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[Honey Bunny]

If they're really going to be the Netflix of gaming, almost all the content MS will fund a few years down the road will be low effort rubbish to pad out the schedule and keep the screen zombies engaged. Thats just how the incentives are aligned with these streaming services.

 

[MadPanda]

considering you opened a thread with a question and proceed to answer it in your post, we can close this thread as nothing else of value could be said.

 

[Come On Tars]

Hard to tell. Most games already are filler bullshit

 

[CS Lurker]

I hope we'll see more 10~15 hours games that are better thought than 40 hours games with lots of padding that get boring really fast. I think Game Pass has the opportunity to fix an issue I see in this industry (at least for my taste).

 

[remember_spinal]

i honestly feel like it already has

 

[Killer8]

The games are being made regardless if GP existed or not. Microsoft just send them a bit of extra money to get them on the service.

 

[reksveks]

Hmm, people generally think we are in a golden age of TV at the moment

 

[Craig of War]

Do you even have Gamepass? i feel like most if not all the Gamepass concern post are people who don't even have it lol

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[TVexperto]

lol just look at horizon, far cry, ass creed, they are all filler games filled with shitty collectibale quest

 

[Kagey K]

If you look at the actual meta scores of the games on gamepass, and look at the titles offered there, you will see that both of those worries are unfounded.

Gamepass isn't ruining gaming or forcing into the GAAS model.

Developers are doing that by themselves, despite Gamepass.

 

[Kagey K]

lol just look at horizon, far cry, ass creed, they are all filler games filled with shitty collectibale quest

Which ones of those are on Gamepass and how did gamepass influence thier models?

 

[ckaneo]

Hmm, people generally think we are in a golden age of TV at the moment

This. There will be filler but in an effort to get people to subscribe there will have to be great games just like TV.

Overall tv is better than its ever been.

And we have already seen microsoft attempt that. They are investing in bigger and better things since gamepass. Of course these games could still suck, but they wouldnt have even bothered without it

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

That will not happen because at the end of the day people vote with their wallets. If game pass did that, people will stop subscribing to the service. It’s in their best interest to maintain the quality because other options are available.

 

[A.Romero]

Netflix has many great shows. You might not like a lot of them because they are trying to appeal to different audiences with tailor made content.

Gamepass has great games, specially if you own an Xbox.

 

[Chukhopops]

I love how OP framed his question in the most loaded, biased way possible and yet his analogy works… just not the way it’s intended.

Netflix does:
- dominate all awards ceremonies (Oscars, TV whatever awards);
- produce some of the best series in recent years (Bojack Horseman, Altered Carbon, Black Mirror);
- give access to plenty of new genres and content from around the world, broadening the horizon and allowing you to discover stuff;
- do so at a fraction of the cost it would take to own or access all that content in the old distribution model.

So in a sense you’re right, there are similarities for sure.

 

[Three]

One of the things that I worry about is that AAA games might adopt some sort of incremental release model, kinda like an "Early Access" type of development.
So you get a lot of filler content broken down into as many parts as you can get away with that are released every couple of months or so.

All this to ensure that people keep subscribing to see how a game's story will end ( especially if you make games with "choices" that have "impactful consequences" that are "unique" for each player )

Example: Instead of making a new Assassin's Creed every year, you make a single one that has story missions released once in a while.

The benefits might be shorter release cycles, less money to lose long term, feedback to determine direction story is going.
In a way, kinda like an MMO but single player focused.

Trust me episodic content will happen, it was part of the xbox one strategy. People are already trying to convince you that short 4 hr games are good when the likes of The Order, R&C were blasted for those short lengths in the past.

I'm more concerned for engine development. It seems devs are doing less engine development and just more concerned about putting out content on the same game and engine year after year.

 

[Kagey K]

Trust me episodic content will happen, it was part of the xbox one strategy. People are already trying to convince you that short 4 hr games are good when the likes of The Order, R&C were blasted for those short lengths in the past.

I'm more concerned for engine development. It seems devs are doing less engine development and just more concerned about putting out content on the same game and engine year after year.

You have any evidence for this other than trust me?

 

[Jennings]

Yes. They'll be low effort "games" and colorful front-ends to GAAS MTX platforms.

 

[bitbydeath]

Netflix has some of the best TV shows, so…

 

[reksveks]

People are already trying to convince you that short 4 hr games are good when the likes of The Order, R&C were blasted for those short lengths in the past.

The same people? If so, those people are either disingenuous and dicks or their lives have changed. You choose which one you want. I am all for shorter games and haven't criticised any games for being too short.

I'm more concerned for engine development. It seems devs are doing less engine development and just more concerned about putting out content on the same game and engine year after year.

Specific to gamepass or in general. Think there is a general trend to move away from custom game engines see EA and CDPR, don't know if it's linked to GP or not.

 

[Roberts]

There is so much varied content that a lot of it simply can't be suited to individual's taste thus one could say there is bad filler.

But are there objectively bad games on GP? Absolutely. But only a tiny minority.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Which of the upcoming Microsoft games would you consider to be potentially low effort filler?

 

[Vognerful]

Remember, games moved to be GaaS or being released in parts long before game pass, or not related to it.

See examples: street fighter or similar fighting games, call of duty, GT7 (yes, GT7), Sony and their plan to release 10 GaaS, etc.

 

[draliko]

You mean bad like godfall or babylons fall?

 

[TLZ]

I've honestly enjoyed a lot of the games on Game Pass.

I hope it at least stays the same or gets better.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

Just look at Halo Infinite and you’ll see where this is going. Unfinished game rushed out the door in an effort to sell subs, and continue to charge people each month while the rest of the game is still forthcoming.


The big question is will publishers sell their content’s license to Microsoft for cheap like early Netflix’s contracts? Once the film/tv industry realized they could build their own streaming service and upped the value of their digital streaming content, the free ride was over. Microsoft sees this coming and it’s why made moves to acquire the companies they have.

 

[Riky]

Nobody makes games just for Gamepass, they still are also sold on the store, for other platforms and on Steam.

So the answer is no.

 

[Three]

The same people? If so, those people are either disingenuous and dicks or their lives have changed. You choose which one you want. I am all for shorter games and haven't criticised any games for being too short.

I'm talking general concensus. Not any particular person or you.

There was a lot of negativity and "concern" about short games even those with extremely high production values. Here is an extremely long 84 page thread about it back in the day and that was just a response to the initial concern threads. The general concensus seems to be a little different now judging by the new threads about 4hr games. Short games are apparently good even if they are bad games like The Gunk.

Specific to gamepass or in general. Think there is a general trend to move away from custom game engines see EA and CDPR, don't know if it's linked to GP or not.

It's a general trend with GaaS but one that gamepass promotes too. Big budget AAA are seeing a decline and it's less about wowing people with a big release and more about engagement and MAU. That usually means seasonal content on the same game/engine is the priority.

 

[Riky]

You mean bad like godfall or babylons fall?

You nailed it

 

[NiiloPielinen]

Are you trying to say that there was no bad tv-shows before Netflix? Networks used to order all kinds of crap to fill their time slots for decades.

 

[Three]

You have any evidence for this other than trust me?

Evidence of what? If I say "trust me episodic content will happen" what do I need evidence for? I'm not trying to make a factual/numerical claim am I. I'm just saying that's something that's likely to happen.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Some Games are already bad netflix filler content, what's going to change?

When even big first person IP are just rinse and repeating the same tired old open world "quests" for the majority of their big first party IP and third party are as bad if not worse.....what ISNT bad netflix TV show shite.

 

[reksveks]

I'm talking general concensus. Not any particular person or you, why would you even think I was talking about you in particular when you weren't even in this thread for me to reply to you?

I didn't think you were talking about me. I was just adding my point of view regarding the length of games. I only commented on your initial post cause there could be two separate audiences that genuinely believe their position. I suspect that the general consensus especially in the people whom buy games still prefer longer games, one of those cases where people lie about what they want. Those might not be the people posting on NeoGAF though.

PS saw that you had edit the first bit but just thought I would reply still.

It's a general trend with GaaS but one that gamepass promotes too. Big budget AAA are seeing a decline and it's less about wowing people with a big release and more about engagement and MAU. That usually means seasonal content on the same game/engine is the priority.

Suspect the real cause is the rising cost of game development especially in the AAA spacr and also the need to onboard new employees quicker to why we don't get new engines (and massive shifts in games design) but don't know if we can even get a good answer. Not sure that big budget AAA games are in decline in an absolute number, maybe relative.

 

[Arenafighter]

No...

 

[Pallas]

Pretty sure Gamepass or no Gamepass, every current gen system has filler garbage.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I'm talking general concensus. Not any particular person or you.

There was a lot of negativity and "concern" about short games even those with extremely high production values. Here is an extremely long 84 page thread about it back in the day and that was just a response to the initial concern threads. The general concensus seems to be a little different now judging by the new threads about 4hr games. Short games are apparently good even if they are bad games like The Gunk.



It's a general trend with GaaS but one that gamepass promotes too. Big budget AAA are seeing a decline and it's less about wowing people with a big release and more about engagement and MAU. That usually means seasonal content on the same game/engine is the priority.

how is the gunk a bad game when most people who played it enjoyed their time with it?

Because it's not a 10 out of 10 "masterpiece"?

 

[Leyasu]

Thread of 2022.

The amount of effort and research put into it is truly commendable. Bravo op

Usual suspects have arrived with their takes too

 

[Damigos]

It already happened. There is a lot of shovelware on GP, but there is also on Plus.

 

[azertydu91]

Are you trying to say that there was no bad tv-shows before Netflix? Networks used to order all kinds of crap to fill their time slots for decades.

I'm sorry this is totally off topic but nice avatar I've always liked Gaston Lagaffe.

 

[Three]

how is the gunk a bad game when most people who played it enjoyed their time with it?

Because it's not a 10 out of 10 "masterpiece"?

Based on what when you're trying to shut down or reject those who didn't find it good? It didn't even review that well so I'm not sure why you find that opinion controversial. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece. It just wasn’t that good.

 

[TonyK]

Exactly my main fear with the subscription model. For any platform.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Based on what when you're trying to shut down or reject those who didn't find it good? It didn't even review that well so I'm not sure why you find that opinion controversial. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece. It just wasn’t that good.

oh I completely agree, reviewers and most people that played it said it wasn’t amazing but if you actually go check a lot of people enjoyed their time with it. If you enjoyed a game and thought, you know what..this isn’t an amazing game but it’s an enjoyable 6/7 out of ten then that’s cool.

those games existed well before game pass and will continue to exist long after. The only difference is someone who has a weekend free and a subscription may be tempted to blast through it as part of their subscription. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Ozriel]

Based on what when you're trying to shut down or reject those who didn't find it good? It didn't even review that well so I'm not sure why you find that opinion controversial. It doesn't need to be a masterpiece. It just wasn’t that good.

“It wasn’t a masterpiece so it was bad”

Exactly my main fear with the subscription model. For any platform.

But it isn’t just a subscription model, is it? Xbox games are also sold at retail in stores or on Steam. Comparing it to Netflix where 100% of the content is subscription only isn’t apt.

And nobody stays on a subscription service if the content is absolute trash.

 

[MonarchJT]

If they're really going to be the Netflix of gaming, almost all the content MS will fund a few years down the road will be low effort rubbish to pad out the schedule and keep the screen zombies engaged. Thats just how the incentives are aligned with these streaming services.

seen the games and their MC's and that Ms was awarded as the best Publisher of 2021 according to metacritic....as today no you are objectively wrong.

 

[sankt-Antonio]

Of course it will. They will see that people who have access to everything at any time are not spending more than a couple hours on a majority of games, games will be shorter as a consequence. Learning curve to steep? Dump it down. Constant content bombardment will lead to shorter dev times with smaller budgets and less vigorous quality control.

The reason why its not looking like that at the moment is that the games that are now on GP have started development under the classic release planing or are older games where all this was not a concern. Games that start development in 2022 and onwards with a clear goal of being day1 on gp will be interesting.

 

[Three]

oh I completely agree, reviewers and most people that played it said it wasn’t amazing but if you actually go check a lot of people enjoyed their time with it. If you enjoyed a game and thought, you know what..this isn’t an amazing game but it’s an enjoyable 6/7 out of ten then that’s cool.

those games existed well before game pass and will continue to exist long after. The only difference is someone who has a weekend free and a subscription may be tempted to blast through it as part of their subscription. Nothing wrong with that.

That's what I mean though, those 6/7 out of 10 games that aren't that great and are only 3-4 hours long people have changed their opinions on because "why not, it's on gamepass". Short low production games seem likely and episodes are a real possibility.

 

[Ozriel]

If they're really going to be the Netflix of gaming, almost all the content MS will fund a few years down the road will be low effort rubbish to pad out the schedule and keep the screen zombies engaged. Thats just how the incentives are aligned with these streaming services.

Did you just describe Gamepass as a ‘streaming service’ ?

Constant content bombardment will lead to shorter dev times with smaller budgets and less vigorous quality control.

Or they could just significantly expand the size of their first party teams to ensure there’s a constant stream of content.

Oh wait, they did.

 

[Riky]

how is the gunk a bad game when most people who played it enjoyed their time with it?

Because it's not a 10 out of 10 "masterpiece"?

I found it quite enjoyable, easy to pick up and doesn't outstay it's welcome.