this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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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. :<

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I contend that the next great Deus Ex game will not come out of Ubi, and it won't be under the name Deus Ex, but it will be a new kind of immersive sim made with love by developers who grew up on the originals.

I contend this for a lot of the classic franchises tbh

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is what should happen. You like the game, make one that’s inspired by it, grow the concept and give it new life.

No. We get franchises and wallowing in profits of milked IPs

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Worse, you've even got some copyrighting gameplay concepts, Shadow of Mordor with their "nemesis system."

Imagine if the concept of the "first person shooter" was locked down by Atari after their employees made Battlezone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Just like how Thief lives on as Gloomwood.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

Whoh there mate, you are forgetting shareholders. They are the ones you truly need to please as they are the ones that can actually fire a board.

[–] [email protected] 72 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

One that appeals to a mindless horde of idiots that need the newest shiny.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

No, a game crammed with psychological tricks to keep players addicted while milking them dry through microtransactions.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

You're forgetting all the labor by mod authors to fix Skyrim.

/s kinda

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And skyrim<Oblivion<Morrowind. I don't like the trend.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Morrowind is only "good" because of nostalgia goggles Oblivion > Morrowind

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

There are still good AAA games. The trick is to wait for reviews with gameplay videos and only buy the good ones.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Bro, most of the games I've been playing are ports of older titles, Indie Games, or straight up non-profit fan games (Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers is the kart game of the ever btw)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I only buy games which are 5 years or older at this point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Valid, gotta know which games won't run on FOMO and if it's going to be a case like Overwatch where it starts out as a good game and quickly devolves.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Try space station 14!

[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Marketing is a big money drain for a lot of games too. Cyberpunk 2077 and GTA V are two games with marketing budgets big enough to finance a dozen other games. I guess a new title like cyberpunk would need more marketing (still not $142 million worth of marketing) but GTA was already a well established franchise that probably didn't need as much marketing as it had.

Even games like call of duty and assassins creed which have a core fan base that can expect a new game on a regular basis don't need to market as much as they do.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I think marketing is always important no matter how established you are. Coca Cola aren’t skimping on their marketing budget even if they’re the most recognizable brand in the world.

It’s about constantly reminding everybody “hey, I exist! Don’t you want to buy me?”.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I was just talking about this the other day. I think Coke and some companies have reached a saturation point that makes advertisements useless.

I dont know if we have any data to model off of, but I'd love to see if their profits dip by any meaningful amount if they stopped advertising for 3 months straight. Let the movie theaters, and the restaurants, and the culturally embedded soft drink preferences do their thing and see if the dial moves.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think they would keep investing in marketing if they didn’t know if it worked. I’m just guessing, but I believe there’s a noticeable bump in sales after a successful marketing campaign.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

And that's what I think they're failing to measure. I think they're unable to accurately divorce the increase in sales from other incentives/market forces, and so they're just doing what they've been doing regardless of actual merit, or the merit is being improperly evaluated

[–] skulkingaround 4 points 5 months ago

Coke keeps running ads because that's how they keep the brand as a cultural staple. They aren't trying to sell more coke right now, they're making sure that people in 50 years will still be buying it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I'm not saying they shouldn't be marketing at all. Just that marketing budgets for many AAA blockbusters have become so bloated, they can account for nearly half of the development cost. As someone with very little knowledge as to how games get made, it seems like some of that money could be better used

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago

It must be some mismanagement issue going on in the games industry. Wrong stakeholders who have no idea of game development influencing the wrong decisions.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (2 children)

"We can't make those games because they don't sell"

"We" as in Irrational Games? Or "We" as a industry?

Small 20 ppl studios are cranking out some really cool games that don't need AAA budgets. They will be the ones making the next BioShock.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

And AAA budgets could crank out fantastic games if they put all their money into think-tanks full of designers instead of thinking graphics hit as hard as they did 10 years ago.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

The companies that made your favorite games aren't privately owned anymore, they're publicly traded now. That's why it all sucks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Or microtransactions/battle passes/dlc.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah it's amazing what you can accomplish when you're not blowing millions of dollars on the salaries & golden parachutes of completely worthless executives.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

I have so many beautiful memories of playing BioShock. What a game. BioShock 2 was exciting, although not as good as the first one (to me), but very cool that I got to play as a Big Daddy. BioShock Infinite was just great - elements of the base game, but a genuinely fresh story that didn't feel forced (ahem Bioshock 2...).

All that to say that this hurts to read. BioShock meant/means so much to me. I hate the current state of the gaming industry.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Reminder that Arkane was on bad waters before Red Fall, immersive sims just aren't that popular with a lot of people, and these companies want to do AAA with everything.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Is Prey 2017 bad? It flopped, as did Okami.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I just got it, so I guess I'll find out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Don't sell? Bukllshit