрын

    @@RichSmithson I think CA only cares about pre-release and week 1 sales. That is what they show off to the investors. If sales fall off a cliff, or people return the game, they don't show that to the investors. Basically, CA really makes their money from lying to investors. That might explain why they are so comfortable with lying to customers as well.

  • @Loj84
    @Loj846 күн бұрын

    9:43 this is particularly true for programmers/computer scientists. The field is advancing so quickly that they have to be constantly learning and showing new skills just to remain competitive for job interviews. Smart programmers will often leave otherwise good jobs if they can’t build their skills there because they cannot afford to fall behind. Wasting years cutting corners and building garbage can really hurt a programmer’s career, even if they were explicitly told to do so.

  • @hatimzeineddine8723
    @hatimzeineddine87236 күн бұрын

    I'm not surprised, I've not stopped complaining about CA since Rome 2, and they keep adding more fuel to the fire that whole time.

  • @jeremyspice51
    @jeremyspice516 күн бұрын

    Interesting article in particular given how relatable it is to the business world in general. I used to work for a company in a completely different industry from CA and yet the issues he raises in the article are very similar to the issues I had in my job and which is why the company I worked for went under. Poor communication and consultation between departments. Terrible management decisions, no one taking responsibility for their actions, no real attempt by management to find out what was happening on the ground floor so to speak, leading to broken promises to clients and inevitably customers. You can tell a company is badly run when all of that happens and CA clearly was and is.

  • @R3GARnator

    @R3GARnator

    6 күн бұрын

    I worked in a food processing plant, the manager had no idea what was going on in the building. Telling him about what was going on regularly shocked him. Head in the sand management, it's called.

  • @jeremyspice51

    @jeremyspice51

    6 күн бұрын

    @@R3GARnator Yep I had that or something similar although in my case this particular manager where I worked couldn't even be bothered to find out what was happening in his department. Made loads of decisions and promises in meetings that weren't grounded in reality and then started setting impossible targets and deadlines for us that no one in the team could possibly ever meet as he never bothered to find out if we could actually do what he promised. Recipe for disaster.

  • @MasterObservato

    @MasterObservato

    6 күн бұрын

    For real. I also work in a different industry, but I recognized me doing the same sort of lying and making promises to management. Then one day I realized "Am I making a AAA game?! 😂" Haven't been able to negotiate my way out yet, but Lord knows I'm trying *sigh*

  • @jeremyspice51

    @jeremyspice51

    5 күн бұрын

    @@MasterObservato Oh well I hope you escape soon

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@R3GARnator I happen to work in a food processing plant right now and the owner is exactly like this. Worse yet, the manager is also somewhat similar. She does _kind of_ know _something_ of what happens on the ground, but at the same time often responds to things with language like "I'm not paying you for that / that much" even though she's just an employee like the rest of us and is only the one who checks approves our reported hours. Luckily for me at least, our organisation is kind of dumb in a way that strips her of a lot of actual power and places it in the hands of a higher operational manager/marketer who is actually a sane person who is always interested on being filled in on the perspectives of the workers.

  • @elviselcapo
    @elviselcapo5 күн бұрын

    I got banned from the steam page because I specifically mentioned the fact that when the game ads state one thing and we receive another, it is not fair to the customer. I did that twice and boom, banned.

  • @rawpotatofella9654
    @rawpotatofella96546 күн бұрын

    Thank you Julian for speaking out and thank you legend for covering this.

  • @Littlebob1986
    @Littlebob19865 күн бұрын

    If I hear Voland say shill one more time I will crack

  • @Balorian
    @Balorian6 күн бұрын

    Sad we have to try to save CA from CA. The other issue with the core developers leaving, is the new hiring practices are not bringing in the same quality of people, or worse people with a "modern" narrative in mind.

  • @inquisitor1939
    @inquisitor19396 күн бұрын

    Its going to be fun reading Steam Forums after that one. I'm not even playing the game since 2022 btw if that matters.

  • @shmekelfreckles8157

    @shmekelfreckles8157

    6 күн бұрын

    What game?

  • @slb797

    @slb797

    6 күн бұрын

    Havent even gotten the last 2 or 3 Warhammer 3 dlcs. And was looking forward to chaos dwarves from the time i read about them while playing total war warhammer 1

  • @judechauhan6715
    @judechauhan67156 күн бұрын

    My first TW game was Rome 2, I got it maybe 2015 or 2016 and by that point it was fine. I spent many hours enjoying it thoroughly and had 0 problem with it at all. Not too long after I got Medieval 2 for cheap because I wanted to play the LotR mod and it took a bit longer for me to get into it because it looked so much worse and basic features like not being able to unselect any unit when just observing bugged me a lot. I started to play it more and appreciate it more and got into Napoleon and Empire (also with mods), Thrones because I love that time period and Warhammer 1, then Atilla, then when WH3 came out got WH2 cheap and WH3 to play with my friends and also just for the huge map lol. It took me some time, but seeing what was lost over the years is obvious. It's a similar story to Fifa, a game I used to love growing up and felt 'nostalgic' about only to realise it wasn't nostalgia, the game just used to genuinely be better. I'm currently on Shogun 2 after watching the Shogun series and will play FotS after that... It seems like in TW's case, going forward looks nice but given Empire/Napoleon, Shogun 2 and Medieval 2 don't look horrible there is no reason to play any others.

  • @adeptusjoker7176
    @adeptusjoker71766 күн бұрын

    Thanks for continuing to fight for the community, Legend

  • @TheTank1110
    @TheTank11105 күн бұрын

    "My view is that the continued success of the franchise is better explained by the patience and goodwill of its players than it is by the stewardship of Total War’s management." I've been noticing more and more, especially over SoC, with over the years that this to be the case.

  • @apresmidi153
    @apresmidi1536 күн бұрын

    Thanks for covering this. This article obviously has relevance to the Total War community but it's also shedding light on a lot of bad practices that are probably going on elsewhere in the industry. Glassdoor is also awesome (if you have an account lol)

  • @FreeSamich
    @FreeSamich5 күн бұрын

    It's not that cinematic mode can't be cool. And ofc we, the gamers. appreciate how cool the units look up close- especially when they get visual upgrades. What beats me is that CA hasn't developed and added the option for a cinematic window that sits in the corner of the screen, next to or toggled with the minimap, so you can have best of both worlds- the standard overview camera and cinematic view, simultaneously. There's gotta be a way to do that, right? It would be fine even if there was a slight delay between the actual camera and the cinematic window, assuming that is less taxing on the CPU

  • @Achillez098
    @Achillez0986 күн бұрын

    I'm still playing Medieval 2, anyone else? 😂

  • @DinisF97

    @DinisF97

    5 күн бұрын

    Last played it during the pandemic.

  • @amongdrip8073

    @amongdrip8073

    2 күн бұрын

    Currently playing as The Moors, Reconquista ain't Sh*t.

  • @Person01234
    @Person012346 күн бұрын

    It's been clear for a very long time that the problem at CA has been the management. For some companies it's the publisher. For some companies, yes, it's the devs. The thing that really tipped me off that the problem at CA was it's own management was the persistent use of an engine that is not fit for purpose. I am sure the developers would change it if they could, it's obviously a headache for them trying to make it work every game, the publisher is unlikely to be forcing the developers to continue using such a crap engine if the devs were telling them they needed a new one, and they were getting public backlash every game, the clear source of this problem was CA's own management. More came out as time went on that pushed me towards this conclusion, but needless to say it's been satisfying with the leaks both to you and to volound, and the public statements that have finally been putting the blame more firmly where it belongs. Really I wish the developers had been saying this stuff years ago, it might be too late for the company to survive now.

  • @narutoxley
    @narutoxley6 күн бұрын

    This seems to be a inevitability when the insentive is money and not the product. The workers start caring more about keeping their position and economical security, causing the "yes man" behaviour. And the product suffers for more than just that reason. The "too many cooks in the kitchen" phenomena also seems to affect all the big game development companies. They seem to start the correction via all the layoffs and downscalin inprojects. There's also the inevitable cultural changes throught the years that alienate the OG fanbase, as the target audience changes to a more young and general audience that has more time to play the game instead of the now older generation that demands better standards. The desition of going to fantasy settings shows this, as it's more popular now to than the historical. I suspect that the only way to go to the old days is outside creative assembly, some indie developer with access to better tools and new tech could bring that vision back to life, like the new Manor Lords game.

  • @bubyCZ
    @bubyCZ6 күн бұрын

    If it was not for modders, I would have quit after Attila... the structural focus on doomstacking, everpresent replenishment and nonexisting risk/reward or just failing because of lack of skill instead of statcreep - you literally CANNOT LOOSE in modern TW if you have more than one braincell... CA needs to implode already... just like Bethesda, Bioware and Blizzard - so that the devs that care can make their own indie project. Yes, they will not be on such scale, but they would have creative freedom to actually make game by gamers for gamers.

  • @Warmaker01
    @Warmaker016 күн бұрын

    I didn't even know about that camera mode in Rome 2 with the "bonus" to it. That's funny as hell.

  • @r31n0ut
    @r31n0ut6 күн бұрын

    Management can be absolutely infuriating. Where I work one of the programs we work on tracks certain objects that users can register if they have one and want to let us know. But sometimes stuff goes wrong and the object gets registered twice. We were told not to do anything about the duplicate data, because that would reduce the total amount of objects and make the application look less impressive in reports.

  • @Kanikalion
    @Kanikalion6 күн бұрын

    Doesn't surprise. Most companies don't *want* competence anymore. It's not that we ONLY have a competence crisis anymore, it's that we have a an insecurity, narcissism, and also a competency crisis.

  • @TheBarser
    @TheBarser6 күн бұрын

    sounds like the old angry legend is back.

  • @Omega068
    @Omega0686 күн бұрын

    That article really explains a lot. Like how the same issues seem to crop up over and over. Reminds me of the articles about Blizzard that came out a few years ago. Sounds like CA leadership, similar to Blizzard, seems to lie to itself as much as it does its fans. Edit: I think this can only go on so long. I am hopeful I might get to play a few nice things they make in the future, but with leadership like that quality products will eventually grind to a halt.

  • @slayerdwarfify

    @slayerdwarfify

    6 күн бұрын

    Not even just CA and Blizzard. It's almost every studio industry wise - and beyond.

  • @darthjoo8896
    @darthjoo88966 күн бұрын

    Thanks for the coverage. Your *spotlighting** [edit] the issue is much appreciated! 🙏

  • @memitim171
    @memitim1715 күн бұрын

    Honestly it baffles me how they, and by they I mean most publishers, this stuff isn't exclusive to CA, even manage to release a game at all sometimes when the so-called development process consists almost entirely of *actual insanity*. I wouldn't be able to make a children's board game under these conditions, let alone a Total War game...

  • @SuperIzumo
    @SuperIzumo6 күн бұрын

    I had a conversation recently where a small part of me thinks the upper management is intentionally doing stuff like this to tank the franchise for the purpose of getting SEGA to cut them loose/sell them off to another company. Like not perform so bad they need to be shut down but just enough of diminishing returns/is it still worth the expense to keep them around? COH 3's launch was bad but Relic was able to negotiate buying their freedom from SEGA so hopefully that game will turn around within the year. Still more likely that the CA upper management is just that bad, but I'll be the fool who holds out some small hope.

  • @shorewall

    @shorewall

    5 күн бұрын

    It is common Corporate Culture.

  • @netsquall
    @netsquall6 күн бұрын

    This is endemic to the entire industry. Layoffs despite record shattering profits, enormous swings in upper echelon directives and 'vision' changes leading to dev-hell and work half-finished being shoved out the door... its bad.

  • @chapter_brother5437
    @chapter_brother54376 күн бұрын

    As someone who likes to work on game project just for fun I do belive Julian for saying "it’s quite possible to work on a project like this and even a couple of months from launch not really have a clear idea at all of what the final game is going to look like." Ussualy the very first "playable" game project is veeeery bare-bones and there is still much work to do. Why is that? Well because it's easier to split work in parts so you won't get lost when creating it. Now imagine what happends if you divide that work to different people with different experience and ideas, while leading party only give them "instructions" on how this should look like. This can lead to huge mess and someone needs to clean that. And that's always a lot of work. Now, because we are talking about code... well, let's say sometimes it's easier to rewrite everything anew (example: League of Legends old launcher, even if the one we use today is still buggy as hell). The worst part about code is when ppl like to write it in their very specific way. I recall the situation with Yandere Simulator (and let's ignore it's... other problems for now). When another guy tried to help with the game, he quickly started to rewrite code in more efficient way only to get kicked out by the author because he (the author) was getting lost in it. And now, with all that being said, let's all think about what is the literal bane in video games. The Code for AI. Why is that you might ask? Well the more complex the game gets, the more "paths" will be required to create. It can be messed up in a shooter, so imagine keeping that in check with strategy games with sooo many choices, abilities, unit types, faction strenght and weaknesses, very situational tools, etc. etc. It will always take a lot of work and time. For companies time means money and they want money while waving with fire in direction of time for the hope it will work out.

  • @GeraltofRivia22
    @GeraltofRivia226 күн бұрын

    Listening to this while playing Warhammer II.

  • @ezkiller93

    @ezkiller93

    6 күн бұрын

    Wh2 > Wh3

  • @user-kb1su7mg1g

    @user-kb1su7mg1g

    6 күн бұрын

    ... am i supposed to care?

  • @beenismchugerod4093

    @beenismchugerod4093

    5 күн бұрын

    @@user-kb1su7mg1g you obv cared enough to comment

  • @GeraltofRivia22

    @GeraltofRivia22

    5 күн бұрын

    @@user-kb1su7mg1g you cared enough to comment.

  • @shiggydiggy6847
    @shiggydiggy68475 күн бұрын

    Honestly this makes a lot of sense if you look at Warhammer 3 launch and it seems that the upper management is exactly the same. WH3 had some strange design priorities that I noticed at hindsight. Both the very cinematic tutorial and do-your-own-daemon-prince features are neat, but must require a ton of asset production that can't be recycled in the rest of the game. And in the daemon prince case it messed with future proofing of the faction since tech tree and such was built onto the mechanic so you'd have to rebuild the faction mechanics if you ever wanted to add lords to them. And it feels like they keep slapping on these features that eat a lot of development time, get inappropriate amount of QA resources and ultimately add less than just spending time to iron out existing features. Like imagine if instead of adding the Mirrors of Madness mode they made weapon teams deployable on top of walls?

  • @SUNTZULeague
    @SUNTZULeague5 күн бұрын

    I want Total War: Arena back. Could be a massive esport filling up stadiums if done right.

  • @Einhart
    @Einhart6 күн бұрын

    What do these executives add to the company?

  • @CrackBabyZaches

    @CrackBabyZaches

    6 күн бұрын

    Money valuation and illusion of *size and *success

  • @BloodwyrmWildheart

    @BloodwyrmWildheart

    5 күн бұрын

    Bad PR.

  • @jochenschmidt1072
    @jochenschmidt10725 күн бұрын

    There is a magic word, wich brings back quality and responsibilty! "You are fired!" 🙂 Lets try it and make CA great again! For this, state intervention has to be pushed back, freedom has to kick in and maybe creativity is coming back!

  • @bar_jumper1312
    @bar_jumper13126 күн бұрын

    7:57 could just be me but anything work related if you lie you get fired. If i work i always tell trueth cause i hired for that too. People who creating lies without really needs are not trust worthy and i would never do buisness with them again .... call me silly

  • @alexispommier2012
    @alexispommier20126 күн бұрын

    It would have been so much more lore consistent to give the general the ability to join an unit perspective. Losing the field view but giving the rejoined unit a massive boost

  • @Captain_Mckeggor
    @Captain_Mckeggor6 күн бұрын

    I remember him. It's sad to hear this kind of dishonest practice was allowed. I hope they learned from this.

  • @asonofliberty3662

    @asonofliberty3662

    6 күн бұрын

    “I hope they learned from this” are you that dumb? They haven’t been doing this kind of stuff for literally years and across many games. They definitely have learned, with what they can get away with, and the community still won’t get angry. If you think CA will take anything positive away from this, I pray for you

  • @jibbanibba2000

    @jibbanibba2000

    6 күн бұрын

    They did not learn shit

  • @wile123456
    @wile1234566 күн бұрын

    I remember when I first heard of total war franchise, was with angry Joe's review and rant over how terrible the game was and how it tarnished a great legacy

  • @imperialdoctor

    @imperialdoctor

    6 күн бұрын

    His Rome 2 Angry Review was shown to the dev team, and they had to sit through it knowing full well that this is what they released. He also gave Pharaoh his 10th most disappointing game position for last year. Ten/eleven years later and that's where it's at for historical. Depressing, really.

  • @slayerdwarfify

    @slayerdwarfify

    6 күн бұрын

    I haven't heard about AngryJoe in years, what year is this, 2015

  • @Latinkon

    @Latinkon

    6 күн бұрын

    I remember Angry Joe wondering if the additional budget for Rome II went to the marketing. Turns out he was right.

  • @d.cirovic1695

    @d.cirovic1695

    5 күн бұрын

    Back when rome 2 realsed i actually showed my mother that video to shiw her how bad the game is.

  • @ronaldramirez5601
    @ronaldramirez56016 күн бұрын

    It's sad to see the way corporate destroy everything. There are still some good execs, but these are a small part in ocean of shit. To bad for the future of Total War

  • @alexisF1031
    @alexisF10316 күн бұрын

    Thank you for giving this more exposure, this is very interesting and worthy of sharing

  • @killer3000ad
    @killer3000ad6 күн бұрын

    It doesn't surprise me that so much of Rome 2's budget was blown on marketing. You have the marketing department calling the shots in many game devs/publishers who are after short term buzz to hype the game up to boost the share price.

  • @TotalWarGameplay
    @TotalWarGameplay6 күн бұрын

    Hello Legend . What do you think starting a petition so that CA fixes Total War: Atilla especially the UI because everything is so small on 4k .

  • @trevorburton3290
    @trevorburton32906 күн бұрын

    Games as a service is probably the worst thing to ever happen to gaming. It has led to so many devs pushing low quality products under the guise that they will fix it later. And on the flip side devs can also use that model to do amazing things, the same devs we are complaining about made warhammer 2 (IMO) one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played. Corporate greed just kills everything and it ruins good devs.

  • @BERNTRR
    @BERNTRR6 күн бұрын

    Thank you Legend, and thank you Julian.

  • @orrian-8308
    @orrian-83086 күн бұрын

    Thank you legend for giving this statement the visibility it needs.As you said many people are putting themselves on the line to speak about all this shitty menagement of the game series we all love,and we have to make sure people know about it

  • @cgemmeker5897
    @cgemmeker58976 күн бұрын

    I have read a little of the article and I recently bought paraoh because i thought maybe I was to harsh. After playing for 40 hours I feel like CA made the game to push a mix of features they wanted to experiment with, a lot of the complains from prior total war games were not fixed and the new mechanics would have been good years ago. The took half of the gameplay and pushed new features that feel very incomplete. I hope they learned something from this and make a list of things we truly want.

  • @zikarisg9025
    @zikarisg90254 күн бұрын

    I would say the success of Total War is mainly based on the lack of a better alternative...

  • @bxzidffbxzidff
    @bxzidffbxzidff2 күн бұрын

    14:02 "It's important to be respectful" then immediately goes to a Volund video, the most toxic narcissist you could possibly find

  • @Alpha-1812
    @Alpha-18125 күн бұрын

    Speaking as someone who was credited in some CA games during that era, I recall Sega letting go a lot of employees around the end of 2014. I don't have more insight to add but I always felt Sega was too hands off with their devs, at least back then. They were also too reactionary, after the poor reception of aliens colonial marines, they then make sure alien isolation was as good as it gets but they hire too many people to do so. So there weren't enough projects going around once isolation was shipped. Then there was Total War Arena, which was very clear early on that it was almost impossible to monetize as a free to play game, yet more resources were put on it, resources that could have shifted to Attila to make it a better game.

  • @slayerdwarfify
    @slayerdwarfify6 күн бұрын

    Corporate management being corporate management. This is the same kind of thing happening at just about every large studio industry wide

  • @siegessaule
    @siegessaule5 күн бұрын

    I only read the first half of the article but It was surprising when the author claimed that all the programmers work on their own and then compile all their work at the end without consultation with the the programmers making other parts of the game. That and the part about the siege AI were quite surprising that people who make games professionally are so disorganized. I know they need to make deadlines so they can make money but you would think people who were university educated would be able to manage their time more effectively.

  • @MisterMick113

    @MisterMick113

    4 күн бұрын

    I'm betting a lot of the developer employees are younger and can barely figure out how to navigate life, much less their job. Forget about being good at it, you might be lucky to get competent.

  • @vaskil99
    @vaskil996 күн бұрын

    "The player shouldn't be able to bamboozle the AI. I do it quite often but I shouldn't be able to..." Excellent line! It's true too, the AI should not be designed in such a way that it falls for obvious explorations.

  • @ruukinen

    @ruukinen

    5 күн бұрын

    I mean, it should also not be playing at super human level. Making a fun AI to play against is much harder than making an AI that beats a human. What it should do is behave in a way that keeps verisimilitude going, whatever that means for the title in question.

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@ruukinen yes, but the article in question iterates several examples where the devs were prevented or even forbidden from designing the AI to have literally any responses to implemented mechanics, always with the reasoning that either the players will enjoy overpowering the AI easily or not notice in the first place.

  • @ruukinen

    @ruukinen

    4 күн бұрын

    @@houndofculann1793 Considering how many people don't like the artillery/spell dodging the ai does, which I find makes it more interesting to play against, I have a hard time believing players actually want a competent AI.

  • @houndofculann1793

    @houndofculann1793

    4 күн бұрын

    @@ruukinen now you are confusing the concept of a "competent" AI with the "superhuman" AI you used in your previous comment. The artillery/spell dodging is indeed an example of the superhuman capability of an AI to react to inputs in a way that no human can, which is why people dislike it. IF it was "just" a competent AI, mimicing the capabilities of a player, it would dodge some spells and some artillery shots, like it pretty much does actually in lower battle difficulties right now. And in said lower difficulties (IIRC Normal and Hard, haven't played since SoC though so I'm not aware if it has been changed since) I really like the way it works. You won't be hitting any max range slow projectiles or slow-to-impact spells on a non-distracted enemy, but they only slightly move before a faster one already hits. But on Very Hard battle difficulty it kicks in the superhuman gear and, as an AI obviously can, reacts immediately to the direct code of where a projectile/spell is going to hit exactly the very instant it fires instead of taking the time a human needs to process the visual information and determine where the hit is going to be. So if the AI unit has the movement speed to dodge, you're never going to hit an otherwise undistracted target. This is what we don't want, because this is not just competence anymore. However there is a clear spectrum shown here, which can also be applied in the general sense. People definitely _do_ want a competent AI, in the sense that they want the AI to be able to reasonably use all the same information and mechanics the players can, but not be supercompetent at it in a way that is totally impossible for a human to be. It's a tough balancing act, for sure, but that's definitely no excuse to intentionally exclude mechanical information from the AI's capabilities entirely.

  • @ruukinen

    @ruukinen

    4 күн бұрын

    @@houndofculann1793 I'll cut you off right there. Pretty much the bottom of the barrel noobs on multiplayer ladder are capable of artillery and spell dodging, and they do it way better than the current iteration of the AI does it. There is absolutely nothing superhuman about it. Also normal and lower AIs don't do it at all. Also a player will dodge even if otherwise "engaged" like ranged units unlike the AI. If the range we are working with is braindead->someone barely capable of thought, then my premise still holds, people don't want the AI to actually do things that are to the players detriment. Or that is how it looks like from the discourse. Obviously anyone commenting isn't representing the silent majority.

  • @adam346
    @adam346Күн бұрын

    Work in a department that was downsized by nearly 80%... we were contributing roughly 40% of total revenue to the company but our salaries were in the realm of $3m a year... so they hacked it down to 11 people, revenue (for the whole of the company) dropped by about 10% after a single season due to overruns, time-delays and failed delivery times... they threatened that more cuts would need to be done and we all joked "go ahead, get rid of the last 11 of us and see what happens" we all got 16% raises over the next few months.

  • @TheH3LLP3R
    @TheH3LLP3R3 сағат бұрын

    I've only ever used the cinematic mode when i was charging cataphracts into the backs of a blob of enemies. And then immediately turn it off. And thats if i even remember to use lol

  • @AnimeFan-dl4qd
    @AnimeFan-dl4qd6 күн бұрын

    8:10 that is really sad. Its one thing that the modus should give a combat bonus but straight lying is disrespecting the community.

  • @shorewall

    @shorewall

    5 күн бұрын

    Corporations are anti-human. They are the Evil AI, and they will destroy the world.

  • @kingofmaiars
    @kingofmaiars6 күн бұрын

    Corporate "culture" strikes again. Greed ruins art.

  • @imakedamoney420smokeweed

    @imakedamoney420smokeweed

    6 күн бұрын

    W pfp

  • @Nick-hi9gx
    @Nick-hi9gx6 күн бұрын

    The "cinematic mode" combat bonus is so funny. I use it all the time..to fire artillery, and never, ever for anything else because why would I?

  • @yousefleithi2382
    @yousefleithi23825 күн бұрын

    Legend I wish you would have made a longer video or a livestream as Julian's statement was very thorough and eye opening.

  • @bar_jumper1312
    @bar_jumper13126 күн бұрын

    These days u gotta walk away from a company if the are idiot. I dont buy Sony , CA or Arrowheads stuff ever again. Playstation 4 pro keeps getting down grade patches, CA...., Arrowhead just destroyed Helldivers 2 and swindelt the community alot. I m done with these imposters

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