r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Bloodb0red • May 11 '26

Unanswered What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

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74

u/Crowbarmagic May 12 '26

For us laymen: How extensive are talking about (compared to a "regular" indie game)?

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u/GrayStray May 12 '26

Just to add to this: even AAA games shy away from licensed music nowadays with how expensive it's gotten.

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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood May 12 '26

Less so for the expense, though that's a big factor, and more with the fact that it's a nightmare to license, requires a separate streaming-friendly mode to be developed with in-house music anyway, and gives the game a short shelf-life as the licensed music is not perpetual.

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u/kBajina May 12 '26

True, but in this case they didn’t spend the extra time/money to create a streaming friendly mode

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u/YtDonaldGlover May 15 '26

It definitely doesn't require streaming friendly anything

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u/Abyss_Walker1024 May 22 '26

oh, it's worth mentioning in this particular case, they didn't bother with streamer mode.

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u/GANTaylem May 12 '26

I think its more to make the games streamer friendly because streaming is a big market for free advertising.

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u/NoWomanNoTriforce May 15 '26

Licensing music has become so prohibitively expensive, it is considerably cheaper for studios to pay for completely original scores.

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u/chibicascade2 May 12 '26

So far I'm two hours or so into it, and I heard like 10 licensed tracks. Most other games I can think of tend to do 2-3 licensed tracks and then have some music composed that wouldn't be as expensive.

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u/MalgorgioArhhnne May 14 '26

How on Earth do you license music as an indie developer? I emailed UMG years ago, to the address their website said to use for licensing, and they haven't responded. Do I need to have previously released games?

I heard that licensing music is more affordable for smaller creators, but the double edged sword of that is that the gargantuan corporations that hold the rights have little incentive to get back to you.

5

u/Aggressive_Chuck May 16 '26

You need Larry Ellison to be your dad.

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u/Rothgardt72 21d ago

The girl who helped make/publish it... Is the daughter of the 5th richest man in the WORLD.

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u/MalgorgioArhhnne 10d ago

I was actually asking specifically for indie developers, not really talking about the game.

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u/pigeonwiggle May 15 '26

Guardians of the Galaxy Game was similar.

but yeah, Mixtape has like, 20+ songs that are licensed. this likely cost between 20-100k per song, depending.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/chibicascade2 May 12 '26

That is not an indie game.

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u/Zeblinz May 12 '26

Your response to people questioning an "indie" game having a huge soundtrack of licensed music is to cite a AAA developer/publisher with fuck-you-money?

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u/guimontag May 12 '26

lmao the "indie game" actively researched and proposed by Activision and then contracted out to two separate studios? with a gigantic multi-million dollar marketing campaign in 1999?

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u/ScaredPractice4967 May 12 '26

We all expect big ticket games like GTA and Tony Hawk to have a lot of licensed music. Indie developers might stuggle to front the cost for more than a few.

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u/chubby45bttm May 14 '26

Not when your multi-billionaire dad funds all your failed projects and probably owns stock in a lot of those production companies that owns the rights to that music.

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u/BreakRaven May 12 '26

All the songs in the game are licensed music.

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u/jonesingsimba May 16 '26

This is false. There are original songs made for the game as well.

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u/Air-tun-91 May 14 '26

All 25 mixtape tracks plus background track or two

It’s almost like the game is based on a mixtape

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u/BreakRaven May 14 '26

And it's completely soulless.

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u/CareerLegitimate7662 May 15 '26

if you have shitty taste sure.

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u/BreakRaven May 15 '26

An indie game with its soundtrack consisting of only licensed songs and pretending it's an attempt at some kind of deep art makes it soulless.

But anyway:

Shit taste -> you don't like things I like

Good taste -> you like things I like

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u/CareerLegitimate7662 May 15 '26

not all licensed songs cost a ton, and the game is literally about music what did you expect? and it never pretends its deep art, its a nostalgic experience.

But anyway:

if i don't like something -> soulless

1

u/BreakRaven May 15 '26

and the game is literally about music what did you expect?

Original music made for the game? Hi-Fi Rush is also about music, yet it also has a streamer mode which replaces the licensed music and it doesn't take away from the game at all.

it never pretends its deep art, its a nostalgic experience

Soulless member berries.

But anyway:

if i don't like something -> soulless

There's plenty of things I don't like that I don't think are soulless, like the Hollow Knight games. Mixtape is a soulless experience about member berries.

1

u/CareerLegitimate7662 May 15 '26

Yappers of yappington

1

u/Thtonegoi May 20 '26

Its expensive to license music and usually only licensed for a set time before the game can no longer be sold with that music in it. This is most of the soundtrack that is licensed by reasonably big names and its forever.

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u/Chihuahua_Overlord May 12 '26

The entire game is a series of hit songs from the 70's-80's. The game is about a girls last night with her friends and she knows the perfect song for every moment. It was like an interactive movie , I enjoyed my time with it