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[rofif]

It's a hard sell when games are being sold for $70, no matter how good it turns out to be

Because they need to "justify" the game's price

Mirror Edge is my most replayed game of all time, probably. But selling a 4h game for $70 today would be insane.

Look for indies, and definitely check Returnal

That game was always full price.
So was Half Life 2 for example... or Any of Gears of war trilogy.
All short, fantastic, replayable games worth of full price.

The new full price is 60 or 70 because it's 2022 and everything is more expensive. 70$ is equal to about 55$ from 2010....

 

[InfiniteCombo]

As much flak as RE3make gets for being short, the game is actually pretty brilliant in it's own way. It's kind of designed around New Game +/speed running.

PREACH.

Resident Evil 3 is initially a "6" hour game, but looking at my Steam playtime... 65 hours, and counting. That's how fun the game is.

Bayonetta is... What, a 10-12 hour game? And after 50 hours I'm *still* playing it. That's how awesome it is.

 

[kraspkibble]

sure, if that's what most people want.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Games today are saved by DLC.

 

[GymWolf]

A game doesn't have to be artificially long for me, but i like my games to be filled with enough side content. Good side content tho, custom side quest, or engaging activities, not just mindless collectathons/ clearing out bases.

If the core gameplay\combat\traversal is fun OR the writing\lore is super interesting OR rewards are worthy i don't mind low level sidecontent in my games.

And it's pretty hard not get at least one those 3 aspects right.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

For AAA kinds of games, not any time soon. When was the last time game studios promoted their new game is smaller, but better? Cant remember last time I saw it. It's always bigger is better.

 

[_Ex_]

Quality > Quantity

 

[InfiniteCombo]

With a few exceptions (looking at you, Red Dead Redemption 2), by and large once I'm done with a "long" game, I don't want to play it again.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Y’all Kojima+GTA fans made your own bed twenty years ago. Now we all have to sleep in it.

 

[Wildebeest]

The sort of games that do really well now are not ones you play all weekend non-stop, because you rented it, but games you can turn on any time and play for short sessions. Even a few minutes to an hour. Not really having to care to remember about where you were last time. Everyone is ADD now. Everyone.

 

[JimmyRustler]

With a few exceptions (looking at you, Red Dead Redemption 2), by and large once I'm done with a "long" game, I don't want to play it again.

Same here.
Call me crazy but most thing I look forward to right now is the new PS+ as I hope all classics are included and I can do a rerun of RE, MGS, SH and so on on one console.

 

[Punished Miku]

Same here.
Call me crazy but most thing I look forward to right now is the new PS+ as I hope all classics are included and I can do a rerun of RE, MGS, SH and so on on one console.

Xbox BC games have been super nice for me. Your opinions on this will just become even more apparent when you can easily go back to older games. Even relatively trash games like Conan have been a breath of fresh air to replay after the last 10 years of game design homogenization.

 

[lughnasadh123]

If I have the choice of playing a game four times for 10 hours each or one time at 40, I'd just pick the latter one. In most cases I just don't have an interest in replaying games since it's usually the story the drives me through them.

 

[Zeroing]

What people don’t realize is back then the industry was expanding and experimenting. Also nostalgia does influence our perception…

 

[cireza]

Also nostalgia does influence our perception…

Most of the people responding here play actively on older consoles.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

For those of you expecting AAA games to get smaller, you are going against the trend of gaming and mtx. The trend is bigger scale, more gamers playing together (BR and big teams in shooters, and more coop games now). So to make that work you need bigger scope.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

What people don’t realize is back then the industry was expanding and experimenting. Also nostalgia does influence our perception…

The nostalgia argument is a tired one.

I am actively discovering new retro games, in 2022. I find some awesome ones, and I find some stinkers. Just like modern games.

But to find out that a retro game is a stinker... It's a very quick process. Since in a lot of retro games you get thrown into the gameplay right away, you can tell easily within the first 10-15 minutes if the game is good or if it sucks. For long-ass modern games, within the first 15-20 minutes I haven't even done a single video game action, let alone finding out if the game is good or sucks. For a lot of these really long modern games it feels like it takes at least 1/2 hour to do anything significant from a gameplay perspective.

 

[kyliethicc]

Hitman games are pretty fun, not too long. Very replayable.

 

[Zeroing]

Most of the people responding here play actively on older consoles.

I also wish I had my old consoles, but no matter what, nostalgia does influence us! But it’s more than clear that for some years gaming right now became homogeneous and bland.

 

[MoreJRPG]

When people stop buying Ubisoft open filler garbage we will. Even From Soft went the open world route due to the success of the industry, padded out the last 20 hours of the game with recycled bosses 7-8 times(Ulcer giving tree spirit) and it sold disgustingly well.

 

[The artful mincer]

So You are saying that game like Half Life 2 could not be 70 usd nowadays ?!
I would happily pay 70usd for half life 3 the same style and length as 2

Well half life 2 always felt pretty meaty to me. I would be happy paying 70 usd for 15 hours plus with a few acceptions here and there.

However if we're talking about trends I like that games have gotten longer. 70 usd is alot of money and I would like a game to last a week at least. Replayablity is important but for me it not necessarily related to game length

 

[Zeroing]

The nostalgia argument is a tired one.

I am actively discovering new retro games, in 2022. I find some awesome ones, and I find some stinkers. Just like modern games.

But to find out that a retro game is a stinker... It's a very quick process. Since in a lot of retro games you get thrown into the gameplay right away, you can tell easily within the first 10-15 minutes if the game is good or if it sucks. For long-ass modern games, within the first 15-20 minutes I haven't even done a single video game action, let alone finding out if the game is good or sucks. For a lot of these really long modern games it feels like it takes at least 1/2 hour to do anything significant from a gameplay perspective.

To put in context! Gaming industry back then was more indie that what it is now! Internet didn’t influenced games, only good sales and mouth to mouth praise. Games were experimental and trying new things to push tech and sales. That rarely happens now!

The nostalgia does exist when things are different now! That is what I was talking about! - wanting to go back to that time where things were better

 

[.Pennywise]

Where is Max Payne replayable?

Hint: you played the same games multiple times because you didn't have all the offerings you have today.

 

[JimmyRustler]

The nostalgia argument is a tired one.

I am actively discovering new retro games, in 2022. I find some awesome ones, and I find some stinkers. Just like modern games.

But to find out that a retro game is a stinker... It's a very quick process. Since in a lot of retro games you get thrown into the gameplay right away, you can tell easily within the first 10-15 minutes if the game is good or if it sucks. For long-ass modern games, within the first 15-20 minutes I haven't even done a single video game action, let alone finding out if the game is good or sucks. For a lot of these really long modern games it feels like it takes at least 1/2 hour to do anything significant from a gameplay perspective.

Well said. A bit over a year ago I decided to buy some old PS2 I missed back in the day and finally play them. The Thing, XIII, all SH I missed and many others. I had a blast.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

To put in context! Gaming industry back then was more indie that what it is now! Internet didn’t influenced games, only good sales and mouth to mouth praise. Games were experimental and trying new things to push tech and sales. That rarely happens now!

The nostalgia does exist when things are different now! That is what I was talking about! - wanting to go back to that time where things were better

My apologies, I misinterpreted you. I thought you were saying the usual "nostalgia makes people think that older games were better than they actually are."

You can still make fun games, even today, that are in the 10-20 hour range. (And for me, even 20 is starting to get to the upper bounds...)

As much hate as the Uncharted games get, that's one thing I love about them (especially the PS3 trilogy)... After 10-12 hours I know I'm gonna be done. I can go back for seconds (or thirds, or whatever) and go back for more -- but that's my choice. It's not that I need to play 40+ hours to even finish the main campaign once.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

One thing that will heavily skew a gamer's desire for long or short games is whether they like to be funneled down a path where the game ends at 15 hours. Or if a game can be done in 15 hours if they want, but it's big and open and they can finish the game at 50 hours if they choose to.

Me personally, I like the open ended 50 hour route. Some big games I never even completed because I enjoyed just roaming around doing my own thing.

You cant get that kind of gameplay from linear shorter games. Many of these kinds of games you cant even go backwards and replay acts or missions. And if they let you, most gamers arent going to replay Act 4 five times.

 

[ReBurn]

SIFU is one of them.

Sifu is what I want from AAA gaming. Great execution, little filler, right to the point and a reasonable price for the package.

 

[Gaelyon]

There's tons of Indie/AA games at $20 or less that fill the need of shorter replayable games. AAA games are expansives and peoples will be upset of any 10 hours full price AAA, unless it's a remake.

 

[synchronicity]

"player, er um, customer engagement and retention..."

 

[Belthazar]

I feel like the short and sweet corner is covered very nicely by indies and AA games like Kena and whatnot. So I don't feel like AAA will ever rever to under 10h games, no.

PS: Uncharted was way better when it was shorter tho, which is one of the reasons why Lost Legacy is so much better than 4.

 

[Fbh]

Yeah I'm tired of super long bloated games. IMO there's maybe 5 devs in the industry that can pull off long games, everyone else makes stuff that feels like a chore.
But I do think they are here to stay, at least in the AAA space. Look at games like AC Valhalla which is a bloated mess but went on to become the best selling game in the franchise, the message the industry gets from that is that bloat is exactly what audiences want.

I do think it will be interesting to see how subscription services affect length.
On the one hand long games will be encouraged to keep customers engaged and subscribed, and if third parties start seeing lower revenues from sales they'll further adjust their games towards a "service" model to get their money from microtransactions.

On the other hand I can see Sony/MS also releasing more smaller titles in between their big flagship titles, as a way to keep a steady stream of new exclusive content coming to the service. Like for example Naughty Dog doing more things like The Lost Legacy in between their big "mainline" releases and MS continue using studios like Double Fine to release games like Psychonauts 2.

 

[balls of snow]

Can I still have those tho? 2021 and 2022 are one of the worst years for AAA releases, not in the sense that they're bad but they're just...too few and I cannot comprehend how they dont have time to finish 4 AAA games in a year. This year you have ER and Forbidden West and thats kinda it until the end of the year. Thats not much, at all. So yes, if you want along with these long games shorter AAA ones, thats fine but not to replace them because then we'd nothing but indies and garbage online service games.

Lol. DYING light 2, Gran Turismo, Tiny Tina Wonderlands, Ghostwire Tokyo and Lego Starwars just came out in the past two months. Those are AAA.

 

[StormCell]

Games today are not really about the initial sale. Of course they want to make the money from the initial sale, but modern games are about holding on to you for as long as they can because they've got more money they want to make off of you. They have a better chance of that if you're still playing the game. You're more likely to buy the first DLC if it releases before you've finished the base game. They want to offer you more products. They can pop ads on you inside of their game, but it costs money for them to pop ads on you anywhere else. It's all about maintaining control of your attention, and short games just don't get the job done.

So think about that. A short game might cost $8M to produce and might earn $15M. Or they could spend $20M and make $60M by padding the base game and then selling DLC packs and money crates for goods to buy in-game. Whatever keeps you spending, etc.

 

[iHaunter]

That would make it not AAA. We also have to define the term short. Because technically, GoW has replayability and isn't crazy long.

AA already does that. See Sifu.

 

[Astral Dog]

No until gamers fetish with open world changes.

But there will always be variety op, support games like Bayonetta, Resident Evil 7,Devil May Cry, Mario 3D World, Luigis Mansion, Final Fantasy VII Remake, etc there is plenty out there you just need to know where to look.

 

[Astral Dog]

That would make it not AAA. We also have to define the term short. Because technically, GoW has replayability and isn't crazy long.

AA already does that. See Sifu.

FFVII appears to be 'AAA' but i have no idea how how people define that these days

 

[R6Rider]

I like most games to be between 10 to 20 hours.

Give me a Splinter Cell in the style of the old games that's 12 hours long and I'll gladly pay for that.

 

[iHaunter]

FFVII appears to be 'AAA' but i have no idea how how people define that these days

Not sure the point you're making.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Not in the era of “muh content” where games have to be padded out with hours of filler.

Have you ever played MGS4 or god help us all Peacewalker...

 

[The Cockatrice]

Lol. DYING light 2, Gran Turismo, Tiny Tina Wonderlands, Ghostwire Tokyo and Lego Starwars just came out in the past two months. Those are AAA.

Dying Light 2 and Ghostwire are AA. And they both sucked dick. Lego games are also AA afaik. Tiny Tina releases next year for me on Steam so yeah. Dont care about sports games.

 

[remember_spinal]

The AAA market? No. Sadly.

The tent pole releases from Sony, Ubisoft, CDPR, Bethesda and the like, they'll continue being in the 80 hour+ range to 100%.

Some smaller studios that I’m paying attention to moving forward;

Moon Studios; the Ori and the Blind Forest (8 hours) and Ori and the Will of the Wisps (14 hours) are currently developing an Action RPG game.

Asobo; creators of A Plague Tale (12 hours) are currently working on a sequel scheduled for this year.

Playtonic / Gears for Breakfast; we should be seeing their next projects soon. If you like the platformer genre.

Insomniac are always good for Ratchet games, which are usually only 6-8 hours long.

I need to play Kena too.

It’s a pain in the ass as there’s a really small pool of quality shorter games to choose from.

Its not like a game being smaller makes it more replay able.

Ex. I replayed Witcher 3 once, thats 300+ hours of game. I replayed persona and persona royal, thats another 200+ hours.

I will never play plagues tale again, as enjoyable as it was, and I won’t play kena again either. The length of a game has nothing to do with replay ability like this OP is implying

 

[Banjo64]

Its not like a game being smaller makes it more replay able.

Ex. I replayed Witcher 3 once, thats 300+ hours of game. I replayed persona and persona royal, thats another 200+ hours.

I will never play plagues tale again, as enjoyable as it was, and I won’t play kena again either. The length of a game has nothing to do with replay ability like this OP is implying

To each their own.

Personally I’m more likely to replay Yooka Laylee, A Hat in Time, Ori, A Plague Tale, Ratchet and Clank or Kena twice because I don’t have to commit 300 hours to them.

The Witcher 3 and BotW are 2 of my favourite games of all time but I’ll never replay them due to their length.

 

[remember_spinal]

To each their own.

Personally I’m more likely to replay Yooka Laylee, A Hat in Time, Ori, A Plague Tale, Ratchet and Clank or Kena twice because I don’t have to commit 300 hours to them.

The Witcher 3 and BotW are 2 of my favourite games of all time but I’ll never replay them due to their length.

The longer games offer more variety in play. I can experience different things on a 2nd playthrough of witcher 3 or something like Divinity Original sin 2.

All those shorter games are the exact same experience you got the first time. They might be fun games to play but that alone doesn’t make it more replay able then something longer that is literally changing the experience depending on how you play

 

[adamsapple]

It's a double edged sword.

Shorter games will incur a lot of complaints from people if it's selling at retail. If it's selling at a lower price, you'll have people complaining about it's perceived quality as it's not a full priced retail game.

Companies also probably hear the same feedback hence almost every company is stuffing time sinking RPG elements into almost every genre of game to try and justify the price tag.

 

[jaysius]

lol they tried and many complained about it.

Added more content, many complained about that too, now its too um "bloated" lol

The issue is, the greedy fucks cut out content so early on to save it as DLC that the shit that they feel ok about putting in in it's place is trash.

The cancer is the gaming industry itself, now games NEED DLC to continue to make money, greedy devs aren't happy with a single big payout anymore.

 

[Banjo64]

The longer games offer more variety in play. I can experience different things on a 2nd playthrough of witcher 3 or something like Divinity Original sin 2.

All those shorter games are the exact same experience you got the first time. They might be fun games to play but that alone doesn’t make it more replay able then something longer that is literally changing the experience depending on how you play

Really good point. A second play through of The Witcher, or any RPG where you can choose a class, will be like a brand new play through.

The only thing I’d say is that on some of the shorter games I like you can sequence break/speed run a second play though, which is quite appealing to me.

There’s also NG+ in the Ratchet games that’s quite enjoyable as you have all of your prior weapons while mopping up the platinum.

 

[Danjin44]

To me it doesn’t matter if the game is short or long, all I care about is satisfying experience at end of the day.

This year I enjoyed long game like like Elden Ring and shorter game like Kirby.

I can enjoy both.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Id say look no further than insomniac. Both miles and the new ratchet game were really short, but they are fun as fuck and super replayable. I hope spidey 2 and wolverine are on the shorter side as well tbh.

Modern resident evil games arent long either, but they are endlessly replayable

 

[Swipeyowifelike]

First it was linearity is inherently inferior to open worlds because of how much freedom you had without the "corridors". Now we've circled back to open world are bloated time sinks, and hand crafted compact games are what we need. Wonder if I live to see it all repeat again .

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

No need. You're just playing the wrong games.