Fans are continually looking for the latest and the greatest from their big budget games, causing the cost of development to increase to never before seen heights and even leading to the death of beloved studios.
UK indie outfit Roll7 is reportedly facing closure, along with Bethesda’s Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin – but if making award-running, profitable games doesn’t guarantee safety, what will?
Idk. Great games have still been releasing. Mcsft is still no different than after the 360 era. PS, you just have to wait many years for. Nintendo is readying next gen and will definitely have many games. 3rd party and indies have been the highlight so far this year.
"Today, developer Owlcat Games is excited to reveal the sixth and final DLC expansion for its critically acclaimed cRPG, "Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous".
"A Dance of Masks" will take players back to where it all began in a final love letter to the Knight Commander and their loyal companions. Get ready for one last ride when A Dance of Masks releases for PC and consoles on June 13, 2024." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
A look back at 4A Games' admirably consistent post-apocalyptic shooter franchise.
It's why we're seeing so many cross gen games.
I think we'll see more subscription model attempts, more DLC, more downloadable side-projects....
Games as we know them are dead.
Budgets for AAA games are too damn high. If you budget and market your game accordingly with realistic expectations, you'll be fine.
Look at Dark Souls, that game had a smaller budget and loot at how well it sold.
Publishers need to stop blowing their loads.
The 7th gen has seen the fall of many a studio some of which I grew up with and even more that are still around but haven't made a game in years. Its only going to get worse. Some companies didn't even survive the jump to the PS3/360 and I fear how many will fall when the PS4/One arrive. THQ was the canary in the coal mine. That wasn't some small developer with a handful of ips.
I believe many will fall like they did in '83. The problem is these games really don't cost as much as some are making them out to be. Some games like GTA ya, they do cost more just because of the vast size of them. But so many of these games do not cost as much as they try to claim. In the film industry they call it "Hollywood Accounting" where in reality it should not/really does not cost as much as they say it does.
I remember with Black Ops they said "Ooo look we got Gary Oldman, and Sam Worthington in it. As well as David Goyer writing the script. And funny enough the game would have sold as much with out those things. Too many game devs are worrying about how to make the game with absurd production value, instead of actual gameplay. They don't seem to understand that games can be done cheaper, and it's the publishers that keep trying to shove a broken business model at it thinking that we are the problem rather then themselves.
I think it will be a good thing, and indie studios will take over again. Video games will come back stronger then ever if there truly is another crash. Which in some ways I hope there is. Because the industry has lost a lot of it's creativity in the past generation. They worry too much about sales rather then..."Is it fun?"