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[cormack12]

What is the answer for these CEOs chasing growth? You have been put in charge of driving growth for your company 'Playbox Ninty Steam' in the videogame sector. What is your two pronged strategy?

Some of these are already in play, or being considered with varying degrees of success or failure, but I'm curious what you would do gaffers - and how you would manage the many failures we see now. And your expectation in terms of

 

[Punished Miku]

I honestly don't really see anything to try other than what Xbox has already tried. Growing usually means removing any possible barriers to playing. Cheaper system removes a barrier (Series S). No system removes a barrier (cloud, firestick). Not having to buy games removes a barrier (Gamepass). Integrating cross purchase and cross save across PC or console or cloud removes barriers. Put games on a sub to try and expose people to new genres they aren't used to potentially expands the audience. But it's not really playing out that way, so I can't think of anything. Only other thing to do is just keep expanding to other parts of the globe that aren't really playing games at large levels, which is why I don't predict it expanding. If it does expand, it'll be along one of the paths already laid out above, only Xbox was too early and someone else will do it like Netflix.

The other big barrier is input complexity , which Nintendo and mobile already simplified as much as possible. No controller needed for Wii, or mobile. Xbox already tried Kinect for the same reason. Everything to expand has been tried, and it's not happening easily. The last great input complexity reduction will be Augmented Reality. That will possibly be easy enough to get some new people. Only possible way to get simpler than that is a neural link.

Best thing I think is to just put your games on everything. I genuinely think even Nintendo will be strongly considering it in the future because console sales aren't growing. If Nintendo made a play for a sub cloud service, they have enough IP strength to maybe convince normies to give it a shot. The Mario movie is still in the top 10 on Netflix.

 

[Mownoc]

For a start a lot of AAA needs to be scaled back. AC Odyssey was unreasonably large. It had no need for a map so massive and to be a 100+ hour game.

Dev teams need to be smaller. Look at what sime indie games can do with a handful of developers, then you have AAA games with 500+ people working on them. Massive teams just creates inefficiency.

Astrobot had a small team of around 60 people and a Dev time of 3 years. We'll soon see if this is a shining example of how to make a game compared to other projects being a bloated, unnecessarily large and inefficient mess.

 

[hemo memo]

Scale it back for a start. Throwing more people on a project doesn’t mean that it’ll be better. Completion rates for games is ridiculously low so how is your response to that is making games even bigger and longer?

Medium size budget means more freedom and creativity because the game underperforming doesn’t mean a studio being shutdown.

Join EA efforts to allow indies to shine by funding small projects like A way Out, Unravel, It Takes Two, FE, Lost in Random and more. Yes, you might not like EA but the games that came out of their funding of small projects is really smart and well done.

I have a lot more in my mind but that’s I believe the most important.

 

[Thyuda]

Cost reduction.

Shit's out of control, not everybody can be CoD.

 

[MaestroMike]

Some parts of the world are more savage and like metal music that’s where I’d release more doom games and make a killing. Softer places would get more animal crossings

 

[PeteBull]

Stop DEI hires so quality of ppl in dev team is much higher, and their priority changes from pushing woke agenda to make sure their product quality is top notch, that alone would help tremendously majority of western AAA dev studios.

 

[cireza]

Don't try growing ? Try to have a profitable, long term activity to begin with ?

 

[genesisblock]

I would create multi tiered studio that varies from A to AAA and is non-developer specific meaning they can go in and out of each department depending on the requirement. Once a developer finishes his AAA he/she/they/them can go move to another department to do A or AA, either to flex their capabilities or just want a break from th big budget franchise. It's insane to expect developers to continuously develop AAA years or decades in a row. One this solves the issue of getting many developers to experience each sector, second it doesn't put all the eggs in one basket. A well received AA title will do very well economically instead of a generic AAA title.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

GAF will make whatever they want to play.

Will not make second game after that.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Graphics are good enough now

All focus should be on driving down costs of hardware and development

 

[ChoosableOne]

Someone should make a game about it.

First, I would buy all the game studios I could. Then... Then??? I don't have any plans beyond that. As you can see, I have everything needed for this job. Please send a dm for job offers.

 

[Big Baller]

By making a AAA Berserk rpg

 

[cormack12]

Someone should make a game about it.

First, I would buy all the game studios I could. Then... Then??? I don't have any plans beyond that. As you can see, I have everything needed for this job. Please send a dm for job offers.

 

[ChoosableOne]

By making a AAA Berserk rpg

""I guess we've already done that"

 

[Hookshot]

Sexy women. Sex sells. Racing games have women painted on the cars, the drivers are hot, it has grid girls etc. Shooters are all filled with hot bouncy babes jiggling about. Sports games have the uniforms as little more than underwear.

Think EA but sleazy in a good way.

 

[hemo memo]

Stop DEI hires so quality of ppl in dev team is much higher, and their priority changes from pushing woke agenda to make sure their product quality is top notch, that alone would help tremendously majority of western AAA dev studios.

You know what’s funny? They actually ask for a lot in consultation. So companies are paying to make their products worse. It’s bizarre.

 

[Clintizzle]

Step 1: See what Resetera like
Step 2: Make a game that is exactly opposite to that.
Step 3: ???
Step 4 : Profit

 

[hemo memo]

Step 1: See what Resetera like
Step 2: Make a game that is exactly opposite to that.
Step 3: ???
Step 4 : Profit

Pretty much. Pissing off Era is a good indicator of a successful product.

 

[drganon]

Hire Phil Spencer as a consultant and do the exact opposite of everything he suggests.

 

[winjer]

More boobs. Everyone loves boobs.

Spoiler

 

[hemo memo]

Sexy women. Sex sells. Racing games have women painted on the cars, the drivers are hot, it has grid girls etc. Shooters are all filled with hot bouncy babes jiggling about. Sports games have the uniforms as little more than underwear.

Think EA but sleazy in a good way.

Nah we are not even asking for sexy now. Just asking for normal.

 

[elbourreau]

Cost reduction into neww IPs.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I think reducing cost is a good start. This would maybe involve not using such high end expensive graphics and scale things back a bit. This may mean that teams could be reduced to dozens rather than hundreds, maybe even use A.I to help with some aspects of development where it makes sense to but not rely on it for full development of course.

Smaller less expensive projects remove a good chunk of the risks in not breaking even so more companies should focus on this moving forward, so another potential route would be to release more shorter games (10-12 hours).

Oh and go back to releasing games that have a campaign and multiplayer like we used to get. More games now are either one or the other when it was better that games had both.

 

[Topher]

Voted for new hardware options and shorter games. Handhelds that plays the same games as the consoles would be a good start. More AA experiences from first party would also be ideal. Lower cost, lower price. I think the $70 price model is backfiring in a lot of ways. As is the fact that console prices have only gone up this gen. That's going to limit growth as much as anything.

 

[The artful mincer]

A big one for me is adapt existing IP from other media into games.

Huge potential if game is good I.e. Hogwarts Legacy, Spiderman and now Black Myth.

 

[Filben]

Volume increase and shorter games (who finishes +100h games apart from a minority?) and cost decrease (partly by shorter games but also by reducing company and management overhead and unnecessary game details and reduced visuals; e.g. art style before photo realism).

I'd also say platform growth but only 2 options were allowed. But I'd still be considering this. PC and PlayStation is a must (depending on the scope of the game, however, the PS release may have to wait due to platform holder's entry fee). If, after a short period, sales are good on PC/PlayStation, some budget should be invested in a Switch port. Xbox only if Microsoft guarantees money for GamePass admission; who buys Xbox games these days?

 

[bitbydeath]

Reduce prices on games and find out what people actually want, especially those who have not bought in.

 

[Hookshot]

Nah we are not even asking for sexy now. Just asking for normal.

Sexy was normal. There was a time when Baywatch and it's busty women running in slow motion was the world's most watched TV show.

 

[cormack12]

Sexy was normal. There was a time when Baywatch and it's busty women running in slow motion was the world's most watched TV show.

 

[PeteBull]

Sexy was normal. There was a time when Baywatch and it's busty women running in slow motion was the world's most watched TV show.

Nowadays baywatch would be forced to hire actresses that look like concord hero roster

 

[Topher]

Sexy was normal. There was a time when Baywatch and it's busty women running in slow motion was the world's most watched TV show.

 

[PeteBull]

they had to put morbidly obese black chick who cant run 5 steps w/o going out of breath into peacemaker action tv series
Edit: i actually enjoyed the series a lot but fk, that obese black girl was put there by force, and not even as a desk job person but they actually had to take her into the field

 

[Da1337Vinci]

Looking at genres that have low competition in the GAAS space and try to come up adequate GAAS game there.

Try slowly to move from high production realism graphics to more stylized style for the games to reduce cost of production as well as increase possible user base.

Also waifus.

 

[poodaddy]

Don't try growing ? Try to have a profitable, long term activity to begin with ?

I actually agree with this but the nature of shareholders makes this strategy an impossibility. Noone buys stocks to have them be stagnant.

Cut costs, return to the IP's of old that were actually well written by stable individuals rather than thrown together by purple haired loonies more focused on the message than the gameplay. That's it, and that will be enough. Games have to be fun, first and foremost, broadly visually appealing, have hooky music(the Western side of the industry is just generally terrible at this these days, usually opting for a big orchestral score that prioritizes cinematic feeling rather than being fun and catchy), and have a focused story that makes sense and doesn't pander.

 

[cireza]

I actually agree with this but the nature of shareholders makes this strategy an impossibility.

Then stay private ? The nature of shareholders is to drive your company into the wall, this I agree.

 

[poodaddy]

Then stay private ?

I wish most companies would man, I really do. Reason number 743 that devs should try to cut the ballooning cost of development, so they don't necessarily need to go public to fund their games, but the vast majority do end up needing a public injection of funds when their project goes haywire with costs.

 

[DntMesArnd]

Gaf would make a company that only makes Playstation Exclusive games.

 

[PeteBull]

I would make a company that only makes Playstation Exclusive games.

just dont name it firewalk studios, i heard its bad mojo =D

 

[KungFucius]

What is the answer for these CEOs chasing growth? You have been put in charge of driving growth for your company 'Playbox Ninty Steam' in the videogame sector. What is your two pronged strategy?

Some of these are already in play, or being considered with varying degrees of success or failure, but I'm curious what you would do gaffers - and how you would manage the many failures we see now. And your expectation in terms of

I vote for shorter games with DLC for those who want more content.

 

[theStartupSound]

Do something unique. Don’t make another PlayBoxStation, just make your own quality thing. Be the first years of AppleTV+ but for gaming.

You don’t need to have the most powerful hardware, you don’t have to make the most beautiful visuals. Just make games that are interesting, new. Where you can feel that the devs work passionate and not ticking boxes.

Be Nintendo, but for adults in terms of story telling, character designs, art style. And with at least 1080p. Don’t be the cheap console, but take these margins and invest it in quality products, not shareholder payouts.

Stay away from pixel art and other gaming stereotypes. Don’t try to make the next Fortnite. Don’t chase trends. Don’t screw with your fans.

 

[King Dazzar]

Whatever growth they get, it'll never be enough. But in my utopian take. Focus on making good quality games and providing things that the customer would love. And not on how to abuse your existing customers with invasive marketing, pushing broken unfinished games and constantly trying to nickel and dime them. Whilst trying to herd your customers to places they dont want to go.

Do all that. You may just find that the growth happens naturally as everyone wants to be part of your great product.

 

[BlackTron]

Poll is kinda a trick because winning in games requires multiple chess pieces.

For example lowering barriers without having software that motivates you to step over a barrier is almost a waste of effort. Basically, focusing myopically on any one of the poll options would result in failure to expand, but they could work synergistically with each other.

 

[MikeM]

More boobs. Everyone loves boobs.

Spoiler

Come on man. Any mention of boobs needs a GIF

Back to OP- depends on the business.

If Ubisoft- ditch the “get three of X” side quests, lower the volume of side quests overall but make them actually add to the story in a material way.

If Xbox- bring back legitimate console exclusives. Give people a reason to buy your box so you can collect sub revenue (PC GP is cheaper than Xbox GP). Plus, you’ll have more people on a platform where you get a 30% cut on purchases whereas on Steam you lose that cut each time. Go full DirectX on the next box to make porting next to no effort. Force devs to optionally unlock “Advanced Game Settings” to allow for players to target their own FPS if they desire to.

 

[PectacularOz]

JUST MAKE GOLD GAMES THAT "PLAYERS" WANT

Look at BG3, BM:W, and more. Literally just make games that players will enjoy INSTEAD of trying to create some new factor of enjoyment

 

[EverydayBeast]

Interest of the gamers, don’t waste time, no head scratching dlc, cosmetics, stories that make sense, $60 dollars, campaign/multiplayer/split screen minimum, tools for gamers to strategize.

 

[SHA]

New people, new talents, young brilliant minds which leads to new ips, existing ips could go to hell, I don't care after what happened to most of them.

 

[-Minsc-]

Ensure everyone gets a completed copy of Dudebro — My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time.

 

[BlackTron]

Ensure everyone gets a completed copy of Dudebro — My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time.

Best pack-in game since Wii Sports?

 

[NahaNago]

Probably a mixture of new ip, shorter games, watching the budgets , and creating cartoons, merchandise, and comics and actually promote them to gamers as well. I'd have the main studios create the new ip, and then have them split off a team to make sequels, focus on that ip, and simply have those teams expand. I'd still pursue gaas but only as a side project.