What’s interesting to me is of course how cheaply Bioshock got made compared to today’s blockbuster hits. Somewhere, we took the wrong turn in regards to modern game development, truly.
Too many managers to pay and as a result too high personel costs, I would assume. :<
We can’t make art because of capitalism. Fucking sad.
They don’t sell because no fucking company wants to market a product that they can’t milk every fucking cent from. They aren’t producing anything of value, only subscriptions, game passes and addictive gambling loot boxes.
Games as a service is a scam. Stop preordering the latest AAA wank and support indie devs.
More standalone experiences that are unique and creative instead of factory produced sludge.
There are still good AAA games. The trick is to wait for reviews with gameplay videos and only buy the good ones.
Yeah, buy them two years later once the bugs have been finally patched and the DRM is ripped out and gameplay doesn’t stutter anymore.
Or just 🏴☠️ AAA and give that money to indie devs that are actually trying to produce a unique and creative experience.
Skyrim was made with a staff of around 100 people.
Starfield was made with a staff of around 450. It’s worse in almost every way.
Too many cooks.
Also too many mouths to feed. When you’ve got so many people (including admin) to keep paying, then you can’t “afford” to make a cute little experiment. You’ve got to go huge production, latest fads, cutting edge, and super broad appeal.
What kind of identity can a game like that even hope to have?
One that appeals to a mindless horde of idiots that need the newest shiny.
So, a hit…?
No, a game crammed with psychological tricks to keep players addicted while milking them dry through microtransactions.
And skyrim<Oblivion<Morrowind. I don’t like the trend.
Morrowind is only “good” because of nostalgia goggles Oblivion > Morrowind
You’re forgetting all the labor by mod authors to fix Skyrim.
/s kinda
We overpay executives, who overpay consultants, who tell companies to churn out cash grabs that test well.
This doesn’t pain me. I have enough indie games to occupy my time.
The cancellation of Deus Ex Mankind Divided Part 2, pained me quite a lot.
But I’m sure the executives that got a fat bonus were happier than I was upset. (insert meme happiness comic)
Nah modern game development is fantastic. Y’all just dont remember getting 2 good titles a year and the rest being garbage. There are more great games out there than ever before.
I actually agree. If you don’t just focus on the tippy-top AAA/AAAA live service / gambling simulators / hi-fi vapid adventure, then there are some incredible games coming out all the time.
Arguably, the “triple-I” Indies and AA mid studios have taken over the culture/price-range/innovation niche vacated by the big studios climbing over each other to impress shareholders.
You are totally right. We are living in a golden age of not only video games, but entertainment in general, thanks to ridiculously powerful computers and the internet. People with video game nostalgia remember how those old games made them feel, because the games were new and exciting and they were young. But video games (and board games) have done nothing but improve over the years as developers figure what works and what doesn’t.
Nowadays there is just of ton of…everything. We are spoiled for choice. There are so many excellent games at every price point, and also tons of crap, and yes, too much shovelware and too many rehashed franchise games. But here’s the thing: these things aren’t mutually exclusive. We have all of it, all at once, and reviews and advice are everywhere. If someone is tired of rehashed AAA franchise games, they can spend the rest of their lives playing clever indie games and they’ll still barely scratch the surface of what’s available.
