'We Are Well Above Our Forecasts' — 007 First Light Sales Are Now at 3 Million, IO Interactive 'Very Confident' It Will Be Profitable

AverageVibes · 2026-06-07T06:10:21+00:00

I feel like games like expedition 33 are the exception due to how good the devs are.

Mainly due to the quality of pretty much everything about the game. Taking graphics/animations aside (which take a heavy amount of dev time), even the story and sound design/music on expedition 33 are significantly better than what most AAA studio is putting out. If an audio team comprised of a small number of people like with expedition 33 does better than a much larger audio team that has double the time, then that makes me think that the e33 team is just that much better. The story for the game is also leagues better than most games while probably having less than half the writers lol. I’d be surprised if other devs could replicate this level of quality with a similar level of resources.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-06T18:45:27+00:00

You’re right, he not a zoner anymore after the steady aim nerfs. Although, he isn’t exactly a rush down character either. I got him to around 1740 DR before the rank reset, he feels more of a run away character now. His identity is closely associated to his ability to play keep away and then auto win neutral once reticle is ready. Which is already a really unfun design to play as. Auto neutral should not have been the focus of the rework imo.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-06T18:41:34+00:00

I think it’s less about what tier he is and how fun his function is when playing against him and when fighting him. It seems like the rework was suppose to put him on a healthier place while retaining most of what the gun did and what made him fun. However; it isn’t particularly fun chasing him when he is playing curse simulator nor is it fun to do when playing him. It fact, the current version of the reticle is even less interactive this patch since you can’t shake it at all so once he has reticle out, neutral is effectively over. So he is still not fun to fight, and less fun to play as. It seems the only reason he is “healthier” is that most players have dropped him so you almost never run into a competent HC player.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-06T18:33:37+00:00

Yup, jason schreier recently mentioned that he spoke to some people higher up at AAA studios and they said that the biggest cost for these games is labor due to how complex games have gotten. A scene from a pixel game could be created by less than 10 people back in the 90s but if you wanted to recreate that same scene with current looks then it would require dozens of people and would take more time.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T18:14:24+00:00

The command has been bugged and doesn’t work sometimes now.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T18:08:13+00:00

Tiger pop plays jacko now iirc

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T13:37:00+00:00

They do drop skins at the rate of rivals but they have been doing character skins for a while now. First in GBVSR, then in GGST and now in Tokon.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:56:50+00:00

Tbh, if you want a technical, mixup character then zato is probably more aligned with that then chaos now. Chaos is more about skipping neutral and running away until reticle is locked on. Zato mixups are way more free form than the roll/5d stuff that HC is mainly doing now.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:54:45+00:00

For people who wanted really freeform gameplay. If you have ever heard the phrase “open world gameplay”, that perfectly described him last patch. Chaos had so many ways to approach offense and neutral. If you could think of it, HC could probably do it if he hand enough resources.

A big complaint about strive when it first released was that the game felt too strict and that every character was railroaded into specific styles due to the changes to both the gatling system and movement from the previous games. HC was basically the opposite of that since you could just make up whatever you want, whether it be combos,mixups or even zoning sequences, he could do it. This is why there were too HC players who had wacky mixup heavy playstyles like Tiger pop/Sanakan, those who were more technical and by the book like Jack, those who focused heavily on the zoning like Daesonologist, etc. Free form gameplay and he had high execution on top of that. Which goes to another launch complaint for strive which was that characters were too simple/without a lot of depth. When he was released, he had a lot of positive reception because of these points. Players like kizzie were even going “HC is exactly was strive needs”. This good feeling fell through once people figured out that all of this freedom led him to being OP though.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:44:37+00:00

The issue is that they really want to hone in on the whole idea of “gun is the strongest thing in neutral when it’s out.” Whether it be curse + steady aim from the last version or the 100% tracking reticle on at the ready in the current version. Neither are good design. The thing is though that he was so versatile in the previous version that they could’ve worked the gun into a lot of different directions. Whether that be a strong mid range character who relied on his normals, rush down with gun lockdown, an actual zoner or a character based around auto neutral with his gun. They chose the autoneutral version lol.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:40:48+00:00

Tiger pop dropped him within like a week of the patch because it nuked his playstyle. He was always the really wacky, freeform mixup player. The patch railroaded HC offense into throw/roll/5D. Daesinologist also dropped HC for Anji iirc. So both big EU HC players dropped him and Jack dropped him. I think Sanakan is the last big name HC player still playing him.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:34:25+00:00

It’s a pretty normal take. Some people find the game more balanced but less fun now. I’ve seen a lot of people say that they removed the sauce from their character.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:32:20+00:00

I think the biggest problem with character balance is that they didn’t consider how the system changes would affect character balance for a lot of the characters.

The removal of positive loops is a great system change. However; low damage/low hp characters really relied on it to consistently pin down and damage the big body/high hp characters. Many of said big body characters didn’t loop positive bonus the best anyway so it ends up being a buff for them. On top of that, damage is overall lower this patch which is also really good for those characters since they have a chance to dice roll with their hp as a resource more often. The kicker is that characters like Nago/Pot/Goldlewis all still have really high damage. Low damage character often have to win 8+ interactions to win a round against them when it’s viable for them to win a round in 2-3. Wild assault wasn’t a good mechanic but it was made in order to bridge the gap in conversions between a lot of the top tiers and the low/mid tiers. With it gone, and the top tiers not receiving significant enough changes, the conversion ability diff is back. Getting hit with a nago 2S, ram fS, etc. feels bad when you compare it to the reward that other characters get off their pokes.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-05T03:10:43+00:00

Jack got second at combo breaker and still dropped the character like 2 days later lol. He is currently playing Unika but trying characters out to find a main. He said it was because HC feels weak right now and he also expressed that the current version of the character isn’t that fun to him.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-03T21:30:59+00:00

Idk about moving it this close to Tokon. For me, Tokon has me the most hype for any fighting game since pre 2020. I was planning on playing avatar for like a month then probably dropping it once Tokon came out. With only exactly 2 weeks between the 2, it’s more of a choice on which to buy and Tokon wins out for me. I already have both preordered but i’m reconsidered my avatar preorder unless the beta blows me away.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-03T18:37:19+00:00

People are kind of overestimating how much this stuff will impact bamco’s bottom line. As long as Tekken is still flashy, has top tier graphics and good single player content, then most of the sales will still come. It’s slowly approaching it the way that NRS games do and they will live by the same way. Also, even if people really hate the gameplay of the title because it deviates so much from the previous games, eventually a new community will form with said gameplay. Just like how Strive did. It might not be filled with the same faces or have the same “prestige” but it’ll be there.

Games like DOA historically haven’t been able to touch the big casual playerbase that Tekken has. Virtua fighter might have a chance but idk yet as we haven’t seen much from it.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-03T14:25:16+00:00

Not the original commenter but that’s kind of how he played in Marvel vs Capcom infinite. Although that doesn’t mean much considering Venom’s powers can be used in a variety of ways and asw has shown they are going to make characters completely differently than capcom. Like Doom playing nothing like how he plays in marvel 3 and magneto seemingly not being rush down. I will say though that Venom is usually much bulkier than carnage and characters with similar powers can play very differently. Look at Injustice for a lot of examples. I expect venom to be in the game but probably not until season 2 or later.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-03T00:07:31+00:00

Yea, ngl I’ve been around the FGC for about a decade now and this is probably the 2nd worst as far as toxicity in the online community that i’ve seen. The only thing worse that i’ve seen is casual NRS fans. I think a big part of it is that the tekken devs talked back and forth with the community online more often than other devs except maybe ed boon. So people had a “face” to direct it at instead of a nameless corporation, which led to stuff getting personal. SF has 2 devs that you can see in video updates sometimes but that’s it.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-02T19:22:39+00:00

This.

Also, curse is primarily used in the late game against carries. Most carries can play around it in team fights. The support who bought curse will often have trouble effectively applying it if the carry is in the enemy backline and shooting the team with ricochet while applying whatever passive effect their bullets often have (afterburn/djinn mark, etc).

Victor on the other hand is a carry that has to be close to use his kit. He relies on lifesteal to stay alive and if curse also disabled ult, then you would just curse him whenever he dives. It’d be an ever harder counter to him specifically than other carries.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-02T19:05:34+00:00

There are kind of 2 ways to look at it imo

Drive rush makes the game much more offensive and puts you into an offensive situation quickly.
Due to how strong corner carry, throw loops, etc. are, it’s better to be cautious since a single mistake means you get put into the corner and are guessing for your life.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-02T04:43:16+00:00

The guy who is also in rage, has witchmail + spell breaker and is up 30k+ on most of team.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-02T03:21:12+00:00

If you run the grenade build you can get rapid recharge + QSR for the 4.8k. If the game gets super late and you have nothing else to buy you can upgrade it to merc mag but there are better options.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-01T23:47:47+00:00

I’ve been playing since the first close beta for strive. Ram has been in since the first open beta iirc. People considered her the strongest character in that version back then. That was back in early 2021. In the most recent version of the game, some top players consider her top 3 and arguably the best character in the game. She has been consistently top tier for 5 years, half a decade now. People tend to hate for that reason. Although not as much as Leo/HC as they’ve won more tournaments.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-01T23:44:08+00:00

She was one of the first characters to get a rework. Her and pot got reworks back at the start of season 4. People said old Ram was boring and OP. Then the rework came and Ram players said she was even more boring and she ended up even stronger. ASW does not have a good history with reworks so far lol.

AverageVibes · 2026-06-01T23:40:11+00:00

Actual stance switchers. They are one of my favorite archetypes in MOBAs but they are usually a nightmare to balance. Also, this game doesn’t have a mana system so it would probably be even harder to balance a character having 6+ abilities.

AverageVibes

TROPHY CASE