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[Ed_Gein]

I thought this was more interesting generally than just to do with GTA 6. I think the "hit driven industry" thing is very true.

This board I think reflects it very well. I started posting here during the PS3/360, and even into early PS4/XBX the first page of the board could turn itself over in a day. Now games are taking so much longer and there are fewer big developers so we already have less to post about. Then when an anticipated game flops the board traffic generally dries up with it.

Not to get too dramatic (yet) but I still feel that if gaming stays on the current trajectory then we are headed for a crash.

Grand Theft Auto VI Is Expected to Be the Biggest Entertainment Launch of All Time, but a Performance Below Expectations Could Impact the Entire Industry

Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time, according to well-known industry advisor Mat Piscatella

wccftech.com

Been thinking about this for a while, that there is some kind of tipping point coming with AAA games, but didn't know how to word it and that it's most based on gut feeling. But you're onto something about a crash within AAA gaming, I think.

a/ AAA games are more expensive and taking longer to make (Well established here)

b/ There is too much competition for consumer money with the emergence of how much easier it is for anyone with time and knowledge to develop a game (Steam now hits 10,000 games released on the platform annually)

c/ Loss of trust due to AAA games being released too early and needing post-release patching.

d/ AAA games are trying to find extra ways to monetise their games in ways that doesn't sit well with gamers.

e/ Bad regional pricing for a lot of PC gamers in many nations across the world means loss of sales.

Trying to remember some of the other things I had in mind about this sort of stuff, but they escape me just now. But yeah, no real data to back it up, but it's not really uncommon these days to see companies complain about the disappointing sales numbers on AAA games now anyway. Wonder where the whole situation will end up. I'm guessing it'll be a lot more difficult to get investor money.

 

[dwwaino]

Been thinking about this for a while, that there is some kind of tipping point coming with AAA games, but didn't know how to word it and that it's most based on gut feeling. But you're onto something about a crash within AAA gaming, I think.

a/ AAA games are more expensive and taking longer to make (Well established here)

b/ There is too much competition for consumer money with the emergence of how much easier it is for anyone with time and knowledge to develop a game (Steam now hits 10,000 games released on the platform annually)

c/ Loss of trust due to AAA games being released too early and needing post-release patching.

d/ AAA games are trying to find extra ways to monetise their games in ways that doesn't sit well with gamers.

e/ Bad regional pricing for a lot of PC gamers in many nations across the world means loss of sales.

Trying to remember some of the other things I had in mind about this sort of stuff, but they escape me just now. But yeah, no real data to back it up, but it's not really uncommon these days to see companies complain about the disappointing sales numbers on AAA games now anyway. Wonder where the whole situation will end up. I'm guessing it'll be a lot more difficult to get investor money.

As of February Alan Wake 2 had sold 1.3 million copies but still hadn't yet returned a profit. I know in this case you could argue that Remedy didn't do themselves any favours by launching AW2 exclusively on EGS for PC, but still no profit after 1.3 million sales is bonkers

 

[Gralin]

This is true. I think it's a combination of ambition to constantly outdo your previous work as well as everyone else. Also I think partly a driver now is to separate themselves from smaller teams.

Previously AAA studios had a monopoly on graphics. Everything that came with 3D graphics design was a tedious process. This is why indie and small development was confined to something like Unity using sprites.

If you told me I had a week (and sufficiently motivated me lol) to create a AAA scene complete with a rigged, animated and textured player character I could do it with UE, Blender, a heap of handy plugins and some cool (and paid) middleware like Substance Painter, Fabulous Designer and Speedtree.

Do you know what I don't have though? Time and resources. This is what separates a team of 100+ from me. I don't have the time to create complex gameplay systems or systems to handle optimising large open worlds for example. This is how AAA developers flex over the little guys and I think it's how they justify making big games.

Always got to outdo the last one and the gaming media is to blame also

Some studios can do it, like Rockstar but they don't make games very often

 

[Ed_Gein]

As of February Alan Wake 2 had sold 1.3 million copies but still hadn't yet returned a profit. I know in this case you could argue that Remedy didn't do themselves any favours by launching AW2 exclusively on EGS for PC, but still no profit after 1.3 million sales is bonkers

Yeah that's pretty crazy. Sadly, it's becoming too much of a trend single-player games like that aren't turning enough of a profit it seems.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Gaming in the PS1/2, OG Xbox and PS3/360 was peak gaming for me, the amount of games that were churned out during that time and really good games too. We don’t get that these days and we know why that is, sadly we are heading for a crash.

 

[SnakeMan86]

For the Dave the Diver fans

 

[Quivorir]

The trailers and blog just spoil the whole story of the DLC so I really don't feel the need to play it now.

 

[dwwaino]

It’s a tough market right now. There are these incredible, over-the-top AAAA games that are impossible to follow. You also see amazing AA niche games that are more focused and successful. AAA sits in this awkward middle ground where it’s very expensive but hard to cover costs.

AAA Games Are in an 'Awkward Middle Ground' Right Now, Says XCOM's Jake Solomon

XCOM's Jake Solomon told Wccftech that AAA games are in an awkward middle ground where it's very expensive and costs are hard to recover.

wccftech.com

 

[Cruyff14]

This looks pretty neat

 

[dwwaino]

Cool. Hopefully it becomes a thing for future games.