The problem with Minecraft is that MC players do t want more Minecraft IP games. They want THE Minecraft game to have better updates. The studio is focusing resources in places where the audience doesnt really want to go.
Really interesting video! It's a lot more nuanced than I thought it would be. Absolutely wild that a new minecraft game has less than 100 active players at a time on any one platform.
totally! I think what we saw at MC Live (2023) at least gives hope they aren't 'done' with developing the RTS side, adding in witches, and new mechanics. So it might be a real No Man Sky type situation where down the road it becomes a really fleshed out system, but I think you're right that they need big changes to get people interested/back
its a shame, i actually liked legends and had fun playing it. but with the lack of popularity i predict the game will be discontinued within maybe half a year as all other spinoffs do.
I think it's got a chance maybe to save itself, but I worry it's going to be relegated to arcade gamepass fodder like it's become. It has a good skeleton though so it could still have a great comeback
Thanks man thats super nice of you to say! I love makin these 'video essay' type vids so who knows maybe in a few years I'll be one of those 100k channels 😅
I like how you transitioned from the discussion of MCL's livelihood to the issue of the current monetary-driven gaming industry. I was an avid fan of MCL and do agree that the game deserves better. I'm glad that the algorithm pushed this vid to my main page lol (rather than randomly pushing a makeup tutorial with 73 views to me for the sake of "supporting small creators"). Keep up the good work!
Thanks man, that's kind of you to say I'm glad ya liked it! I was really rooting for MCL when it came out, and I wanted to make this as a bit of a dive into where it seemed to all go wrong and how the current direction of the gaming-industry seems to be creating no room for the mid-range game. It's release on Gamepass day one kind of took the legs out of it too making it feel to some, I imagine, not unlike a 'Netflix movie' it wasn't an 'event' it was another game on the pile. But I'm hopeful, I think MC Live might show they want to keep developing the game and not shelve it entirely as the arcade game it's becoming. Either way though I appreciate ya taking the time to check out the video
Hey thanks! That's kind of you to say and I'm glad you liked the video. I def think gaming might be headed down a weird direction with 'games as a subscription service' and I thought this made a great case study for it. Appreciate the sub dude!
If actual minecraft can just get updates with engaging content and not just "oh heres more stuff you can *look at*" the player numbers would surge. The new updates feel deadish and disjointed. Not to mention the armor trim is hard af to get being that biomes are so far apart. Bundles would have been nice but nope. Just feels like theyre going the bungie route of not giving a damn about their original IP delusionally thinking the players will just dodo-bird their way over to dungeons or legends.
I think their expectations for this game were too high. Just as you said, many gaming companies tend to stick to a formular. While i do think that this is bad in most cases, sticking to it really works for Minecraft. Its what its known for. Trying out other directions with a franchise is always a risky move. They had high hopes. Even the fanbase. But in the end it just ended up not meeting the expectations.
Yeah its strange, they usually could carve out some space for new games. Dungeons sold well, Minecraft Storymode did decently back in the day. I think part of the issue, beyond the way it was released is also the lack of variety. I didn't really get into in the video, but I think its just odd that in Multiplayer you can't play piglins, or get that other faction experience. But who knows, maybe an expansion will come letting players play piglins, add ender factions, it could work I think. But like you said, the question is does the player base want it. BUT, even if only 10% of Minecraft's playerbase plays legends, MC is so big that that is millions of players
This was such a really interesting video, I really thought legends was going to a lot better than it did and I was sad it didn't but this video did really well explaining stuff. Let's gooo Nap!!
yoooo Thanks dude! yeah it really felt like they took the wind out of it's sails with how they released it and I think it makes for this great case study of where the games industry is right now. I'm hopeful we'll hear great things this weekend from MC Live tho!
yeah, I was hopeful for it! I think it has a lot of talent behind it, it just was released day and date on Gamepass as well and had it's momentum killed that way. But it might be a turn around story!
I think the reason why the game has become less popular is because it’s just too similar to Minecraft dungeons and though they liked Minecraft dungeons, they got bored of it. Then, they see a Minecraft themed game that is similar to Minecraft dungeons and got bored of it even quicker. When being a developer, it’s important to know that if you’re gonna keep doing stuff that people only mildly enjoy or don’t enjoy at all, they’re gonna eventually leave.
Having played the game, I found 2 issues. 1. The game is way too slow. Each game took a minimum of an hour. 2. Each game is very similar despite some randomization and differences between games
I def agree that the game is slow starting and really lacks the variability an RTS needs to be fresh/interesting. It seems to miss the idea that a strategy game's strength is that, well, strategy matters. Its got a solid skeleton to work with though, so they might turn it around
kind of you to say! Ik we'd talked a lot of streams about Legends, but it was nice getting to sit down and organize exactly what I have been feeling regarding it. I ended up cutting some of what I wanted to talk about with Myths because well... it is its own beast that didn't fit as much. I'm so curious as to internally what they are thinking for this game though, and I really do hope Legends is given a chance to keep doing its own stylistic thing and come into its own. An expansion to let the player play AS piglins, or add an Ender species would be great for longevity. Also I TOLD you I could squeeze a scream sound effect into this vid 💅💅
@@NapoleonVIINap it really does seem like they aren’t sure either with the new dlc. interested to see what comes out of it. And nice to sit and get everything we’ve talked about it in one day place. Anyway you owe me all the vods including and after the alien isolation vod /hj
new MindCraft expansion? legends? -now real-time strategy, against pigs? (pork mission- to 'bring home the bacon'?;) & new free virtual activity? sounds almost like a virtual hobby? >Rocket League? -intruiging.
I admire that they try taking their own approach, and I really do think there COULD be something here. But I have to agree that it doesn't use the IP they've been given very effectively
I was really disapointed when I found out it was Minecraft based because I know it may not have been as successful but it would've been so cool to have mojang make a new IP that isn't Minecraft, new world or characters but mojang just makes a game and slaps Minecraft on it so they can turn a profit, it feels like it.
Aw man thanks, thats super kind of ya 😅 I've done a few video essay type videos and really enjoyed learning new ways to improve them and their quality. I'm glad you liked the video!
its a cool game with graphics and more only issue with my experience was the gameplay it felt very repetitive and didn't feel fun throughout my beginning of the game i mostly want mojang to focus into the main game itself
Exactly! I think at its core, the games got potential, it feels like it could be more but it's a slow start, and feels wonky/repetitive early on. I worry for it's replay-ability. If they let you play a piglin faction in PvP matches or added Ender factions maybe it would liven things up a lot. But you're dead on that it's solid and good graphics missing something in the game play
I think the subscription model for entertainment has ended up being worse for everyone. we're spending more money for products that we dont want and the devs aren't being allowed to take risks
The core concept is not bad. There a problem with how shallow the strategic nature of the game. There not puzzle for MP to work with and everyone get one build. The campaign is red stone cannon to win. Mount and Blade persistence world works because you building toward something but for MCL it removes the chance to fail. Changes to make: Building is the most important thing then make a system where the player design his/her building and have them affect the game play. For campaign have scenarios or something more like Xcom where you need to work toward thing instead of just riding around to find all upgrade. See if you have it where one player can play MCL on a Minecraft server.
Dude to me it seems like the devs did not thought out his idea very well Because im 100% sure that the normal minecraft player base and the rts playerbase hasn't a huge overlap of players like as you may know a huge percent of the playerbase are childrens and i dont really think that many kids play rts games mainly because even the simplified mechanincs of legends are still kinda complex and at the other side the simple mechanice could very well have removed interest of rts players from the game So its a lose this game basically (Also why thus it matter if you wanna grab a bunch of youtubers to play your game if you are only going to do this for the english audience like idk look at brazil who had a huge chunk of the minecraft playerbase yeah microsoft/mojang didn't thought this very well)
Probably didn't help that it looked and played a lot like Dungeons, being hero-based. Only so much you can really do with 'top-down perspective Minecraft-styled action game', so I don't know how much that could have been helped.
Amazing video, one thing I will say for sure is that I would’ve bought the game if it weren’t for those insufferable voice actors. The 3 eye’d end rod was cool, that two eye‘d block looked weird and voice didn’t feel right, and that damn cyclops with the voice of a 4 year old just made me click off the video fast.
I'm not sure why you think the development of Legends affected Minecraft? Blackbird Interactive is a Canadian Developer and just worked with Mojang in concept stages for Legends development so far as I can tell
@@NapoleonVIINap It doesn't have to affect the main game for people like me to think that. The fact that Microsoft or whoever is in charge went out of their way to hire a different studio to work on a completely new game while the main game gets mid updates which said money could've been used to make the updates better is what gets to people...
The problem with Minecraft is that MC players do t want more Minecraft IP games. They want THE Minecraft game to have better updates. The studio is focusing resources in places where the audience doesnt really want to go.
Shouldn't be impossibly hard to have both though, considering the literal metric crap ton of money they've earned.
@@spugelo359and microsoft
I think they forgot the reason why it’s called Mine-craft is because you mine and craft in it and that’s why people love it.
The game is made by a completely different studio, not Mojang.
@@spugelo359Companies don't just give studios all the money they need.
2:54 BRUH they just described the Pikmin franchise... A franchise that started _23 years ago._
Really interesting video! It's a lot more nuanced than I thought it would be. Absolutely wild that a new minecraft game has less than 100 active players at a time on any one platform.
Aw man thanks dude! Yeah its strangely a topic tangled up in a lot more than just the game itself 😅 im glad you liked it!
Im hoping Minecraft Legends will do a phoenix rebirth! They need to release some big changes to get players back.
totally! I think what we saw at MC Live (2023) at least gives hope they aren't 'done' with developing the RTS side, adding in witches, and new mechanics. So it might be a real No Man Sky type situation where down the road it becomes a really fleshed out system, but I think you're right that they need big changes to get people interested/back
@@NapoleonVIINap I stream Minecraft Legends on Tue and Thursdays if you ever want to play a PVP game together let me know.
@@NapoleonVIINapI hope the devs pull a terraria
its a shame, i actually liked legends and had fun playing it. but with the lack of popularity i predict the game will be discontinued within maybe half a year as all other spinoffs do.
I think it's got a chance maybe to save itself, but I worry it's going to be relegated to arcade gamepass fodder like it's become. It has a good skeleton though so it could still have a great comeback
@@NapoleonVIINap i hope so
Great video, analysis and editing are on point, DECENT 👍
always tryin to get better at editing :D
bru how is this channel so small I literally cannot tell this apart in quality from channels with 100k or 1m subs
Thanks man thats super nice of you to say! I love makin these 'video essay' type vids so who knows maybe in a few years I'll be one of those 100k channels 😅
I like how you transitioned from the discussion of MCL's livelihood to the issue of the current monetary-driven gaming industry. I was an avid fan of MCL and do agree that the game deserves better. I'm glad that the algorithm pushed this vid to my main page lol (rather than randomly pushing a makeup tutorial with 73 views to me for the sake of "supporting small creators"). Keep up the good work!
Thanks man, that's kind of you to say I'm glad ya liked it! I was really rooting for MCL when it came out, and I wanted to make this as a bit of a dive into where it seemed to all go wrong and how the current direction of the gaming-industry seems to be creating no room for the mid-range game. It's release on Gamepass day one kind of took the legs out of it too making it feel to some, I imagine, not unlike a 'Netflix movie' it wasn't an 'event' it was another game on the pile. But I'm hopeful, I think MC Live might show they want to keep developing the game and not shelve it entirely as the arcade game it's becoming.
Either way though I appreciate ya taking the time to check out the video
I love MCL
this is a really good video and an interesting outlook on problems I didn't realize existed. Consider this a subscription
Hey thanks! That's kind of you to say and I'm glad you liked the video. I def think gaming might be headed down a weird direction with 'games as a subscription service' and I thought this made a great case study for it. Appreciate the sub dude!
Came here from the Fantastic Mr Fox video. Good to know the quality isn’t a fluke.
Thanks man thats super kind of ya to say! Glad you enjoyed
If actual minecraft can just get updates with engaging content and not just "oh heres more stuff you can *look at*" the player numbers would surge. The new updates feel deadish and disjointed. Not to mention the armor trim is hard af to get being that biomes are so far apart. Bundles would have been nice but nope. Just feels like theyre going the bungie route of not giving a damn about their original IP delusionally thinking the players will just dodo-bird their way over to dungeons or legends.
what do you want them to add?
2:40 HAH! A remake for age of mythology has been announced, besides, Starcraft is still alive even if it's on life support. WE'RE NOT DEAD YET.
Just when you think RTS are down and out, they come back swinging 😅
Why do companies keep trying to do game passes and streaming services when they fundamentally aren't profitable???
short term profits > long term viability
I think their expectations for this game were too high.
Just as you said, many gaming companies tend to stick to a formular.
While i do think that this is bad in most cases, sticking to it really works for Minecraft. Its what its known for.
Trying out other directions with a franchise is always a risky move.
They had high hopes. Even the fanbase.
But in the end it just ended up not meeting the expectations.
Yeah its strange, they usually could carve out some space for new games. Dungeons sold well, Minecraft Storymode did decently back in the day. I think part of the issue, beyond the way it was released is also the lack of variety. I didn't really get into in the video, but I think its just odd that in Multiplayer you can't play piglins, or get that other faction experience. But who knows, maybe an expansion will come letting players play piglins, add ender factions, it could work I think.
But like you said, the question is does the player base want it. BUT, even if only 10% of Minecraft's playerbase plays legends, MC is so big that that is millions of players
I’m surprised that MD got a little bit over hyped, but still has a bigger fan base than Minecraft Legends
@@thegeniuschannelwithlandon498 It's almost as if Minecraft Dungeons is an objectively better game than Legends lmao.
Nope. Is it too much to ask for a decent game? Why is Dungeons fun while Legends suck?
This was such a really interesting video, I really thought legends was going to a lot better than it did and I was sad it didn't but this video did really well explaining stuff. Let's gooo Nap!!
yoooo Thanks dude! yeah it really felt like they took the wind out of it's sails with how they released it and I think it makes for this great case study of where the games industry is right now. I'm hopeful we'll hear great things this weekend from MC Live tho!
I thought Legend would be very successful like Minecraft and Dungeons......:(
yeah, I was hopeful for it! I think it has a lot of talent behind it, it just was released day and date on Gamepass as well and had it's momentum killed that way. But it might be a turn around story!
@@NapoleonVIINap maybe!
This was very well put together. Nice video man.
Hey thanks, thats kind of you to say! Glad you enjoyed
I think the reason why the game has become less popular is because it’s just too similar to Minecraft dungeons and though they liked Minecraft dungeons, they got bored of it. Then, they see a Minecraft themed game that is similar to Minecraft dungeons and got bored of it even quicker. When being a developer, it’s important to know that if you’re gonna keep doing stuff that people only mildly enjoy or don’t enjoy at all, they’re gonna eventually leave.
question what’s the song playing in the background 19:45
The song is 'Stay With Me' by Miki Matsubara :)
Another amazing video, as always.
thank ya kindly 🤠
Could someone tell me the name of the song in the background that start playing at 10:50 pls ?
It's 'Midnight Joke' by Takako Mamiya I did slow it down though cause I liked the effect more
ok thanks a lot
@@NapoleonVIINap
No problem dude, happy to help 😁
Having played the game, I found 2 issues.
1. The game is way too slow. Each game took a minimum of an hour.
2. Each game is very similar despite some randomization and differences between games
I def agree that the game is slow starting and really lacks the variability an RTS needs to be fresh/interesting. It seems to miss the idea that a strategy game's strength is that, well, strategy matters. Its got a solid skeleton to work with though, so they might turn it around
Wonderful video mister poleon great analysis great editing great takeaways
kind of you to say! Ik we'd talked a lot of streams about Legends, but it was nice getting to sit down and organize exactly what I have been feeling regarding it. I ended up cutting some of what I wanted to talk about with Myths because well... it is its own beast that didn't fit as much. I'm so curious as to internally what they are thinking for this game though, and I really do hope Legends is given a chance to keep doing its own stylistic thing and come into its own. An expansion to let the player play AS piglins, or add an Ender species would be great for longevity. Also I TOLD you I could squeeze a scream sound effect into this vid 💅💅
@@NapoleonVIINap it really does seem like they aren’t sure either with the new dlc. interested to see what comes out of it. And nice to sit and get everything we’ve talked about it in one day place.
Anyway you owe me all the vods including and after the alien isolation vod /hj
new MindCraft
expansion?
legends?
-now real-time strategy, against pigs?
(pork mission- to
'bring home the bacon'?;)
& new free
virtual activity?
sounds almost like
a virtual hobby?
>Rocket League?
-intruiging.
hahaha yeah he has a special way about him when it comes to texting, can't say I always even understand what he's asking 💀
I feel like they dont get why we’re attached to the minecraft IP.
I admire that they try taking their own approach, and I really do think there COULD be something here. But I have to agree that it doesn't use the IP they've been given very effectively
I didn't expect agitprop from yt video about mincraft legends but I like it
It kinda just happened, I couldn't stop myself 💀💀
1:00 yo breakin my eardrums lol
I was really disapointed when I found out it was Minecraft based because I know it may not have been as successful but it would've been so cool to have mojang make a new IP that isn't Minecraft, new world or characters but mojang just makes a game and slaps Minecraft on it so they can turn a profit, it feels like it.
holy crap this channel is underrated
Thanks man! I have a blast makin these kind of videos so I'm glad you liked it :)
Honestly thought this came from a large channel with the insane quality, well done!
Aw man thanks, thats super kind of ya 😅 I've done a few video essay type videos and really enjoyed learning new ways to improve them and their quality. I'm glad you liked the video!
its a cool game with graphics and more
only issue with my experience was the gameplay
it felt very repetitive and didn't feel fun throughout my beginning of the game
i mostly want mojang to focus into the main game itself
Exactly! I think at its core, the games got potential, it feels like it could be more but it's a slow start, and feels wonky/repetitive early on. I worry for it's replay-ability. If they let you play a piglin faction in PvP matches or added Ender factions maybe it would liven things up a lot. But you're dead on that it's solid and good graphics missing something in the game play
17:47
Well this aged well
NGL I clicked on this video thinking it was minecraft Dungeons
I think the subscription model for entertainment has ended up being worse for everyone. we're spending more money for products that we dont want and the devs aren't being allowed to take risks
The core concept is not bad. There a problem with how shallow the strategic nature of the game. There not puzzle for MP to work with and everyone get one build. The campaign is red stone cannon to win. Mount and Blade persistence world works because you building toward something but for MCL it removes the chance to fail.
Changes to make: Building is the most important thing then make a system where the player design his/her building and have them affect the game play.
For campaign have scenarios or something more like Xcom where you need to work toward thing instead of just riding around to find all upgrade.
See if you have it where one player can play MCL on a Minecraft server.
OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED.... that was hilarious
i think legends needed just a bit more flesh on the bone
It definitely feels a little barren; heck even the ability to play a piglin faction in PvP matches would liven things up a lot I think
I stopped playing Legends because it was a buggy mess that kept freezing on me.
Why do your essay videos all seem so sombre? /lh
Hahahaha it does seem to always turn out that way by the end of the video 😅
they should just make Minecraft 2
Minecraft Movie when 👀
I wasn't aware this game existed so I thought I was going to watch a video about minecraft lore or creepypastas or something lol
Ironically enough as of Wednesday they announced they're ending support for the game... it aint even a year old 💀
@@NapoleonVIINap time to make creepypasta about the ghost of the stillborn minecraft game
I like the game
Yeah Legends is far from a bad game, its a shame how it launched imo
The World Netflix Built
Dude to me it seems like the devs did not thought out his idea very well
Because im 100% sure that the normal minecraft player base and the rts playerbase hasn't a huge overlap of players like as you may know a huge percent of the playerbase are childrens and i dont really think that many kids play rts games mainly because even the simplified mechanincs of legends are still kinda complex and at the other side the simple mechanice could very well have removed interest of rts players from the game
So its a lose this game basically
(Also why thus it matter if you wanna grab a bunch of youtubers to play your game if you are only going to do this for the english audience like idk look at brazil who had a huge chunk of the minecraft playerbase yeah microsoft/mojang didn't thought this very well)
Probably didn't help that it looked and played a lot like Dungeons, being hero-based. Only so much you can really do with 'top-down perspective Minecraft-styled action game', so I don't know how much that could have been helped.
Amazing video, one thing I will say for sure is that I would’ve bought the game if it weren’t for those insufferable voice actors. The 3 eye’d end rod was cool, that two eye‘d block looked weird and voice didn’t feel right, and that damn cyclops with the voice of a 4 year old just made me click off the video fast.
Literally same
Would’ve totally tried it if it didn’t feel THAT kid friendly ya know?
I know mojang got scolded when a day later no one was playing their lame ass game
I love the games graphics but its so repetitive
Who the heck even expected it to be popular and good? Everything I heard about it was:
That's all I heard
Definitely wasn't worth sacrificing updates for the main game so they could pump out more mediocre mojang games that nobody cares about
I'm not sure why you think the development of Legends affected Minecraft? Blackbird Interactive is a Canadian Developer and just worked with Mojang in concept stages for Legends development so far as I can tell
@@NapoleonVIINap It doesn't have to affect the main game for people like me to think that. The fact that Microsoft or whoever is in charge went out of their way to hire a different studio to work on a completely new game while the main game gets mid updates which said money could've been used to make the updates better is what gets to people...
I’m comment one hundred! The one hundredth person to comment!
Expensive game
Boring gameplay
Cool story