32 ms·

The monopolistic triple AAA games industry requires large hit titles to satisfy their stock holders. Whether the monetization model is MTX/cosmetics, tradition

The monopolistic triple AAA games industry requires large hit titles to satisfy their stock holders. Whether the monetization model is MTX/cosmetics, tradition sales, or the newer subscription services, games will continue to be reduced to a lowest common denominator in order to pump user numbers. Kind of reminds me of another industry...

AJ007 8y ago
Electronic game dev right now is the furthest from monopoly almost any industry can be. The big AAA developers just keep rolling out rehashes of their old games as long as the revenue exceeds developments costs. Very similar model to super hero movies. Eventually it won’t work anymore. They know it, thus the emphasis on trying to milk every last dollar out of the players.
trophycase 8y ago
Monopolistic? If people haven't realized now that major studios prey on gaming addiction, overprioritize "storyline" and "graphics" instead of gameplay, and recycle the same mechanics, then there is basically no hope for these people. At a certain point you just have to take responsibility and stop giving them your money.
zrobotics 8y ago
Gaming is the farthest it has ever been from monopolized, though. The indy scene is very healthy, releasing a game on steam is so easy that the real problem is getting noticed amongst the flood of releases. It's also far easier to publish to a console than in the PS1 days. I understand your frustration with the large studio's monetization models, but the solution is to just ignore them. I was dumb enough to buy Fallout 76, but I treated that as an object lesson: even developers I 'trust' are capable of releasing absolute trash. Plus, the backlog of interesting games on my steam wishlist meant I could have very easily put the 60 bucks into 2-3 good games that aren't trying to push lootboxes or microtransactions.
EpicEng 8y ago
In what ways is the industry monopolistic? I can think of a couple of cases (e.g. EA and the football license), but not many.

AJ007 8y ago

Electronic game dev right now is the furthest from monopoly almost any industry can be. The big AAA developers just keep rolling out rehashes of their old games as long as the revenue exceeds developments costs. Very similar model to super hero movies. Eventually it won’t work anymore. They know it, thus the emphasis on trying to milk every last dollar out of the players.

trophycase 8y ago

Monopolistic? If people haven't realized now that major studios prey on gaming addiction, overprioritize "storyline" and "graphics" instead of gameplay, and recycle the same mechanics, then there is basically no hope for these people. At a certain point you just have to take responsibility and stop giving them your money.

zrobotics 8y ago

Gaming is the farthest it has ever been from monopolized, though. The indy scene is very healthy, releasing a game on steam is so easy that the real problem is getting noticed amongst the flood of releases. It's also far easier to publish to a console than in the PS1 days. I understand your frustration with the large studio's monetization models, but the solution is to just ignore them. I was dumb enough to buy Fallout 76, but I treated that as an object lesson: even developers I 'trust' are capable of releasing absolute trash. Plus, the backlog of interesting games on my steam wishlist meant I could have very easily put the 60 bucks into 2-3 good games that aren't trying to push lootboxes or microtransactions.

EpicEng 8y ago

In what ways is the industry monopolistic? I can think of a couple of cases (e.g. EA and the football license), but not many.