4 ms·

> AAA development seems to be broken. it is broken because they are putting in too much money into single titles, and therefore, want to "reduce risk". This ba

by chii 3y ago

> AAA development seems to be broken. it is broken because they are putting in too much money into single titles, and therefore, want to "reduce risk". This basically means following a known formula and IP, because previous success means they're likely to get at least brand recognition for the sequel. But this means you get mediocre games as it rehashes the same property over and over again. That's why indie games are so fantastic, because they love risk taking on new ideas.

drw85 3y ago
They're actually putting too little money into the actual development. A huge part of the budget is marketing.
- chii 3y ago
  Yes, and yet that is a symptom of the problem, not a root cause. You'll find the same issue in big budget movies these days. Huge marketing budget, huge special effects budget, etc. But the contents and script writing is terrible, or at best mediocre. The ultimate root cause is the fact that the money invested in a single movie is too high, and thus the studio/production company cannot have it fail. So they do everything in their power to make it succeed (financially), even if it goes against an artistic vision.
blitzar 3y ago
AAA gamers seem to be broken. They are all preordering the next AAA ultimate Edition with bonus cosmetics for $100 after spending the last year complaining about how terrible the previous title from 6 months ago is. If I had a steady stream of customers willing to pay for garbage, I too would happily deliver.
ryathal 3y ago
There's maybe 3 fantastic indie games per year and millions of garbage ones. It's also full of clones of the popular games that aren't quite as good or downright terrible. The reason indie games seem to be better is the massive work other people have put in to actually find the good ones in a sea of crap, and most "indie" games that are popular are borderline mainstream production companies.

by chii 3y ago

drw85 3y ago

They're actually putting too little money into the actual development. A huge part of the budget is marketing.

chii 3y ago
Yes, and yet that is a symptom of the problem, not a root cause. You'll find the same issue in big budget movies these days. Huge marketing budget, huge special effects budget, etc. But the contents and script writing is terrible, or at best mediocre. The ultimate root cause is the fact that the money invested in a single movie is too high, and thus the studio/production company cannot have it fail. So they do everything in their power to make it succeed (financially), even if it goes against an artistic vision.

blitzar 3y ago

AAA gamers seem to be broken. They are all preordering the next AAA ultimate Edition with bonus cosmetics for $100 after spending the last year complaining about how terrible the previous title from 6 months ago is. If I had a steady stream of customers willing to pay for garbage, I too would happily deliver.

ryathal 3y ago

There's maybe 3 fantastic indie games per year and millions of garbage ones. It's also full of clones of the popular games that aren't quite as good or downright terrible. The reason indie games seem to be better is the massive work other people have put in to actually find the good ones in a sea of crap, and most "indie" games that are popular are borderline mainstream production companies.