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[SmokedMeat]

Why? Most people enjoy AAA games and I don’t see why that has to change.

I didn’t buy a fucking Series X, PS5 and LG OLED TV to play indie games like Tunic.

Everyone has a right to be upset about what’s happening with gaming. These next gen consoles should have just been delayed

You can be upset all you want, but you bought that Series X and PS5 knowing full well there were barely any games available that made use of the hardware.

More powerful hardware means longer waits for games to be made, more manpower required to create them, and zero risks taken when deciding what games to make.
If you refuse to play anything but super high budget AAA games then you’re going to be waiting more then playing.

Delaying the consoles would’ve done nothing.

For those that don’t play games based on budget sizes, the industry has been awesome. The indie games I play kick the shit out of the AAA microtransaction laden junk nine times out of ten.
They also take risks and bring new ideas to the table instead of remaking the old shit over and over.

 

[Punished Miku]

Also this is why we shouldn’t mock Nintendo for refusing to enter the power/realism race. At least they manage to get 3-5 good first party games out per year without fail.

They get close to twice that many.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don't know. For instance, I'm a Sony fan. PlayStation has like 20 studios. Even with a 4 year cycle of development, 20 studios could release a new game every what? 3 months?

I blame management.

Sony are putting out around 7 AAA games this year, and then there’s third party exclusives like Forspoken, Stray and Tomorrow Children also on the way.

They’re killing it.

 

[Banjo64]

Sony are putting out around 7 AAA games this year, and then there’s third party exclusives like Forspoken, Stray and Tomorrow Children also on the way.

They’re killing it.

Horizon
Gran Turismo
God of War?
Last of Us 1

What are the others?

 

[bitbydeath]

Horizon
Gran Turismo
God of War?
Last of Us 1

What are the others?

Uncharted Legacy
MLB

… Maybe 6, unless I’m forgetting something.

 

[Sentenza]

Xbox and Bethesda was a big disappointment for me, boo-urns! Even the Sony show was more exciting... somehow.

No, it really wasn't.
In fact, out of the two is not even a contest. XBOX delivered a better show by a landslide.
Which doesn't really take much, given the competition.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Sony are putting out around 7 AAA games this year, and then there’s third party exclusives like Forspoken, Stray and Tomorrow Children also on the way.

They’re killing it.

Yeah, pretty much. Sony and Nintendo are the only one still providing consistently. The problem is that the 3rd parties basically vanished and/or focusing exclusively on GaaS.

 

[RGB'D]

Two problems:

Phil Spencer, the used car salesman

Jim Ryan, the cold blooded businessman with passion only for cold hard cash, not this industry

I mean Phil literally saved XBox as has been documented. Just think how bad Jim Ryan would be without a little competition. Phil is more of a Kickstart developer that you back and hope everything drops at some point.

Also just a tad ironic that Phil is called a used car salesman and the next page has a user counting a remake and legacy collection as Sony killing it with major releases. I really really wish that SONY would stop remastering and re-releasing everything and just focus on new content because that's what I actually buy their console for. Give me a AA or indie over another re-release or directors cut any day. I have to think we would have Factions by now if we didn't have to do a TLOU remake or Uncharted Legacy.

 

[Nautilus]

Uncharted Legacy
MLB

… Maybe 6, unless I’m forgetting something.

Uncharted Legacy is a port of a port. So I wouldn't count it.

But yeah, Sony has been doing fine in that regard, just as Nintendo is. MS is the one that needs to get their shit together and figure out their management/release schedule.

 

[Clear]

Really not sure what people are upset about, the next 12 months seems pretty solid to me.

As to cross-gen going longer, the reality is that if you assume a big title takes around 4 years from pitch to publishing, with likely an added year of post-release expansion and patching then you're looking at an overall time-span over half of an entire console generation per game!

The painful reality though is that indies generally aren't turned around all that much quicker either. Hell, I think most people would be shocked at how long it takes for even mobile titles, because in a market that's as cut-throat as an app-store every seemingly inconsequential detail like the icon is agonized over for maximal visibility.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Also this is why we shouldn’t mock Nintendo for refusing to enter the power/realism race. At least they manage to get 3-5 good first party games out per year without fail.

Looking at half assed releases like Switch Sports, it’s no surprise.

 

[Shadowstar39]

So true. Dread is nearly flawless.

Ehh.. I want to play it and try it, but not at $60. The demo left me not wanting to pay. Unfortunately Nintendo doesn't ever drop prices so no sale from me. I can wait 1/2 a year for half prices on pc/ps5 or switch 3rd party, but nintendo won't. Shit they also don't do it for old games that were 3rd party , looking at you Bayonetta 1 ( a game that can be bought on pc for $5 or $10 on ps5, won't go below $30 on switch).

Since I don't like metroids dreads runner mechanics, I will just play axiom verge 1 and 2, and wait until prime gets released (never played any prime, would also be down for other m, last metroid i played was on gba).
I just can't get into games where you do more running then anything else, same reason I can't dig outlast, or resident evil 3/7. I love both genres but I want to explore find secrets, get better gear and plow through.
To me this was really disapoiting , as I was hoping for a SOTN quality 2d metroid game, and while it was that with graphics, the gameplay was straight out of outlast/nemesis/re7 territory.

 

[Banjo64]

Looking at half assed releases like Switch Sports, it’s no surprise.

Don’t think picking one game aimed at children and old people and using it to paint a picture is productive.

Since October last year they’ve released;

Dread
Mario Party
Legends Arceus
Kirby
Mario Strikers

Which have all been well received. You can be sure that Splatoon 3 will be well received too.

 

[Shadowstar39]

I'm primarily a PC gamer and gaming has never been better. Both Sony and MS putting their titles on PC so I haven't felt the need to buy a PS5 at all.

To me, its always been this way, been a pc player since pcs were only 4 color (CGA graphics lol) and had a dinky internal speaker. PC is where you go for no gaming droughts, not only that but there is no generations or what not, things like dos box, glide wrappers, source ports, and moders let us play older games on newer hardware without paying any extra. What has slowed down to a crawl is AAA on pc. Last one that I can think of dedicated to pc was ms flight sim and crysis 1 before that. (probably others, but I can't remember). What pc has a lot of is AA games, especially strategy , survival and crafting games, indies that you won't find on other platforms (until they get major numbers).

Ps5 didn't have much appeal for AAA outside of demon souls for me. What brought me in was my ps4 died and i couldn't finish ghost of tushima, spider man, and countless other games. I wasn't re-buying them on pc. Although I like that now i can if i want. I also dig the pickup and play seamlessness of ps5 on the tv. What pc is great for is sales and lots of good genres you won't find anywhere else. So while people moan about nothing to play, I have a backlog 20 miles long.

 

[Wildebeest]

What really kills any excitement about their being anything exciting enough to seem like "the future" is the endless recycling of ancient intellectual property or ideas. A big reason for that was because it is seen as "safe" and helps offset the risk associated with huge investment that big game development projects need. Often the next big property needs some sort of incubation period where it can grow enough to the point where it seems exciting to an absurdly hype level. Like Skyrim was peak hype for elder scrolls, but the previous releases built that hype. Same for Elden Ring.

 

[lefty1117]

Until just recently the price of new games hadn't significantly increased for what, 20 years? In my opinion this has caused the companies to prioritize games as a service, which do have a longer gestation period but then are expected to deliver on revenue at a greater clip and for a longer time than the single "ship it, it's done" game of yesterday. Everything needs a shop, nowadays. And while I'm sure some greed has factored into it, and there's some gouging going on, I do think the seed of it has been lack of retail pricing increase for decades. We've been hearing rumblings about it for years and it has manifested in development periods taking much longer than they used to. The value of gaming entertainment as compared to other forms of entertainment continues to be very good.

 

[SlimySnake]

Two problems:

Phil Spencer, the used car salesman

Jim Ryan, the cold blooded businessman with passion only for cold hard cash, not this industry

Both are used car salesmen. Jim Ryan purposefully misleads his audience by hiding the true cross gen nature of his games and recently did something that is just disgusting. He said Horizon FW would have a free upgrade, but then charged people $70 anyway. He then made the upgrade free after people found his old quotes, but left the PS5 version at $70 and made the PS4 version impossible to find on the PS5 store. Physical PS5 copies were also left at $70. What resulted was 70% of ALL HFW copies sold were on PS5. He literally scammed people out of 70% of day one buyers out of $10 even after reversing his decision. Just abhorrent behavior I normally associate with used car salesmen.

can't forget doug bowser aka genuinely demonic person with a burning hatred for everything community and fan made

This is true. Someone brought up the Skyward Sword remaster in the TLOU remastered thread where we were all bitching about the game being $70 and barely looking better than TLOU2. Skyward sword has no graphics upgrades beyond resolution upgrades. No gameplay improvement aside from controller support, and it is literally selling for full price. The Mario collection was absolutely disgusting because they didnt even bother making all of those games run at 60 fps. Tey are running on an emulator with no graphics improvements whatsoever. I dont think I have ever seen a lazier remake.

In 5 years since the Switch launched with Zelda, and had Mario Odyssey in the first year, we have not seen sequels to either game. We have not seen an AAA Metroid game since Metroid Prime 3 released 14 years ago. Nintendo consoles were called Metroid, Zelda and Mario machines and AAA Metroid, Zelda and Mario have been MIA since the first year of switch.

They are all used car salesmen. The industry is in a rotten state because it has been taken over by Wallstreet fat cats. #4theShareholders.

 

[Raven117]

Yep the new saints row is a prime example, before it seemed targeted at anyone who liked gta style games with gang stereotyped adult characters.

They got rid of adult characters and now have zoomer children as the protagonists, that look like high schoolers and nothing like the franchise at all. So they aren't marketing to a 40 something that used to play said games. They loose a customer, but they are betting on woke zoomers to make up the difference, yet those people are all into f2p crap like fortnite. Don't think things like that will turn out how devs want.

Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you are right.

I know I can feel that I’m definitely not the target audience for alot of games nowadays

 

[JimmyRustler]

What really kills any excitement about their being anything exciting enough to seem like "the future" is the endless recycling of ancient intellectual property or ideas. A big reason for that was because it is seen as "safe" and helps offset the risk associated with huge investment that big game development projects need. Often the next big property needs some sort of incubation period where it can grow enough to the point where it seems exciting to an absurdly hype level. Like Skyrim was peak hype for elder scrolls, but the previous releases built that hype. Same for Elden Ring.

Nah, that‘s not it. The movie business suffers from the very same recycling, often even when sequels or remakes fail they just keep doing them. Since most of these companies are run by business people by now the only goal seems to be to make big profit with every single thing released. From what I read from the 90s and before it did not use to be this way. Meaning, the main goal was to recoup the costs and if you make an additional buck or two along the way, good. But not everything was aimed at maximizing profit just for the sake of it.

 

[Wildebeest]

Nah, that‘s not it. The movie business suffers from the very same recycling, often even when sequels or remakes fail they just keep doing them. Since most of these companies are run by business people by now the only goal seems to be to make big profit with every single thing released. From what I read from the 90s and before it did not use to be this way. Meaning, the main goal was to recoup the costs and if you make an additional buck or two along the way, good. But not everything was aimed at maximizing profit just for the sake of it.

Not sure what you are arguing here. The state of the film industry is a good thing or a disaster to avoid at all costs?

 

[SlimySnake]

Sony are putting out around 7 AAA games this year, and then there’s third party exclusives like Forspoken, Stray and Tomorrow Children also on the way.

They’re killing it.

AAA by definition means big budget and high production values and graphics. The highest. The fact that Sony's entire 2022 first party lineup is cross gen and the only PS5 game looks identical to their PS4 game shows that the games are no longer AAA. They are AAA by last gen standards, but by not taking full advantage of the next gen hardware, they are AA at best.

I see a lot of people giving Sony a pass in this thread accusing the OP of trying to avoid a ban by lumping in Sony. Nah, this is about AAA gaming and AAA literally means top of the line cutting edge games. By releasing last gen games in 2022, Sony has lost that initiative and need to be lumped in with Microsoft, Acitvision, EA, Ubisoft and whoever else is making unambitious, dated, formulaic, repetitive and last gen games. When a fucking Vin Diesel game was the best looking game at a conference of a First Party publisher that has 25 AAA studios, you know the industry is fucked.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Don’t think picking one game aimed at children and old people and using it to paint a picture is productive.

Since October last year they’ve released;

Dread
Mario Party
Legends Arceus
Kirby
Mario Strikers

Which have all been well received. You can be sure that Splatoon 3 will be well received too.

Eh, I’d lump Mario Party right in there with Switch Sports. Literally just old boards and games reheated.

Mario Striker is another barebones content release.

I’m not knocking the quality of Kirby and Dread, but none of these games have the production values of the other platforms.

I can see how they manage to pump out more games in general.

 

[DonF]

Sony are putting out around 7 AAA games this year, and then there’s third party exclusives like Forspoken, Stray and Tomorrow Children also on the way.

They’re killing it.

You might be right, but I think that the output is still kind of hit or miss. I'm not a huge horizon or Gran Turismo guy, they used to deliver must get games, now most games are a wait for sale or wait for updates...worse yet, wait for shitty practices, like Gran Turismo 7 and it's aggressive moneytzation

 

[JimmyRustler]

Not sure what you are arguing here. The state of the film industry is a good thing or a disaster to avoid at all costs?

No, the state of the film industry is identical to the one in gaming. Instead of spreading out their budget to many projects they tend to focus on a few big ones. Hence they have to minimize the risk and we see sequels and remakes all over the place - and I seriously doubt that we are going to see any changes in this regard anytime soon.

 

[Sinfulgore]

Publsihers make whatever the people are willing to spend money on. The problem is that consumers are buying less games. publishers concentrate on GaaS subs/f2p and microtransactions because it's what people are spending the most money on. The people buying games are those who always did in the past hence the remakes. AAA has actually declined massively and it's sad.

People are willing to spend money on anything that's good if they feel it's worth the cost. Publishers are chasing after whatever is popular, Destiny was popular, so EA and SE wanted their own version of that, Anthem and Avengers. Fortnite/Pubg was popular, so publishers wanted their own battle royale. The game industry feels a lot like the movie industry now. One developer does something people like then every other developer copies it.



Gamers are buying fewer games but that’s because games are far less valuable now with the increase of high-quality free-to-play games. $60 for a single-player only game with little to no replay value, like the Guardians of the galaxy game, isn’t going to cut it when you can get far more value out of something that is free to play.

 

[KXVXII9X]

People are willing to spend money on anything that's good if they feel it's worth the cost. Publishers are chasing after whatever is popular, Destiny was popular, so EA and SE wanted their own version of that, Anthem and Avengers. Fortnite/Pubg was popular, so publishers wanted their own battle royale. The game industry feels a lot like the movie industry now. One developer does something people like then every other developer copies it.



Gamers are buying fewer games but that’s because games are far less valuable now with the increase of high-quality free-to-play games. $60 for a single-player only game with little to no replay value, like the Guardians of the galaxy game, isn’t going to cut it when you can get far more value out of something that is free to play.

Value is really relative here. I have yet to find any free to play game that matched the value of a lot of $60 for me personally. There is always a price to that which is usually grinding or doing a bunch of repetitive tasks to get to the good content. I would rather pay $60 or even $70 is Genshin Impact did a way with all that grinding, level gating, resource collecting, gacha mechanics and mostly consist of story missions. But the reason they are able to crank out consistent updates are all the ways they can suck money out of people. The constant updates would be nice if everything wasn't a massive grind or paywall.

People undervaluing games worries me. I saw what happened with mobile games.

 

[Sinfulgore]

Value is really relative here. I have yet to find any free to play game that matched the value of a lot of $60 for me personally. There is always a price to that which is usually grinding or doing a bunch of repetitive tasks to get to the good content. I would rather pay $60 or even $70 is Genshin Impact did a way with all that grinding, level gating, resource collecting, gacha mechanics and mostly consist of story missions. But the reason they are able to crank out consistent updates are all the ways they can suck money out of people. The constant updates would be nice if everything wasn't a massive grind or paywall.

People undervaluing games worries me. I saw what happened with mobile games.

That’s true. Cod Warzone is my free-to-play game of choice and it doesn’t have any of that but when you think about it grinding is the endgame for a lot of games, Destiny 2, Diablo, WoW, etc and people love it. You just need a group of people playing with you.

I think it’s because games aren’t as memorable as they once were. To me, games now feel like mindless entertainment like modern movies, fun while playing them but completely forgettable. I got the platinum in Bloodborne but can’t remember a single thing about that game and I will never replay it. It’s been 21 years since Final Fantasy X was released yet I still on occasion watch scenes from it on YouTube, I listen to its music almost daily, and I have played through it multiple times. I can’t think of any modern games that are memorable like that, the last one would probably be the Mass Effect trilogy.

To be clear there isn’t anything inherently wrong with something being mindless entertainment but the question I ask myself is this, I can get 50+ hours of mindless entertainment from Warzone, a free-to-play game, why would I need to spend $60 on Elden Ring, a game that I will completely forget about after I beat it?

 

[nominedomine]

AAA by definition means big budget and high production values and graphics. The highest. The fact that Sony's entire 2022 first party lineup is cross gen and the only PS5 game looks identical to their PS4 game shows that the games are no longer AAA. They are AAA by last gen standards, but by not taking full advantage of the next gen hardware, they are AA at best.

I see a lot of people giving Sony a pass in this thread accusing the OP of trying to avoid a ban by lumping in Sony. Nah, this is about AAA gaming and AAA literally means top of the line cutting edge games. By releasing last gen games in 2022, Sony has lost that initiative and need to be lumped in with Microsoft, Acitvision, EA, Ubisoft and whoever else is making unambitious, dated, formulaic, repetitive and last gen games. When a fucking Vin Diesel game was the best looking game at a conference of a First Party publisher that has 25 AAA studios, you know the industry is fucked.

What is looking that much better than Sony games? Sony is one of the few big publisher that still believes in AAA single player games as a viable thing (for now) and is willing to spend a huge amount of money on them.

You do realize what is holding games back for a while has been the budget/manpower not hardware by itself right? Better hardware is not going to magically produce better assets, better animations, more complexity, etc, at most you'll get things like better lighting, shadows, reflections with something like RT or increased resolution, better fps.

 

[KXVXII9X]

That’s true. Cod Warzone is my free-to-play game of choice and it doesn’t have any of that but when you think about it grinding is the endgame for a lot of games, Destiny 2, Diablo, WoW, etc and people love it. You just need a group of people playing with you.

I think it’s because games aren’t as memorable as they once were. To me, games now feel like mindless entertainment like modern movies, fun while playing them but completely forgettable. I got the platinum in Bloodborne but can’t remember a single thing about that game and I will never replay it. It’s been 21 years since Final Fantasy X was released yet I still on occasion watch scenes from it on YouTube, I listen to its music almost daily, and I have played through it multiple times. I can’t think of any modern games that are memorable like that, the last one would probably be the Mass Effect trilogy.

To be clear there isn’t anything inherently wrong with something being mindless entertainment but the question I ask myself is this, I can get 50+ hours of mindless entertainment from Warzone, a free-to-play game, why would I need to spend $60 on Elden Ring, a game that I will completely forget about after I beat it?

I play CoD Mobile, Genshin Impact, Pokemon Unite, and now Diablo Immortal sometimes so I enjoy mindless gaming at times. Sometimes it is what I need after a stressful day.

I paid full price for games like The Last of Us, Zelda BotW, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Detroit Become Human, Uncharted 4, and The Last Guardian and they are recent games that still stick with me. I feel like the memories and satisfaction those games gave me is well worth the $60, but I know not everyone is that way.

I only played past the first boss in Bloodborne but found it memorable. I wonder if it is the music that you connect with so much with Final Fantasy V. The series has great music. I'm the same way with the Theme of Love in FFXIV.

 

[Sinfulgore]

I play CoD Mobile, Genshin Impact, Pokemon Unite, and now Diablo Immortal sometimes so I enjoy mindless gaming at times. Sometimes it is what I need after a stressful day.

I paid full price for games like The Last of Us, Zelda BotW, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Detroit Become Human, Uncharted 4, and The Last Guardian and they are recent games that still stick with me. I feel like the memories and satisfaction those games gave me is well worth the $60, but I know not everyone is that way.

I only played past the first boss in Bloodborne but found it memorable. I wonder if it is the music that you connect with so much with Final Fantasy V. The series has great music. I'm the same way with the Theme of Love in FFXIV.

What made those games memorable to you? The last game I paid full price for and actually thought it was worth it was Diablo 3 on PC. Thankfully with game pass, Gamefly, MS Rewards, and other stuff like that, I don't need to pay full price for games anymore. Music is secondary for me, the characters and the story are what I connect with most, and then when I listen to the music it reminds me of the characters and moments in the story.

 

[Chronicle]

Some of you guys need to realize there is more to gaming than AAA blockbuster.

Not to there's not. I like big budget games. Some smaller experiences here and there but 90% of my focus is big AAA games.

 

[Danjin44]

Not to there's not. I like big budget games. Some smaller experiences here and there but 90% of my focus is big AAA games.

Then you need accept the fact you gonna do lot of waiting because it take time make those type of games.

 

[Swift_Star]

Why? Most people enjoy AAA games and I don’t see why that has to change.

I didn’t buy a fucking Series X, PS5 and LG OLED TV to play indie games like Tunic.

Everyone has a right to be upset about what’s happening with gaming. These next gen consoles should have just been delayed

I did to play both as I don’t have a limited taste. What a silly notion.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

I did to play both as I don’t have a limited taste. What a silly notion.

Well I purchased both consoles to play mainly AAA games, don't see what's silly about that.

Everyone enjoys different types of games and I prefer playing AAA games. Call me what ever you like but that will not change my preference.

 

[Laptop1991]

I buy AAA games to play mostly, always have and seeing as i haven't bought a new game for a year and a half, in my opinion the gaming industry isn't in a good state, it depends what type of games you enjoy as well i suppose, so Saints Row will be my 1st buy for a long time.

 

[Crayon]

It's annoying how long big games come after announcements and I think you do need to come to terms with that. Everything else is pretty good, though.

 

[Swift_Star]

Well I purchased both consoles to play mainly AAA games, don't see what's silly about that.

Everyone enjoys different types of games and I prefer playing AAA games. Call me what ever you like but that will not change my preference.

It’s silly to limit yourself only to AAA. Having a narrow view of the medium is terrible and you’re crippling yourself as seen by the distorted view that the release schedule of 2022 is rough.
But you do you.

 

[Chronicle]

Then you need accept the fact you gonna do lot of waiting because it take time make those type of games.

Well I'm playing returnal, I can play Demons souls, death stranding, and Forbidden West plus just finished Cyberpunk. I'm very busy. Lots on the way too.

 

[Danjin44]

Well I'm playing returnal, I can play Demons souls, death stranding, and Forbidden West plus just finished Cyberpunk. I'm very busy. Lots on the way too.

 

[jaysius]

The image I got when I read this title about coming to terms was this:

A big burly man(think TF 2 heavy) looking at an extremely long thick dildo, sitting silently pulling out his tube of lube, slowly slathering the lube onto the dildo, then heaving a sigh of resignation as he gets ready to stick said dildo up his ass. The look on his face isn't pain, it's just disappointment at life and the state of the gaming industry, he silently sheds a tear, but then has a tiny blubbering fit.

You can never go home, the gaming industry has been warped into a disgusting monster, it's too big now, big business has sunk it's filthy claws into it and ruined it like the music industry. There are too many games that have turned to micotransactions and there's no way to mitigate their hold either. So many shitty GaaS or GaaS-like games are being produced now and up and coming. It's all gone to shit. Big devs are too afraid to take any chances anymore, and so much content is cut out of the main games to make it into DLC. Games when released are buggy AF because they're being pushed out faster than devs can make them stable.

Fun aside, music industry had a "LOUDNESS WAR" now it's got a war of words, it makes artists use less words because they're easier to compress then. Gaming has turned into a least possible effort for biggest payout type market.


TL;DR:

 

[Swift_Star]

AAA by definition means big budget and high production values and graphics. The highest. The fact that Sony's entire 2022 first party lineup is cross gen and the only PS5 game looks identical to their PS4 game shows that the games are no longer AAA. They are AAA by last gen standards, but by not taking full advantage of the next gen hardware, they are AA at best.

I see a lot of people giving Sony a pass in this thread accusing the OP of trying to avoid a ban by lumping in Sony. Nah, this is about AAA gaming and AAA literally means top of the line cutting edge games. By releasing last gen games in 2022, Sony has lost that initiative and need to be lumped in with Microsoft, Acitvision, EA, Ubisoft and whoever else is making unambitious, dated, formulaic, repetitive and last gen games. When a fucking Vin Diesel game was the best looking game at a conference of a First Party publisher that has 25 AAA studios, you know the industry is fucked.

They are AA at best? That makes absolutely no fucking sense at all.
The budget for the games are sky high for the ps4 games.
I have to ask, do you even like games?

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

It’s silly to limit yourself only to AAA. Having a narrow view of the medium is terrible and you’re crippling yourself as seen by the distorted view that the release schedule of 2022 is rough.
But you do you.

 

[KXVXII9X]

What made those games memorable to you? The last game I paid full price for and actually thought it was worth it was Diablo 3 on PC. Thankfully with game pass, Gamefly, MS Rewards, and other stuff like that, I don't need to pay full price for games anymore. Music is secondary for me, the characters and the story are what I connect with most, and then when I listen to the music it reminds me of the characters and moments in the story.

Mostly the same reasons as you. Characters and story are what I connect with most along with music. As someone who constantly struggles with mental health, I find any form of media that can make me hold onto certain memories really valuable.

Most of the games I get now adays are heavily on sale. I also use GamePass. I got 4 months for 1 dollar (1 extra month included with laptop) and now have another $1 offer with three month. I mostly get free games from Epic Store or heavily discounted with sales coupons. That is the bulk of my gaming currently. Mostly the only games I pay $60+ nowadays are Nintendo titles. I don't mind paying that much for a new game if it would bring me a great experience. It is just always a gamble on the end though.

 

[Amin_Parker]

The only games I pay $60+ nowadays are Nintendo titles.

I completely and wholeheartedly agree with the quoted statement above.

 

[ZywyPL]

In the last week we had a couple of events, which combined showed like a 100 games or so, if someone couldn't find something, anything that interests him/her, then maybe the state of the industry is not the problem at all but that person's state of mentality, maybe you just don't like gaming anymore and it's time to move on and find another hobby.