Hey! Did you hear? They are making a sequel to Shaq Fu! The tournament fighter centered on the Big Aristotle, often seen as one of the worst games of all time is back for round two! I’ll admit when I heard this news it did put a smile on my face. I’m a huge basketball fan, so I always welcome offbeat titles loosely centered on the sport. Games like Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, Barkley Shut Up & Jam: Gaiden, even NBA Live 14! However I became a bit confused when I found out the way in which Shaq Fu 2 was being made. An athlete with a net worth of over 350 million dollars, and a mega mansion that probably can be seen from outer space, needs your help. Yes, Shaq is asking you to fund his game through crowd sourcing.
In typical Shaq style his pitch through indiegogo is witty and endearing. "Alright, I admit: The first Shaq-Fu was terrible." "But now, I got the same people that designed Halo, Street Fighter, and Final Fantasy. Wait 'til you see the graphics on this one." "This time we won't Fu it up." The teaser presents us with an impossibly ripped Shaq (honestly he looks more like a Goomba from the Mario Bros movie) hulking out on wave after wave of ninjas. So yeah the game has a pretty unique art style and Shaq has seemingly partnered up with some decent developers. As just a game, it looks like he’s making the right moves. I'm not here to critique the game though, rather I want to delve into his decision on going through indiegogo.
Like most of these crowd sourcing ventures, the low level perks start off innocently enough until you reach the higher “rewards” which almost always consist of befuddlement and outright audacity. Our first reward is a $15 donation that nets you a copy of the game (albeit digital). That seems fair doesn’t it? As this is going to be a PC only release (tentatively they have stretch goals to go for other platforms), the campaign makes no mentions as to system requirements. Maybe I'm nitpicking on this one but some suggested specs would be useful for would be contributors.
Our next perk is a $25 donation which promises the game plus “all future downloadable content for free for life.” They value their planned DLC in and around $200 (I'm not even going to get into how outrageous that sounds). I get it though, when Shaq says the people who designed Street Fighter he must have meant the accountants at Capcom who shipwrecked that franchise with its incessant DLC! Ironically the next perk completely negates the previous one. Because for $35 you get an additional character and weapon, so in actuality all DLC should have an asterisk next to it. You get all the DLC except for the DLC you didn’t pay for, makes sense to me (EA take note). Still in the realm of sanity our next set of perks range from beta access (nothing like playing a broken version of a game!) to signed t-shirts, posters, and copies of the soundtrack.
Now we’re getting closer to the perks that are laughing at you and not with you. For $300 you’ll have the opportunity to get a piano lesson from Steve Molitz! Okay I don’t know who that is, and you probably don’t either. I’m sure your five minute lesson which no doubt ends in chopsticks will kick start your career into piano stardom! For $75 dollars more, you get the opportunity to mocap your signature move into the game. Actually not quite, as you’ll record your move and then the developers will mocap said more for you. So that ultra rare punch / kick combo that only you do will be featured in a game, and no one will care.
Of course if and when this projects gets funded Shaq and company are going to party it up! For the mere price of $400 dollars, you can join them! That’s right prepare to flip the bouncer the bird, you’re VIP baby. Nothing says I’m living the high life then paying $400 to hang out with a bunch of strangers! Oh of course it’s worth mentioning travel is on you, funny how it always ends up being that way with these things. Also don’t go opening up a tab just yet, drinks are on you too. In all seriousness no open bar? I’ve been to funerals that are looser with the liquor c’mon Shaq.
Next set of perks is a mix between more signed memorabilia and social media nonsense. You’ve got your signed sneakers, basketballs, posters, yadda yadda. Should you really need something signed by Shaq in your life, check out ebay, your wallet will thank you. Oh and if you’re willing to pay someone $600 to follow you on twitter, might I suggest myself (@Phoceeantic)? I’ll tell you what, I’ll cut you a break just shoot me 50 bucks, deal? Unlike Shaq I’ll tell you from the get go, no I’m not interested in anything you have to say. So let’s be fake friends alright?
Okay we finally made it, the kind of perks that will make your parents wonder where it all went wrong. For just $2000 you can be a character in Shaq Fu! Just send a couple pictures of yourself to the devs and voila you're in game. Just be sure to not tell anyone that you paid to be in this; rather, say you won a contest! Better yet,send the developers a bunch of pictures of Kobe Bryant I'm sure Shaq will love to have him in his game.
There’s nothing like paying a premium to see one of the worst teams in the NBA. Thats why for just $3000 you can get courtside tickets to see the Sacramento Kings! What a perk, the Kings! You know they have whatshisface on their team, who's going to be pretty decent... I think. At least they let you choose the game of your choice, are they not merciful?
Tired of your mundane 9-5 job? Well then have I got a perk for you! For just the low price of $6500 or 325 easy payments of $19.99 (plus shipping and handling), you too can work on Shaq Fu! Honestly this was the perk that kicked off this whole rant. They want you to pay them so you can work for them, in what universe does this make sense? I can only wonder, do shackles and a dog collar come with this perk, or do we have to supply those ourselves? Paying to work for a company is a special kind of stupid. But hey, who knows maybe they'll include dental?
We aren’t finished yet because for just $15k you get to hang out at Shaq’s house. In fact, Shaq will even play basketball with you! Who knows maybe if you play your cards right you can make Shaq lunch at his house, after all you’re his guest, be courteous. As for the basketball game, my advice to any sucker out there foolish enough to fall for this, fake an injury on the court and sue Shaq. At the very least you’ll settle out of court and you may just have enough to pay for the last two perks.
The crème de la crème, 25k gets you dinner with Shaq and what do you know the meal is on him! Yet as always, travel is on you! I wonder if gratuity is also included? I’m not sure why dinner suddenly deserves 10k more than lunch but that’s how it goes when you roll with Shaq. If you believe this is an astronomical figure to throw at a man that earns $20 million dollars a year, never fear because the good folks at Shaq Fu 2 thought this through. “If you have six friends with $3600 each then you can group together to get this awesome perk!” Well when you put it that way…
Last but certainly not least, for 35k (just slightly under what someone with an associate’s degree makes in a year) you can hang out with Shaq and all the guys at NBA on TNT. There you can meet Sir Charles Barkley who will be sure to remind you that Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden was made on the developers own dollar. Maybe during one of the commercial breaks TNT will photoshop a dunce hat on you for the entire nation to see!
All jokes aside, perhaps in the end I shouldn’t concern myself with how other people choose to spend their own cash. As the saying goes a fool and his money are easily parted. Maybe I'm in the wrong here but I view crowd sourcing as a way for starving artists or in our case indie developers to realize an otherwise impossible dream. This on the other hand is just another way an ultra rich man will extrapolate more money from you. Shaq has not dropped the next Halo or Grand Theft Auto on the gaming world. This project is entirely within his means to fund on his own dime. If he truly believed in what was being made, flip the bill Shaq. His reluctance to do so and instead asking joe public, the very same public that gave him his fortune in the first place is disingenuous. In the words of Sir Charles, “that's turrible.”
Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn indiegogo:
http://www.indiegogo.com/pr...
Nagoshi Studio’s YouTube channel with the Gang of Dragon trailers appears to have been removed following reports that NetEase will stop funding.
Dear team,
Xbox has always been different.
We started with a simple idea. Games should bring people together through shared experiences. That led to the first Xbox in 2001, Xbox Live in 2002, and new ways to connect, from friends lists and achievements to parties and play across devices. Today, Xbox reaches over 500 million players around the world, with some of the most important franchises in entertainment.
re-evaluating exclusivity 💀
PS players will need to go back to pretending to dislike Xbox games
Or meaning since it’s doing so good they might just do everything day 1.
They didnt say re-evaluating their multiplatform approach.
🤣🤣🤣 Xbox is so dead. I know you scared🤣🫵ӿ 97;
Even when the topic is strictly Xbox he can't stop talking about PlayStation. Xbox has basically become the hate of PlayStation... and not much else.
This whole mess is the result of bad decisions and strategy from those who have "the vision" inside the company.
Hurt over video games 🤣🤣
Lmao we all grew and got jobs but apparently you stayed home broke 🤣🤣.
Man I love loyal dogs like you. MS kicked Spit and slapped you around but you still come back on all 4s.
Good little boy 🤣🤣
My only question is what games are PlayStation gamers gonna play now? They don’t really come out with new games anymore. I’m looking forward to wolverine, but after that then what?
Lmao
There’s no way after everything it’s going back, the damage is done
What you are seeing now is the new management telling what the core fanbase (aka…you) want to hear so they are pumped full of hope and are more likely to invest in the next Xbox console
When Phil took over after the awful Xbox One reveal he did the same thing, he told people what they wanted to hear for damage control.
It’s crazy people are getting suckered into this again.
FWIW..... wasn't the new management speaking to the other staff.... not so much us (regular folk)?
And you'll now go back to again thinking exclusives suddenly matter, that multiplatform is no longer the future, or that revenue from multiplatforms doesn't matter, like all you flop flopping xbox grifters lol.
The whole post just sounds like the previous phil corpo slop talk to me, whole thing reads like a nothing burger lol.
“re-evaluating exclusivity”
She also said this.
“The model that got us here won’t be the one that takes us forward.”
I don't know if they have a model anymore it's flipped so many times since the xbox one reveal
There's a bunch just like him but that's what happens when some rely on dreams, hope and wishful thinking. lol
"pretending"? Bro gears hasnt broke 1mil on ps5, and starfield hasn't passed 200k, Hellblade 2 was even stated to be a financial disappointment in sales on its own console, let alone ps5. Im not saying people don't like them, but they certainly aren't setting the community on fire, Forza may be different tho
Xbawx is ''re-evaluating exclusivity''... Translation: After throwing all sort of crap to the wall to see if something sticks but clearly nothing worked, we, including our lord ''in charge'' Phil came to the conclusion that exclusives indeed do matter so please forget if we ever said otherwise.
Yup, I feel it in my gut, next gen belongs to xbox, PS6 is cooked...
Someone can’t sleep after those 5 million forza games PURCHASED by PlayStation owners🤣 🧌 💥
Well with the decreased price of gamespass even with cod off it there is no way it is profitable given the cost of making their 1st party games (not if you actually include that cost in gamespass costs which they typically dont but should) they will just make a loss without the sales on
If they go back to exclusive games it at least shows that they are finally getting it. They would be turning down immediate money for something that will potentially workout in the long term.
Only issue is they've already opened Pandora's box. A lot of their base has moved to PC or jumped to PS. So will be a long road to get back on track.
We have been saying this from day one exclusives are a must if you are going to be selling hardware look at Nintendo and Sony before Jim Ryan. That's the proven formula. You had some that were deluded and blinded by loyalty accepting that multiplat was the future and that MS was merely getting ahead of where the industry was headed, but at least they can finally see the light and agree with what everyone has been saying for a decade+
True, blame it on the rabid fanboys. MS can do no wrong and spinner this multiplatform move. While the actual fans moved on.
I feel like with the new Xbox coming they are hoping to bring back those old fans and then if it goes well. Bring back exclusives.
If the new console is performing like series x and one. Naw they staying multiplatform.
Actual fans dont move on... they can add to their hobby while waiting for the next new release. If you believe what you typed then I guess PS fans moved on too.... you know, since its been a Sahara for 1st party games this gen.
Funny world where Sony is pro consumer and Xbox is not? At least according to what you loyalists have been saying all this time 🤭
@itveds For how many years have you been doing this sad stuff? For how many years have you been creating fake accounts to troll? For how many years have you always been cl vnn
Pathetic incels with nothing better to do than argue over a box... Because they don't have any good games to play on theirs, obviously. If your precious box is so special, why don't you shut the fuck up and go play it?
I think it's too late, xbox sales were diving even before ABK, they got even worse since then even long before the full multiplatform push. I'd be surprised if they even went back to timed exclusivity at this point, Helix is basically a PC and is going to be expensive, they already struggle to sell cheaper xbox consoles, it will be low volume and they'll have a very small 'console' base to sell to, which has already been conditioned to just play via gamepass anyway.
I don't see them removing PC from the equation. Considering MS has a heavy enough investment in the PC market, it would be foolish to abandon them. I could see them taking away games from PlayStation or ensuring they are timed exclusives at the very least. Say what you will but if Call of Duty ends up becoming a timed exclusive to Xbox machines, that would hurt PlayStation, don't pretend like those games don't sell millions.
They would lose out on a lot of CoD sales tho. Doesn't PS make up most of the sales?
Their lifeline of solely the Xbox consoles is dry. Good-Great games on a 1st party scale can't be made at a loss so willingly - sent to the Xbox to only sell limited copies.
They invested billions scooping up studios and need to start making returns.
Sucks that nearly every company is publicly traded and have to be so shareholder biased but that's how it is.
Their words are strong but it'll take time to see what their actions accomplish. Lowering the cost of Game Pass and taking CoD off of it was a good clear start.
More like, allot of their base just played game pass. So now they need to encourage them to start buying again.
What exactly is the long term goal with exclusives though?
Because for the most part, the hardware side of things has never been the most profitable, even sometimes being subsidized for a period before breaking even. And that’s before the hardware component nightmare we currently live in.
The whole point of exclusives was to get more people to buy your console in order to have a bigger install base, which meant even bigger software sales.
But if their ports to PS5 are selling (for the most part it seems) quite well, then other than negating the cut Sony takes there, unless you are REALLY increasing your software sales on your own console, it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference?
Honestly I don’t even understand Sony’s decision to scale back on it for PC unless they weren’t even recouping the port expenses. They released ports when the hardware sales never really dropped, and now that all consoles will undoubtedly take a noticeable drop in sales due to the ridiculous prices, that’s when they decide they don’t want to sell to a larger install base to more easily recoup dev costs… it’s just weird
Despite all of that, it's clear that Microsoft's Xbox division is broken beyond repair.
PlayStation is currently draining money on flop after flop. It's Sony that needs to re-evaluate their strategy
Wonder how much money was lost on perfect dark, hellbalde 2, 300 million lost revenue
by putting cod on gamepass. The recent Jason schrier news that Xbox has cancelled dozens of projects, spent 70 billion just to see Xbox sales further collapse and gamepass see little growth.
The fact is this has been PlayStation's most profitable generation and they are making loads of money and selling plenty of consoles and games. While MS won't give you any sales figures or profit numbers for Xbox, says it all really.
It isnt. But I dont think they mean in 'games', rather, footprint.
They own the OS but as far as gaming is concerned, Steam dominate. I imagine the VAST majority of people who use the Xbox app/launcher are PC gamepass subs. No ones buying their 3rd party PC games through Xbox PC.
Insider Gaming writes: "Marathon was one of the best-selling video games in March 2026 in the United States. On Wednesday, Circna released the best-selling games of the month, and it featured six new releases along with two games returning to the top 20 after previously falling out."
Is it April fools day again?
The game is dead.
EDIT: the numbers are fudged. “digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox weren’t included in the data”
well it's not on Switch / Switch 2.. so their number would be zero.
The game had a decent launch however the userbase numbers are dwindling on Steam.
“ Is it April fools day again?
The game is dead.
EDIT: the numbers are fudged. “digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox weren’t included in the data”
Does it hurt you to hear a SONY game was BEST selling ?
You gotta let go of those OBCURED feelings 🤷🏿
I mean the only reason MLB was the best selling title was because it was multi-platform. Likewise with Marathon. Will ring true for MS games. Only Nintendo titles are truly flexing their muscles when they chart as they are only to be found there.
It's kinda funny how this Obscure guy lives rent-free in your head. lol
Does Phil also live there?
It's kinda funny how this Obscure guy lives rent-free in your head. lol
Does Phil also live there?
I’m sorry did you wrote something smart ?
Or are you trying to to be funny because you failed at both
Now kid run to mommy legs the grown ups are talking.
Don’t bother writing anything I will not respond to a bratty child like you
Yeah sure, yet the player count is no where near what they want for a AAA game with so much money behind it
Why people are trying to spin this game like it’s done overly amazing is baffling to me.
It won’t even be a blip on peoples radars by the end of the year .
You must me typically wrong cuz those Steam chart numbers (AKA where the game sold the MOST) is less than what Hunt has, and Hunt didn't cost $500 million to make lol
No way, he was SERIOUS?! He spoke about this months ago and everyone thought he was joking. OMG, someone had to have divided by zero.
Shaq did put money into this game, this was made clear. The crowd funding parts is to see how much the public is interested in a sequel. It is already confirmed that if it doesn't reach it's goal, Shaq will take care of the rest.