> Overall, he says, the number of people playing premium titles isn't increasing, but the cost of making them is. I don't buy this. I think it's in part misman

> Overall, he says, the number of people playing premium titles isn't increasing, but the cost of making them is. I don't buy this. I think it's in part mismanagement. There are so many more tools to make games these days, and there are probably a lot more solo developers and indie games than ever. I think AAA studios are mismanaged and have bloated themselves for no good reason. Large game studios have forgotten what games really are (or we need a new word). They are supposed to be a challenge that you overcome. That is the product --a puzzle, a problem to solve. In the case of action games, the action itself requires skill, and acquiring that skill is the challenge. As far as the Doom, the challenge has been watered down in the name of accessibility, something that probably costs the studio a lot of money. They could have stripped all of that down, and just offer an honest shooter challenge like it has before, but they are not making good creative decisions. They change the product and then they're surprised that people are not flocking to it.