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[Draugoth]

Companies will see that making games with big names such as Keanu Reeves and George R.R Martin names attached means big money. ELDEN RING (and in parts, Cyberpunk 2077) proves that massive and critically acclaimed single-player games are the right games to aim for, as gamers want to have unique story and immersive experiences rather than shitty grindfests like Halo: Infinite that have dwindling player bases because of scummy pratices where developers struggle to meet a quota to keep players online.

Hopefully ELDEN RING means that companies will see that multiplayer games are not what most gamers really want and that the big money to be made is on good well designed single-player games.

 

[Modrot]

There have been hundreds of single player focused games that have been very successful.

Big corps don't care about art or even making a lot of money.

They want ALL the money, and you get that through monetization and not game design.

 

[Bartski]

Open-world soulslikes incoming

 

[Zones]

Elden Ring will make in its lifetime what Fortnite does in a month or two.

Make this same topic again when that equation reverses...

 

[AJUMP23]

There were already companies doing similar things. Souls lie games are not new, we have Nioh and others out there.

 

[Spaceman292]

Pretty sure someone says this after every single successful single player game comes out.

 

[MarkMe2525]

People said the same when BOTW came out. Not many games have attempted to construct an open world like that since then.

 

[Pejo]

Elden Ring isn't single player though....It has both Co-Op and PVP.

 

[deeptech]

There sure will be more souls clones in the future, many devs are just too creatively bankrupt and only after that buzz money. Does anyone understand that it's quality that sells games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring?

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

You're right...idk why people are acting like the game industry isn't very monkey sees monkey do. Elden ring clones are going to be coming out and I expect ubisoft to be one of the first. They did it with the witcher next is elden ring. The fact soulslike is a genre alone shows that fromsoft game philosophy usually makes waves. It'll be the same with elden ring.

 

[mckmas8808]

There have been hundreds of single player focused games that have been very successful.

Big corps don't care about art or even making a lot of money.

They want ALL the money, and you get that through monetization and not game design.

I agree with you. But I think we have enough devs that care about the art that we'll get enough of what us single player lovers like.

 

[Graciaus]

Elden Ring isn't single player though....It has both Co-Op and PVP.

All of that is optional. You can't even be invaded anymore randomly without using an item or playing coop.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Ubisoft taking notes for sure

 

[Pejo]

All of that is optional. You can't even be invaded anymore randomly without using an item or playing coop.

Well right, but to say that players aren't using the multiplayer function and summoning for bosses is completely disingenuous. If this was truly a "single player game" it would not share even 50% of the success that it's seen, IMO.

 

[CeeJay]

The George R R Martin collaboration has probably had very little to do with the success IMO and the man himself even admits that he didn't have that much of an input into the game. Elden Ring is the culmination of From Soft perfecting their craft and their very own style of game which has resulted in a game touted as a "once in a generation" thing. For me, it was the buzz generated from the reviews that told me this was something special and not just the usual "hype today, forgotten tomorrow" type of high score game. I wouldn't have otherwise bothered with buying it, it's my first From game. Good luck if any other developers want to try and replicate the success of ER, it's not like it's a battle royale kind of thing where they can just develop a mode onto an existing game. The reason why Elden Ring is doing so well is because it's Elden Ring not because it's hard, because it has a minimal ui, because of the art style or any other single thing you can put your finger on. It's doing well because it's a very good game. I am happy if other developers want to make a really good game but if they look at specific elements that ER is doing and replicate those then they are going to swing and miss the mark completely.

 

[BlvckFox]

We are very likely to get a fair share of clones, more bad than good. I just hope we can get a successful one like Nioh out of the bunch. Copied the Souls formula well and stood on its own, absolutely love that IP.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I'm all for it. Single player is where its at. I don't like the GAAS fueled path the industry is heading down towards. Live service, mtx and other crap should stay at a minimum or be expelled completely. From Software is showing the way with Elden Ring. Huge amount of quality content, no microtransaction bullshit or other scummy practices trying to bend up your wallet.

 

[SSfox]

 

[AV]

Nah, the Souls influence has already been felt in the industry for years. "the Dark Souls of X", "soulslike", etc.

Elden Ring is one of the GOATs but it's still just open world Dark Souls. Any games that weren't already using it as an influence aren't gonna start, Assassin's Creed doesn't sell because it's a challenging community-driven effort RPG, it sells because it's junk food. Souls is not digestible in the same way for most people.

 

[SantaC]

People said the same when BOTW came out. Not many games have attempted to construct an open world like that since then.

Witcher 3 existed before BotW

 

[Zeroing]

When will people learn that most Companies don’t care about you, me, us.
They only care about quick ways to make money. Of course there are some who operate differently and output quality but those companies are rare.

There is a ripple effect but that ripple effect only happens if companies do take the approach - making good games will lead to sales.

Just looking at what the gaming industry is right now… is depressing. You can’t get any lower than NFTs!!!!

So basically the gaming industry doesn’t want to take risks and is happy to do the same thing over and over.
Do I think more single player games are going to be made because of elden ring? No

 

[Orpheum]

edit: wrong thread, sorry

 

[ANDS]

Doubtful. ELDEN RING at the end of the day is "big Dark Souls" and none of these companies that put a lot of stock in their narrative single-player experiences are going to imitate ER to the detriment of that.

. . .and good. While I enjoy the sense of discovery in ER, it is not the only way to do an open-world, particularly if you want an open-world that feels alive and lived in (which ER does not).

Witcher 3 existed before BotW

TW3 has far more content and sense of exploration than BOTW does and is a world that feels alive with character. BOTW doesn't. The world is in service to YOU the player in BOTW and nothing more. This is not game design I want to see in open world games as a matter of course.

 

[Codes 208]

Ubisoft taking notes for sure

“Wait, these are the same notes we took from botw”

 

[Fbh]

Expectations:
"Wow Elden Ring did really well, we should look at the design decisions that set it apart from the usual generic AAA open world games and try to apply some of that to our future projects. I think this game selling 12 million units shows that there's a big audiences that likes to be challenged and doesn't need us to hold their hand all the way through".

What will Happen:
"Wow Elden Ring sold really well. We should make a game that's like that but if we add waypoints, quest markers, tons of fetch quest to make it longer, generic enemy bases, more basic level design, collectibles, a lot of cutscenes, chekpoints every 2 seconds, make it easier all around, add color coded random loot and really focus on quantity over quality I think we'll appeal to a much broader audience and it will sell even more. We should also add microtransactions because if a game like Elden Ring is making a ton of money without them just imagine how much more it would make with them".

 

[Aesius]

Ubisoft taking notes for sure

I still hold out hope that Ubisoft will reboot the AC series with an open-world AC1 remake that's more Origins than Odyssey/Valhalla.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Overwatch sold over 50 million copies.

Overwatch also sold MTX.

We don't even think of Overwatch as a massive success anymore.

12 million is a cute number.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Overwatch sold over 50 million copies.

 

[Kagey K]

People keep saying this every time a big new game comes out, yet it never seems to happen.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

People keep saying this every time a big new game comes out, yet it never seems to happen.

Surely didn't happen with Zelda. While we got Genshin, it's not exactly Zelda...

 

[ParaSeoul]

 

[chromhound]

EA and Ubisoft will find a way to fuck it up

 

[Dream-Knife]

I think the big take away is that JAPANESE companies care about making quality games. Just last year we had several great Japanese games come out, Monster Hunter Rise, RE8, SMT5, Tails of Arise, etc.

This year we're getting Xenoblade 3 and probably some other stuff.

If you only play Western games, of course you'll be disappointed.

 

[ANDS]

Literally the first result when you Google. Are you suggesting that OW wasn't an overqualified success for BLIZZARD?

. . .odd retort.

I think the big take away is that JAPANESE companies care about making quality games.

As opposed to "Western developers?" Here are the top rated games of 2021. Anyone "disappointed" in gaming has no one to blame but themselves.

 

[brian0057]

No, it means every other dev will learn the wrong lessons from it and flood the market with mediocre copies.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

The same thing happened with Dark Souls. There have been a shit load of games that have tried to mimic its design, some pretty good but some others not so much.

However, it’s likely to be more obvious moving forward with the mainstream success Elden Ring has had. It’s only good providing companies don’t just try to create the same game again. Most AAA publishers from memory have a huge lack of creativity these days and barely take risks with development, leading to the same shit all the time.

 

[Krappadizzle]

We all said the same thing with BotW and that has sold near 20+ million last I checked. We got one game from Ubisoft that quasi copied it. That's about it. I wouldn't bank on Elden Ring doing much to change the industry other than companies foolishly and effortlessly ramping up difficulty sliders.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Overwatch sold over 50 million copies.

Overwatch also sold MTX.

We don't even think of Overwatch as a massive success anymore.

12 million is a cute number.

Success is subjective to a degree and going by what you say, only games that sell over well over 50 million copies are a huge success.

Overwatch is a competitive FPS game that has way more mass appeal than a game like Elden Ring. Same with games like Call of Duty and EA sports games.

An RPG by a developer with a history of making very difficult games (difficult when thinking of not just the hardcore souls community) selling this many copies is a massive success.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Literally the first result when you Google. Are you suggesting that OW wasn't an overqualified success for BLIZZARD?

Only thing I found was account numbers. People love to smurf in these games so it's not comparable to actual sales numbers.

 

[MarkMe2525]

Witcher 3 existed before BotW

I'm not sure what Witcher has to do with the fact that there were a large crowd of people who claimed open world games were forever changed after the release of BotW. I wasn't expressing an opinion on the quality or originality of BotW in my statement.

 

[IntentionalPun]

The industry is well aware that SP games can be massive successes lol

 

[Bryank75]

JUST as Jim Ryan was trying to go big on GAAS.... cause he heard about dat der Fort---nite!!

Wonder if he'll turn the wagons around now?

What happens when he hears Stadia, Luna and every other streaming service failed? Will he eventually abandon the ghost of cloud gaming after he has dumped a few billion into it too?

The guy is 5 years late to every piece of news and trend.

PlayStations competency lies in single player games and hardware.... use those competencies and don't go chasing waterfalls.

 

[Azelover]

Companies will see that making games with big names such as Keanu Reeves and George R.R Martin names attached means big money. ELDEN RING (and in parts, Cyberpunk 2077) proves that massive and critically acclaimed single-player games are the right games to aim for, as gamers want to have unique story and immersive experiences rather than shitty grindfests like Halo: Infinite that have dwindling player bases because of scummy pratices where developers struggle to meet a quota to keep players online.

Hopefully ELDEN RING means that companies will see that multiplayer games are not what most gamers really want and that the big money to be made is on good well designed single-player games.

You're probably right. And to me it's a good thing. I love single player games, and I fucking adore Dark Souls games.

Elden Ring is amazing, and it will raise the bar for single player games.

 

[laynelane]

I'm not sure that many publishers will want to give up their monetization practices. They make a lot of money that way after all. I'm just happy that games like Elden Ring exist - a complete game with no microtransactions - and it's doing so well. I don't play multiplayer games and developers like FromSoft have been making games I love to play for years now.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Success is subjective to a degree and going by what you say, only games that sell over well over 50 million copies are a huge success.

Overwatch is a competitive FPS game that has way more mass appeal than a game like Elden Ring. Same with games like Call of Duty and EA sports games.

An RPG by a developer with a history of making very difficult games (difficult when thinking of not just the hardcore souls community) selling this many copies is a massive success.

I'm just responding to this part found in the OP...

"Hopefully ELDEN RING means that companies will see that multiplayer games are not what most gamers really want and that the big money to be made is on good well designed single-player games."

Obviously Elden Ring is a massive success, but that statement was more than a little hyperbolic.

 

[Captain Toad]

Pretty sure someone says this after every single successful single player game comes out.

And they're always right.

 

[IntentionalPun]

This one game was a hit, therefore GAAS is a bad business strategy is some real head scratching logic.

These companies have the numbers; there are probably a dozen GAAS games you've never heard of making 9 figure revenue a year on small budgets.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I don't care for souls like games. But one thing that i hope comes from all this: developers and big publishers realize that people still care for actual games.
You don't need the most expensive mocap tech, hollywood actors, realistic graphics to have one of the biggest hit games of recent years.

In the end good gameplay always wins and players don't have to be guided by a character speaking all the time, by shinny ledges, by maps full of marks, by huge production values.

Elden Ring came to show that all people need is good gameplay, great art design and a sense of discovery to be a part of the experience. Let the player do the rest. We're (still) not braindead.

All games can co-exist. So this idea that suddenly all open world games are failing because they are doing something different is stupid. But i do hope more of this is released.

 

[Captain Toad]

People keep saying this every time a big new game comes out, yet it never seems to happen.

It happens all the time.

Do you think Nioh, Salt and Sanctuary, The Surge, Lords of the Fallen, Ashen would exist if not for Souls?

Would we be climbing everything in Assassin's Creed or gliding in Horizon Forbidden West if not for Breath of the Wild?

Would there have been a near infinite number of arcade fighters if not for Street Fighter II?

I'm guessing Sonic All-Star Racing and Chocobo GP has nothing to do with Mario Kart? PlayStation Battle Royale still gets made without Smash?

 

[zeorhymer]

EA: Single-player games are 'finished' -- Gamesradar

Yes, AAA Single-Player Games Are Dying, And That's Fine --Forbes