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Has Nintendo given up on AAA gaming?

GymWolf

Member
Sigrun basically uses moves from other Valkyries with some of her own moves. I personally find fighting monsters in MH much more engaging, especially satisfying when you break body parts. You also have 14 different weapon that can give completely different combat style.
Yes she uses all the moves from the other valkirie, this fact doesn't make the fight less difficult or engaging or fun especially compared to a lor of the monster hunters dinos that have like 3-4 moves with sometimes shitty hitboxes.

And like i said, i prefer mh combat myself, i know how good it is and how good is to have a lot of different weapons, you kick an open door here buddy.
 
I've always said it. Since the N64 days NCL came just about make an In-House game every 2 to 3 years and the rest is either outsourced or a bloody port of a old game that Nintendo makes you pay full price for
Its also makes me laugh for MS be called out for just being Halo or Forza but somehow it's ok for Nintendo to be more Mario, Zelda and more Mario Golf and Tennis.

I take it too that Bayonetta 3 is in development hell?
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
You want those western walk, stop, walk stop, walk, cutscene, limited combat type of game? Or boring open world games with a ton of shit to do that’s just meh?
Basically, yes. Not to mention plot is almost always thrash and you will be much better reading a book that take 1/3 the time to get through the game.

At some point all AAA gaming starts to blur together, which is why I got rid of XSX and instead use Switch for Nintendo/Indies.
 

mcz117chief

Member
I' surprised there isn't an OT for MH:Rise. How come? No enthusiasm for it? I myself really don't like this new direction they are taking but I thought that most people were onboard.
 

icerock

Member
Why invest money to build AAA games when ports of older AAA games and new AA/Indie titles will sell at AAA price?

Just look at their profit margin, they have zero reason to. The ever loyal Nintendo fans will continue to pump in the money no matter how little effort they churn out.
 

Marvel14

Banned
The pearl clutching in this thread is priceless:

  • -nintendo hates me shoving its shitty non AAA games down my throat
  • - who cares about AAA games? They suck anyway
  • Their shitty full priced ports are daylight robbery and we should sue.
  • Nintendo is pure kiddie crap...and I must be the most creative naysayer in history.
  • Nintendoomed
Usually when Nintendo output falls its because they are prepping for the next big thing which might be DLSS enabled 4k.

But of course you'll have someone on here wanting 10 AAA games on Switch by Xmas AND new hardware by March 2022.

Never change GAF...you are entertainment!
 
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RAIDEN1

Member
Nintendo are in the shadows, they are taking a quarter of a century with the next Metroid, F-Zero is nowhere to be seen, and Star Fox is all but dead..
 

mejin

Member
From what I saw yesterday, NMH3 and MHR are mediocre productions at best. Lots of bad texture and all the shit that qualify lack of polishment. It is like they chose switch cause the low bar would be acceptable. I'm certain switch can do better, but it seems there is no incentive for it. Well, when even the manufacturer output is lame I can't blame the 3rds.
 

kyussman

Member
I've no interest in Nintendo although I think they do AAA but it's there own type of AAA.I don't think you should compare Nintendo to PlayStation and Xbox just because they are all in the games industry.I know that sounds a bit dumb but they just do their own thing...and people continue to buy their games and consoles.I think it's easy to forget that reaching out to kids is a huge part of what Nintendo is all about and they are pleased much easier than us bunch,lol.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Id like to see a new AAA IP from Nintendo.
Carry on what there doing but they have enough money to make some new AAA stuff. Not Metroid, Mario, Zelda. Lol not gonna count Pokemon until they actually spend some money on there game
 

Velius

Banned
I don't know If I would go that far to say that.

I think they just still have Zelda and Metroid being worked on and it takes time. I do how ever agree that their AAA output has been very small considering.... 5 years is a long time, I didn't even fucking notice how long its been.

Sony or MS can just release Uncharted Collection, MCC and just call it day and continue to just put out ports of last gen shit. Don't get me wrong, ports of Mario Kart and all those other games make sense for what they dealt with from Wii U, but that doesn't excuse the lack of their own brand new titles coming out.

For Square, Capcom, Koei and even Ubisoft to start to carry them is a bit much and a disservice to their loyal install base. Bravely Default 2 and Hyrule Warriors should be a cherry on top for Nintendo's fans, not the whole fucking years line up. It tells me Nintendo is taking advantage and simply outsourcing and porting. This should be when they put deep investments in new AAA IP to get more of that market trusting them instead of milking ports. Nothing is wrong with those ports btw, they are needed and it makes sense, something is however wrong when those ports start to take the place of their whole line up as some excuse not to actually put out new titles.

At this point, Switches library when we are done will just be Wii U, Wii, Gamecube ports etc

So if you look at MS, XONE's line up wasn't just Gears ports, MCC etc. They still made brand new IP and sequels to big titles.

If you look at Sony with PS4's line up, yea you got Uncharted collection, Jak ports etc, you also got Days Gone, Spiderman, Horizon, Death Stranding, Ghost Of Tsushima etc.


They can do more, they can do better. MS is literally showing Nintendo how its done with cranking out new AAA IP. A critique that use to really only be on MS, is now on Nintendo......
It hasn't been five years. He said it's entering its fifth year, meaning it's been almost four years. He probably tells his mom she never gives him ANY money
 

Akuji

Member
Agree with op. That’s why my switch collects dust and thanks for this thread. Need to recharge the battery again. It’s been lying around for a year without a single turn on.
But I know a lot of people that enjoy the switch a lot so it’s just not for me and that is fine as well.
 

tkscz

Member
I mean, lets go further into this, what constitutes as a AAA game? Originally it just meant developers/publishers put a large budget into the game, that was it. It doesn't automatically mean the highest end graphics, we've seen plenty of non-AAA games have some incredible graphics. Doesn't mean it'll be pushing the envelope in terms of gameplay, plenty of non-AAA games that've done that and plenty of AAA games are rehashes of their prequels. Music? Don't have to be a AAA game to have an amazing sound track. Story/Narrative? Great stories have come out of indie games, some arguably better than what we get from AAA games. So what advantages even come out of AAA games that you can't get with a smaller budget game?

Nintendo has always taken that road of "if we don't need to throw a bunch of money at it for it to be amazing, why should we" approach and it's always worked out for them. I understand people on GAF take that as a negative, but is it really? The games still come out amazing. Hell, I honestly like Bowser's Fury more than Odyssey, and it's obvious which one of those games had more money thrown into it. Not to say AAA games aren't good or don't push gaming forward, but games that have 1/24th the budget have also done it, even today in the indie scene. So why constantly push AAA games when you don't have to and still make great games?
 

Birdo

Banned
Mario Kart 8 has been in the top-ten charts for four years. There is just no urgency or hunger for them to pump out more games.

They are a victim of success.

It's the same reason Rockstar haven't made GTA 6 yet. Money is just flowing in.
 
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Their hardware doesn't support AAA gaming...and the people that buy switch are not gfx whores. They want gameplay experiences that aren't available on Sony or Ms.

From what I've seen people buy Switch for the usual Nintendo IPs- Pokémon Zelda Mario etc- and for its handheld capabilities.

There weren't any AAA games on the 3DS or Vita, there aren't AAA games on smartphones and there aren't AAA games on the Switch.

This segment of the market doesn't need AAA games nor want them.
 

Aldric

Member
It's not about AAA or whatever because that's just a matter of budget and this has very little to do with the quality of a game but there's definitely a problem with Nintendo's output in terms of creativity and ambition. They're content with recycling their old games with no effort ports and their recent releases have been either casual titles like Animal Crossing or the minigame compilation I forgot the name of or very average single player games like Paper Mario or Age of Calamity. I've bought the Switch because of games like BotW, Mario Odyssey or Xenoblade 2 with the prospect of playing titles like Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 and 5 years in it's pretty obvious Nintendo have failed to consistently produce content for people like me and I doubt things are going to get much better in the foreseeable future.
 

Mildudon

Member
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MagnesG

Banned
It's not about AAA or whatever because that's just a matter of budget and this has very little to do with the quality of a game but there's definitely a problem with Nintendo's output in terms of creativity and ambition. They're content with recycling their old games with no effort ports and their recent releases have been either casual titles like Animal Crossing or the minigame compilation I forgot the name of or very average single player games like Paper Mario or Age of Calamity. I've bought the Switch because of games like BotW, Mario Odyssey or Xenoblade 2 with the prospect of playing titles like Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 and 5 years in it's pretty obvious Nintendo have failed to consistently produce content for people like me and I doubt things are going to get much better in the foreseeable future.
It will, producing good games is hard. It's not just Nintendo.
Just look at the timeline releases in the past.

Mario Kart 8 has been in the top-ten charts for four years. There is just no urgency or hunger for them to pump out more games.

They are a victim of success.

It's the same reason Rockstar haven't made GTA 6 yet. Money is just flowing in.
suffering-from-success-cover1.jpg
 
Maybe there are more "casual" gamers? Make a cute game that people can play on their soulless daily commute on their handheld. Congratulations you have just unlocked the Asian market billions strong.

Spending uninterrupted hours immersed into a videogame on a big screen is a peculiar luxury few can afford. We are going back to the days when videogames are timewasters and toys that don't need plot or fancy cutscenes.
 

Rudius

Member
AAA to me means the best game possible for it's time, with a high budget, high overall quality and up-to-date technology. Not all AAA will succeed in achieving that, but it is the aim. Nintendo games matched all the criteria from NES up to the GameCube era. Zelda, Mario and Metroid were state-of-the-art in all aspects in the NES, Snes, N64 (no Metroid 😢) and GameCube. From the Wii onwards, by giving up on the power race they fell behind in the technology aspect of their games, something I consider important for this specific art form. Something like Breath of the Wild, despite being a great game, is obviously inferior in these aspects when compared to contemporaneous games, like Red Dead Redemption 2.
 

mortal

Gold Member
I don't get the appeal of AAA games (as do most people outside of gaming forums), so I'm fine with what Nintendo is doing.
AAA is indicative of budget, specifically games with bigger budgets. AAA encompasses games from a breath of genres.

Also, to say most people outside of gaming forums don't get the appeal is false since many AAA games sell millions of copies.
 
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Clarissa

Banned
Kinda got the feeling that Nintendo got hit hard by COVID delays since their biggest sellers are often games from 2017.

I'm also speculating that Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3 are taking way longer to make than anticipated.

Everyone got hit hard by Covid. Stop making excuses for Nintendo.
 
People who take gaming seriously care about AAA+, those are Sony, PC and to a lesser extent Microsoft fanboys (maybe some girl there but if it’s not for streaming money doubt it). These types of people populate gaming forums.

Nintendo crowd are as casual gamers as you can imagine. They’ll forever only care about their Mario, Zelda, Pokemon etc. They see gaming as a pastime, usually parents with their kids or as we can see granddads like Joe Biden. They couldn’t care less about graphics or sound, for them, gaming will forever be synonymous with something small innocent kids do. That’s how it is.

Last time Nintendo cared about cutting edge AAA was when they had RE4 (as we saw timed) exclusive. Long long time ago.
 
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So basically Switch has no aaa games if you go by gfx?
Which frankly isn't true, in terms of everything but rendering resolution usually. I've played a handful of games on Switch that I have considered as good technically as anything on Ps4. The exception being in terms of resolution, it just needs to be higher usually (except Luigi which was pretty clean, at 1080p). But even something like Yoshi's crafted had excellent details and lighting with Unreal 4. It just needed a higher rendering resolution.

I mean sure, polygon counts aren't as high as something like Uncharted 4 obviously, but the overall visual feature set is there.

Hell even Bowsers fury has mostly nice details, had the lighting, SSR, the whole nine yards, again just let down by the fact it's 720p docked. If it ran like the photo mode looked, it'd be there.
 
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AJUMP23

Member
What is this garbage question from the OP? Nintendo makes the most AAA games. Their studios are second to none, and most everything they produce is high quality. Nintendo can't help but produce AAA games.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
Animal Crossing, Smash, Mario Odyssey? I dont even want to go into a debate about whether or not they are AAA, but surely this is simply not good enough for fans who want to have AAA games with that Nintendo magic.

Animal Crossing hits more than 30 million sales
Smash has more than 20 million sales
Mario Odyssey has more than 20 million sales
Link's Awakening has five million sales
Ring Fit Adventure has nine million sales

Not good enough you say? I guess that competition is a thing and you can choose other platforms
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Animal Crossing hits more than 30 million sales
Smash has more than 20 million sales
Mario Odyssey has more than 20 million sales
Link's Awakening has five million sales
Ring Fit Adventure has nine million sales

Not good enough you say? I guess that competition is a thing and you can choose other platforms
How can sales bring you any enjoyment and make up for a lack of AAA games?
 
Animal Crossing hits more than 30 million sales
Smash has more than 20 million sales
Mario Odyssey has more than 20 million sales
Link's Awakening has five million sales
Ring Fit Adventure has nine million sales

Not good enough you say? I guess that competition is a thing and you can choose other platforms

Barring the fact that Ring Fit Advenutre and Links Awakening aren't AAA games, just look at the release dates on top of that.
 

CitizenZ

Banned
? Every game they release is AAA. I mean they are all overhyped $60 copy/paste from the previous entry, all are reviewed by every MSM toilet factory, they receive high review scores, fans claim they are superior and they win participation trophies.
 

Nakasan

Member
People who take gaming seriously care about AAA+, those are Sony, PC and to a lesser extent Microsoft fanboys (maybe some girl there but if it’s not for streaming money doubt it). These types of people populate gaming forums.

Nintendo crowd are as casual gamers as you can imagine. They’ll forever only care about their Mario, Zelda, Pokemon etc. They see gaming as a pastime, usually parents with their kids or as we can see granddads like Joe Biden. They couldn’t care less about graphics or sound, for them, gaming will forever be synonymous with something small innocent kids do. That’s how it is.

Last time Nintendo cared about cutting edge AAA was when they had RE4 (as we will see timed) exclusive. Long long time ago.

This a parody or a meme I'm unfamiliar with? If it is, would love someone to fill me in.

Edit: As for the OP, I understand what you mean but the premise is something I don't agree with. AAA is an arbitrary term which does mostly refer to budget, but it is still arbitrary. Has Nintendo given up on it? I don't think Nintendo ever was in the business of making high risk/high capital games the way Sony does.

For me, I'll assign the arbitrary AAA moniker to games that are made exceptionally well - in that case no, Nintendo have not left that space. Similarly I wouldn't put Cyberpunk down as a triple A release, but I imagine it will get to that point eventually and when it does I'm going to be really excited to play it. But something like TLOU2 kinda meets yours and my criteria for AAA so, maybe AAA should start meaning both budget and jank-free?
 
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buenoblue

Member
Nintendo are just not in the market for the hardcore gamer any more. It's about getting that kid money and casual gamers. I mean, it's working for them and there are plenty more options out there so I don't see a problem with it. Though I would like to see what nintendo would do with a 10+ teraflop machine.
 
but surely this is simply not good enough for fans who want to have AAA games with that Nintendo magic.
Strictly talking about what was shown in the Direct relative to what we know are in the works (Bayo 3, BOTW 2 etc.), you are right. It's not enough and Splatoon 3 is the only real heavy hitter in the first party titles shown.
Both Microsoft and Sony are bending over backwards buying studios if not entire publishing companies, signing developers for exclusives, putting millions into bigger AAA first party games, and here we have Nintendo just sitting there making Mario Golf, Splatoon 3, and pretending that it's enough.
While I subscribe to the belief that successful Nintendo is a complacent Nintendo (I feel they tried much harder with software output on the Wii U than on the Switch), I think your interpretation errs on the side of bad faith.

That they would show Splatoon 3 even though it's slated for 2022 at a minimum shows that they know they need a big hitter to close out the direct, they're not completely tone deaf. And it also means none of the other heavy hitters have footage they're willing to show, for better or worse.

The reality is Metroid Prime 4 had developmental issues (and it is fairly well known), Bayonetta 3 isn't within their control, neither is SMTV. Only games we can slam them for are BOTW2 and whatever mainline Mario game they might have planned, oh and whatever games that Yabuki (Mario Kart, ARMS) and Takahashi (Xenoblade series) are quietly working on.

If they churn games out quickly, thus lacking polish, then there'll be comments of "Nintendo fans buy anything Nintendo shits out", even if the games don't sell well, as evidenced by some of the rushed games on Wii U when Nintendo had to fill in all the gaps that 3rd parties and indies now help out with.

Nintendo takes the time to polish things up and it's "Oh they're sitting on their arse pretending it's enough." Lol.

Good, polished games take time man. Look at Sony's first party output. Naughty Dog produced UC4, Lost Legacy and TLOUII (I'm not including TLOU Remaster but feel free to include it if you like) over the span of roughly 6 years.

Sony Bend produced Days Gone.
Sucker Punch produced Infamous SS, First Light and GoT.
Sony Santa Monica produced GOW.
In terms of each studio’s output averaged out over 4 years, they aren't exactly putting out many more than Nintendo, though the perception is there. (I'm aware there are other Sony first party games, I'm not gonna list everything). Point is, there's a limit to number of studios and games they can actually produce.

And then look at Activision and Ubisoft, who've managed to set up a production pipeline to churn out these large scale games on a 1-2 year basis. Guess what most of those games get called? "Soulless, cash grabs"
 

Cornbread78

Member
Ninty makes boatloads of cash by selling a couple new games using the same IPs for over 30 years now and their fanbase loved to throw $60 a pop at their games. Why should Ninty care? They have the east to themselves with a rabbit fanbase that will sacrifice their first born at the alter of Ninty..


Oh, don't worry, Ninty Pro will still be coming....
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
It's frustrating as a fan because on one hand they are doing a lot of wii u ports but there are so many GameCube and other games they could also be releasing. The lack of a proper online store with games from all gens is disappointing
 

DaGwaphics

Member
I am going to put this in the most delicate manner possible so as to not turn this into a console war. Does Nintendo really care about AAA gaming like Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Take Two, and EA do?

I watched this Direct today and I was quite frankly blown away by almost a complete lack of new AAA games. I think I saw a Monster Hunter spin off, but that was it. Zelda is still not ready, Metroid is still not ready. It's been four years for teasing, and quite frankly if they had anything else during this period, the wait for BOTW 2 wouldnt have been so agonizing.

The Switch will be entering its 5th year next month. If we dont count cross gen games like Zelda, I am struggling to see what other AAA games they have released since. Animal Crossing, Smash, Mario Odyssey? I dont even want to go into a debate about whether or not they are AAA, but surely this is simply not good enough for fans who want to have AAA games with that Nintendo magic.

Both Microsoft and Sony are bending over backwards buying studios if not entire publishing companies, signing developers for exclusives, putting millions into bigger AAA first party games, and here we have Nintendo just sitting there making Mario Golf, Splatoon 3, and pretending that it's enough. Looking at sales, it maybe is, but as a gamer I feel like Nintendo has simply given up. They have found their market and that market is making them billions, but that market isnt your average hardcore gamer who visits gaf and plays AAA games.

Certainly Mario is AAA in its category. Nintendo has the highest margins of anyone and gets massive sales with no discounts, they are going to keep doing what they are doing.
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
Something like Breath of the Wild, despite being a great game, is obviously inferior in these aspects when compared to contemporaneous games, like Red Dead Redemption 2.
And yet for millions of people that bought the game and showered it with praise BotW plays way better than RDR2. Which is what you care about if you want to play "games" and not "interactive movies".
 
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They couldn’t care less about graphics or sound, for them, gaming will forever be synonymous with something small innocent kids do.
They don't care about graphics or sound as much as gameplay - the mark of a hardcore gamer. And it is funny to me how long Nintendo games with their graphics and sound remain playable for decades, and PS3 games are nearly unplayable at times because of how dated photorealism always ends up looking.

All you're doing is insulting people. I'm guessing it's because you're poor, and can't afford multiple systems or Nintendo games that don't go on sale. Most people I know own both a Switch as well as another system, so they don't think about gaming along console warrior lines like you're framing here. A+ for trolling with that Biden reference though.
 

DonF

Member
Guys, remember the classic "since they just have one device now, nintendo's output will certainly improve"... ohh boy.
 
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