Hey Jim, DON'T STOP going on about the horrible sexual abuse at those companies, you've helped so many players open their eyes to the nastiness that is out there (well opened them even more). Don't stop despite those who say no. You've done a great job exposing those who need exposing. BTW welcome back to South Yorkshire :)
Literally no one has ever told him to stop, this is typical made up leftist nonsense. What they DID say was that he mentions it every two fucking seconds in other to virtue signal. Literally everyone knows about the scandal, him bringing it up ANY time talking about a blizzard product is so utterly performative and cringe.
and remember everyone, its just reflective of corperate behaviour across all industries. the game industry is just more visible than most and that isnt saying much!
I want her to talk about it, but also I think people have to understand that something as real and dark as sexual abuse is A LOT to take in with their 20 minutes of UA-cam video time. Like A LOT a lot. I don't think I was even able to finish that video because I was just so disgusted with the company getting away with it, it was just such a miserable experience. And, of course, I can't really send it to anyone I know, because who would I want to push through that, right? I'm not sure what the answer is to that, and I'm sure it opened people's eyes. But holy shit, I can't imagine what it'd be like if more videos on the channel were like that. Like at some point I kind-of need a bit of relief to help get through rough material, you know? That just felt bad! I can't blame people for being upset, it's an extremely upsetting situation.
Square Enix relocated it's main office in 2012, based on at-the-time CEO Yoichi Wada consulting a fortune teller. Square Enix likely has realized that Blockchain/Crypto/NFTs are a bad idea but walking back such a major and public decision would make them "lose face" in addition to all the IP and studios they already lost by selling them for magic bean money.
@@ausgod538 Maybe, but the deal sounds pretty bad. They sold stack of classical IPs including heavy hitters like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Hitman for 300 million during s time when Bungie (basically a studio with a single game, Destiny 2) was sold for 3.6 BILLION.
I dunno I feel like SE's dysfunction is unique. EA just predictably drains smaller companies of everything that was interesting about them, SE operates by crazy corporate moon logic that suggests things like doubling down on NFTs when the market is just a smoldering crater.
The comment they read out is such a brain dead comment towards them. They were one of the very first game critics targeting game company behaviour rather than just the game design itself. Its how they got fkn started with this channel after their boss from their official game criticism job told them to ignore the former and focus on the latter. Whoever made that comment is a moron on so many levels, its like they went out of their way to be wrong in every sentence.
It'd be cool if you could cover "undead services." Games that were clearly meant to be live services, but had those features stripped late in development, leaving just the grind. Gotham Knights is a good example, but I know there're others.
Didn't Sterling somewhat recently find one of those games on Apple Play or whatever? It was a scrolling shooter type game that is heavily monetized everywhere but on Apple Play due to them not allowing microtransactions for their featured games but the devs didn't bother changing the balancing at all. As a result the game is all the grind and none of the fun. Oh I found it, it was the episode about Galaga, 10 months ago. Episode is "Insights From A Terrible Galaga Game".
I've been watching The Jimquisition for a really long time. I'm talking way back when it was on The Escapist website. I do feel like I enjoy the episodes less now than I used to. However, I don't think it's the channel's fault at all. I totally think it's the game industry becoming worse and worse that's the issue. It's made these weekly episodes become a constant reminder of how shit everything is now and it just seems to keep getting worse. I mean there are certainly some exceptions to this with indie games and even a few AAA titles like Elden Ring. Overall though I think this channel isn't as fun as it used to be because the industry has become greedy and made almost everything miserable. There is only one solution... BRING BACK BOGLIN WATCH!!!
Sterling their self has only changed for the better over the last couple years. I love seeing how expressive they've become, pursuing passions like the wrestling etc. It's just the game industry that's gotten worse and one note, making the Jimquisition seem repetitive and doomer
Thank you so much for talking about FFVII The First Soldier. I've played the game from start to end, and have made many friends through it. The gameplay itself is so fun (the weapons and magic sets it apart from other BRs/shooters), especially when you play with friends. But everything else was underbaked and downright frustrating. From the get-go, as soon as it was announced, the near-universal feedback was to a) release it on PC and console and b) incorporate more story and depth so that the game contributed to worldbuilding and c) NOT use the gacha/lootbox/live service system because none of us enjoy it or can afford it in the middle of a global pandemic and economic crisis. They simply steamrolled ahead, ignoring feedback form fans and ambassadors alike. I almost became an ambassador, since that would give my UA-cam videos more exposure, but reading the fine print revealed they could use my content however they wanted, I couldn't "say anything bad" about their game or practices and I'd have to say "SPONSORED BY SQUARE ENIX" even though ambassadors received no money or benefits beyond early access to update info and the odd in-game bonuses. Many ambassadors quit because of how much they were ignored and outright screwed over 😔 They announced the game's closure on the same day they released the Halloween update, which they expected ambassadors to put out promotional content for despite not telling ANY of them what was happening. The announcement left so many people, myself included, devastated and furious. The phrasing of their EOS statement felt like they were framing themselves as victims, as if they hadn't ignored feedback for months and pushed us to fork out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for in-game skins. We didn't give enough of ourselves to keep this game afloat, that's how it read to many of us. For me personally, it was insulting and so manipulative 😕 I love FFVII, but my experience as part of the FF7FS community has left a sour taste in my mouth. If SE's NFT scheme creeps its way into FFVII's gameplay I'll be abandoning the franchise and company for good. They truly don't care about their audience or the quality of their work. I feel so sorry for the workers who put so much effort into graphics, coding, marketing, sound design, editing etc etc, only to work under such corrupt superiors, it's truly not their fault and they're just as much victims as us fans/customers are. I wish I had more faith in the gaming industry, but the more I learn and experience with it the more I wonder what my UA-camr future is gonna look like 💚
@@CallN0w it's so important that our stories be heard - it's so easy to sweep failed games under the rug and pretend nobody played it. But no, even now hundreds of people are playing the game til the end. This was my first experience with gacha/live service, but for others in the community they've tried time and time again to be loyal to SE and try and make these games work. Many have made fun of us for "falling for it" and being "stupid" enough to pay real money for skins, but as an autistic person I experienced firsthand how horribly predatory the whole thing was - I spent well over $600 trying to get an Aerith skin I wanted before having to catch myself. It preys on our nostalgia and completionist desires to push players into paying. It's basically gambling, but worse because it targets a niche audience of veteran FFVII fans who wanna run around as their favourite characters with a glock. It's heartbreaking because gameplay wise it was good, it just needed more variety and story/lore to justify its existence and playability. But yeah, they never listened to feedback from regular players and only sometimes took trivial suggestions onboard from ambassadors.
When the conversation on "LiVe SeRvIcEs" comes up, I remember this snarky quote from some gaming executive: "Remember when the game you paid for was the whole game you got?" (Quote paraphrased from memory) *YES.* Yes I do remember that and I miss it very much!
For me. My quote was, "There is no game in existence as dead as a Dead Live Service game." My thought after already seeing a number of online-only games die before "Live Services" became a buzzword. Paying into those games means you agree to pay for an asset that will just disappear into the ether, sooner or later.
The funny thing is that even successful live services are self defeating in a way. I play Warframe. It's a grindy free to play live service game that I enjoy. But as a result of the time investment to play it, I'm not going to play another live game. Digital Extremes, the makers of Warframe plan on releasing another live service game in the future. It looks cool, but considering the time and money I've put into Warframe, I'm unsure if I'll be playing it. And it Warframe ever died, that wouldn't encourage me to start up on another live service anytime soon.
@@jamesrule1338 That's the problem, as Steph has pointed out time and time again, there just isn't the *room* for all these Live Service games, people will play one, maybe two at most but companies keep shitting them out thinking they'll be 'The One' which pulls a Fortenite and gets all the cash.
They already screwd over customer rights concerning software. It set a bad precedence over 3-4 decades ago. Any other product you bought was yours and didnt have any liability exclusion clauses. And now they're doing it all over the world any product now you will buy will have everything inside but you'll have to pay subscription to unlock already built-in features!
When the haters have to rant that long and hard just to convince themselves their hatred is justified, it just underlines how little substance there is to any of their "arguments". If there was anything solid in there, they wouldn't need such a big sack of it...
Damn took that chair like a champ, can't even tell if that was scripted or not. EDIT: Happy birthday, i appreciate what you do. I been learning programming and art while watching your videos for years among the many other content creators i watch.
@@kamalo01 The character could still be a Duke even if Jim is non-binary. Now I'm curious what a non-binary noble would call themselves, most titles like Duke, Earl, or Viscount are gendered.
There’s channel called the DireGentleman and one of the hosts said something that I think these “live services” should take to heart. “If you’re gonna sell out, you have to first have something people want to buy.”
yup, at least make a single player mode, so when the game dies it doesn't become trash multiplayer only games have on problem that keeps me from engaging for a long time, you can only unlock things playing multiplayer, so you, your team mates and the opponents aren't playing for fun, or sometimes even playing to win, because they are on grind mode, and since content is endless some one will always be on grind mode, even after you are satisfied with your cosmetics which makes the games less fun, old games gave you the opportunity to unlock stuff on single player, and them use that stuff on the multiplayer, and on the single player you could unlock stuff on your time, instead of being limited by daily missions, weekly missions or battle passes
I buy and play indie games precisely because they have more worth to me than the incomprehensible amount of live services the AAA space keeps shoving out of the door.
@@StrazdasLT It was 'the bros' and people who of a certain political leaning who completely missed the point when called out for actual toxic behaviour dude.
It's scary that live services games shut down so fast, that archivists can't keep up with their speed of closure. You know, it's really sad that so much art in these games is getting lost in live service model.
There are so many MMO/live service games it's ridiculous. On my computer alone there's Guild wars 2, Final Fantasy 14 , and 15(multiplayer), marvel's avengers, Monster hunter world, fallout faility6, Dragon Age Inquisition (has a mode outside the single player experience), all 4 mass effects, titan fall, Minecraft, Warframe, to a lesser extent Dota2, Minion masters, Smite, Mordor 1&2 omg there's probably more that I didn't realize cause I don't even play any of these for their live service. There's just so fucking many and I don't even play a damn one of them anymore most I played for the single player and the live service is just "there" for no reason. Theres so many of these shits and I'm one person I'm not splitting my time between all that shit. It's so funny I have all those live service games and the only game I log on everyday to play is YU-GI-OH master duel... Literally a card game... Cause simply put it respects my time. No walking, no raids, no loading screens, no waiting around for ppl to join my lobby 1 of the thousands seeking. Nope... Just click a button and play cards.
The suits running mainstream publishers never cared much for the history or culture of video games in the first place, so preserving art never was a concern they bothered themselves with. I would never trust someone like Bobby Kotick to maintain a emulation project like MAME or Ruffle.
I don't think I want a 6 hour long Jimquisition every year, or do I? Edit: Now I need to figure out how to play taps on a kazoo for this to be part of a bit.
That first hate mail read by JSteph is a perfect example of what The Gamers(tm) is all about: feelings over facts, and a loooooot of grammatical errors. Keep fighting the good fight, JSteph, and thank God for you!
@@sabrinarosario6499 Hatemail has been normalized before internet was invented. Its not something thats ever going to stop. This is because people have different opinions.
@@therealryan1329 _"If you are online and semi popular you will get hate mail, it was pointless"_ You wrote that like the latter would logically follow from the former; it doesn't. There are people who would like others to believe so though; are you one of those, or just ignorant?
i doubt you'll see this, but holy shit it feels so good to have you still saying it as it is. nobody else i know is willing to call live services the piece of shit they are, and its maddening having to argue with them 24/7 that the skinner box theyre trapped in is actually exploitative
Ross Scott of Accursed Farms has been banging on about live services being a scam that kills games for years now. Nobody listens to him, either. It's like are short-sighted and refuse to see the big picture and don't want to believe they're being scammed and exploited or something.
Hi JSS, happy birthday and I sincerely wish you a great day. I feel sorry that you recieved that dreadful message at the beginning, nobody should deal with that on such a special day. Thank you for continuing despite the trials and tribulations. You will always have our support.
@@footballdesk4417 publicly broadcasting that you’re incapable of comprehending the distinction between biology and social constructs, as well the implications you don’t understand the inherent fluidity of linguistics ( let alone the fluidity of gender ) is an effective way to let everyone know you’re a dumb bitxh. I can appreciate the strat but you know you don’t have to beat “ let the world im a dumb bitxh any% “ at all, let alone your pb. it’s a hard game and honestly this leave of masochistic behaviour makes me worried dear.
You’re doing great work. Any complaints and criticism about loot boxes and corporate greed and harassment and mistreatment is DESERVED. People need to be reminded that it doesn’t need to be like this and it shouldn’t be like this.
And yet again Stephanie was 100% right. Live services were never a sustainable model. I honestly have no idea why so many games thought they could copy the old school mmo business model and expect to be successful. Even among mmo's there's very few games that enjoy that level of success while providing consistent, regular updates. It's about as baffling as when all the Fortnite clones started popping up. It's like "Really? Why would anyone play a worse version of Fortnite when they can just play Fortnite?" We need more live service games to fail, we need more companies to feel the sting of all their time and investments amounting to nothing. We need these companies to learn this lesson again and again until they stop green-lighting this ridiculous business model.
Not sure if Sterling will see this but, I know you have other things you need to cover, promote and do but, I would love to see you do another heaving toy chest. You seemed genuinely happy to show off your toys and tell us about them and I believe you deserve to be able to show off your collection. Of course, that is only if you want to. I know you're busy with other projects but, it felt nice for you to be a little more personal while actually being happy and excited in the previous chests
@@SpellboundTutor it's not just that, I believe they deserve to make videos on things that actually make them happy. Rather than constantly covering how horrid the AAA game industry is. I know they talk about their wrestling career but, they don't make full videos off that, which I think they should.
@@paradoxical998 You're absolutely not wrong! One of the things I actively disliked about Steph's vids before they came out was how they were getting more and more bitter about more and more arbitrary things. I think they should continue to hold the game industry to account because they're one of the few who actually do that and fewer still who don't wait for popular opinion to sway, but you are correct that they should also share what it is that makes them happy.
Along with that, I think it's pathetic that you're so "adult" that you can't fathom someone being excited about anything that makes them happy, even something as "juvenile" as toys, video games, model kits, or cartoons.
Over in Japan and Southeast Asia, arcade games have "live services" too. Like those Dragon Quest games where you collect cards of monssters and heroes starting with Dragon Quest Battle Road and seemingly ending with season 6 of Dragon Quest Scan Battlers (granted I could only find info on the English Malaysian release) or Square Enix's Lords of Vermilion collectable card-based Tower Defense series (which is referenced in FFXIV with Lords of Verminion even on the western servers in spite of us not getting Lords of Vermilion). Also let's not forget about Dissidia (Arcade), which was _actually ported_ as Dissidia NT, even though it was the middest Dissidia in existence (even Opera Omina makes it look bad). Square Enix can't even keep this sh*t out of arcades, it's amazing really.
It continuously baffles me that Square Enix keeps mangling all these live service games, and yet they have one of the best examples of a live service under their belts and currently active. Also, belated happy birthday James Stephanie Sterling! Thank God for you, and the valuable work that you do!
But they could have TWO live services. And if they can have a second one, it should be cheaper to maintain. And develop for. Honesty they shouldn't have to pay for it at all. Just get money.
but is it making enough money for them? as in, they want continous growth. a steady income from a moderately succesful game (i asumme it's ffiv) is not the same as a cashcow in their world. they want record breaking numbers in cash. its always more more more and more. there is just not enough cash in the world to statsify them
@@timpointer6664 Especially given that ffxiv itself nearly crashed and burned for a good long while until managing to turn things around and regain player trust. Like, they genuinely worked hard on xiv to make it worthy of a subscription purchase and of trust, and then they just have all these other live services that are the disasters they are somehow.
What’s worse for Square Enix is that the more Live Service games they publish gets shut down, the more players are unwilling to play/spend another live service ever again. For example the latest entry Foamstars: From the day it was revealed, players already said it was a dead game and it will shut down in 6 moths. That bad omen transcended up to its launch, with much less player count than both Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones.
I said it before, I'll say it again. While my tastes in video games can differ from JSS. I still consider Sterling to be one of the most important voices in the gaming industry. There is a need for such criticism to keep a reminder of corporations and people to simply do better. And Happy Birthday, JSS!
I work full time as an indie developer since 2018 and i watch a lot of speaks and talks about the game industry. Sometimes i just feel dirty from all the things I hear and learn. I know its my job, and i try my best to do the best i can for my players, giving good content for a fair price. But i just cant help to feel the nastiness sometimes. Watching your content cleans my soul. Sometimes I feel I need to watch your old content, the videos I know when you speaks about the problems over unckecked capitalism and greed in the game market. Watching you just remembers me that even if society and even your players are "ok" with things you do, there are always the correct thing to do. Your content give me strength to do the best I can and always remember to not be a fkg wanker. You are a great and important voice against greed of big corporations on the game industry. I just wanted you to know that. That you are helping a developer to do his best to not screw his players. And feel better about his job too. Thank you very much.
There's now a smear across one of my Dark Angels because you made me burst out laughing whilst trying to paint some fine detail :D. Never stop Commander, and Happy Birthday!
MH Rise and Splatoon contain the most player friendly versions of the live service model, without being live services! Make a game with one purchase price and no MTX, support it with actually free content, make a big expansion that costs money but is meaty enough to justify while extending the good will of the player base, repeat steps 2 and 3. AAA in general doesn’t have the backbone to do step 1, let alone the other two steps over and over which require hard work and actually listening to players!
@@pootissandvichhere9135 I highly disagree with the pricing and quality of the DLC content in Rise though. Yeah paying for extra stuff is fine if it incentivizes the company to push both paid and free content to the game as well as supporting it but the very small cosmetics are too overpriced to pay to get just one of. The voice packs are pretty great, as are the layered weapons but they're also more expensive as a result.
The person who wrote that comment at the start can get in the sea. You're amazing, never stop doing what you do and being who you are. You are loved and respected just as you are by many of us and have been for years.
Happy Birthday Stephanie, thank you for a year of entertainment and keeping us informed of the status of the toxic maelstrom that is the gaming industry. Also I just have to add I love that coat it looks so good on you! I genuinely hope you have a Happy New Year and further success in your endeavors.
The lobster camera-man "clack" was absolutely perfect xD (could probably rip that audio and use it as a sound cue in future) Happy Belated Birthday. Looking forward to another year of shows, and just maybe I'll be able to have the holiday available to see a wrestling show of yours in the nearby area (even though I know fuck all about wrestling :P).
People who want you to shut up just want to close their eyes to the toxicity of the gaming industry. You don't let us ignore it and it makes them mad, because that means that they have to position themselves. Don't ever let up. You're such an important voice in an otherwise far too uncritical system.
Jesus, I didn't realize they were outright killing Babylon's Fall after less than a year. 5 years, millions of dollars, and hundreds of hours of developers' time well-spent.
Love letter at the start! Happy birthday anyway. On a serious note - I am grateful for your content. I helped me more critically look at the industry and affected my spending and supporting decisions. I am slowly helping my daughter look critically at the game (and not only game) world. Lots of love in 2023!
1:06 ‘Does this much better and precise than you’ Can only assume that by ‘precise’ they mean: Report it once and then drop the subject entirely so they can start hyping up new game releases.
This video felt almost like a homecoming - it had such a familiar bite that I felt was missing in some of last year's videos (not to say they were bad just felt like something was missing), and I loved every second of it. I hope you had a good birthday yesterday
If it's indeed your birthday, I wish you have the most wonderful time with the people you like and cherish! It has been a joy to watch you embrace your & your interest, and it motivates to do the same. Hope many chair smacks will come your way (in a good wrestling way)
The most successful live service games have often been surprising to even the devs themselves. Such as Warframe was a passion project, released as a last gasp by a studio nearly out of money. So no, you can't plan for a live service game. You can't promise any longevity. Customers absolutely have all the power in picking the winners and losers. Square has completely forgotten that little fact.
Steph here was also partly responsible for some of it's success because they called out the bs Warframe was doing. The devs listened and made the game less predatory
7:58 through 8:36 had me laughing harder every ten seconds until I had to pause the video and go back. The joy radiating from this video is pure and real.
Lol Justin 😂 Thank you for your amazing edits honestly, the material from JSS is of course superb but you manage to take the humour a notch every time 😂
Happy Birthday Steph, don't let gamers™ get to you. You do a great job exposing the worst side of the games industry and still manages to look fabulous while doing it.
I've watched Steph bring out so much random crap now, that nothing can surprise me at this point. Steph could bring out a taxidermy monster that they wrestled to death, and the only surprising part would be that the first monster Steph killed and stuffed wasn't Bobby Kotick.
Years past I'd ask "Why does an industry that I used to love suck?" Now I ask "Why does an industry that I used to love suck _this freaking hard?"_ 😩 I'm just glad you're still around. I'm impressed _anyone_ with a conscience can keep going. I just checked, and it's been four and a half _years_ since Moviebob has talked about video games AT ALL. Don't let the badly written e-mails fool you; you're doing the FSM's work.
Happy new year Commander! 💜❤️ Thank you for this wonderful gift 💜 I forgot it was Monday and I couldn't be happier to see you! Anf happy birthday! Lots of love !
I'm actually suprised it took so long for these kinds of games to have their plugs pulled so quickly. It doesn't take a genius to see that if you make games that are meant to take all your time for ten years straight, that leaves less time for other games. Only so many live service games can exist at any one time because they carve up that market. Everything else has to die early. Which makes Sony making 12 live service games an odd choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching you get hit in the face with a chair, but only because I know it makes you so happy. You are a gem James/Stephanie Sterling, and you deserve all the happiness you can get. Happy new year and happy birthday!
"... shut down the hilariously named *Shinra Credits*-" I was unfortunately taking a sip of water when Stephanie read that absolutely on-point name, and subsequently almost ended up spewing said drink all over the cat unsuspectingly sitting in my lap! ...*Shinra Credits*
keep holding the industry accuntable, Steph. it may seem like you've lost support since a very specific date last year, but you're still getting more likes and comments on your weekly videos than most of the larger video game news outlets that go out of their way to avoid or tip-toe around the stories you share with us, and of the subs you've lost since that very specific date, nothing of value was truly lost there. much love and respect. you're doing good work.
I honestly can't be bothered with live service games anymore. Even with the good and successful ones, I just can't be bothered to dedicate time to grinding on a regular schedule, and I'm not even that busy these days. There's so many finite games out there that provide an actually fulfilling experience that I'm probably set for life at this point.
Honestly I don't even get angry at Square Enix stans anymore, it's more of a sad pity that they desperately cling to something which gives them comfort while it blatantly abuses their trust and drains their bank accounts incrementally.
If someone insists on blockchain use after over a decade of evidence it's all a scam, I can't say I pity them anymore. Less so if they're corpos. If Square goes under... well, may the racist f-s go under.
Happy (belated) birthday, Steph! I honestly thought that your response to the hate mail at the beginning of the video would be to brush it off and poke fun at the hater for getting so worked up over your success, because your videos are awesome and informative. I love seeing your Jimquisition videos put a spotlight on very real issues in the industry, and I love how you cover it with a righteous fury. It's honestly very cathartic to watch - when I'm really upset at whatever B.S. the "triple A" industry has gotten up to, I like to watch your videos on it to reassure myself that I'm not alone in thinking that their horrid practices & ethics violations shouldn't be normalized or tolerated.
Hey JSS, happy birthday. Just wanna say I've been watching the Jimquisition since the second episode on the escapist, and I've never missed an episode. Monday is always coming.
Sorry I'm late, but happy birthday! Many happy (and viciously ranty) returns of the day. Seriously, the meaner you get the more I like it, because not a scrap of it is undeserved.
NO level of hyperbole and parody is enough to truly shine a light on corporate GREED, worker abuse, consumer exploitation and the general state of the video games industry that serves its 1% shareholder owners. keep doing what you are doing Jimquisition as it continues to add more voice and growing awareness that fixes and solutions will need implementing
God damn, the beginning of the video was absolutely brutal! ...I can't decide which bait-and-switch to pull with this one, so just guess which one I'm referring to. Hope you had fun on your birthday, Steph.
I've been watching your content for a very long time and you have always been one of my favorite creators. You've brought more awareness to so much shady shit in the industry that so many would rather ignore and I hope you never stop. Don't let the hate get to you, your videos are awesome and so are you. Happy Birthday!
Reading out your birthday card from Bobby Kotick was a great way to start the video.
Could have been Gilson B. Pontes too...
Could also be from Jives Gullibot or whatever that twat is called that sits on top of the shit that is pubisoft.
@@GaldirEonai ...or James Romine.
😂
Kokky Bobick
Hey Jim, DON'T STOP going on about the horrible sexual abuse at those companies, you've helped so many players open their eyes to the nastiness that is out there (well opened them even more). Don't stop despite those who say no. You've done a great job exposing those who need exposing. BTW welcome back to South Yorkshire :)
Literally no one has ever told him to stop, this is typical made up leftist nonsense. What they DID say was that he mentions it every two fucking seconds in other to virtue signal. Literally everyone knows about the scandal, him bringing it up ANY time talking about a blizzard product is so utterly performative and cringe.
Shoreham boys we are here
and remember everyone, its just reflective of corperate behaviour across all industries. the game industry is just more visible than most and that isnt saying much!
He has helped literally nobody dummy. Please explain to me how he's actually helped anyone.
I want her to talk about it, but also I think people have to understand that something as real and dark as sexual abuse is A LOT to take in with their 20 minutes of UA-cam video time. Like A LOT a lot. I don't think I was even able to finish that video because I was just so disgusted with the company getting away with it, it was just such a miserable experience. And, of course, I can't really send it to anyone I know, because who would I want to push through that, right?
I'm not sure what the answer is to that, and I'm sure it opened people's eyes. But holy shit, I can't imagine what it'd be like if more videos on the channel were like that. Like at some point I kind-of need a bit of relief to help get through rough material, you know? That just felt bad! I can't blame people for being upset, it's an extremely upsetting situation.
"Japan's answer to Electronic Arts"
Oh my god. This is 100% accurate.
Back in the late '90s though the early aughts, SQEX and EA formed an LLC together to publish each other's games in the US and Asia. So there's that.
Square Enix relocated it's main office in 2012, based on at-the-time CEO Yoichi Wada consulting a fortune teller.
Square Enix likely has realized that Blockchain/Crypto/NFTs are a bad idea but walking back such a major and public decision would make them "lose face" in addition to all the IP and studios they already lost by selling them for magic bean money.
@@Xazamas they sold those ip and studios because they didn't want them anymore and are restructuring the structure of the company
@@ausgod538 Maybe, but the deal sounds pretty bad. They sold stack of classical IPs including heavy hitters like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Hitman for 300 million during s time when Bungie (basically a studio with a single game, Destiny 2) was sold for 3.6 BILLION.
I dunno I feel like SE's dysfunction is unique. EA just predictably drains smaller companies of everything that was interesting about them, SE operates by crazy corporate moon logic that suggests things like doubling down on NFTs when the market is just a smoldering crater.
Please, never stop the industry criticism. You're the only one who does it with the kind of respect it deserves. Thank you and happy new year!
The comment they read out is such a brain dead comment towards them. They were one of the very first game critics targeting game company behaviour rather than just the game design itself. Its how they got fkn started with this channel after their boss from their official game criticism job told them to ignore the former and focus on the latter. Whoever made that comment is a moron on so many levels, its like they went out of their way to be wrong in every sentence.
Indeed!
You are an extremely refreshing voice in the video games world and I hope you never, ever, ever stop. Don't leave us. Ever. You rock.
"extremely refreshing voice" aka "im mad the video game space doesn't approve of weird fat freaks"
You sound mentally stable.
Indeed, one of few to ever point out the utter nonsense that happens there.
with TB gone, all that's really left in this space are Yahtzee, Sterling, Jesse Cox, and i guess Yongyea. hard content days are ahead
@@br2k sterling is a transsexual freak who from day one has had awful opinions and awful politics...
Please do not stop doing what you’re doing. You’re wonderful and so is your content
It'd be cool if you could cover "undead services." Games that were clearly meant to be live services, but had those features stripped late in development, leaving just the grind. Gotham Knights is a good example, but I know there're others.
I thought I knew who this was :) it's Clown-Streamer friend.
... I hope you mean Gotham knights. Arkham knight was decent.
@@batterieznotincluded dangit
Didn't Sterling somewhat recently find one of those games on Apple Play or whatever? It was a scrolling shooter type game that is heavily monetized everywhere but on Apple Play due to them not allowing microtransactions for their featured games but the devs didn't bother changing the balancing at all. As a result the game is all the grind and none of the fun.
Oh I found it, it was the episode about Galaga, 10 months ago. Episode is "Insights From A Terrible Galaga Game".
Sims 4 🤢🤢🤢
FFXII 🤢🤢🤢 (They keep rereleasing this shit ass game too)
Sterling seems exactly the same person they were many years ago. Very warm and positive when it comes to good games and nice people...
But what about *Hyper-rant?* JSS is the *Hyper-Critic!*
I've been watching The Jimquisition for a really long time. I'm talking way back when it was on The Escapist website. I do feel like I enjoy the episodes less now than I used to. However, I don't think it's the channel's fault at all. I totally think it's the game industry becoming worse and worse that's the issue. It's made these weekly episodes become a constant reminder of how shit everything is now and it just seems to keep getting worse. I mean there are certainly some exceptions to this with indie games and even a few AAA titles like Elden Ring. Overall though I think this channel isn't as fun as it used to be because the industry has become greedy and made almost everything miserable. There is only one solution... BRING BACK BOGLIN WATCH!!!
@@peskyspider5103 you've made some good points just now. FistShark remains timeless entertainment.
They've shifted toward (deserved) vitriolic roasts of modern garbage. It's not bad per se, just more negative.
Sterling their self has only changed for the better over the last couple years. I love seeing how expressive they've become, pursuing passions like the wrestling etc. It's just the game industry that's gotten worse and one note, making the Jimquisition seem repetitive and doomer
Thank you so much for talking about FFVII The First Soldier. I've played the game from start to end, and have made many friends through it. The gameplay itself is so fun (the weapons and magic sets it apart from other BRs/shooters), especially when you play with friends. But everything else was underbaked and downright frustrating.
From the get-go, as soon as it was announced, the near-universal feedback was to a) release it on PC and console and b) incorporate more story and depth so that the game contributed to worldbuilding and c) NOT use the gacha/lootbox/live service system because none of us enjoy it or can afford it in the middle of a global pandemic and economic crisis. They simply steamrolled ahead, ignoring feedback form fans and ambassadors alike. I almost became an ambassador, since that would give my UA-cam videos more exposure, but reading the fine print revealed they could use my content however they wanted, I couldn't "say anything bad" about their game or practices and I'd have to say "SPONSORED BY SQUARE ENIX" even though ambassadors received no money or benefits beyond early access to update info and the odd in-game bonuses. Many ambassadors quit because of how much they were ignored and outright screwed over 😔
They announced the game's closure on the same day they released the Halloween update, which they expected ambassadors to put out promotional content for despite not telling ANY of them what was happening. The announcement left so many people, myself included, devastated and furious. The phrasing of their EOS statement felt like they were framing themselves as victims, as if they hadn't ignored feedback for months and pushed us to fork out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for in-game skins. We didn't give enough of ourselves to keep this game afloat, that's how it read to many of us. For me personally, it was insulting and so manipulative 😕
I love FFVII, but my experience as part of the FF7FS community has left a sour taste in my mouth. If SE's NFT scheme creeps its way into FFVII's gameplay I'll be abandoning the franchise and company for good. They truly don't care about their audience or the quality of their work. I feel so sorry for the workers who put so much effort into graphics, coding, marketing, sound design, editing etc etc, only to work under such corrupt superiors, it's truly not their fault and they're just as much victims as us fans/customers are. I wish I had more faith in the gaming industry, but the more I learn and experience with it the more I wonder what my UA-camr future is gonna look like 💚
god damn you are a rare bird. i'm really glad for your comment, you so rarely see stories of like, failed game survivors
@@CallN0w it's so important that our stories be heard - it's so easy to sweep failed games under the rug and pretend nobody played it. But no, even now hundreds of people are playing the game til the end. This was my first experience with gacha/live service, but for others in the community they've tried time and time again to be loyal to SE and try and make these games work. Many have made fun of us for "falling for it" and being "stupid" enough to pay real money for skins, but as an autistic person I experienced firsthand how horribly predatory the whole thing was - I spent well over $600 trying to get an Aerith skin I wanted before having to catch myself. It preys on our nostalgia and completionist desires to push players into paying.
It's basically gambling, but worse because it targets a niche audience of veteran FFVII fans who wanna run around as their favourite characters with a glock. It's heartbreaking because gameplay wise it was good, it just needed more variety and story/lore to justify its existence and playability. But yeah, they never listened to feedback from regular players and only sometimes took trivial suggestions onboard from ambassadors.
so squarenix has become shinra? Ain't that Poetic?
@@KingofAwesomness14 pretty much. Very disappointing 😑
Good god, they really got you. I'm sorry!
You know you're in good company when no one present can be trusted with a realistic toy lobster.
When the conversation on "LiVe SeRvIcEs" comes up, I remember this snarky quote from some gaming executive: "Remember when the game you paid for was the whole game you got?" (Quote paraphrased from memory)
*YES.* Yes I do remember that and I miss it very much!
For me. My quote was, "There is no game in existence as dead as a Dead Live Service game." My thought after already seeing a number of online-only games die before "Live Services" became a buzzword. Paying into those games means you agree to pay for an asset that will just disappear into the ether, sooner or later.
same.........sh1tty mmos are not the future.
The funny thing is that even successful live services are self defeating in a way. I play Warframe. It's a grindy free to play live service game that I enjoy. But as a result of the time investment to play it, I'm not going to play another live game. Digital Extremes, the makers of Warframe plan on releasing another live service game in the future. It looks cool, but considering the time and money I've put into Warframe, I'm unsure if I'll be playing it. And it Warframe ever died, that wouldn't encourage me to start up on another live service anytime soon.
@@jamesrule1338 That's the problem, as Steph has pointed out time and time again, there just isn't the *room* for all these Live Service games, people will play one, maybe two at most but companies keep shitting them out thinking they'll be 'The One' which pulls a Fortenite and gets all the cash.
They already screwd over customer rights concerning software. It set a bad precedence over 3-4 decades ago. Any other product you bought was yours and didnt have any liability exclusion clauses.
And now they're doing it all over the world any product now you will buy will have everything inside but you'll have to pay subscription to unlock already built-in features!
Wow... that message in the beginning... just wow... I am going to simply say keep going commander.
When the haters have to rant that long and hard just to convince themselves their hatred is justified, it just underlines how little substance there is to any of their "arguments". If there was anything solid in there, they wouldn't need such a big sack of it...
When someone so hateful gives you a message like that, you're doing more than something right
Yea it was impressive. Not in a good way, but impressive
stop being critic and making game culture worst
It was so repetitive and the grammar was so awful that I'm pretty sure it was a bot.
That chair smack is probably the greatest chair smack of all time. The impact, the reaction, it's perfection.
And kinda funny too... Should make a meme out of it.
Ow but wow was I felt for that chair spot
That sound was the sound of 25 years of Sonic!
Gotta respect them for putting their body on the line for our entertainment.
An absolutely flawless fall, too!
The “lobster playtime” at the end was just extremely cute and delightful.
It made me laugh, it was great
Lobster playtime should definitely become a thing at the end of videos as a reward for us and to James Stephanie after more industry bs
Damn took that chair like a champ, can't even tell if that was scripted or not.
EDIT: Happy birthday, i appreciate what you do. I been learning programming and art while watching your videos for years among the many other content creators i watch.
This intro reminded me that I really miss those videos of you reading gamer rants dressed as a french aristocrat
Hoping Duke(Duchess now?) Amiel du H'ardcore will return with another commentocracy in the future
@@kamalo01 The character could still be a Duke even if Jim is non-binary. Now I'm curious what a non-binary noble would call themselves, most titles like Duke, Earl, or Viscount are gendered.
This! I loved that character.
@@leetri I could see Ducher being used as an overseer of a duchy.
Will it com back?
Justin’s note about his future therapy got my first knee-slap worthy laugh of 2023. This episode was a gem.
Ehh i thought it was edgy cringe
Good episode overall though lol
I havent laughed that hard since 2022.
There’s channel called the DireGentleman and one of the hosts said something that I think these “live services” should take to heart.
“If you’re gonna sell out, you have to first have something people want to buy.”
yup, at least make a single player mode, so when the game dies it doesn't become trash
multiplayer only games have on problem that keeps me from engaging for a long time, you can only unlock things playing multiplayer, so you, your team mates and the opponents aren't playing for fun, or sometimes even playing to win, because they are on grind mode, and since content is endless some one will always be on grind mode, even after you are satisfied with your cosmetics which makes the games less fun, old games gave you the opportunity to unlock stuff on single player, and them use that stuff on the multiplayer, and on the single player you could unlock stuff on your time, instead of being limited by daily missions, weekly missions or battle passes
On Christmas Day my sister's dog ate a silica packet and my brother-in-law said "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough." Same energy.
@@OriionCygnus Is her dog ok?
I buy and play indie games precisely because they have more worth to me than the incomprehensible amount of live services the AAA space keeps shoving out of the door.
I like how the bros have co-opted the term "toxic" to mean "any opinion that makes me look bad for violently opposing it".
it wasnt 'the bros' that abused the word to the point of meaningless, its just the result of calling any behaviuor you dont like as toxic.
@@StrazdasLT It was 'the bros' and people who of a certain political leaning who completely missed the point when called out for actual toxic behaviour dude.
I genuinely hate the word toxic anymore
@@BazilRat Nothing like framing the other side for something you did
@@LittkeTM Uh huh, if you say so mate.
Ok but that delivery of “it’s my birthday today” got a genuine laugh outta me.
I wonder if a cat licked Sterling's birthday-cake.
That lobster bit near the end is the most wholesome thing ever and left me genuinely smiling wide. ❤
It was cute. I loved it.
It's scary that live services games shut down so fast, that archivists can't keep up with their speed of closure.
You know, it's really sad that so much art in these games is getting lost in live service model.
agreed.
There are so many MMO/live service games it's ridiculous.
On my computer alone there's Guild wars 2, Final Fantasy 14 , and 15(multiplayer), marvel's avengers, Monster hunter world, fallout faility6, Dragon Age Inquisition (has a mode outside the single player experience), all 4 mass effects, titan fall, Minecraft, Warframe, to a lesser extent Dota2, Minion masters, Smite, Mordor 1&2 omg there's probably more that I didn't realize cause I don't even play any of these for their live service.
There's just so fucking many and I don't even play a damn one of them anymore most I played for the single player and the live service is just "there" for no reason.
Theres so many of these shits and I'm one person I'm not splitting my time between all that shit. It's so funny I have all those live service games and the only game I log on everyday to play is YU-GI-OH master duel... Literally a card game... Cause simply put it respects my time. No walking, no raids, no loading screens, no waiting around for ppl to join my lobby 1 of the thousands seeking. Nope... Just click a button and play cards.
The suits running mainstream publishers never cared much for the history or culture of video games in the first place, so preserving art never was a concern they bothered themselves with. I would never trust someone like Bobby Kotick to maintain a emulation project like MAME or Ruffle.
I wonder if next year we'll be able to do an Oscar's style "for those we lost" montage of canceled services.
I don't think I want a 6 hour long Jimquisition every year, or do I?
Edit: Now I need to figure out how to play taps on a kazoo for this to be part of a bit.
We could do that right now, why wait until next year?
more like "for those we were spared from"
That first hate mail read by JSteph is a perfect example of what The Gamers(tm) is all about: feelings over facts, and a loooooot of grammatical errors. Keep fighting the good fight, JSteph, and thank God for you!
If you are online and semi popular you will get hate mail, it was pointless
@@therealryan1329Sure, let’s normalize hate mail and just hate in general.
@@sabrinarosario6499 "I hate Mondays"
@@sabrinarosario6499 Hatemail has been normalized before internet was invented. Its not something thats ever going to stop. This is because people have different opinions.
@@therealryan1329 _"If you are online and semi popular you will get hate mail, it was pointless"_
You wrote that like the latter would logically follow from the former; it doesn't.
There are people who would like others to believe so though; are you one of those, or just ignorant?
I'd imagine if you went to the hospital for that chair hit, they had to use a Steph-oscope.
Felt that chair bump in my bones
Just want so say I never get tired of the voices you do when reading corporate announcements
You're one of the few real consumer watchdogs of the videogame industry. Keep up the good work!
That comment at the beginning is the most glowing endorsement I could ever wish for. Making enemies is the proof you stand for something.
I'd love to see someone interview the one person playing Babylon's Fall just for an understanding of how that persons brain works.
Sunk cost?
i doubt you'll see this, but holy shit it feels so good to have you still saying it as it is. nobody else i know is willing to call live services the piece of shit they are, and its maddening having to argue with them 24/7 that the skinner box theyre trapped in is actually exploitative
Ross Scott of Accursed Farms has been banging on about live services being a scam that kills games for years now. Nobody listens to him, either. It's like are short-sighted and refuse to see the big picture and don't want to believe they're being scammed and exploited or something.
Hi JSS, happy birthday and I sincerely wish you a great day. I feel sorry that you recieved that dreadful message at the beginning, nobody should deal with that on such a special day. Thank you for continuing despite the trials and tribulations. You will always have our support.
Her name is Stephanie.
@@footballdesk4417 her.
@@footballdesk4417 publicly broadcasting that you’re incapable of comprehending the distinction between biology and social constructs, as well the implications you don’t understand the inherent fluidity of linguistics ( let alone the fluidity of gender ) is an effective way to let everyone know you’re a dumb bitxh.
I can appreciate the strat but you know you don’t have to beat “ let the world im a dumb bitxh any% “ at all, let alone your pb. it’s a hard game and honestly this leave of masochistic behaviour makes me worried dear.
@Edward McArdle This one ^^ This is the correct one, thank you
@@JaydenVaudrin James Stephanie. Jim is short for James.
You’re doing great work. Any complaints and criticism about loot boxes and corporate greed and harassment and mistreatment is DESERVED. People need to be reminded that it doesn’t need to be like this and it shouldn’t be like this.
You know you are doing something right when someone goes to that amount of effort to spew bile in your direction.
Keep on keeping on.
And yet again Stephanie was 100% right. Live services were never a sustainable model. I honestly have no idea why so many games thought they could copy the old school mmo business model and expect to be successful.
Even among mmo's there's very few games that enjoy that level of success while providing consistent, regular updates.
It's about as baffling as when all the Fortnite clones started popping up. It's like "Really? Why would anyone play a worse version of Fortnite when they can just play Fortnite?"
We need more live service games to fail, we need more companies to feel the sting of all their time and investments amounting to nothing. We need these companies to learn this lesson again and again until they stop green-lighting this ridiculous business model.
that chair smack had the perfect *thwack* sound, thank you for your hard work commander
It's funny to me that the stuff that goes wrong in wrestling is always WAAAAYYYY more convincing and real than the stuff that doesn't 😁
Not sure if Sterling will see this but, I know you have other things you need to cover, promote and do but, I would love to see you do another heaving toy chest. You seemed genuinely happy to show off your toys and tell us about them and I believe you deserve to be able to show off your collection.
Of course, that is only if you want to. I know you're busy with other projects but, it felt nice for you to be a little more personal while actually being happy and excited in the previous chests
I'm not a toy enthusiast, but seeing someone's earnest joy at sharing things they love is always wonderful.
@@SpellboundTutor it's not just that, I believe they deserve to make videos on things that actually make them happy. Rather than constantly covering how horrid the AAA game industry is. I know they talk about their wrestling career but, they don't make full videos off that, which I think they should.
@@paradoxical998 You're absolutely not wrong!
One of the things I actively disliked about Steph's vids before they came out was how they were getting more and more bitter about more and more arbitrary things.
I think they should continue to hold the game industry to account because they're one of the few who actually do that and fewer still who don't wait for popular opinion to sway, but you are correct that they should also share what it is that makes them happy.
grown ass mentally ill obese man playing with toys, yikes
Along with that, I think it's pathetic that you're so "adult" that you can't fathom someone being excited about anything that makes them happy, even something as "juvenile" as toys, video games, model kits, or cartoons.
Never stop holding these Corpos to account. abuse of any kind is never acceptable.
love you you magnificent bastard. you're the only one who doesn't hold back in games journalism. you don't sugar coat shit and speak truth to power
Over in Japan and Southeast Asia, arcade games have "live services" too. Like those Dragon Quest games where you collect cards of monssters and heroes starting with Dragon Quest Battle Road and seemingly ending with season 6 of Dragon Quest Scan Battlers (granted I could only find info on the English Malaysian release) or Square Enix's Lords of Vermilion collectable card-based Tower Defense series (which is referenced in FFXIV with Lords of Verminion even on the western servers in spite of us not getting Lords of Vermilion). Also let's not forget about Dissidia (Arcade), which was _actually ported_ as Dissidia NT, even though it was the middest Dissidia in existence (even Opera Omina makes it look bad). Square Enix can't even keep this sh*t out of arcades, it's amazing really.
It continuously baffles me that Square Enix keeps mangling all these live service games, and yet they have one of the best examples of a live service under their belts and currently active.
Also, belated happy birthday James Stephanie Sterling! Thank God for you, and the valuable work that you do!
But they could have TWO live services.
And if they can have a second one, it should be cheaper to maintain. And develop for. Honesty they shouldn't have to pay for it at all. Just get money.
but is it making enough money for them? as in, they want continous growth. a steady income from a moderately succesful game (i asumme it's ffiv) is not the same as a cashcow in their world. they want record breaking numbers in cash. its always more more more and more. there is just not enough cash in the world to statsify them
I still find it fascinating that ff xiv has paid for at least 4-5 titles to crash and burn
@@klisterklister2367 FFIV failed, though. It died, then the creator famously brought it back.
@@timpointer6664 Especially given that ffxiv itself nearly crashed and burned for a good long while until managing to turn things around and regain player trust. Like, they genuinely worked hard on xiv to make it worthy of a subscription purchase and of trust, and then they just have all these other live services that are the disasters they are somehow.
holy shit the script for this episode was excellent, easily one of the best episodes in a long time
TBH, I think that every week that the episode was great.
The lobster bit was very Python-esque, made me chuckle 😊
indeed
The episode was great but the last few minutes of lobster playtime were just perfect. Genuinely filled me with hope for 2023. :)
Every time JSS opens with a wrestling clip, I'm reminded about how much I want to see them do the intro for an episode of botchamania.
What’s worse for Square Enix is that the more Live Service games they publish gets shut down, the more players are unwilling to play/spend another live service ever again.
For example the latest entry Foamstars: From the day it was revealed, players already said it was a dead game and it will shut down in 6 moths. That bad omen transcended up to its launch, with much less player count than both Suicide Squad and Skull and Bones.
Happy (late) birthday! Thanks for the great 2022 and here's hoping 2023 goes even better for ya!
Imagine getting called toxic because you report about gaming industry bullshit in a hyperbolic manner. The gaming industry deserves nothing less.
I said it before, I'll say it again. While my tastes in video games can differ from JSS. I still consider Sterling to be one of the most important voices in the gaming industry. There is a need for such criticism to keep a reminder of corporations and people to simply do better.
And Happy Birthday, JSS!
anyone who says "Do better" unironically is a performative clown.
@@cococock2418 Troll away. Making entire assumptions of character based on that information holds no weight.
I work full time as an indie developer since 2018 and i watch a lot of speaks and talks about the game industry. Sometimes i just feel dirty from all the things I hear and learn. I know its my job, and i try my best to do the best i can for my players, giving good content for a fair price. But i just cant help to feel the nastiness sometimes. Watching your content cleans my soul. Sometimes I feel I need to watch your old content, the videos I know when you speaks about the problems over unckecked capitalism and greed in the game market. Watching you just remembers me that even if society and even your players are "ok" with things you do, there are always the correct thing to do. Your content give me strength to do the best I can and always remember to not be a fkg wanker. You are a great and important voice against greed of big corporations on the game industry. I just wanted you to know that. That you are helping a developer to do his best to not screw his players. And feel better about his job too. Thank you very much.
Steph and Yongyea are the most important voices in game journalism and without them, I might have ended up buying some truly dogshit games
There's now a smear across one of my Dark Angels because you made me burst out laughing whilst trying to paint some fine detail :D. Never stop Commander, and Happy Birthday!
Moral - never do fine detail work while Stirling is at also at work
Time to give it some lore
JSS is a Chaos Cultist, confirmed!
MH Rise and Splatoon contain the most player friendly versions of the live service model, without being live services!
Make a game with one purchase price and no MTX, support it with actually free content, make a big expansion that costs money but is meaty enough to justify while extending the good will of the player base, repeat steps 2 and 3.
AAA in general doesn’t have the backbone to do step 1, let alone the other two steps over and over which require hard work and actually listening to players!
@@pootissandvichhere9135 I highly disagree with the pricing and quality of the DLC content in Rise though. Yeah paying for extra stuff is fine if it incentivizes the company to push both paid and free content to the game as well as supporting it but the very small cosmetics are too overpriced to pay to get just one of. The voice packs are pretty great, as are the layered weapons but they're also more expensive as a result.
The person who wrote that comment at the start can get in the sea. You're amazing, never stop doing what you do and being who you are.
You are loved and respected just as you are by many of us and have been for years.
I don't know if they're in the sea, but with that terrible grammar, I wonder if they were in the bottle....
Happy Birthday Stephanie, thank you for a year of entertainment and keeping us informed of the status of the toxic maelstrom that is the gaming industry. Also I just have to add I love that coat it looks so good on you! I genuinely hope you have a Happy New Year and further success in your endeavors.
The lobster camera-man "clack" was absolutely perfect xD (could probably rip that audio and use it as a sound cue in future) Happy Belated Birthday. Looking forward to another year of shows, and just maybe I'll be able to have the holiday available to see a wrestling show of yours in the nearby area (even though I know fuck all about wrestling :P).
People who want you to shut up just want to close their eyes to the toxicity of the gaming industry. You don't let us ignore it and it makes them mad, because that means that they have to position themselves. Don't ever let up. You're such an important voice in an otherwise far too uncritical system.
RIP Square Soft. Consumed by the behemoth that is Enix. You will be missed and have been missed for a long time.
Happy Birthday, Steph! Thank you for a year of brightening my Mondays, and I hope 2023 is fabulous for you.
Jim Stephanie Sterling is the most important pundit in games media. Happy Birthday Steph, and thank you for everything you do!
Jesus, I didn't realize they were outright killing Babylon's Fall after less than a year. 5 years, millions of dollars, and hundreds of hours of developers' time well-spent.
Love letter at the start! Happy birthday anyway.
On a serious note - I am grateful for your content. I helped me more critically look at the industry and affected my spending and supporting decisions. I am slowly helping my daughter look critically at the game (and not only game) world. Lots of love in 2023!
Happy birthday sterling ! I hope you have a few truly happy times this year because you deserve it. Hope to see you around this year
The best thing about Squenix selling off Deus Ex is we may actually get another entry in the series. I need more!
We can only hope.
Hopefully there is another Deus Ex game.
1:06 ‘Does this much better and precise than you’
Can only assume that by ‘precise’ they mean:
Report it once and then drop the subject entirely so they can start hyping up new game releases.
Happy Birthday, Stephanie Sterling! I wish for you and yours a most joyous and happy new year!
I truly look forward to seeing your videos every week, the writing, editing, and voice over are always top notch. Thank you for doing what you do!
Also 11:21 *MyThRiL*
This video felt almost like a homecoming - it had such a familiar bite that I felt was missing in some of last year's videos (not to say they were bad just felt like something was missing), and I loved every second of it. I hope you had a good birthday yesterday
If it's indeed your birthday, I wish you have the most wonderful time with the people you like and cherish! It has been a joy to watch you embrace your & your interest, and it motivates to do the same. Hope many chair smacks will come your way (in a good wrestling way)
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - George Bernard Shaw
The most successful live service games have often been surprising to even the devs themselves. Such as Warframe was a passion project, released as a last gasp by a studio nearly out of money. So no, you can't plan for a live service game. You can't promise any longevity. Customers absolutely have all the power in picking the winners and losers. Square has completely forgotten that little fact.
Steph here was also partly responsible for some of it's success because they called out the bs Warframe was doing. The devs listened and made the game less predatory
7:58 through 8:36 had me laughing harder every ten seconds until I had to pause the video and go back. The joy radiating from this video is pure and real.
Lol Justin 😂 Thank you for your amazing edits honestly, the material from JSS is of course superb but you manage to take the humour a notch every time 😂
Someone needs to start a GoFundMe for Justin's therapy bills.
Happy Birthday Steph, don't let gamers™ get to you. You do a great job exposing the worst side of the games industry and still manages to look fabulous while doing it.
I've watched Steph bring out so much random crap now, that nothing can surprise me at this point. Steph could bring out a taxidermy monster that they wrestled to death, and the only surprising part would be that the first monster Steph killed and stuffed wasn't Bobby Kotick.
Years past I'd ask "Why does an industry that I used to love suck?" Now I ask "Why does an industry that I used to love suck _this freaking hard?"_ 😩
I'm just glad you're still around. I'm impressed _anyone_ with a conscience can keep going. I just checked, and it's been four and a half _years_ since Moviebob has talked about video games AT ALL. Don't let the badly written e-mails fool you; you're doing the FSM's work.
Happy new year Commander! 💜❤️ Thank you for this wonderful gift 💜 I forgot it was Monday and I couldn't be happier to see you! Anf happy birthday! Lots of love !
I'm actually suprised it took so long for these kinds of games to have their plugs pulled so quickly.
It doesn't take a genius to see that if you make games that are meant to take all your time for ten years straight, that leaves less time for other games. Only so many live service games can exist at any one time because they carve up that market. Everything else has to die early. Which makes Sony making 12 live service games an odd choice.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching you get hit in the face with a chair, but only because I know it makes you so happy. You are a gem James/Stephanie Sterling, and you deserve all the happiness you can get. Happy new year and happy birthday!
"... shut down the hilariously named *Shinra Credits*-"
I was unfortunately taking a sip of water when Stephanie read that absolutely on-point name, and subsequently almost ended up spewing said drink all over the cat unsuspectingly sitting in my lap!
...*Shinra Credits*
Sterling lost to a Lobster. Once again, it turns out a Demi-God is beaten by a Decapod
I watched this video 13 seconds after it was uploaded. This is a record for me…
That's a quick click!
That ending bit with the lobster really concerned my cat 😂
This episode was a god damn masterpiece. The writing? *chefs kiss*
This channel is literally the only place that I get any video game industry news from. So, y'know, I appreciate what you do.
I don’t even play video games anymore I’m just here for the potential toy reviews and spite for capitalism.
keep holding the industry accuntable, Steph. it may seem like you've lost support since a very specific date last year, but you're still getting more likes and comments on your weekly videos than most of the larger video game news outlets that go out of their way to avoid or tip-toe around the stories you share with us, and of the subs you've lost since that very specific date, nothing of value was truly lost there. much love and respect. you're doing good work.
I honestly can't be bothered with live service games anymore. Even with the good and successful ones, I just can't be bothered to dedicate time to grinding on a regular schedule, and I'm not even that busy these days. There's so many finite games out there that provide an actually fulfilling experience that I'm probably set for life at this point.
I hope you're okay from the chair to the face. That must have hurt like hell
wrestlings fake, the chair is fake and steph is fake
Honestly I don't even get angry at Square Enix stans anymore, it's more of a sad pity that they desperately cling to something which gives them comfort while it blatantly abuses their trust and drains their bank accounts incrementally.
If someone insists on blockchain use after over a decade of evidence it's all a scam, I can't say I pity them anymore.
Less so if they're corpos. If Square goes under... well, may the racist f-s go under.
I love that on the Happy New Year video SE made, Yoko Taro said that it's "Happy" New Year because rich people are one year closer to dying
Happy (belated) birthday, Steph! I honestly thought that your response to the hate mail at the beginning of the video would be to brush it off and poke fun at the hater for getting so worked up over your success, because your videos are awesome and informative. I love seeing your Jimquisition videos put a spotlight on very real issues in the industry, and I love how you cover it with a righteous fury. It's honestly very cathartic to watch - when I'm really upset at whatever B.S. the "triple A" industry has gotten up to, I like to watch your videos on it to reassure myself that I'm not alone in thinking that their horrid practices & ethics violations shouldn't be normalized or tolerated.
Hey JSS, happy birthday. Just wanna say I've been watching the Jimquisition since the second episode on the escapist, and I've never missed an episode. Monday is always coming.
Just wanted to say, I find your persona delightful and your career aspirational. Happy Birthday!
Sorry I'm late, but happy birthday! Many happy (and viciously ranty) returns of the day. Seriously, the meaner you get the more I like it, because not a scrap of it is undeserved.
I giggled at the lobster hitting the hand, 'cause you moaned and THEN went "ow!"
NO level of hyperbole and parody is enough to truly shine a light on corporate GREED, worker abuse, consumer exploitation and the general state of the video games industry that serves its 1% shareholder owners.
keep doing what you are doing Jimquisition as it continues to add more voice and growing awareness that fixes and solutions will need implementing
Some NSFW comedy moans allerted my neighbours to my existence.
Thank you Steph
God damn, the beginning of the video was absolutely brutal!
...I can't decide which bait-and-switch to pull with this one, so just guess which one I'm referring to.
Hope you had fun on your birthday, Steph.
I've been watching your content for a very long time and you have always been one of my favorite creators. You've brought more awareness to so much shady shit in the industry that so many would rather ignore and I hope you never stop. Don't let the hate get to you, your videos are awesome and so are you. Happy Birthday!
It's been a while since Jim-Steph has done a Post-Mortem review. That would be pretty good.
Happy birthday, and that lobster needs to join the crab from Trekkies. 😅