The Cseekly Recap #12 Subnautica 2, Black Flag Resynced, Stop Killing Games

JustCsomm

Hello there. Welcome to The Cseekly Recap. I’m your host, Csomm and here I'm going a bit deeper into the topics that I’ve covered in my shorts.   #thecseeklyrecap #gamingnews #opinion #discussion   Like, share, subscribe and all that good stuff!  Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 00:22 Subnautica 2 Drama Continues 03:11 Black Flag Resynced Status 09:07 Stop Killing Games 14:00 Outro  Sources:  Article 1: https://news.instant-gaming.com/en/articles/19021-subnautica-2-is-no-longer-being-published-by-krafton-but-rather-by-unknown-worlds-entertainment Article 2: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/111021/assassins-creed-black-flag-resynced-reportedly-set-to-feature-new-characters-and-stories/index.html Article 3: https://insider-gaming.com/black-flag-resynced-release-date/ Article 4: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/assassins-creed-black-flag-resynced-is-not-an-rpg-ubisoft-assure-level-up-haters-in-alleged-leak-that-also-spills-the-release-date Article 5: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/stop-killing-games-delivers-absolutely-incredible-hearing-in-european-parliament-there-was-no-parliament-member-that-wasnt-responding-positively/  For more content check me out at https://www.youtube.com/@realcsomm

Transcript

00:00Hey hey hey, it's time for another edition of the Cheekly Recap.

00:04I'm your host Chum and I'm here to go a bit deeper into the topics that I've covered in my

00:08shorts.

00:09The footage behind is from the game Graveyard Keeper.

00:13Let's get this show on the road.

00:15Our first story today is all about Subnautica 2.

00:19And yes, you guessed it, more drama.

00:22So apparently Subnautica 2 is no longer being published by Crafton

00:27and will instead be self-published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

00:31This sudden shift comes amid ongoing studio changes,

00:34raising questions about the game's development and release.

00:38I reckon this isn't just a random business decision.

00:41It's probably tied to a major lawsuit and power struggle.

00:45As you are well aware, Crafton bought Unknown Worlds in 2021,

00:49and then there was that 250 million bonus tied to Subnautica 2's success.

00:53Stuff happened in between,

00:55Crafton fired the original devs, delayed the game,

00:58and tried to avoid paying that bonus.

01:00However, a court ruled in favor of the devs, reinstated the CEO,

01:05and gave them control again.

01:07So what it could mean, realistically speaking?

01:10Well, it could be like some kind of a soft breakup.

01:15Distancing, whatever you want to call it.

01:16Most likely is that Crafton still owns the studio,

01:19but is stepping back publicly due to legal pressure.

01:23It's pretty much like this.

01:24We are involved, but don't put our name on it.

01:27I read somewhere that they said that they are still supporting the launch,

01:31so I guess this kind of makes sense.

01:34Another explanation would be that developers are regaining control, either partially or fully,

01:40which means that they now control release timing and control publishing decisions.

01:45However, some might say that this could signal a real split or independence move.

01:50I reckon we are going to figure out that in the future.

01:53Also, this could be a legal move.

01:55I mean, if you think about it, changing the publisher might protect the devs bonus eligibility,

02:01comply with court orders, or avoid further legal violations.

02:05And naturally, you have a worst-case scenario, which basically means more delays and messy launch,

02:11marketing confusion, and possible behind-the-scenes instability.

02:16However, I need to say that game is still planned for early access in 2026.

02:21What my gut feeling is telling me is this basically does not mean everything is suddenly fine.

02:27I would say quite the opposite. The conflict is still brewing between publisher and developer,

02:33the developer just won a major legal battle, and control of the game is shifting.

02:38So most likely interpretation would be that Unknown Worlds is taking back control,

02:42while Crafton is being pushed into the background, at least publicly.

02:46And that makes complete sense because, again, their public image is really messed up,

02:52and people don't want to see that name ever again attached to Subnautica 2.

02:56So you could say this is a win for Unknown Worlds, but I believe there will be more drama

03:03related to Subnautica 2, Crafton, Unknown Worlds situation,

03:07so I'm pretty damn curious what's going to happen in the future.

03:11Speaking of what's going to happen in the future, the Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake,

03:16reportedly titled Resynced, may include new characters and story content.

03:21While fans are excited, changes to such a beloved game could be risky, and we almost witnessed that,

03:28but Ubisoft decided to delay the official reveal at the last minute. Like I said, it was supposed to be

03:35revealed at April 16th, but Ubisoft decided to postpone the announcement until the next week. They did,

03:43however, show a roughly 30-minute presentation to certain media and content creators, but like I said in

03:49my short, I will be the judge of whether or not this new re-sync thing is a good or

03:55a bad idea.

03:56And to conclude the story chain, so to speak, new leaks suggest Assassin's Creed Black Flag

04:02resync will not be an RPG, focusing instead on a classic character-driven experience. And if this

04:09is true, Ubisoft may be stepping away from the RPG formula they used in recent Assassin's Creed games.

04:16So obviously there is a lot of things happening with Assassin's Creed Remake, so let's unpack it.

04:21The first big thing what they're doing is they're adding new storylines. I already said in my previous

04:27recaps that they need to do something in order to justify why should I play this game, because if

04:34everything is going to be the same like it was in the original one, then what's the point of playing

04:40it other than seeing things in a better graphical fidelity? Which, to be honest, I enjoyed the first

04:47one completely fine as is, so what the hell is the point? I can just go back and replay the

04:53original

04:54one, giving them zero dollars because I already have the damn thing, so again, what's the point?

05:00This kinda reminds me of a Oblivion remaster situation. The brain of the game is still the

05:06original, because the devs literally described it like that. So we are talking same quests, same world,

05:12same factions, same core systems. But the game got optimized in terms of graphical fidelity, combat and

05:18gameplay, leveling and progression, NPCs, dialogue and AI. In another words, it plays a bit better,

05:25but it's still the same, a bit different, but still the same. So connecting this situation to Assassin's

05:32Creed Black Flag, the new one, the only thing that they could do is basically add story and characters.

05:40Now the question is, how will that be incorporated in the storyline that we already know? Will Ubisoft use

05:47this in order to push more on their bullshit through story and characters? Or they will be smart,

05:53use common sense and incorporate stories that could have been set back in the day, but because ABCD

06:00reasons they couldn't. But now they kind of be like, okay, you know, we can do this, we can do

06:05that,

06:05we can introduce this character, this pirate, that kind of stuff. And that could work essentially,

06:10but it all depends what percentage of the story is going to be added based on what we already know.

06:16Because if I'm going to pay 40 bucks or 50 bucks or whatever the fuck the price will be,

06:23in order to experience 5% of the story, which essentially adds nothing to the original one,

06:30then again, what's the point of this remake other than fixing bugs, increasing graphical fidelity,

06:36and maybe doing some changes to combat? Maybe. I don't know what to say about this current situation,

06:42I really need to see it, but it reminds me of Oblivion. Yes, I played the remake, and yes,

06:48it was nice, but at the end of the day, I got bored because I already seen all of these

06:53things before,

06:54but packaged differently. And that's the whole point here. And also, if anyone thought that they're going

07:00to introduce RPG elements like we've seen in Valhalla, Origins, Odyssey, games like that,

07:07either you are so into these systems that you don't see further from your nose, or people really think

07:14Ubisoft is that fucking dumb that they're going to change the core of the game itself. And thank

07:20fuck this is not going to happen. And to be honest, it would be an extremely dumb move,

07:26because whoever played Black Flag knows that these systems do not belong in that game because it was

07:32all about characters, story, and the feeling of being a pirate. And then someone will point out that,

07:39yes, you had these RPG elements that you couldn't go to this area or that area, but these limitations

07:45feel natural and they're not as egregious as we have in the newer games where you are continuously

07:52swapping your gear and changing stuff just to be competitive enough in order to access certain

07:58areas. At the end of the day, I think this is a blatant cash-in on nostalgia and it has

08:04been done

08:05before. But for me personally, considering I played Black Flag around maybe 10 plus times or so,

08:12and however big the story and character changes are going to be in this remake, I don't think they

08:19will grip me that much, or at least I hope they won't. But you know, never say never. I will

08:25definitely go and try it, see what happens, provided Ubisoft doesn't put a ridiculous price on it,

08:31and then give my opinion about the whole situation with the Black Flag remake. Because again, I need to

08:38see it and experience it in order to see whether if it's a good or a bad thing, because I

08:43don't really

08:44trust anyone anymore in terms of reviews and stuff like that. Crimson Desert is one blatant example how

08:51that turned out to be, because most of the people were saying that the game was amazing, and then

08:56when I tried it, it was like, huh, okay, I see that was a fucking lie. So yeah, when the

09:01game comes out,

09:02I'll probably pick it up and give my opinion, because that's what I do. And our final story today

09:09is all about Stop Killing Games initiative. So the Stop Killing Games movement received overwhelming

09:15support during a European Parliament hearing. The initiative aims to prevent games from becoming

09:20unplayable after servers shut down, and this could have massive implications for the future of gaming.

09:26You know what's funny? When I read that every politician in the room reacted positively,

09:32I thought that was some kind of a fucking joke, because that's fucking rare. In EU politics,

09:37you usually get a mixed reaction, a pushback, or outright opposition. But in this situation,

09:43they almost universally agree that the issue is real. So what could actually change in this particular

09:49situation? Well, if this goes further, I reckon it could lead to a new EU laws forcing companies to

09:56either keep games playable after shutdown, provide offline patches or server alternatives, or refund players

10:04if they cannot secure the things that I already mentioned. But let's be real, providing server

10:10alternatives or refunding is never going to happen. So I reckon the best next thing would be to keep

10:16games playable after shutdown by providing offline patches. However, people need to realize that this

10:23is a hearing, early step, not a final decision. There are several steps before this gets into legislation.

10:31For starters, EU needs to review everything. And then European Commission needs to respond.

10:38I think deadline is July 2026. And then they may propose a law, modify existing rules, or basically do

10:46nothing. And let's not forget the other side is also working tirelessly. They're not idle in this

10:52situation. But the most important thing is that people are talking about this and it touches a

10:58fundamental question. Do you actually own digital products or just rent them? Because right now we are

11:05just renting them. You buy a game and company can kill it anytime with no guarantees it will remain usable.

11:12But if this thing passes, it could reshape digital ownership. Not just with games, but software, services,

11:19maybe even subscriptions. The question now is how realistic this outcome is. And I would say

11:26not really realistic. Because again, the other side has to say something about that or use lobbying or

11:33whichever tactic in order for this not to be a thing. Maybe they will argue something along the lines

11:38like, okay, we will give two to three years for this game to fully function. And then later on, that's

11:45it, you are dead in the water. Let's imagine that the game is a washing machine and you have two

11:50years warranty.

11:51And after that, the manufacturer just says, okay, that's it, it's broken, but we don't really care because you are

11:57outside of your warranty period. But the thing is, you can still fix the damn washing machine because you can

12:03find parts

12:03somewhere else and increase the longevity of the product. And with games, you cannot do that. Because

12:09once servers go offline, that's about it, you are basically fucked. Try playing Anthem right now,

12:15when you purchase the game, whenever the fucking thing came out, you cannot because it's not working

12:20anymore. And there are no means for you to reinstate the product in the working condition. At the end of

12:27the

12:27day, I would say the real battle is still ahead, because the movement just entered serious political

12:33territory. The good thing about this is that the politicians are surprisingly supportive, maybe

12:39because they don't know shit about gaming and the gaming industry never really considered that they

12:44need to lobby against this particular situation. So I reckon they got a bit blindsided. And of course,

12:51politicians might not be that knowledgeable about the whole situation. So probably they found the next

12:57best analog in order to explain to themselves how is this working. But let's not forget how amazing

13:03Ross Scott is in explaining this shit. So I reckon if not for him, this wouldn't go to the length

13:10that we are

13:10witnessing right now. So shout out to Ross Scott. And well done, my man. Well done. My take on this

13:17is really

13:18simple. The game is a product. I bought the product, I should own the fucking product, and it should be

13:24functional unless something weird happens to it. And not to mention, when I own it, I can do whatever

13:29the fuck I want with it. And that means giving it to my friend so he can play it and

13:35vice versa. So yeah,

13:36think of it as a car that you can use, you can maintain, it works, and it's completely okay for

13:42someone to take it for a spin and give it back when they are done. So to conclude, I wish

13:47them all the best,

13:48because they are fighting for all of us, so to speak. And hopefully we will get a positive outcome

13:54from this whole situation. Because it is high time, things should change. And that's basically it when

14:01it comes to the news that I have covered this week. Thanks very much for watching, and as always,

14:06I encourage you to leave comments. I read all of them, and I'm very happy to interact there with you

14:11guys. And if you enjoy this content, consider liking it and subscribing for more discussions like this.

14:17And that's it from me, until the next one.

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