Non-RPG General News - Are AAA games really failing?
 

PCGamesN asks the question -

Thanks Farflame!

More information.

yeeeeeeeees. please die please die please die

Simple solution: Create more open world, sandbox style RPGs. So few of these come out on a yearly basis. Yet still in 2016, we have devs creating consolized FPS games on rails. You have to go into the BBB game range to get the gems of this year.

Seems easy to figure out. Developers have taught gamers to wait to buy games with buggy releases and DLC model I don't typically get to games until 1-2 years after they release.

That gives me a patched stable version with all DLC and at a discount of 30-80% depending on sales. Seems like a no brainer.

Release stable games with all the content on day one and they will see a rise in preorders and first week sales. Keep doing what thier doing and people will wait longer and longer.

This isn't just a AAA game thing either. Indies and kickstarters are just as bad. I'm still waiting for POE to be "finished". Every time I think it's safe another patch gets released.

That's kind of ridiculous. At some point you have to roll with your game and call it finished. I know we are in the era of "endless support" for games but a single-player RPG that isn't an online game needs to be considered finished at some point.

Yes, but that's not how many developers work and add many features last minute.

This creates bugs and they release it with bugs. Then sell dlc which fixes the first bugs, but creates new ones.


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Another article. Until the vid product industry gross tells something, there is nothing to conclude.

Out of the five examples, only one could be meaningful.

Street Fighter V: hard to see why it is in the list.

TitanFall 2: released in a congested period

Quantum Break: by product of a failed project.

Dishonoured 2: Too in advance for the PC average rig.

I considered getting Dishonored 2…but it is simply too expensive (in my country) for a game I'm not that enthusiastic about playing. So, I will likely wait for it to become a lot cheaper and buy it then - eventually. I think they also overestimate how much people are willing to pay for AAA…

It's also odd that a game like PoE released a *beautiful* hardcover strategy guide so early and now all of the information in the guide is incorrect.

Yes, I will keep mentioning this every time PoE is brought up. I want a nice and ACCURATE strategy guide if a strategy guide is offered. :P

That is hardcore challenge. Make strategic plans based on incorrect info and still win. ;)

Don't worry. They will patch the guide in 2020 after the release of PoE2. :p

Eh? That's just Sawyer balancing a thing or two.
The game works fine as it is.

Failing? Yes and no.

Marketing is too expensive, but also necessary for AAA, so publishers will have to change their strategy there.
Also, lack of new IP's and innovation. You need something that looks exciting and unique on the market…most of those mentioned, didn't live up to that.

Think we'll have less AAA ( with only big development studios with strong player base) and more middle A-AA coming out in future.

As for Mafia…how did it sell well? Think it's somewhere at the bottom of Steam seller 2016 list. Probably they shipped more than they sold.

It's not that different from the movie business. Some big budget games will succeed, some will flop. Things will work themselves out.

for the most part these AAA games suck (CD RED and Square Enix being notable exceptions) and indie games are real gems (from Grimrock to Stardew Valley)


Its sort of an inverted principle… the more passionate and malnourished devs are the better games they make :D just look at Underrail

I think this is a much bigger problem than most gamers realize. You're looking at investments in the neighborhood of $50 million or more; a limited number of publisher-connected development studios; and only a handful of independent studios capable of making AAA games. A big flop can mean the death of a studio; and that has happened over the past several years.

Its not the same as the Movie industry because the AAA video game has no equivalent markets to the B movie, made for TV Movie, or direct-to-video movie markets for investment recovery in the case of non-blockbusters; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_(video_game_industry).

Businesses just aren't going to make these investments without reasonable expectations of profit on these huge investments. Its much safer to invest in stock and bond portfolios; indeed, the business test of whether to make a business investment is whether the the expected profit substantially exceeds a predetermined "hurdle rate", the latter being the expected returns from stock, bond and equivalent investments.

The industry is changing and shrinking. It is what it is.

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Ah, what about console games then? Aren't most the equivalent of rubbish B movies? How about phone games or tablet games? There's a broad spectrum of computer games being made, not just AAA titles.

I understand what you;'re saying. But console and PC markets are the same for the current AAA video games. Possibly the PC might be a secondary market for a less than stellar console; after considerable new work; but a AAA video game usually needs to succeed in the console market and in many if not most cases, also in the PC market.

Phone games and many tablet games are an entirely different market. Basically you're looking at additional, not alternative, revenue streams, and a product with entirely different capabilities and characteristics -- requiring additional investment.

Look at it like this; you're an officer of a movie company looking at an investment. Shareholders are going to have your butt if you approve a huge bust of an investment. With a movie you can count on a fallback position, for a less than stellar movie, of video market; rentals; tv movies; even Netflix and the like these days. You can take the same product and sell it in other markets and get some or all of your investment back, and quite possibly even make a profit for your shareholders.

But where you gonna go with a video game bust? Lower the price to cheap in the same market. That's currently it as far as I know.

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Yea yea, that's why we got ourselves a stupid phonegame bundled inside of DX:MD without option to get rid of that garbage.

There is no additional stream, there are proper products, good mediocre or bad, and there are milking scams not deserved to be called videogames.

Isn't it funny how almost every game on the list is a sequel? Maybe make a new game, people. Maybe people are sick of playing the same game the 6th time.

Heh, stretch the analogy to the limit in order to prove me wrong. But I did say, "It's not that different from the movie business", rather than "it's identical to the movie business". Whatever. Have a good one.