So, how long until we get another gaming CEO declaring that "single-player is dead" because they think if they say it enough people will buy shit multiplayer games?
Splatoon gets away with charging full price because it's very clear about its monetization with it. You get a full campaign and 2-3 years of multiplayer support per entry, with additional monetization coming only in the form of an extra half-price for an additional substantial campaign that doesn't affect the core multiplayer modes. After a Splatoon game runs its course a new one is released shortly with a comprehensive update to the core systems. No entry really lives that long, but that also means that they can afford to sell each one as a full game, making for a comparatively fair and transparent overall monetization model. Even before Splatoon 3 released we had a firm commitment for 2 years of support and the example of Splatoon 2. Foamstars and Concord didn't do that, so their price was indeed a barrier to entry as opposed to a statement of value. If you want to attach a box price to a live service game these days you need to communicate very clearly why it's worth it.
That's a great way of putting it. And personally i prefer paying $60 every 5 years when a new entry comes out, than playing one ftp that gets updated for ad long as possible. If gives splatoon a chance to change and rebalance gameplay in a way that isn't possible in a live service too
yea, i defo think not enough ppl realize the importance of nintendo saying "we're going to update this game with new content for 2 years, no ifs ands or buts". almost any other multiplayer shooter has no set end date, and can js end @ any point, deserting its entire playerbaae
"statement of value" is the key concept here. I remember Sakurai was NOT fond of DLC during Smash 4's development but was later convinced about the validity of additional fighters. When Ultimate's Season Pass was announced Sakurai said "You can purchase it if you're confident about the value being offered". Season pass, preorders and other ways of monetizations are only sustainable when there's confidence that your product will not only deliver, but also be relevant for years to come. Concord is the opposite of that, so its failure is not surprising to me.
Penny: Wait... with the thumbnail assets he's been using, he could just spin around and around the edge of the thumbnail forever! Arlo washing machine simulator 2025
Splatoon works because it seems to understand and embrace it's weird theme. Foamstars seems to only grasp the surface level success of the series but doesn't create anything that's equally as eye catching or fun looking.
Ehhh, I think I’m a weird one here. I think Foamstars actually looks and sounds more charming personally. Then again, I generally don’t like the movement of both games, being move slow while shooting, and move fast when not. I bought Splatoon 2 since I got a switch and was curious as what it was pitching was something I hadn’t seen before on the market. Foamstars I wasn’t interested in because Splatoon 2 proved the core gameplay loop wasn’t appealing to me. Yet it was free on release for PSPlus so I gave it a try. I actually enjoyed it more due to the given abilities mitigating the movement restrictions. Even then though, the micro-transactions and battle passes were a massive turn off. The difference was that occasionally I went back to foamstars (until I deleted it from my console) just to mooch around the hub as it has a more appealing or charming vibe to me. Nothing against the whole Splatoon aesthetic btw, just didn’t click the same personally. And I should mention going free to play doesn’t solve my personal issues with the game. So if its audience is anything like me, idk if it will change much…
The game overall looks good in the casual gamer sense, but the character designs that look bad or i would even call them AI looking, kills everything off, if they had tried something like the Chibi Black mage design-like art style or even if the game had gone for that random japanese comedy theme couldve probably catched better atention, for me the character design completely turn me down.
The reason why Splatoon worked for me was the cute charadesign, the funny musics and simply how well the ink mechanic was added. And when I say that, I mean both in gameplay and in relation to the characters being cephalopods. Foamstar doesn't look bad at all, I'll take that any day of the week instead of an hyper realistic shooter. But it's just kinda generic. And how they added the Foam to the gameplay only feels like they saw Splatoon doing well and needed the characters to shoot any type of liquid-y thing. Splatoon went through a lot, a LOT of changes before they even came with the correct way to fuse Paintball and Hiding in your own team's turf. Whereas Foamstar just kinda took what Splatoon did, added verticality as a means to say "Look, more options" and kinda just left. Also, I can't stress enough how EMBRASSING it is to use AI generated images when you're trying to cater to the Splatoon fanbase. A fanbase that is really big about art and self expression
I agree with everything you've said here. Splatoon feels very... Natural. It's not "humans decided to make Soap Sport" it's "animals evolved and now play games based on their old instincts." It makes sense that they swim, it makes sense that if their ink goes up so can they. Of course cephalopods are shooting ink. It took them awhile to arrive there when they were making it, but it FEELS like it just makes sense! The Splatoon fanbase is made up of people who report bad behavior, who draw pictures and like them over and over so they stay in the plaza, of people who like dressing up characters in little outfits, of people who are obsessed with the story mode's vague-but-unsettling lore. Foamstars thinking they can lure in the vibrant Splatoon fanbase felt like going "Ah, you're a vegetarian! Y'all like salads, right? This one has croutons AND dressing. You like these things?" and it's like "I was eating a vegetable biryani, why would I switch to something basic and less tasty?" Sure it's less expensive. But I already paid. And yours doesn't have anything... Worth switching for? It was an uphill battle they chose, but they decided to wear roller skates.
@@thoopsy I remember way back when Splatoon was first announced, I had extremely low expectations of it - basically the cynical "oh it's new Nintendo IP trying to be their attempt at a team shooter, when Overwatch and Team Fortress were already solidly established." I nevertheless tried it when they did the free demo/stress test and I was massively impressed with something I was thinking would not be my speed at all. It didn't need unique characters or wild graphics, all it was just your unique squidling, the equipment, and ability loadout you were comfortable with, and some basic matchmaking wrt to team comp, and you were bound to have an enjoyable time. Touching on your point of feeling natural, I think that's what captivated me first above everything else - the mechanics were slick, polished, and made sense. Though above all else, there was something about just walking around the world, or swimming through ink that just felt ridiculously satisfying. So much so that I probably spent a good 10% of my time on there just running around between matches and messing around the city or in the training area. Combine that with Miiverse still at its peak (before crashing and burning hard), during its release and how accessible they made posting to it from Inkopolis + sharing/interacting with others' posts, and it really was a solid combination of just a damn fun game that was just great to play and an incredibly organic and lively community that made someone want to be a part of it, and it's no surprise how it's been doing so well.
One thing that really helped Splatoon succeed was its enormous marketing (and the fact that it shooters aren’t very commonly played among Nintendo players). For a Wii U game, I saw more advertisements for that game than almost anything else. Heck, I remember seeing less advertisement for MARIO KART 8 than for Splatoon. They seemed to really understand that in order to gain an audience, especially on an underperforming console, they had to really work hard to let you know about all the game’s selling points in depth. And I just didn’t see nearly that level of marketing with foam stars, even though I think it had potential to do pretty decent. Idk man, I low key hope someone revisits that concept in a better way, cuz I think the gameplay looks different enough from splatoon to where it could still shine
Splatoon succeeded because it existed in a niche, "shooter without gore, on a console that doesn't have shooters." If you make a live service hero shooter on some other console, you had to compete with ALL of that. I got Splat1 because of word of mouth, but yeah those commercials were kind of everywhere, huh. Tell you what, Splatoon's ads did a good job at demonstrating its unique features and value, even if they were goofy as all hell.
This right here is why so many companies chase the live service, always online trend. It’s obviously a long shot, but if everything goes right and you get a game like FF14 or R6:S you basically get a free pass to print money for the next decade. Like god, could you imagine how dire of a situation SE would be in right now if they didn’t have FF14? They’d probably be staring down the barrel of a chapter 11 filing.
@@TheGrayAdderThe funny part about final fantasy 14 is what a lot of business analysts and this about that game was that it nearly died and tanked in the company. Think it was literally one of those one at a time. Miracles like no man's sky where they were not only able to completely rehabilitate a failed game but made it flourish and made it better than what they originally pitched it as. Like People don't realize that those two games are exceptions to a problem, not a rule.
At this point, Yoshi-P needs to be cloned so his clone can run Square Enix as it's CEO. He seems to be one of very few people there that knows how to make a profitable product. 😆
@@SniperKing-O remember that yoshi is part of the board of directors against his will and the rest of the board has to strongarm him into staying because they need at least one person in there that knows how games work but he just wants to focus on making games.
Watching the Concord video, then immediately this one feels like when the baker pulls the pre-baked or chilled cake out of an oven or freezer in cooking shows
Really feels like the f2p craze has mirrored the rise of streaming services. What started as a fun idea that shook up the industry inspired so many imitators that it's just exhausted and soured the goodwill of the market. What I wouldn't give to see SE make Triangle Strategy 2 instead...
I still massively prefer streaming to cable, but it is different when it first started before everyone else got their own streaming service. There is just too much stuff to shift through, and it gets really expensive.
Sucks that there’s so many streaming services, but at least it made everything archived and on demand the industry standard, which is an improvement over needing to follow a TV schedule and episodes being lost forever whenever a cable company decided to stop airing them. Everything being live service w/ battle pass brought no such positive innovation, it just exploits consumer FOMO and saps money out of their wallet.
@@PikaLink91it can't be Splatoon but with foam because Splatoon has such specific and unique art direction that none of these big studios could mimic without getting sued. Here it's just "colorful anime humans running around on LED screens" with no charm.
Yeah. The early ambasadors of a game like splatoon were very likely going to be splatoon fans, but I feel like they got rid of that market with the art direction. They kept the vibrant colors in tact, but in foamstars it feels like it was just thrown around without any real thought into it. I think their decision to use AI art in part of the games also did a decent blow to the game. I think it was there that a lot of splatoon fans went from mildly interested in foamstars, to not wanting to touch it.
I don't understand how the management which gets millions every year as salary can't see that this game is an instant failure, but every casual gamer saw that this will happen from the first second. Companies could save millions for the management salaries, if they just ask a random player on the street, if this would be a good game.
The Free to Play model is limited in that only so many games can succeed in that model. The player base gets thinned out for every new successful F2P game, that means less people for your games attempt.
Not to mention the visual clarity lost by making it all LIGHTLY COLORED SOAP FOAM. Splatoon has a dark color and a light color in every match for a reason.
I think multiplayer games that aren't free can work, and feels more honest to some people. The obvious example right now is Helldivers. People LOVED the price point, in part because they believed it was WHY the game was viable with no money spent on the microtransactions.
Helldivers is PVE - different market, there’s not much other than Destiny and Warframe to compete with. Both of which have trouble onboarding new players. Anything PVP is fighting against so many competitors. I added Foamstars to my library when it was PS essential monthly game in case my nieces (big Splatoon players) wanted to try it. I’ve never installed it.
If anyone's reading this, helldivers 2 is currently in a pretty rough spot, but not because of monetization issues; despite everything, jedi's point still stands.
If they make it free to play, and then announce its getting a steam version. Im sure thats gonna help boost player numbers quite a bit. Steam doesnt have its own splatoon to play, so this can be a good alternative, especially when it does go free to play.
I'm honestly kind of disappointed that the first Splatoon clone is coming from Square Enix and not Valve, meanwhile Valve is launching a new game and it's FPS MOBA: Third Time's the Charm instead.
As a Splatoon player, I'm down to give it a try if it's going free to play.... Not looking foward to any game modes based on kill count though... (Since that's why I like Splatoon: the win condition is helped by kills, but not actually determined by it.)
The saddest thing is that I actually WANTED to see this game to succeed. look at other companies. sonic the hedgehog took the platform idea from mario and added their own little spin on it, Danganronpa took the court idea from ace attorney and added their own little spin on it, Crash bandicoot again took the platform idea from sonic, so on and so fourth. this game took the idea of Splatoon and anime-ified it even more. this genuinely looked good.
Dark Souls and God of War? What? Dark Souls is a pretty direct continuation of From's own series named King's Field from the early 90s. I don't particularly see, nor have I ever heard mentioned, any inspiration from God of War. If anything it's the new God of War reboot that's inspired by the Fromsoft Souls games.
@@LordZedz Thanks for pointing that out! Yeah, I don't have a clue what I'm talking about when it comes to those 2 franchises lol. I replaced them though.
I legit have not heard or thought about this game since it was initially announced until this video. Like from the title I didn't even know what this was, then after watching the trailer clips I was like "ooooh yeah I kind vaguely of remember seeing this trailer before".
For me, Square Enix is a company that releases like 5 games a year, and 1 is fantastic, 1 is good/okay, and 3 are Foamstars or Chocobo GP or Various Daylife.
Various Daylife is still the worst title for a video game. Just who decides these names? I swear, I'd rather have Nomuras nonsensival KH names instead.
I got the mission to Hunt some wolfs (After about 20 minutes extrem boring tutorial). - " Yes finaly combat." No no combat it got simply skipped by the game. And this was the end for me. Deleted it
@@matiaspereyra9392 The actual plot is supposed to be a shocking twist. So, spoilers: You're a colonist on a cursed continent where people cannot age (including fetuses, so no children) or die. You defeat the corrupt government that hides this from the public and break the curse.
I don't care for Foamstars, at least it is eye catching. Out of other multiplayer shooters out there, like Concord, I actually do hope Foamstars succeed and survive. It looks good. It has a fun art style that stands out. Personality is what this game has.
It feels unfortunate that this game ultimately failed. A Splatoon like with foam sounds cool and felt like it could have worked. It may have been a number of reasons it failed, like it wasn't developed enough, the style just didn't click, or maybe this type of game isn't a fit on a Sony platform. (I never got to play it myself) I do feel if it was given enough attention and development time, it may have been a success, even a potentially new IP. Also while Square is doing better these days, they are a farcry from their glory days as Squaresoft.
This is EXACTLY how I feel about the game. People can bash on it all they want, but the idea of a Splatoon like game but with foam is extremely goddamn cool and could’ve been so much more if it had better and more caring developers. I would LOVE for someone else to make a game around the same idea and execute it a lot better. Just SOMETHING to not make it look like AAA slop on the surface.
Oh my goodness. I've seen you comment so many times. We get it, you love hating on things that are too similar to what you like. You can hate, but stop filling the comments section with pointless blabber.
I couldn't tell you when this game came out. Feels like there was next to no marketing for it. And that's the problem. It's bad enough that so many companies are churning out these low-effort cash grabs, but them not even having enough confidence in their own product to market the thing? If they can't be bothered to sell us on their game, they shouldn't be surprised when we don't buy it.
Splatoon gives you a story mode, casual battles, ranked battles and a hoard mode. Plus special events almost every month. And the world grows with each game, characters change and so on.
And the theme is great, fish are awesome and you don't get to see a lot of them in media aside from them getting eaten so it attracts the marine biology nerds in droves.
when the game launched someone on twitter made a joke saying something like "wow first game to have a roadmap to f2p" the game was so obviously a trend chaser and was never gonna last long (just like concord)
I think a small part of what happened is these publishers were attempting to bring in players that weren’t already financially invested in the ftp model. A premium game could bring non ftp players in, if the games weren’t perceived as ftp games in disguise, or just chasing the coattails of more original ftp or premium games. In my case I barely ever touch ftp, so why would I pay a premium for the same value of a ftp game. Same thing for Concord, ftp might help, but probably won’t help much.
I like the theme of shooting with bubbles and the designs are nice, but there’s something else missing. Like it’s ALMOST there there’s just something missing.
The Hero Mode even if it wasn't great in the first 2 games it was a good mix of tutorials and shooter platformer. Bosses were fun and the music is always good
This game feels to me like Splatoon's Palworld. You can try to copy it but ultimately if you don't put the care into it, no one is going to care either.
Still having a blast with Splatoon 3 and that is still quite big in Japan. Foamstars from day one was setting it's self up for failure and I saw it coming a mile away
Can anyone who's played Foamstars please tell me what new ideas it brings to the Splatoon formula? How does it remix the formula to do something new or improve upon it? Did it add anything Splatoon needed? I'm completely fine with one game being similar to another game, but it's kinda gotta do something, ANYTHING, to stand out as it's own thing.
It's main idea is the foam stacking, making your own elevation. This kinda backfires though, since if you fire infront of you, you kinda take away your sightline. Also, their main gamemode is just Light vs Dark from Kid Icarus Uprising
@@OmegaChase1002 also, it was kinda more of a hero shooter, with guns and abbilities being tied to characters. There may be more, but I don't know it all anymore
@@OmegaChase1002 Smash the star is a pretty fun mode, the shots moving slowly and changing the terrain means you need to strategize differently than other shooters. Having to actually surf into your opponents after you foam them up brings a lot to the table, as well as being able to save your teammates who have been foamed up by surfing into them. Also the only shooter I've played where a good sniper can't to carry a whole team
My reaction to foamstars was basically "That looks kinda neat. Oh nevermind it's not on PC." Like if I really wanna play a game I'll play it on another console but not for a paid game that I only have passing interest in, and probably just not for a shooter in general since I play those with keyboard & mouse
What's wild is that Sony is sitting on two franchises that have multiplayer aspects that were fun. SOCOM is a game that I would buy a PS5 for just so I could play it online. I miss the good old days where I'd play SOCOM FTB2 on my PSP lol. But even better, The Resistance had a fun online experience as well. I know those two games wouldn't pull in Call of Duty numbers, but at least they'd be Sony exclusives, giving people a little more reason to buy their console in the first place as well. Alas, all companies seem to care about now is that sweet bottom dollar, while pushing out garbo games that people will forget about in less than a month.
I assume Foamstars is at least partially aiming for the Splatoon fanbase, hoping to chip off a few players. Here's too many words about my thoughts. I've been playing Splatoon basically since it came out. It lured me in with the fish! And the fact that I had a Wii U and basically nothing to play on it! The little outfits were cute, I loved the music, I had a blast with the singleplayer. The character designs were charming, and unlike most of the shooters I'd had advertised to me there was incredibly good visual clarity. I could tell who's my enemy and who's on my team at a glance. Splatoon's gameplay also gives way to more playstyles, with the main objective in the main mode being ink cover. Sure, you still have to shoot at others to make them back off. But number of kills isn't often the determining factor, if you rush to mid and don't bother inking your spawn, you're gonna lose. That made it very approachable as somebody who hadn't played shooters before, I could stay around back and make sure turf got inked and swing wildly when others showed up. A lot of "serious" gamers never give Splatoon a chance because of its bright colors, lack of voice chat for kids' sakes, and just the reputation that it's not "mature." But, when Foamstars came out... I already have Splatoon 3, a fantastic game in an established franchise. My friends already play it, it's on the Switch (I prefer portable play), I'm invested in the story. I put a good 700 hours in over two years. And then somebody announces a new game. Less visual clarity because the characters are closer to human proportions, not on consoles I own, presumably the skins are paid whereas Splatoon's customization is all cooked in, has the same "it's bright and you're not even KILLING anybody!" angle Too Cool for School guys don't like, and... Oversaturated market! I already have my multiplayer shooter, it's Splatoon! I already have my VR shooter, it's Half-Life Alyx! I already have my singleplayer shooter, it's Half-Life also! I'm covered. And even if I WAS interested in Foamstars... I would have to, what, convince my friends to play? Play a multiplayer game never with friends? Logistically, it doesn't make sense. TLDR? I like Splatoon, nothing Foamstars has impresses me.
I almost forgot this game existed until you mentioned it. Why this one doesn't have the same traction as Splatoon? Probably marketing's fault again. I'll never forget Squeenix for closing Nosgoth anyway.
It doesn't change the fact that we are currently in a recession where you have to choose between playing a new multiplayer game, or putting food on the table
If nothing else I feel like the character designs in Foamstars feel more inspired than Overwatch or Concorde which (to me) feel very focus-group by-the-numbers.
@@affinityforanimeThey do have a nice sort of bubbly sculpted feel to them which is something I find charming too. A decent amount of artists I follow would come up with character designs like them. Though I guess it coule be argued that in their own genre they are a bit generic. So I guess them being focus group tested might actually be the case if they were testing it against us. It just takes a lot to stand out and in the end Splatoon exists sooo ehhh...
I'm honestly surprised this wasn't multiplatform at first. Of course, I know Sony had their typical exclusivity agreements. But I think if Square want to keep the game alive, at least a pc port should be in the works, to be released in October along with the ftp update.
This is the second time Ive even seen anything related to this game. The first time was some raunchy fanart I saw on Discord. This game had zero fanfare.
I would think Square Enix would've learned their lesson when they failed to make Dissidia NT into an e-sport game. Maybe they'll take the lesson to heart with Foamstars.
i tried the free trial and so many things about it annoyed me that id be here all day if i tried to list them. but the ultimate killer was how overwhelmingly cluttered the screen gets. splatoon can get crazy but the ink stays on a flat plane so visually its always easy to parse the stage design. since the foam has volume it makes it impossible to see the stage when it piles up and the foam "bullets" flying everywhere are so huge that it becomes a nightmare very quickly. all the character models immediately get lost in the chaos.
Cant wait for this to become a series for arlo something like the live service watch. Seeing how many more companies will crash and burn with this desprate trend chasing i hope he revisits how redfall is doing now
I gotta say it's funny how for almost two decades the games industry had a problem with overadvertising its games to the point where marketing was costing significantly more than actual development, and now they're just not trying to sell the games at all. Both Foamstars and Concord had basically no marketing outside of their initial announcement so when they actually released there was no hype built up or even any attention paid to them. I genuinely didn't know this had actually released yet because there's been almost complete rafio silence about it, and for a multiplayer game people not knowing it exists is the kiss of death.
Arlo should do a comparison of foamstars and ninjala. The material used for fighting, and how each company went about thier project, and each's comparison to Splatoon.
splatoon worked cause it had quirky charm and was all bold colors that stood out while still being easy on the eyes, foamstars however took itself WAY too seriously and only used obnoxiously bright colors that bleed into each other so i can't see anything. even if i can get my eyes to stop bleeding from the strain
While I didn't play Foamstars, I'd be far more likely to try something like it than I would something like Concord. Foamstars at least attempted to be something besides "Generic Competitive Shooter #136"
I really don't understand why these companies don't just show off these games earlier in development. Does a huge reveal with a fully polished trailer really increase hype and sales that much? Indie games that come out in early access have tons of success because they can incorporate feedback from their fanbase early in development.
This game feels like they wanted Splatoons success but also wanted to sell skins and have it just be a livetime season pass game. And they just didn't understand or wanted to understand what made Splatoon popular.
I kinda forgot this game existed honestly. Doesn't help that it's still Playstation exclusive at the moment either though. Like if this would have released on PC and Switch as well I feel it would have at least had a bit more of a chance.
I personally really liked Foamstars. I gave it a chance and it hooked me for a decent amount of time. It may be doing poorly, but I’ll still remember the characters, the admittedly cringy dialogue, and the abundance of charm. This clicked for me. Also, the music is REALLY good! 🎧
I love splatoon but i hate that you have to buy another seitch and another game to play multiolayer with a family member. A split screen option would be a instant buy to me. Since this game is free i am going to try it out
ngl when you get into online multiplayer games like this I have no clue why you would care so much for split screen, it just wouldn't work that well for a game as intense as Splatoon also you still need to pay for online in either case hehehehehhehehe
The reason it’s going to take so long to make free, they have to implement a new monetizing system. Before your $30 paid for it, but if it’s free they need to add microtransactions to make money.
As a Splatoon fan, it didn’t look interesting or fun, but I gave it a fair shot just to not blindly bash on it. It just doesn’t feel good to move or fight in that game, the foam is horrible to move on and it’s so obnoxiously bright and just gets in your face too much. Not to mention how horrible the in game purchases are. I did not have a good time playing this and am not surprised it’s dying off.
It's nice to hear this game is coming to Steam, because I need a good alternative to Splatoon's multiplayer. Kinda hard to have fun in Turf War when everyone plays aggressively... isn't that supposed to be the casual mode of the series?
It was one of the "free" PS+ (which you need to have in order to pay online anyway) games on the month it was released and it still bombed. Perhaps folks just don't want any more games like this.
I'd play Foamstars if it wasn't just on Playstation. I got a switch, I've got a PC. Sony really should consider multiplatforms for weird niche things like this. I don't know, it worked for Helldivers 2 before the rug pull.
I think part of what's bringing Foamstars down is that the characters just aren't interested. Like half the roster looks like they shop at the same store. They're all giving "Instagram Model". That's something that _could_ work, maybe even as the entire class, but you would still have to give each of them their own distinct aesthetic or they'd all blend together. This makes it really hard to get invested in them. (And I can tell that there's no investment in the characters because 1, I"ve never seen porn of them, and 2, there are all of 3 fics on Ao3 and one of them is a Splatoon crossover. ) I don't think they can fix this problem just by getting rid of the initial price tag.
As a PlayStation fan. PlayStation has been in the process of rolling back all live service titles. For obvious reasons. They understood months ago that this was going to happen. This is why last of us live service got cancelled. You can probably see more single player games in the future.
Arlo! Please talk about Epic Mickey rebrushed. Its a game I played and loved in my childhood and I'm so happy that it's getting remade. A demo came out for all platforms and it gives a good look at what's to come. It vastly improves on the first game and still has all of its charm. It's a really fun 3d platformer that in my opinion is a must play.
![DDG & G Herbo - Nosey [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I9Ra0Zc2NlQ/mqdefault.jpg)
So, how long until we get another gaming CEO declaring that "single-player is dead" because they think if they say it enough people will buy shit multiplayer games?
That's what they're hoping.
Not very long is my guess…
@@lukerabon7925 literally, pretty sure Princess Peach Showtime had better numbers than Concord
Maybe they mean it as a threat, to play the shit multiplayer games, or else...
Single player is anything but dead, I can name multiple single player games that came this year but not even one multiplayer game
Splatoon gets away with charging full price because it's very clear about its monetization with it. You get a full campaign and 2-3 years of multiplayer support per entry, with additional monetization coming only in the form of an extra half-price for an additional substantial campaign that doesn't affect the core multiplayer modes. After a Splatoon game runs its course a new one is released shortly with a comprehensive update to the core systems. No entry really lives that long, but that also means that they can afford to sell each one as a full game, making for a comparatively fair and transparent overall monetization model.
Even before Splatoon 3 released we had a firm commitment for 2 years of support and the example of Splatoon 2. Foamstars and Concord didn't do that, so their price was indeed a barrier to entry as opposed to a statement of value. If you want to attach a box price to a live service game these days you need to communicate very clearly why it's worth it.
That's a great way of putting it. And personally i prefer paying $60 every 5 years when a new entry comes out, than playing one ftp that gets updated for ad long as possible. If gives splatoon a chance to change and rebalance gameplay in a way that isn't possible in a live service too
That's Pretty well put at this rate Square.E may as well admit that they want a Splatoon to call their own but didn't quite make it work.
yea, i defo think not enough ppl realize the importance of nintendo saying "we're going to update this game with new content for 2 years, no ifs ands or buts". almost any other multiplayer shooter has no set end date, and can js end @ any point, deserting its entire playerbaae
"statement of value" is the key concept here. I remember Sakurai was NOT fond of DLC during Smash 4's development but was later convinced about the validity of additional fighters. When Ultimate's Season Pass was announced Sakurai said "You can purchase it if you're confident about the value being offered".
Season pass, preorders and other ways of monetizations are only sustainable when there's confidence that your product will not only deliver, but also be relevant for years to come. Concord is the opposite of that, so its failure is not surprising to me.
Plus they don't prey on you with FOMO, as you can still get things out of season and without paying additional money
Arlo is slowly rising in these thumbnails. The next video better have him looking down from the top left corner lol.
Penny: Wait... with the thumbnail assets he's been using, he could just spin around and around the edge of the thumbnail forever! Arlo washing machine simulator 2025
My guess is he raised himself so he doesn't look like he's staring at her boobs
Saw this after his latest Concord video where he is ascending to the top of the thumbnail 😂
Somebody at square enix saw splatoon and that one character from big hero six and that was the end of it
You mean Honey Lemon?
@@TheStupidRaptor prolly idk
THAT'S why the foam seemed familiar.
Splatoon works because it seems to understand and embrace it's weird theme. Foamstars seems to only grasp the surface level success of the series but doesn't create anything that's equally as eye catching or fun looking.
Ehhh, I think I’m a weird one here.
I think Foamstars actually looks and sounds more charming personally. Then again, I generally don’t like the movement of both games, being move slow while shooting, and move fast when not.
I bought Splatoon 2 since I got a switch and was curious as what it was pitching was something I hadn’t seen before on the market. Foamstars I wasn’t interested in because Splatoon 2 proved the core gameplay loop wasn’t appealing to me. Yet it was free on release for PSPlus so I gave it a try. I actually enjoyed it more due to the given abilities mitigating the movement restrictions. Even then though, the micro-transactions and battle passes were a massive turn off.
The difference was that occasionally I went back to foamstars (until I deleted it from my console) just to mooch around the hub as it has a more appealing or charming vibe to me. Nothing against the whole Splatoon aesthetic btw, just didn’t click the same personally.
And I should mention going free to play doesn’t solve my personal issues with the game. So if its audience is anything like me, idk if it will change much…
Splatoon also works because it's fun to play and you purchase the game and get everything in game ..
The game overall looks good in the casual gamer sense, but the character designs that look bad or i would even call them AI looking, kills everything off, if they had tried something like the Chibi Black mage design-like art style or even if the game had gone for that random japanese comedy theme couldve probably catched better atention, for me the character design completely turn me down.
Foamstars looks like Splatoon from Temu.
@@nindieboy4194 octo expansion? Side order? Only the first game had no dlc.
But great dlc I love octo expansion ambiance.
The reason why Splatoon worked for me was the cute charadesign, the funny musics and simply how well the ink mechanic was added. And when I say that, I mean both in gameplay and in relation to the characters being cephalopods.
Foamstar doesn't look bad at all, I'll take that any day of the week instead of an hyper realistic shooter. But it's just kinda generic.
And how they added the Foam to the gameplay only feels like they saw Splatoon doing well and needed the characters to shoot any type of liquid-y thing.
Splatoon went through a lot, a LOT of changes before they even came with the correct way to fuse Paintball and Hiding in your own team's turf. Whereas Foamstar just kinda took what Splatoon did, added verticality as a means to say "Look, more options" and kinda just left.
Also, I can't stress enough how EMBRASSING it is to use AI generated images when you're trying to cater to the Splatoon fanbase. A fanbase that is really big about art and self expression
I agree with everything you've said here. Splatoon feels very... Natural. It's not "humans decided to make Soap Sport" it's "animals evolved and now play games based on their old instincts." It makes sense that they swim, it makes sense that if their ink goes up so can they. Of course cephalopods are shooting ink. It took them awhile to arrive there when they were making it, but it FEELS like it just makes sense!
The Splatoon fanbase is made up of people who report bad behavior, who draw pictures and like them over and over so they stay in the plaza, of people who like dressing up characters in little outfits, of people who are obsessed with the story mode's vague-but-unsettling lore.
Foamstars thinking they can lure in the vibrant Splatoon fanbase felt like going "Ah, you're a vegetarian! Y'all like salads, right? This one has croutons AND dressing. You like these things?" and it's like "I was eating a vegetable biryani, why would I switch to something basic and less tasty?"
Sure it's less expensive. But I already paid. And yours doesn't have anything... Worth switching for? It was an uphill battle they chose, but they decided to wear roller skates.
@@thoopsy I remember way back when Splatoon was first announced, I had extremely low expectations of it - basically the cynical "oh it's new Nintendo IP trying to be their attempt at a team shooter, when Overwatch and Team Fortress were already solidly established." I nevertheless tried it when they did the free demo/stress test and I was massively impressed with something I was thinking would not be my speed at all. It didn't need unique characters or wild graphics, all it was just your unique squidling, the equipment, and ability loadout you were comfortable with, and some basic matchmaking wrt to team comp, and you were bound to have an enjoyable time.
Touching on your point of feeling natural, I think that's what captivated me first above everything else - the mechanics were slick, polished, and made sense. Though above all else, there was something about just walking around the world, or swimming through ink that just felt ridiculously satisfying. So much so that I probably spent a good 10% of my time on there just running around between matches and messing around the city or in the training area. Combine that with Miiverse still at its peak (before crashing and burning hard), during its release and how accessible they made posting to it from Inkopolis + sharing/interacting with others' posts, and it really was a solid combination of just a damn fun game that was just great to play and an incredibly organic and lively community that made someone want to be a part of it, and it's no surprise how it's been doing so well.
One thing that really helped Splatoon succeed was its enormous marketing (and the fact that it shooters aren’t very commonly played among Nintendo players).
For a Wii U game, I saw more advertisements for that game than almost anything else. Heck, I remember seeing less advertisement for MARIO KART 8 than for Splatoon. They seemed to really understand that in order to gain an audience, especially on an underperforming console, they had to really work hard to let you know about all the game’s selling points in depth. And I just didn’t see nearly that level of marketing with foam stars, even though I think it had potential to do pretty decent.
Idk man, I low key hope someone revisits that concept in a better way, cuz I think the gameplay looks different enough from splatoon to where it could still shine
I wish Splatoon 3 was marketed as well as 1
Splatoon succeeded because it existed in a niche, "shooter without gore, on a console that doesn't have shooters." If you make a live service hero shooter on some other console, you had to compete with ALL of that. I got Splat1 because of word of mouth, but yeah those commercials were kind of everywhere, huh. Tell you what, Splatoon's ads did a good job at demonstrating its unique features and value, even if they were goofy as all hell.
Splatoon would be dead on arrival if it werent a Nintendo title imo.
Square Enix is very lucky FF14 pays for all of their mistakes.
This right here is why so many companies chase the live service, always online trend. It’s obviously a long shot, but if everything goes right and you get a game like FF14 or R6:S you basically get a free pass to print money for the next decade.
Like god, could you imagine how dire of a situation SE would be in right now if they didn’t have FF14? They’d probably be staring down the barrel of a chapter 11 filing.
@@TheGrayAdderThe funny part about final fantasy 14 is what a lot of business analysts and this about that game was that it nearly died and tanked in the company. Think it was literally one of those one at a time. Miracles like no man's sky where they were not only able to completely rehabilitate a failed game but made it flourish and made it better than what they originally pitched it as. Like People don't realize that those two games are exceptions to a problem, not a rule.
At this point, Yoshi-P needs to be cloned so his clone can run Square Enix as it's CEO. He seems to be one of very few people there that knows how to make a profitable product. 😆
VERY LUCKY.
@@SniperKing-O remember that yoshi is part of the board of directors against his will and the rest of the board has to strongarm him into staying because they need at least one person in there that knows how games work but he just wants to focus on making games.
Watching the Concord video, then immediately this one feels like when the baker pulls the pre-baked or chilled cake out of an oven or freezer in cooking shows
Really feels like the f2p craze has mirrored the rise of streaming services. What started as a fun idea that shook up the industry inspired so many imitators that it's just exhausted and soured the goodwill of the market.
What I wouldn't give to see SE make Triangle Strategy 2 instead...
I still massively prefer streaming to cable, but it is different when it first started before everyone else got their own streaming service. There is just too much stuff to shift through, and it gets really expensive.
Sucks that there’s so many streaming services, but at least it made everything archived and on demand the industry standard, which is an improvement over needing to follow a TV schedule and episodes being lost forever whenever a cable company decided to stop airing them.
Everything being live service w/ battle pass brought no such positive innovation, it just exploits consumer FOMO and saps money out of their wallet.
Foamstars was clearly not going anywhere with its confusing presentation.
What about it was confusing? It's Splatoon but with foam. I thought that much was pretty clear.
Foam has a lot more volume to it. Clutters everything up.
@@PikaLink91it can't be Splatoon but with foam because Splatoon has such specific and unique art direction that none of these big studios could mimic without getting sued. Here it's just "colorful anime humans running around on LED screens" with no charm.
it really is splatoon for people who's toxic masculinity wont let them play the best shooter at all time
Yeah. The early ambasadors of a game like splatoon were very likely going to be splatoon fans, but I feel like they got rid of that market with the art direction. They kept the vibrant colors in tact, but in foamstars it feels like it was just thrown around without any real thought into it. I think their decision to use AI art in part of the games also did a decent blow to the game. I think it was there that a lot of splatoon fans went from mildly interested in foamstars, to not wanting to touch it.
0:53 a game has never done as well as Square Enix has hoped, no matter how well a game performs their sales expectations are still overblown
Nobody saw this coming, oh wait, I meant to say EVERYONE saw this coming. Long dev cycles and trend chasing really doesn't work, big surprise.
I didn't see this coming. This is the first I've heard of Foamstars lol.
I don't understand how the management which gets millions every year as salary can't see that this game is an instant failure, but every casual gamer saw that this will happen from the first second. Companies could save millions for the management salaries, if they just ask a random player on the street, if this would be a good game.
No one saw this coming cause no one was looking in the first place 😂
hold on, so this didn't work but crab game did. Maybe the secret is just shitting it out fast enough.
@@namelessliberty9869Exactly! 🦀
i completely forgot about this, id rather just play Splat Tim instead.
Damn, What did Tim ever do to you 💀
Or, if you absolutely do not want to play Splatoon, Kid Icarus Uprising, since Light vs. Dark is very similar to one of the modes
He does it.
Me when i’m 14 on Facebook
It is him!
Shoutout to sea of thieves which is still selling for $40
Isnt worth the money tho
@@alexbrown8900 ??
see if these nuts or something
@@alexbrown8900 Then good news, it goes on sale quite often for $20 or less.
@@alexbrown8900 It's not a good solo experience.
The Free to Play model is limited in that only so many games can succeed in that model. The player base gets thinned out for every new successful F2P game, that means less people for your games attempt.
as a splatoon player the biggest problem was having a traditional reload. Splatoon stays quick because running is also reloading.
Not to mention the visual clarity lost by making it all LIGHTLY COLORED SOAP FOAM. Splatoon has a dark color and a light color in every match for a reason.
Just go the doom route! Ofc my shotgun has 24 shells in the magazine. Just bc its looks like a double barrel doenst mean it only holds 2 shells xD.
This is the first time I’m hearing of foamstars and it looks pretty neat. I’d totally give this a shot for free, but unfortunately it’s not on PC.
not on PC? Why?? Even PS are going multiplatform!
Yea their failure was self inflicted. Exclusive multiplayer generally doesn’t work and this is proof
I think multiplayer games that aren't free can work, and feels more honest to some people. The obvious example right now is Helldivers. People LOVED the price point, in part because they believed it was WHY the game was viable with no money spent on the microtransactions.
Its games that dont respect my time that I avoid, grinds, battlepasses, etc...A lot of aaa multiplayers going that route.
Helldivers is PVE - different market, there’s not much other than Destiny and Warframe to compete with. Both of which have trouble onboarding new players.
Anything PVP is fighting against so many competitors. I added Foamstars to my library when it was PS essential monthly game in case my nieces (big Splatoon players) wanted to try it. I’ve never installed it.
@@user-kr5vm8nk1d I got the vibe that _Helldivers_ was ripping off _Deep Rock Galactic_ but hey, maybe it's ripping it off well.
If anyone's reading this, helldivers 2 is currently in a pretty rough spot, but not because of monetization issues; despite everything, jedi's point still stands.
@@stevethepocket It plays nothing like deeprock
If they make it free to play, and then announce its getting a steam version. Im sure thats gonna help boost player numbers quite a bit. Steam doesnt have its own splatoon to play, so this can be a good alternative, especially when it does go free to play.
I guess imma try it out since it's free because this is my first time hearing about it since it's release on the presentation a year ago I think
I'm honestly kind of disappointed that the first Splatoon clone is coming from Square Enix and not Valve, meanwhile Valve is launching a new game and it's FPS MOBA: Third Time's the Charm instead.
I agree. I was mildly interested but when I saw PS exclusive it just meant I’d never play it. I don’t think they’ll learn the right lesson from this.
@@stevethepocketWait, did you say "third"? Valve has finally unlocked the mystery of counting to 3!? 🤯
@@autobotstarscream765 Not really. The two referenced previous flops weren't from Valve, so they're starting at one.
Splatoon 3’s Finalfest is happening soon, get hype!
As a Splatoon player, I'm down to give it a try if it's going free to play.... Not looking foward to any game modes based on kill count though... (Since that's why I like Splatoon: the win condition is helped by kills, but not actually determined by it.)
I remember seeing this, going huh, that looks cool, and immediately forgetting about it
The saddest thing is that I actually WANTED to see this game to succeed. look at other companies. sonic the hedgehog took the platform idea from mario and added their own little spin on it, Danganronpa took the court idea from ace attorney and added their own little spin on it, Crash bandicoot again took the platform idea from sonic, so on and so fourth. this game took the idea of Splatoon and anime-ified it even more. this genuinely looked good.
Dark Souls and God of War? What? Dark Souls is a pretty direct continuation of From's own series named King's Field from the early 90s. I don't particularly see, nor have I ever heard mentioned, any inspiration from God of War. If anything it's the new God of War reboot that's inspired by the Fromsoft Souls games.
@@LordZedz Thanks for pointing that out! Yeah, I don't have a clue what I'm talking about when it comes to those 2 franchises lol. I replaced them though.
I legit have not heard or thought about this game since it was initially announced until this video. Like from the title I didn't even know what this was, then after watching the trailer clips I was like "ooooh yeah I kind vaguely of remember seeing this trailer before".
For me, Square Enix is a company that releases like 5 games a year, and 1 is fantastic, 1 is good/okay, and 3 are Foamstars or Chocobo GP or Various Daylife.
Various Daylife is still the worst title for a video game. Just who decides these names? I swear, I'd rather have Nomuras nonsensival KH names instead.
@@LG555 theres a whole list of se games that have terrible names at this point
I just checked what various daylife was and aside from looking like ass, i still don't get what the game is about (i know, jrpg but liiikee....)
I got the mission to Hunt some wolfs (After about 20 minutes extrem boring tutorial). - " Yes finaly combat." No no combat it got simply skipped by the game. And this was the end for me. Deleted it
@@matiaspereyra9392 The actual plot is supposed to be a shocking twist.
So, spoilers:
You're a colonist on a cursed continent where people cannot age (including fetuses, so no children) or die. You defeat the corrupt government that hides this from the public and break the curse.
Why Square Enix thought “Splatoon but with an Ali Express vibe” was a smart choice is beyond me.
Fundamental lack of understanding of what made Splatoon popular via just kind of guessing from a glance.
there were so many jokes about this game being "splatoon for straight people" when it came out
Turns out straight people were too busy getting a single ear piercing and then getting scared and googling which one is the gay ear.
And seeing as making fun of straight people is no better than making fun of LGBT people, I'm disappointed in the Splatoon fandom to hear that.
I don't care for Foamstars, at least it is eye catching. Out of other multiplayer shooters out there, like Concord, I actually do hope Foamstars succeed and survive. It looks good. It has a fun art style that stands out. Personality is what this game has.
You guys ever notice how Arlo always says “I don’t actually have any numbers I’m just going off vibes”
He had numbers in the Concord video
Hilariously after I read this was exactly the point in the video he said it.
It feels unfortunate that this game ultimately failed. A Splatoon like with foam sounds cool and felt like it could have worked. It may have been a number of reasons it failed, like it wasn't developed enough, the style just didn't click, or maybe this type of game isn't a fit on a Sony platform. (I never got to play it myself) I do feel if it was given enough attention and development time, it may have been a success, even a potentially new IP.
Also while Square is doing better these days, they are a farcry from their glory days as Squaresoft.
This is EXACTLY how I feel about the game. People can bash on it all they want, but the idea of a Splatoon like game but with foam is extremely goddamn cool and could’ve been so much more if it had better and more caring developers.
I would LOVE for someone else to make a game around the same idea and execute it a lot better. Just SOMETHING to not make it look like AAA slop on the surface.
"You come at the King you best not miss"
3:10 well, i have some news
Who could guess the Splatoon at Home that charges you the price of it and a Switch for cosmetics would be a flop.
Oh my goodness. I've seen you comment so many times. We get it, you love hating on things that are too similar to what you like. You can hate, but stop filling the comments section with pointless blabber.
I couldn't tell you when this game came out. Feels like there was next to no marketing for it. And that's the problem. It's bad enough that so many companies are churning out these low-effort cash grabs, but them not even having enough confidence in their own product to market the thing? If they can't be bothered to sell us on their game, they shouldn't be surprised when we don't buy it.
Remember when gamers complained that game companies spend too much on marketing and not enough on development? Times sure have changed.
I completely forgot about this game until this video.
Splatoon gives you a story mode, casual battles, ranked battles and a hoard mode. Plus special events almost every month. And the world grows with each game, characters change and so on.
And the theme is great, fish are awesome and you don't get to see a lot of them in media aside from them getting eaten so it attracts the marine biology nerds in droves.
when the game launched someone on twitter made a joke saying something like "wow first game to have a roadmap to f2p"
the game was so obviously a trend chaser and was never gonna last long (just like concord)
Boy... sure did forget about this game. Was too busy playing Ninjala...
I think a small part of what happened is these publishers were attempting to bring in players that weren’t already financially invested in the ftp model. A premium game could bring non ftp players in, if the games weren’t perceived as ftp games in disguise, or just chasing the coattails of more original ftp or premium games. In my case I barely ever touch ftp, so why would I pay a premium for the same value of a ftp game. Same thing for Concord, ftp might help, but probably won’t help much.
If they put on pc I'll definitively try it out, the concept does sound fun and the characters look interesting enough
I like the theme of shooting with bubbles and the designs are nice, but there’s something else missing. Like it’s ALMOST there there’s just something missing.
The Hero Mode even if it wasn't great in the first 2 games it was a good mix of tutorials and shooter platformer. Bosses were fun and the music is always good
This game feels to me like Splatoon's Palworld. You can try to copy it but ultimately if you don't put the care into it, no one is going to care either.
I was kinda rooting for this game. It looked like a fun Splatoon alternative, but I guess it didn't work out all that well.
It might get a come back after being free hopefully this year they don't wanna wait to long also they need to get it on switch and steam
Still having a blast with Splatoon 3 and that is still quite big in Japan. Foamstars from day one was setting it's self up for failure and I saw it coming a mile away
Sure but still can you tell me the difference from splatoon 2 and 3!?
Can anyone who's played Foamstars please tell me what new ideas it brings to the Splatoon formula?
How does it remix the formula to do something new or improve upon it? Did it add anything Splatoon needed?
I'm completely fine with one game being similar to another game, but it's kinda gotta do something, ANYTHING, to stand out as it's own thing.
It's main idea is the foam stacking, making your own elevation. This kinda backfires though, since if you fire infront of you, you kinda take away your sightline.
Also, their main gamemode is just Light vs Dark from Kid Icarus Uprising
@@LG555 Is that it? Just, elevated foam?
I mean that could shake up the gameplay just enough to feel new, but is that all there is?
@@OmegaChase1002 also, it was kinda more of a hero shooter, with guns and abbilities being tied to characters.
There may be more, but I don't know it all anymore
@@OmegaChase1002 Smash the star is a pretty fun mode, the shots moving slowly and changing the terrain means you need to strategize differently than other shooters. Having to actually surf into your opponents after you foam them up brings a lot to the table, as well as being able to save your teammates who have been foamed up by surfing into them. Also the only shooter I've played where a good sniper can't to carry a whole team
Genuinely never heard of foamstars before this lol
My reaction to foamstars was basically "That looks kinda neat. Oh nevermind it's not on PC."
Like if I really wanna play a game I'll play it on another console but not for a paid game that I only have passing interest in, and probably just not for a shooter in general since I play those with keyboard & mouse
Try and spread the word of wanting it on steam while they're moving to make it free
I have literally never heard of this game until now
What's wild is that Sony is sitting on two franchises that have multiplayer aspects that were fun. SOCOM is a game that I would buy a PS5 for just so I could play it online. I miss the good old days where I'd play SOCOM FTB2 on my PSP lol. But even better, The Resistance had a fun online experience as well.
I know those two games wouldn't pull in Call of Duty numbers, but at least they'd be Sony exclusives, giving people a little more reason to buy their console in the first place as well. Alas, all companies seem to care about now is that sweet bottom dollar, while pushing out garbo games that people will forget about in less than a month.
In terms of gameplay and fun. This clears concord, by far.
I assume Foamstars is at least partially aiming for the Splatoon fanbase, hoping to chip off a few players. Here's too many words about my thoughts.
I've been playing Splatoon basically since it came out. It lured me in with the fish! And the fact that I had a Wii U and basically nothing to play on it! The little outfits were cute, I loved the music, I had a blast with the singleplayer. The character designs were charming, and unlike most of the shooters I'd had advertised to me there was incredibly good visual clarity. I could tell who's my enemy and who's on my team at a glance. Splatoon's gameplay also gives way to more playstyles, with the main objective in the main mode being ink cover.
Sure, you still have to shoot at others to make them back off. But number of kills isn't often the determining factor, if you rush to mid and don't bother inking your spawn, you're gonna lose. That made it very approachable as somebody who hadn't played shooters before, I could stay around back and make sure turf got inked and swing wildly when others showed up. A lot of "serious" gamers never give Splatoon a chance because of its bright colors, lack of voice chat for kids' sakes, and just the reputation that it's not "mature."
But, when Foamstars came out... I already have Splatoon 3, a fantastic game in an established franchise. My friends already play it, it's on the Switch (I prefer portable play), I'm invested in the story. I put a good 700 hours in over two years. And then somebody announces a new game. Less visual clarity because the characters are closer to human proportions, not on consoles I own, presumably the skins are paid whereas Splatoon's customization is all cooked in, has the same "it's bright and you're not even KILLING anybody!" angle Too Cool for School guys don't like, and... Oversaturated market! I already have my multiplayer shooter, it's Splatoon! I already have my VR shooter, it's Half-Life Alyx! I already have my singleplayer shooter, it's Half-Life also! I'm covered.
And even if I WAS interested in Foamstars... I would have to, what, convince my friends to play? Play a multiplayer game never with friends? Logistically, it doesn't make sense.
TLDR? I like Splatoon, nothing Foamstars has impresses me.
I legit didn't even know this game came out lol
I think the problem with the game is the names. Foamstars? New Bath Vegas? Who thought that was a good idea?
probably got that from the AI too
With the the name like that I thought this was some kind of porn game
Lastest FoamStars announcement 3.8k views in more than a week. Lastest Splatoon 3 announcement +300k views in less than a week.
I got it through PS+, but I haven't had time to play it, and I am interested.
Nintendos Splatoon really has amazing marketing doesn't it
I almost forgot this game existed until you mentioned it. Why this one doesn't have the same traction as Splatoon? Probably marketing's fault again.
I'll never forget Squeenix for closing Nosgoth anyway.
It looks cool, and I'd definitely play it if that's what my friends were doing, but for my own time, I have other things I wanna do more
Interested to hear your take on Hell Divers, the budget priced success of the year
It doesn't change the fact that we are currently in a recession where you have to choose between playing a new multiplayer game, or putting food on the table
If nothing else I feel like the character designs in Foamstars feel more inspired than Overwatch or Concorde which (to me) feel very focus-group by-the-numbers.
They feel DEI say it with me.
@@maravreloaded Maybe I'm being too generous considering they also have an anime-ish art style and I like that look.
@@maravreloaded DEI is when you can't get off to a character. Cuz thats all they are good for I guess.
@@affinityforanimeThey do have a nice sort of bubbly sculpted feel to them which is something I find charming too. A decent amount of artists I follow would come up with character designs like them. Though I guess it coule be argued that in their own genre they are a bit generic. So I guess them being focus group tested might actually be the case if they were testing it against us. It just takes a lot to stand out and in the end Splatoon exists sooo ehhh...
I'm honestly surprised this wasn't multiplatform at first. Of course, I know Sony had their typical exclusivity agreements. But I think if Square want to keep the game alive, at least a pc port should be in the works, to be released in October along with the ftp update.
This is the second time Ive even seen anything related to this game. The first time was some raunchy fanart I saw on Discord.
This game had zero fanfare.
I would think Square Enix would've learned their lesson when they failed to make Dissidia NT into an e-sport game. Maybe they'll take the lesson to heart with Foamstars.
i tried the free trial and so many things about it annoyed me that id be here all day if i tried to list them. but the ultimate killer was how overwhelmingly cluttered the screen gets. splatoon can get crazy but the ink stays on a flat plane so visually its always easy to parse the stage design. since the foam has volume it makes it impossible to see the stage when it piles up and the foam "bullets" flying everywhere are so huge that it becomes a nightmare very quickly. all the character models immediately get lost in the chaos.
I genuinely loved Foamstars, but not enough to pay for the game AND PS Plus. I'm going to give it an honest try when it launches F2P.
This is the first I’ve heard of it & my first thought is that it’s a dollar store version of Splatoon.
I do like the added verticality of the foam compared to Splatoon’s ink. Whatever else can be said about the game I thought that was neat.
I'm not sure I've ever seen this game before
Cant wait for this to become a series for arlo something like the live service watch. Seeing how many more companies will crash and burn with this desprate trend chasing i hope he revisits how redfall is doing now
I gotta say it's funny how for almost two decades the games industry had a problem with overadvertising its games to the point where marketing was costing significantly more than actual development, and now they're just not trying to sell the games at all. Both Foamstars and Concord had basically no marketing outside of their initial announcement so when they actually released there was no hype built up or even any attention paid to them. I genuinely didn't know this had actually released yet because there's been almost complete rafio silence about it, and for a multiplayer game people not knowing it exists is the kiss of death.
Arlo should do a comparison of foamstars and ninjala. The material used for fighting, and how each company went about thier project, and each's comparison to Splatoon.
I didn’t even know this game was out.
splatoon worked cause it had quirky charm and was all bold colors that stood out while still being easy on the eyes, foamstars however took itself WAY too seriously and only used obnoxiously bright colors that bleed into each other so i can't see anything. even if i can get my eyes to stop bleeding from the strain
First I have heard of Foamstars.
Snort fantasy by Champín
you know.... I actually kind of like the look of Foamstars. I just wish I could have tried it on PC before it inevitably dies....
New Echos of wisdom Trailer!!
While I didn't play Foamstars, I'd be far more likely to try something like it than I would something like Concord.
Foamstars at least attempted to be something besides "Generic Competitive Shooter #136"
I really don't understand why these companies don't just show off these games earlier in development. Does a huge reveal with a fully polished trailer really increase hype and sales that much? Indie games that come out in early access have tons of success because they can incorporate feedback from their fanbase early in development.
This game feels like they wanted Splatoons success but also wanted to sell skins and have it just be a livetime season pass game.
And they just didn't understand or wanted to understand what made Splatoon popular.
They took from Splatoon. I hope the next Splatoon takes the foamy physics from them.
I love how you title your videos like how you talk
At least Astrobot will deliver
I kinda forgot this game existed honestly. Doesn't help that it's still Playstation exclusive at the moment either though.
Like if this would have released on PC and Switch as well I feel it would have at least had a bit more of a chance.
I personally really liked Foamstars. I gave it a chance and it hooked me for a decent amount of time. It may be doing poorly, but I’ll still remember the characters, the admittedly cringy dialogue, and the abundance of charm. This clicked for me.
Also, the music is REALLY good! 🎧
I love splatoon but i hate that you have to buy another seitch and another game to play multiolayer with a family member. A split screen option would be a instant buy to me. Since this game is free i am going to try it out
ngl when you get into online multiplayer games like this I have no clue why you would care so much for split screen, it just wouldn't work that well for a game as intense as Splatoon
also you still need to pay for online in either case hehehehehhehehe
The reason it’s going to take so long to make free, they have to implement a new monetizing system. Before your $30 paid for it, but if it’s free they need to add microtransactions to make money.
As a Splatoon fan, it didn’t look interesting or fun, but I gave it a fair shot just to not blindly bash on it. It just doesn’t feel good to move or fight in that game, the foam is horrible to move on and it’s so obnoxiously bright and just gets in your face too much. Not to mention how horrible the in game purchases are. I did not have a good time playing this and am not surprised it’s dying off.
It's nice to hear this game is coming to Steam, because I need a good alternative to Splatoon's multiplayer.
Kinda hard to have fun in Turf War when everyone plays aggressively... isn't that supposed to be the casual mode of the series?
I would have played this on the switch for the novelty of it being "not splatoon" on the switch
It was one of the "free" PS+ (which you need to have in order to pay online anyway) games on the month it was released and it still bombed. Perhaps folks just don't want any more games like this.
I'd play Foamstars if it wasn't just on Playstation. I got a switch, I've got a PC. Sony really should consider multiplatforms for weird niche things like this. I don't know, it worked for Helldivers 2 before the rug pull.
I think part of what's bringing Foamstars down is that the characters just aren't interested. Like half the roster looks like they shop at the same store. They're all giving "Instagram Model". That's something that _could_ work, maybe even as the entire class, but you would still have to give each of them their own distinct aesthetic or they'd all blend together. This makes it really hard to get invested in them. (And I can tell that there's no investment in the characters because 1, I"ve never seen porn of them, and 2, there are all of 3 fics on Ao3 and one of them is a Splatoon crossover. )
I don't think they can fix this problem just by getting rid of the initial price tag.
As a PlayStation fan. PlayStation has been in the process of rolling back all live service titles. For obvious reasons. They understood months ago that this was going to happen. This is why last of us live service got cancelled. You can probably see more single player games in the future.
Arlo! Please talk about Epic Mickey rebrushed. Its a game I played and loved in my childhood and I'm so happy that it's getting remade. A demo came out for all platforms and it gives a good look at what's to come. It vastly improves on the first game and still has all of its charm. It's a really fun 3d platformer that in my opinion is a must play.
I didn’t even know this game came out.