Discord Adding Ads, April Fools' Jokes, Indie Funding Decreasing, + More! - GameLinked Apr 2, 2024

JakobRush · April 3

NEWS SOURCES:

IT’S CAUSING…DISPUTES

Discord adding ads. In a weird way

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/discord-starts-down-the-dangerous-road-of-ads-this-week/

Even worse: your friends will be in on it https://www.gamespot.com/articles/youll-soon-start-seeing-ads-on-discord-from-your-friends/1100-6522309/

They’re “expanding” their previously-seen “Quests” ads, like this one from May the 4th https://discord.com/blog/fortnite-quest

Where you play a game and share a screen in Discord, you have the opportunity to earn in-game “gifts”

This isn’t super recent news; Discord talked about Quests in March in a blog post

https://discord.com/blog/our-quest-to-support-game-developers

CEO also spoke to Bloomberg

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/discord-to-offer-rewards-for-gamers-as-ceo-considers-ipo-1.2044117

CEO Jason Citron said at the time ““Our ambition is that every game will offer quests on Discord,” Citron said.” https://lmg.gg/57cTZ (BNN Bloomberg)

While it “sounds similar to the digital rewards, or drops, streaming service Twitch offers to viewers when they watch certain streams as part of paid partnerships” https://lmg.gg/UXuJE (GameSpot)

there are differences: Some users will be immediately made aware of the quest, while others only learn about the quest by WATCHING someone else? Quote: “Some players will be made aware that a Quest is available, while others will discover it as their friends accept and embark on the Quest.” https://lmg.gg/w0jfL (Discord)

Also the ads will be targeted and live in the “bottom-left” of the screen https://lmg.gg/JaarL (Ars Technica)

Though users can “opt out of personal promotions for Quests” https://lmg.gg/dnBAi (Ars Technica)

Bit weird, their testimony In January before the US senate on online child safety in January specifically named their non-advertising business model as one of the key ways it differs from “traditional social media platforms” https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2024-01-31_-_testimony_-_citron.pdf

- Specific quote: “In contrast to the advertising-based business models of social media companies, Discord does not sell advertising and instead builds premium features that users can choose to purchase”

Discord made an April fools’ video about adding loot boxes https://youtu.be/cc2-4ci4G84?t=16

Apparently “Discord managed to create a working YouTube view bot by playing the loot box announcement trailer on loop in the background of the in-app toast notification about the video itself.” https://www.ign.com/articles/discord-seemingly-accidentally-viewbotted-its-own-april-fools-video-to-smash-the-gta-6-trailer-record-in-half-a-day

MORE DETAILS IN THE BOTTOM-RIGHT

April Fools’

CDPR announced Cyberpunk 2077 Floppy Edition https://twitter.com/CyberpunkGame/status/1774738727556014256

PowerWash Simulator added reverse-cleaning mode https://twitter.com/PowerWashSim/status/1774738479244804258

● Title @0:58

Among Us: Long Mode https://youtu.be/ZKM_VoNebjY?t=28

Shovel Knight devs announce dirt-based skincare line https://youtu.be/50vNsBqPS-o

Pokemon Sleep Champions Tournament https://youtu.be/vAyX663uuhE

Overwatch 2 added changes to every hero https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/the-overwatch-2-april-fools-day-patch-notes-are-here-and-theyre-uh-really-really-really-balanced

Mauga became “Smallga”, smaller in size than every other hero and only has 25 health https://youtu.be/6uGfR2tthCQ?t=72

My favorite, Bandai Namco’s “look” at an Elden Ring expansion, where the text just gets bigger https://twitter.com/BandaiNamcoUS/status/1774837913869570131

THE GHOST OF XBOX GAME PAST

Xbox showcases four indie games backed by ID@Xbox

https://www.eurogamer.net/xbox-showcases-four-indie-games-backed-by-idxbox

Two of which are coming to Game Pass https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/04/xbox-highlights-four-upcoming-releases-at-special-indie-showcase

Interesting because indie devs say big Game Pass deals have dried up https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/the-gold-rush-is-over-slay-the-spire-and-darkest-dungeon-devs-say-that-big-game-pass-and-epic-exclusive-deals-have-dried-up-for-indie-devs/

Drying up https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2024/03/game-pass-woes-for-indie-devs-as-microsoft-epic-funding-reportedly-drying-up

Casey Yano, co-Founder of Slay the Spire studio Mega Crit, said he talked to many teams; outlook is bad https://lmg.gg/COxnc (PC Gamer)

Darkest Dungeon director Chris Bourassa says Microsoft and Epic deals “come down in scrope” and “The gold rush is over.” https://lmg.gg/R8tpp (PC Gamer)

Strange since indie/smalle teams have had huge success in partnerships with platforms:

Helldivers 2 is currently America’s best-selling game of the year https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/helldivers-2-is-usas-best-selling-game-of-the-year-so-far-with-nearly-60-of-sales-on-pc/

Palworld had the BIGGEST third-party launch on Game Pass ever https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2024/01/31/more-than-7-million-players-make-palworld-biggest-third-party-game-pass-launch-ever/

Gears 6 may be open world https://insider-gaming.com/gears-6-open-world/

QUICK BITS

BASED

Video games officially sanctioned sport in Utah (joke: fitting for a state who’s capital is a lake of salt)

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/high-school-sports/2024/04/01/video-games-are-now-an-officially/

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/esports-officially-sanctioned-as-utah-high-school-activity

https://www.heraldextra.com/sports/2024/apr/01/uhsaa-approves-esports-starting-in-2025-26-school-year/

SOLD OUT

Embracer says it’s done selling studios after Gearbox