Less Fun Games but More Game Sales? What's going on?

[Blitz4]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olAn5VN9Jl8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZCQzu2bsCw



Remember when gamer's joked that the marketing budget equaled the development budget. Now I question. What is that percentage? Is this focus on live service reducing the amount of fun we have playing video games?

The video focuses on Starfield. Mentioning how it was announced 7 years before released. It then mentioned how The Elder Scrolls 6 (the game after skyrim), was announced 6 years ago and likely won't be done for another 5+ years. What's that do when we see new big games come from publishers each year. When we hear about a game 5+ years before it's done and are expected to get excited about it, what's going to happen when it releases? During those 5 years left to wonder what the game will be like, aren't we more likely to imagine what our perfect game would be like and buy the game when it releases expecting it to be that?

The video failed to mention that the generative AI used to create Starfield will be used for all future Bethesda titles.

[Blitz4]

Първоначално публикувано от El Mythical 23 k.s.c.:

Hey even Disney held a profit till last year. Just give it a minute. With the economy people are going to start holding their cash a little more. Enough to wait and see if its broken release, we had plenty of paid for broken EA's were people actually paid to beta test. Gamers are more aware of this and how gaming companies care more about diversity than game play. Let them cook. Don't take the past for what is to come. Media is about to be more ♥♥♥♥♥♥ then ever. People are done with nostalgia bait.

IGN is so big I believe that gives them leverage to be the people's voice. They don't have a good rep of doing that, that's for sure. They always avoided all talk about microtransactions and live service and price, plus were for sure biased like look at them giving Mass Effect Andromeda a 7.7/10. Recently they are calling out these games. Should I provide examples?

BF2042: 7/10
Ghost Recon Operation Breakpoint: 6/10
Cities Skylines 2: 6/10
Diablo Immortal: 6/10
Diablo 4: 9/10
Starfield: 7/10
Saints Row: 6/10
Cyberpunk 2077: 9/10
Overwatch 2: 8/10
Destiny 2: 8.5/10


Are those games good? Yes. They are considered AAA titles that gamers have been vocal about. Does saying how bad a game is somehow spread the word for others to buy that game? I don't get how this is a trend and more money is being spent on games. Secondly, those are IGN's scores of the game at release. I'm demonstrating with listing those scores, that IGN is changing.

In some of their reviews today, they are literally calling out some AAA games as not being fun. Remember in the past where they'd always give a 7, 8 or 9? Cyberpunk 2077 a 9 at release IGN, get real?? And Diablo 4 a 9 as well? Ok, to be fair, that game got less fun the more they patched it, so maybe it was a 9 at release. Take it for a grain of salt. I will bet that I took some stats of just IGN's scores of AAA titles in the last 5 years, I'd bet they're trending downwards.

The more a game costs, the more fun I expect it to be. I'm finding more that I also have to design the game, to make it fun for me, since most PC games are sandbox titles that's possible, but I expect a AAA company that I pay full price for focused on making a game more fun than an indie studio can.

Came across this article when searching for the ign scores above, covers part of what you said well: 2022 Was The Year Big Video Games Stopped Coming Out


(PS. CP2077 is a 9/10 right now. That's for sure)

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There was never any good indie games.

[Mr. Smiles]

"please buy our (still) overpriced trash."

- AAA game sales.

[El Mythical 23 k.s.c.]

Първоначално публикувано от For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge:

There was never any good indie games.

[Crazy Tiger]

Meh, loads of fun games in todays market. Just ignore the stuff that isn't of interest.

[Val]

Stop buying AAA and just buy games that are genuinely fun

[Utiviroo]

I'm just old and maybe well read, I don't have ESP, LOL.

The part of the puzzle you are missing is this and its simple. It is no conspiracy theory its just the way things have been done in business for the last 5000 years of recorded business. More things change, the more they stay the same, in some regards.

C-Suite/CEO of any business that is a corporation doing actual business (making a product/service and selling) vs the money men (bankers/investors/government), they all live in their respective bubbles and they are not, contrary to what they often claim, "the best people", most are well off sure (powerful/connected in various ways), but nothing close to "best" at anything.

That group of people really do not like when someone new shows up and is actually best at something or actually capable, they always sacrifice the new comer that does not conform to their standard (starts behaving like they do), as such this means...

They ruin everything, because they never created anything they just enjoy the title/position/authority of effective King/Emperor but not actual work of ruling (to be fair, dealing with people is super hard work, no matter the topic).

So they self select to have people with low ability because that is what makes them comfortable, which ends up with companies copying/stealing each others work/ideas. (Check out corporate intellectual property and patent laws if you want to go down those rabbit holes).

The most simplistic reduction I can make for you is, remember all the children in school that copied homework, crammed for exams (especially the ones that cheated), but basically never learned anything or valued anything (other than status/power), those people are the adults in those positions at the end game, they had ambition/drive but nothing else. Very few do anything other than copy each others moves, be they peers or rivals.

Look up the history of monopolies and oligopolies (all around the world, stuff around colonialism/empires will teach you the most) if you want to learn more, it is old ground, very well worn path.

Have fun and try not to get depressed or too angry for that matter.

[Blitz4]

Look:
https://www.polygon.com/2014/10/28/7083373/look-at-this-chart-of-average-metacritic-scores-what-happened-in-2007

The video in the OP said 2007 was a turning point as well.
Utiviroo said 2010 and you can see in the chart a change happened between 2007-2010.

[nullpo]

Gaming is mainstream now, not a niche hobby anymore