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[wolffy66]

The industry itself won't be in trouble because people are always gonna play games.

Investment in huge single player, non cash flow games might be tho. It's ot that nobody is going to want to play them, its gonna be that nobody wants to risk developing them.

The consoles can always afford to break even or lose a little to keep loyal fans happy but other than those few exclusive types, we will see less and less.
Maybe AI can close the cost problem at some point and make it easier.

 

[Interfectum]

AAA industry is in huge trouble. I've been interested in watching this space since the mid-80s and it's never been more dire than it is now. Bloated costs, player base dwindling, gaming blackholes like Fortnite and Roblox sucking up all the younger kids. AAA is absolutely fucked.

If you don't want to worry about the industry, buy a gaming PC and get Steam (they will be fine) and buy Nintendo shit (they will also be fine).

 

[SportsFan581]

The bigger issue would be if all warning signs were ignored and everything marched forward until the major players were bankrupt. The fact that steps are being made to better ensure sustainability should be stabilizing.

Bottom line, there is a ton of money in the industry as a whole (record revenue I believe).

 

[Buggy Loop]

A bunch of studios will fail chasing gaas / NFT and the likes

Can't come soon enough

The industry should be fine, if gamers actually look beyond just graphics. They've been hook, line and sinker by devs dangling graphics for shoddy gameplay for far too long. So much so that the games I have the most fun now 90% of the time are indies with retro graphics.

If the first reaction you have with these games is negative, and after seeing the reviews for them on steam, then ask yourself the question if you’re not the problem in the game industry. Stop sipping hand holding yellow painted ledges cinematic Hollywood wannabes for a minute. Go back to GAMES.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

AAA gaming is basically Disney now. The industry has adapted to creating big, super expensive, same-y, woke, design-by-committee rehashed shit that has to sell a zillion copies to break even. They’re bloated with so many useless employees who add no value (or negative value) to their product.

Smaller studios and indies are still thriving and will continue to do so.

 

[manzo]

AAA gaming is basically Disney now. The industry has adapted to creating big, super expensive, same-y, woke, design-by-committee rehashed shit that has to sell a zillion copies to break even. They’re bloated with so many useless employees who add no value (or negative value) to their product.

Smaller studios and indies are still thriving and will continue to do so.

Couldn't have said it better. Spot fucking on.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I think the industry is going to get more expensive.
It will still be there for those willing to pay for it.

 

[DrFigs]

The industry is doing pretty well. I don't have any reason to think the layoffs in the gaming industry are especially high compared to layoffs in tech in general. There's a lot of consternation about large AAA and multiplayer games by people who are out of touch, but these are the types of games that people like the most. We know this because we have a really good idea about what the best selling games are.

 

[Lorianus]

They just got comfortable with the +500% in profits during the last 3 Covid Years and are now [shocked pikachu face] when people arent spending as much anymore, resulting in now lay offs and the push for 70/80€ games.

 

[hemo memo]

Yes I do. AAA model doesn’t make sense anymore especially with how games get discounted. They need to scale it down.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I think we are in for big changes around the AAA model. They have just become too costly and take too long to make. Gamers expectations are also too high around AAA. I can see future AAA titles being reserved for big GAAS titles and single player experiences going down to AA or something. But AI may change this course considerably. If that continues to improve this may help mitigate costs and time towards the current AAA experience.

The industry can only support a limited number of AAA titles, even less when talking GAAS. It's a matter of quality over quantity.

You cannot compete with $200 million budget? Make an indie game - they are doing great (Dave the Diver, Dredge, etc.). The downside? You cannot have a guaranteed employment for 4-5 years while making that AAA art.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

They need to scale it down.

They won't. That would imply having a much tighter control over project management and milestones, something I'm not sure the industry is capable of.

 

[Wildebeest]

At that point, the medium just hit wall.

The wall it hit was the ageing millennial generation. When they grew out of their teens their brains calcified, and they just settled for the same old childhood pulp over and over again just with increasingly higher production values. And more self-righteous po-faced stories. The industry was happy to cater to such a large and predictable demo.

 

[EverydayBeast]

The gaming industry will find an opportunity to appear like the motion sports of the 2010s or the 4k and VR of the 2020s we’re months away from the PS5 Pro

 

[Topher]

Nope. Profits were inflated during covid and now that the industry is contracting, stockholders are getting pissy and executives are overeacting. All very normal.

 

[Pancakes and Sausage]

I think game companies have been releasing very broken games for years now.

Would you keep going to restaurants if you were served burnt and raw food every time you went?

Maybe I’m wrong but I think if companies release good games they sell. If companies release broken crappy games they don’t sell.

The problem with the gaming industry are the quality of the games has gone down significantly but those companies still expect you to purchase.

I was 100% going to purchase the new Star Wars Battlefront collection but because it is an embarrassment of terrible quality I am no longer interested.

 

[Schmendrick]

Imho it`s just a market correction after the lunacy that were the lockdown spending sprees and ofc all the forced DEI that seemed "ok" when money was cheap and which has now become a liability.

 

[Dane]

My concern is how 5-10 junk games can essentially suck up all the market share and mind share of the gaming audience these days (Fortnite, COD, GTA, EA Sports, Minecraft etc....). There are loads of kids in my family aged 8-15 who play games and basically none of them are interested in narrative driven games and just want to play a handful of the same online games.

Back when me and my friends were that age in the 90s and 00s we were playing a wide variety of games. Plenty of narrative games and plenty of co-up games in good balance.

I'm not concerned about lay offs, this is a natural correction. I'm not concerned about console sales, Playstation and Switch are selling very well.

The PC market looks strong.

The woke push is lame but it's not really impacting Japanese games in the same way as games made in the West so not too bothered about that for now.

The industry metrics and numbers don't matter. It's all just noise and a waste of time thinking about it. What matters more I think is what direction the audience is going.

Like overall gaming as an art form to experience unique narratives/stories and characters in an interesting world, with mythology etc... might be on the way out as the kids don't seem interested and they are the future audience.

So the art might die and it's all just going to a horrible engagement simulator - mindlessly playing the same game for 10 years farming loot with nothing to take away from the experience after you put the controller down. That's gross!!!

The problem is that they're not junk games, they get such massive updates such as Fortnite and GTA or are the only players in the market such as EA Sports and Minecraft. Your average narrative game is once in a year release in contrast with generations ago.

 

[tkscz]

Nope. Profits were inflated during covid and now that the industry is contracting, stockholders are getting pissy and executives are overeacting. All very normal.

This, however, AAA companies are pushing the way movie studios were where they are spending WAY too much money to make a product that isn't making it back. They don't have to spend that kind of money and should focus on optimizing the games and the process of making them. These recent lay-offs are a result of that. Where they are letting go of all these employees that they really don't need. Why spend money on a team of 400 when you only need 100 people and a good amount of time to get it done?

 

[TintoConCasera]

Wouldn't say trouble but it sure is up for a change.

We aren't short of indie and AA gems, but the AAA industry sure needs to rethink their strategy. Those games are way too expensive to make, which leads to "safer" approaches when designing games, no risks allowed, which in the end leaves us with generic games that all play the same or outright turds like Suicide Squad that are designed to take your money rather than focusing on being fun in the first place.

 

[Arsic]

The audience has expanded so much and there’s so much available to consume now, that a generally broad stroke approach following a formula is a recipe for disaster.

They all want Fortnite money but can’t fathom why when they mimic it don’t succeed.

Helldivers 2 didn’t mimic anything out there really and it’s a success at $40.

Balatro follows 0 AAA conventions and it’s a success.

Make a good game intended for a specific type of person in mind and you may find it’s so good it brings in others into that genre or franchise it wouldn’t have before.

Trying to make a game appeal to the widest audience possible basically insures your game will sell to almost no audience.

 

[Superkewl]

Millennials are the boomers of the games industry.

I guess that makes us Gen X'ers the crypt keeper, LOL. Or the generation before the boomers, which were called the "Greatest Generation", which would be apt.

 

[yurinka]

I think some executives and investors saw the covid peak and thought they were going to continue growing at that pace, made investments and plans according to them and later got dissapointed when going back to reality.

On top of that, after several years growing a lot the companies they also had to cut some fat and fire a small percentage of the ton of people they hired in recent years. In addition to this, in mobile gaming the changes in advertisements in Apple and Google fucked the user acquisition and need to figure out a new way to acquire users and improve their retention, plus also had to rework games to implement the new antigatcha regulation.

As a result, after some decades of constant yearly growth, the gaming market revenue kept flat during a couple years, which scared some investors and publishers, who became more conservative. Some investors maybe even moved away to the new tech gold rush of the AI.

Some companies are having a great growth in revenue and also having great profits, but since everybody else are doing it, they also use it as excuse to cancel some games and fire some people they wanted to do but didn't have the guts.

I think in a year or two, once everything is addressed, everything will be fine again and the market will continue to grow.

 

[Fbh]

I don't see how gaming can be in trouble.
Companies might be in trouble, certain business models and types of games might be in trouble, some big devs/publishers might need to rethink and adapt their approach to game development, etc
But that doesn't mean gaming is doomed.

The ET fueled "video game crash" was when gaming was a relatively new thing, the market was sort of still figuring out if videogames were going to be a big new type of media or just a passing fad like so many toys and tech products before it.
That isn't the reality now. Gaming made almost 200 billion last year, consoles are selling well, steam just broke their concurrent user record again yesterday with tens of millions of people using the platform at the same time. There is a ton of money in gaming and massive audience with hundreds of millions of users willing to spend on it, as long as that continues being the case there are always going to be companies trying to get a piece of the pie.

 

[Wildebeest]

I guess that makes us Gen X'ers the crypt keeper, LOL. Or the generation before the boomers, which were called the "Greatest Generation", which would be apt.

The equivalent of Gen X here is the Silent Generation, known for things like rock music, going to the moon, and creating things like star wars. While boomers are known for things like home computers, pop music, and the simpsons.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

This is mostly due to generational shifts. iPad babies didn't exactly grow up with gamboys.

Plus this is prolly a culling of most of the fluffy and diversity folks who came in over 2020.

 

[Griffon]

Nintendo, Valve and Sony will be more than fine.

As long as platform holders are doing solid, it doesn't matter if mediocre studios get shut down, others will raise to the occasion and fill the gaps.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

No. But a lot of companies are.

 

[LordOcidax]

Gaf perception of the real world never fails, this community is a perfect bubble of video games, especially in the Sony side.

 

[TGO]

Is it though?
Japan seems to be doing fine.

 

[hemo memo]

They won't. That would imply having a much tighter control over project management and milestones, something I'm not sure the industry is capable of.

Sad but true.

 

[Caffeine]

I think part of the industry is in a state of reality check on their spending.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

AAA is hurting.
GAAS is thriving.
Indies are unaffected.

Overall, the industry is still growing despite the current lull.

 

[KXVXII9X]

I think it will be okay for now, but there needs to be some big changes for the industry to grow and continue. Personally, I think the AAA sector isn't innovating like they used to

A bunch of studios will fail chasing gaas / NFT and the likes

Can't come soon enough

The industry should be fine, if gamers actually look beyond just graphics. They've been hook, line and sinker by devs dangling graphics for shoddy gameplay for far too long. So much so that the games I have the most fun now 90% of the time are indies with retro graphics.

If the first reaction you have with these games is negative, and after seeing the reviews for them on steam, then ask yourself the question if you’re not the problem in the game industry. Stop sipping hand holding yellow painted ledges cinematic Hollywood wannabes for a minute. Go back to GAMES.

I mostly agree but I want to push back a bit on the whole graphics argument when it comes to AAA vs Indies. I don't think the word "presentation" gets used enough in these arguments. It is one thing to just want fancy, photorealistic graphics and scoff at anything that a different art style or is done in pixel art or hand drawn, and another to want a polished and consistent looking visuals. I've played a ton of indies that both play and look very cheap. It isn't due to being a graphic snob. Most of the titles I play are close to AA level and Nintendo games. I don't always need Sony cinematic hyperrealistic games (There is nothing wrong with games focusing on story and feeling cinematic), but I also don't want to play games that look like they are done on flash. I'm not talking about the games you listed. I only heard of Noita and from I have heard, it seems incredibly ambitious.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

As long as games I enjoy continue to get made, I honestly don't care. I don't work in the industry, and many of these publishers and studios way, way over-hired during the pandemic, which was irresponsible and short-sighted. So the industry, like it has before, and will again, is going through a market correction. It's short-term pain, and things will improve over time. All of the current consoles are either mid-way through their cycle (PS5/ Series X), or they are at the end of their cycle (Switch), which means the market base is shrinking.

This business is cyclical, and when the next round of consoles comes starting next year (with Switch 2), growth will occur again. And not every cycle is a boom (PS4, Switch). Sometimes it's a bust (Xbox/ GameCube).

 

[hemo memo]

AAA is hurting.
GAAS is thriving.
Indies are unaffected.

Overall, the industry is still growing despite the current lull.

GAAS is thriving?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

GAAS is thriving?

Very clearly so.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

It's not in trouble. It's changing because it has to. Huge single player games are going to be the primary casualty.

I saw this comment 3-4 years ago, and I'm baffled why I still see it crop up. What single-player games are going away?

Elden Ring, BotW, TotK, Spider-Man, Last of Us, Mario, RDR, Jedi, GTA aren't getting sequels? The studios making them are going to stop creating new IPs?

 

[Spukc]

NO

 

[SHA]

Yeah, but it's okay, it's not like the audience are careless and these companies aren't aware if they should keep doing what they doing, the only difference is they can't fool the community.

 

[Laptop1991]

I agree with other poster's, AAA is at the minute, Indies and AA maybe not, but the AAA or these AAAA games are simply not good enough games and are lackluster efforts that don't sell hardware anymore or even work properly in a lot of cases, so in my opinion AAA gaming is in trouble.

 

[{insert code here}]

Yes it's in trouble but it's not doomed.

AAA games, as a whole, are not sustainable. Not saying some games won't do well, obviously, Sony 1P seems to do fine and you've got stuff like Hogwarts, Elden Ring. What I'm saying is the 200M, 6 year prod cycles as a baseline for AAA won't work long term. One miss can tank a studio and everyone is going to miss at some point.

I think there's a massive contraction in the AAA space and a big expansion in the AA space. There's going to be a healthy purge of industry bloat. Microsoft is leaving hardware and one or some of the big western publishers (EA, Ubi, Acti) will either go bankrupt or massively downsize their business.

This has all happened before and it will happen again. In the long run everything's going to be fine and new players and paradigms will emerge. Am personally excited to see the other side of all this

 

[Woopah]

In the short term, the mantra for companies is "survive 2024".

There were lots of successes in 2023. I expect there to be less so in 2024, but GTA and Switch 2 in 2025 should bring growth back to the market.

The shrinkage of the Xbox system could be a long term issue, but publishers are/can grow by bringing more games to PC and Nintendo ecosystems.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Indies
FROMsoft
Capcom
Monolith
Nintendo

^ Carrying the industry on their back right now. I no longer give a shit about any of the big western publishers including MS and Sony. I’ve had more fun with Balatro than anything from EA, Acti, Ubisoft, etc since the start of this gen.

 

[Salty Popsicle]

The video game industry is not in danger of collapsing by any means, however the way we will be experiencing many of our games going forward will change drastically. If you thought you were being nickel and dimed by GAAS and MTX experiences in the past decade, you ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[Švejk]

As long as people have electricity, we'll have vidyagames. If we don't, then we don't. It really boils down to that. The market will always ebb and flow, as long as we're "plugged in".

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Where is the creativity? These devs are so creatively bankrupt that remakes and remasters dominate projects. Even a lot of "gamers" just ask about performance and pixel counting and frame rates and nothing else.

 

[Raven117]

I think its just a pare back from all the Covid crazy tech hiring.

 

[Randall365]

I think some of these triple A releases lately have been too big - incredibly bloated and trying to be all things to all people - they cannot take any risks and so the only original IP in big games last year as far as I remember was Starfield - which half the gamers could not play. Everything else was a sequel/remake or Hogwarts.

It needs scaling back and some new ideas/creativity.

 

[CLW]

The current model $70 games for hundreds million dollar titles in unsustainable too much risk not enough ROI

(1) game prices will have to go way up and/or

(2) costs will have to go way down

1 seems less likely despite inflation basically making games “cheaper than ever” consumers seem unwilling to pay more

So…. That leaves massive layoffs and developing relying on ai