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[JayK47]

I have been gaming since the Atari 2600, and I can say that for me, I have never been less interested in so called AAA games. When I play a game released by a major studio, I am being preached to either subtly or directly. Look how bad Starfield was coming from a studio that used to make guaranteed amazing games. Far Cry 6 is the worst Far Cry. Forza Horizon is getting more over the top and panders more and is less fun as a result. I am not looking forward to GTA6. I just can't imagine it could be good in today's environment. It will be completely neutered and toothless. I do not even trust that CD Projekt Red can make anything decent anymore. We get warnings on every re-release, like STALKER, telling us it was a product of it's time. Like what could be offensive about the STALKER games? Don't answer that. If the old STALKER games need a warning, then the new one is likely going to suck, as they need to pander to the same snowflakes who need warning labels on older games. I still have not purchased a console from this generation, as every game that looks interesting comes out and is filled with "the message". They should pay me to play this crap. To me the last good generation was the PS4 and Xbox One. When I could play a first party titles like Days Gone and Uncharted 4. Neither of those could be made today.

For all the money spent making games today, they are worse for it. I really do not care anymore when I hear about layoffs or studios shutting down. They forgot their purpose.

 

[nick776]

Spiderman 2 hasn't even been out a year. It seems the problem is these companies want an immediate RoI and profit within a release window. While new games probably have front loaded sales, they can make money well after their initial release date and then there are streaming rights or service based revenue for putting on gamepass or psn.

Stop preaching to your core demographic;
Stop acting like you hate them;
Stop making games longer and bigger - your players don't want this;
Stop developing games you think will work, and develop games the market wants;

There's a massive disconnect here. We want to make what we want, and take the risk people might not like it. As opposed to we will make what the market wants and it will sell well.

It reminds me of the last few years before the PS4 and XB1 where a lot of games became stale because they all felt like reskins. We're back here now imo.

EXACTLY--"stop making games longer and bigger\\your players don't want this." Who in the WORLD wants a game that takes 40 hours to complete. Give me 10 to 12 hour games and I am perfectly happy.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don't know what the source is for the $100M number that IGN mentions. As far as I know Larian never shared the budget.

In the interview to tthe Obsidian design directtor they are quoting/copypasting, when asked which game he'd like to do if he wouldn't have budget or time limitations he says:

"I think if it truly was an unlimited budget, I think I would try Pillars 3 because I know what the budget was for Deadfire, which was not a whole lot and I have heard from multiple people what the budget was for Baldur’s Gate 3, and I’m not gonna talk about numbers, but if I got that budget, sure, I’ll make Pillars 3."

I didn't find any Larian quote mentioning the budget, I only found the Owlcat Games CEO estimating it aprox. around $200M saying: "But, again, we can't invest, say, $200 million to make BG3 — we don't have that kind of money yet.". Something that matches my estimations.

I believe IGN is repudiable enough to take them at their word of getting the number from Larian.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

Recently I've been thinking about how this mission to make every game perfectly top shelf quality is causing more trouble for Sony than the gaas projects.

It is great when a seriously polished and massive production value game like gta or gt comes out, but they take a long ass time. And look at the expense. It's a double problem where it's costly and also slows output.

Their publishing is important to their success but it has to morph somehow. Those AAAA productions need to be assessed again and they need to get games that aren't small or mid-tier, but aaa's that aren't trying to be fucking Lawrence of Arabia or Titanic. Stellar blade is an interesting pick for a partnership because it fits that bill, but Sony could be diverting some talent to make an action or arpg game that doesn't break the bank or take 5 years. Less money and time for somewhat smaller audiences. Or yes, more gaas like helldivers because something in the stable should be making money. The horror.

YES! I have played a bunch of games from the PS2 era recently and I'm sure they can smooth out the rough edges with modern tech, but the overall game and graphic design can literally just be that simple.

 

[Crayon]

YES! I have played a bunch of games from the PS2 era recently and I'm sure they can smooth out the rough edges with modern tech, but the overall game and graphic design can literally just be that simple.

Funny, I'm playing the stellar demo now and me and my wife have a joke. This is what we affectionately call a "PS2 game."

This joke started with the first nier, a late ps3 game. A few people on gaf were evangelizing nier for a minute and I decided to jump on (that's how I found demons souls).

So in the first 5 minutes of nier, we start talking shit about how it's a PS2 game. Like, disparagingly. So we continued to play through the game and ended up talking a lot about modern "PS2 games". It's not like nier was ye first one we saw.

Something like nier could be a game plucked right off the shelf from 2004. But it's a totally viable style for a modern release. A lot of what's "missing" compared to the modern AAA is flourish like lots of extra animations, densely decorated environments, busy body NPC's, and a hundred other little things.

This production level is fine, especially for targeted audiences that are going to be smaller but more reliable. AC6 is a good example: The next Armored Core looked better than the last Armored Core. That's good enough. Just give us the armored core. If it had to be produced on the level of elden ring, it would never be made.

 

[SHA]

A good game is a good game, look on other mediums like Anime for example, they no longer make 15 minutes continuous fight scenes but they found a way to engage the audience, some dudes complained about the plot being too light, some actually make fun out of conventional fights calling it old school and unnecessary.

 

[Roronoa Zoro]

Funny, I'm playing the stellar demo now and me and my wife have a joke. This is what we affectionately call a "PS2 game."

This joke started with the first nier, a late ps3 game. A few people on gaf were evangelizing nier for a minute and I decided to jump on (that's how I found demons souls).

So in the first 5 minutes of nier, we start talking shit about how it's a PS2 game. Like, disparagingly. So we continued to play through the game and ended up talking a lot about modern "PS2 games". It's not like nier was ye first one we saw.

Something like nier could be a game plucked right off the shelf from 2004. But it's a totally viable style for a modern release. A lot of what's "missing" compared to the modern AAA is flourish like lots of extra animations, densely decorated environments, busy body NPC's, and a hundred other little things.

This production level isn't fine, especially for targeted audiences that are going to be smaller but more reliable. AC6 is a good example: The next Armored Core looked better than the last Armored Core. That's good enough. Just give us the armored core. If it had to be produced on the level of elden ring, it would never be made.

Yep and personally I'll take semi linear or smaller open worlds over copy pasted checklists.


I like Arkham asylum best out of those games for just being more crafted and smaller

 

[mdkirby]

Ai will be used to reduce these budgets. might not even mean job losses. Take the same number of staff, split them into two teams, and make 2 games in 3 years instead of 1 game in 6 years. The market changes a lot less in 2-3 years than in 5-6, and if you’re pumping out games at 50-100 mil, you can afford to take more risks than at 200-300 mil

 

[WoJ]

Gaming needs to go back to being gate kept from non-gamers. Between the ESG BS and insane budgets.

 

[Deerock71]

Crash incoming...