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[nowhat]

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.

Oh, the armchair CEO is back. I thought you were permed?

 

[Warablo]

I can see why Ubisoft and Sony devs are mad. Working on dialogue, combat systems and quests. Meanwhile Elden Ring comes out and eats their lunch with half the effort.

 

[RoadHazard]

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.

I think it would have like 95% of the sales if it was strictly SP. I guess some people buy these games specifically for co-op (not sure how people manage that since you can't easily co-op these games all the way through with a specific person) or PVP, but I'm sure the SP adventure is the main draw for most.

 

[Tg89]

Meh, most companies don't have the talent to pull it off honestly.

 

[Tg89]

I can see why Ubisoft and Sony devs are mad. Working on dialogue, combat systems and quests. Meanwhile Elden Ring comes out and eats their lunch with half the effort.

When has ubisoft ever worked on anything other than finding ways to pack their worlds with even more monotonous garbage?

 

[Hayabusabruh]

The next Forza is going to have you crafting tires. Why tf is there a giant dragon in the middle of the road?!

 

[GymWolf]

Nothing is gonna change as usual.

 

[March Climber]

I'm really hoping the Code Vein team has been exchanging notes with their Fromsoft neighbors at Namco:

 

[Pejo]

I think it would have like 95% of the sales if it was strictly SP. I guess some people buy these games specifically for co-op (not sure how people manage that since you can't easily co-op these games all the way through with a specific person) or PVP, but I'm sure the SP adventure is the main draw for most.

I'm talking about casuals and the people that never got into/liked souls games that are carried by the multiplayer mode. Look at the sales difference between Sekiro (which was truly a single player game) and Elden Ring, then add the obvious boost since people generally like open world RPGs more than difficult action games. Sekiro sold ~3 million in its first year and a half. Elden ring already broke 12 million. Part of that absolutely is the accessibility of summoning and playing with friends.

 

[RoadHazard]

I'm talking about casuals and the people that never got into/liked souls games that are carried by the multiplayer mode. Look at the sales difference between Sekiro (which was truly a single player game) and Elden Ring, then add the obvious boost since people generally like open world RPGs more than difficult action games. Sekiro sold ~3 million in its first year and a half. Elden ring already broke 12 million. Part of that absolutely is the accessibility of summoning and playing with friends.

Can you even summon a specific person? Don't really know how that works.

 

[Pejo]

Can you even summon a specific person? Don't really know how that works.

Yea through the password system. We actually have a GAF one to summon/see deaths of GAF users. It doesn't >only< show GAF signs, but they will be highlighted. You also get a buff to drop rate or runes collected or something every time somebody in the group beats a boss in their world.

 

[intbal]

When has ubisoft ever worked on anything other than finding ways to pack their worlds with even more monotonous garbage?

1991-2013

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I think the true lesson here is simply that open world games that give players choice have a distinct advantage over more linear games. Or rather, it's another data point that points in that same direction.

 

[RoadHazard]

Yea through the password system. We actually have a GAF one to summon/see deaths of GAF users. It doesn't >only< show GAF signs, but they will be highlighted. You also get a buff to drop rate or runes collected or something every time somebody in the group beats a boss in their world.

Ah right. What is that password again, and how do I enable that? Does doing so open me up to invasions too? I would mainly like to see GAF deaths and messages (maybe it doesn't affect those though).

 

[Saber]

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".

You forgot "dividing Elden Ring content in 4 parts: First part is the base game, the second is day one paid DLC and the rest is late paid DLC".

 

[TonyK]

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".

That is so depressingly accurate.

 

[Tg89]

1991-2013

sounds about right

 

[Pejo]

Ah right. What is that password again, and how do I enable that? Does doing so open me up to invasions too? I would mainly like to see GAF deaths and messages (maybe it doesn't affect those though).

It's just: neogaf

You enter it in the multiplayer menu while playing the game. Make sure you put it in the "group password" instead of the "multiplayer password" because the latter makes it so that you can only see signs that use that password.

 

[Spaceman292]

And they're always right.

That's true now that I think about it

 

[ethomaz]

Sony is releasing massive success single player games since ever and companies are not doing the same.

What makes you thing it will this time?

 

[Astral Dog]

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.

Gamers always feel a strange urge to compare numbers like they were in elementary school, big number means only X game must be successful and W, Y, Z are failure, individual skills, market variety, sales strategies, budget and target audiences are meaningless! Only numbers matter! so everybody copy the biggest shark on the pool nothing can go wrong!

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

People setting themselves up for disappointment, as usual.

1) You expect single player games with the challenge of Elden Ring. You won’t get them because easier, more accessible games with the right marketing push will sell even more and devs know that.
2) The money and skill needed to make a game like ER is big and rare. Most devs and publishers who have that kind of resources know better than to do a game like ER.
3) The big devs read gamers’s comments. They know the hardcore From fans are ready with the ER comparisons and they know anything that isn’t made by From in that field will be held up to the most severe scrutiny and will ultimately be found lacking. So they know better than to compete directly with a From game.

It’s always indies and smaller devs taking the biggest *ahem* inspiration from the big games. They lack the resources to do everything from scratch, so they need to copy from the big players. They are less experienced, so they follow the formulas that work. They know that going after the big games will draw people that want more of the same but can’t get it from the big guys, because the big devs can’t pump out games that fast. They have little to lose from comparisons because a smaller game is based on the premise that “this won’t be as big as X, but if people think it’s like X enough they will like it and the flaws may get a pass because we’re not Nintendo/From/Ubi.”

Think how many Souls-like you’ve seen in the AAA space and how many in the indie space. Now consider the scope of ER. The devs that have the money will do their own thing that sells. Indies will never have that kind of budget and talent. So no, I don’t think ER-like is the next big thing in gaming.

 

[Barakov]

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.

I'm sure someone will try. And most of them will fail badly.

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

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?

Assasin's Creed was always about climbing everything though

 

[Captain Toad]

Assasin's Creed was always about climbing everything though

You couldn't climb everything in AC until after BotW.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I don’t think they’ll make as big of a dent as FROM Software has. Elden Ring skipped over the hand holding, objectives glowing on the world map, and escort mission structure of today’s AAA big open world games. We’ve already had quite a handful of Dark Souls imitators. What I’ve seen with those is that they copy familiar pieces, but it’s never made much of an impact.

I truly believe that FROM Software thinks outside the video game realm. Which adds tons of flavor to their games. Just think if they had tunnel vision on the more recent trends in games? I think that’s what sets them apart. They have drive and passion without being influenced by the lot of game companies out there comparing their game to the next game.

I wish more developers made their games feel more natural instead of predetermined simulation with markers and quests that bog down the whole experience. Elden Ring had you running all over the place. If things got repetitive you could venture forward. There was a sense of discovery there. If you just copy that, you’re going to get called out on it and it’ll be littered with comparisons of better examples. Even if Elden Ring had some similar gameplay at times, it made up for it with how amazing the journey was.

I’m at that stage where I don’t want to buy something just cause it’s a clone. It better be a very good game, otherwise I won’t invest any time in it. I do hope Elden Ring shows this industry how much they take away from the journey with all the extra bloat they throw in for no reason. Maybe they’ll tone down the mocap cutscenes and escort missions too. Elden Ring felt like an epic D&D campaign come to life.

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

You couldn't climb everything in AC until after BotW.

Still though, point of AC was always parkour, so you could climb a lot of things.

 

[Kumomeme]

good case scenario:


more company/studio will get encouraged to make challenging open world rpg with proper, good combat and tons of dungeon+bosses.

worst case scenario:

lazy copy paste game worst than souls clone we see all these years.

 

[eyesabitdull]

This is kinda dumb for the simple fact that all Elden Ring really is, is really just an open world DS.

And uh, open world been popular for quite a while now.

I mean, one could say there has been a couple of games that try to imitate the idea of an open world DS (but failed horribly).

Difference is execution.

 

[Aldric]

ELDEN RING (and in parts, Cyberpunk 2077) proves that massive and critically acclaimed single-player games are the right games to aim for

Those are the only two games you could think of as examples of "massive and critically acclaimed single player games"? Did you just wake up from a decade long cryogenization or something?

 

[Craig of War]

People been saying this since GTA 3 came out in 2001 and yet 20 plus years later no game has even come close to copying GTA yet sometimes a game just cannot be copy

 

[zkorejo]

You bet your ass Ubisoft will.

 

[Icymanipulator]

I’m still waiting for someone to imitate Monster Hunter World…

Sometimes you just can’t replace the real thing.

 

[JoduanER2]

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

 

[luffie]

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.

They saw Genshin making 2billion in 1 year. Elden Ring is barely a beep in their radar.

 

[EDMIX]

The lolz.

I don't really know about all that.
1. You already have companies that make Souls like games
2. You already have companies that make lots of open world games

The idea that they will continue that isn't really something new or different or something. I expect us to still see Ubisoft make tons of open world games btw, I don't think it makes sense to suddenly pretend when the next massive AC rpg title comes out, that its um...ohhhh open world, ohhhh has horses lol I mean, probably....

proves that massive and critically acclaimed single-player games are the right games to aim for,

Nah, it proves that this title did well, not that all games doing that shit will do just as well or something. So 12 million isn't 160 million units sir, we fucking have an example of a title doing WILD numbers to argue um "is da right games to aim for" and even that game doesn't mean even the likes of EA would attempt a GTA clone (which is fucking shocking mind you as they chase a lot of trends lol)

So all this proves is that this game did well, not that you'd see it as a right thing to aim for as even the online example you gave tries to fucking ignore the other popular titles.

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.

Yet ignore Fortnite, APEX, Call Of Duty, Destiny, Rainbow Six Siege, ROBLOX lol just fucking stop man.

Halo Infinite not doing as well, doesn't mean you'll see developers ignore GAAS titles, just means Halo Infinite didn't quite hit the mark.

Elden Ring doing really well, doesn't mean you'll see all developer looking to aim for that, just means Elden Ring did really, really well.

So in a generation that saw Spiderman move 20 million units, Horizon move 20 million units, God Of War move 20 million units, BoTW move 21 million units etc, didn't magically mean the whole industry would head in that direction sir. It took more single player flops to make that happen vs what we see with online.

Thats an industry were you are seeing wild shit like Apex with 100 million users, MineCraft, PUBG, Fortnite, Call Of Duty foh sir, none of that shit makes sense to pretend 1 game doing this well, magically means something wild will change. We've seen single player games that have done more massive numbers and still not set a huge trend as I'm sure even those publishers know that some of those games moving those units might be doing something that isn't as repeatable.

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

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

^^ Fucking THANK YOU!

I love the Souls games, but I think people need to fully understand this. Those publishers are out here juggling install bases of 100 plus million users all spending money, not fucking 12 million, with big AAA projects, that can even be seen as a flop mind you in the online genre.

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

Agreed and for all you know those publishers focus on exploiting that aspect of it.

 

[NomadicAsiatic]

The lolz.

I don't really know about all that.
1. You already have companies that make Souls like games
2. You already have companies that make lots of open world games

The idea that they will continue that isn't really something new or different or something. I expect us to still see Ubisoft make tons of open world games btw, I don't think it makes sense to suddenly pretend when the next massive AC rpg title comes out, that its um...ohhhh open world, ohhhh has horses lol I mean, probably....


Nah, it proves that this title did well, not that all games doing that shit will do just as well or something. So 12 million isn't 160 million units sir, we fucking have an example of a title doing WILD numbers to argue um "is da right games to aim for" and even that game doesn't mean even the likes of EA would attempt a GTA clone (which is fucking shocking mind you as they chase a lot of trends lol)

So all this proves is that this game did well, not that you'd see it as a right thing to aim for as even the online example you gave tries to fucking ignore the other popular titles.


Yet ignore Fortnite, APEX, Call Of Duty, Destiny, Rainbow Six Siege, ROBLOX lol just fucking stop man.

Halo Infinite not doing as well, doesn't mean you'll see developers ignore GAAS titles, just means Halo Infinite didn't quite hit the mark.

Elden Ring doing really well, doesn't mean you'll see all developer looking to aim for that, just means Elden Ring did really, really well.

So in a generation that saw Spiderman move 20 million units, Horizon move 20 million units, God Of War move 20 million units, BoTW move 21 million units etc, didn't magically mean the whole industry would head in that direction sir. It took more single player flops to make that happen vs what we see with online.

Thats an industry were you are seeing wild shit like Apex with 100 million users, MineCraft, PUBG, Fortnite, Call Of Duty foh sir, none of that shit makes sense to pretend 1 game doing this well, magically means something wild will change. We've seen single player games that have done more massive numbers and still not set a huge trend as I'm sure even those publishers know that some of those games moving those units might be doing something that isn't as repeatable.


^^ Fucking THANK YOU!

I love the Souls games, but I think people need to fully understand this. Those publishers are out here juggling install bases of 100 plus million users all spending money, not fucking 12 million, with big AAA projects, that can even be seen as a flop mind you in the online genre.



Agreed and for all you know those publishers focus on exploiting that aspect of it.

These comments give me life. Doubly so when you consider this narrative has existed for at least a decade. TY!

 

[Shubh_C63]

Ubisoft taking notes for sure

and would still end up making an inferior copy cat.

 

[Lethal01]

This is kinda dumb for the simple fact that all Elden Ring really is, is really just an open world DS.

And uh, open world been popular for quite a while now.

I mean, one could say there has been a couple of games that try to imitate the idea of an open world DS (but failed horribly).

Difference is execution.

True, and I hope more companies start executing it like Breath of The WIld and Elden RIng.

 

[SSfox]

People that think other games should imitate Elden Ring got it all wrong, getting inspired yes for sure, but imitating is silly and will only make the game look like an inferior version of the original, but getting inspired can make another great game with its own identity.

 

[Needlecrash]

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.

The one thing I wasn't a fan of from Nioh is the mission structure. Other than that, it's a damn good series. I personally found it more difficult than the Souls series. I'll say, at least you move much quicker....but the enemies do too. Damn Tengus!

 

[Zeroing]

The one thing I wasn't a fan of from Nioh is the mission structure. Other than that, it's a damn good series. I personally found it more difficult than the Souls series. I'll say, at least you move much quicker....but the enemies do too. Damn Tengus!

I love nioh and I hope they could continue but it seems it’s not.

I’ve found the nioh 2 games easier I think I’m the only one ahah
The series are not perfect but it has the potential to become even better. I personally would drop the story and make it more of a lore since it’s the weakest points of the IP.

 

[KungFucius]

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".

Do you honestly think that the majority of people who bought ER knew how challenging it would be and how little effort was put into QoL? People bought it off of hype and reviews not because they knew, a priori, what the game had to offer.