Has nothing to do with ‘generation’ anything and everything to do with bean counters. The fact that Minecraft is still beating them all is everything they need to know but refuse to listen to.
They don’t mean boomers, millennials, etc. When you consider games from Atari, to genesis, to 360, to what we have now with microtransactions and season passes after unloading $60+ for a premium game, there are clear “generational” divides.
Try having an original thought.
Make something NEW
Exactly. I haven’t bought a pre-release game in a while because most of it is buggy and bland. But I bought the new Zelda game at pre-release precisely because it does something new.
If they’re intent on spending more on graphics instead of actually innovating gameplay, I’m content buying older releases that provide the exact same gameplay for a steep discount. I don’t play MP games, so my selection is pretty broad.
But I will buy a compelling new game, I’m just more into story and gameplay than graphics. Most of my money goes to indies, most of the rest goes to Nintendo, and the dregs go to older AAA games that I can get for cheap.
Fuck you Tim Sweeney. Fuck the fortnite model and fuck you for delisting and shutting down the Unreal franchise.
Just curious as to what you think the Unreal franchise could provide the modern gaming landscape that we aren’t getting now. It always struck me as pretty bland.
The Unreal franchise can provide the Unreal franchise. There was no real reason for epic to delist the games from all the store fronts and shutdown the master servers other then wanting to control their brand. It was costing them pennies to keep that stuff up and to even shudown the single player games was completely.
As far as “the modern gaming landscape” goes, it can suck it. I’m not interested in playing modern multiplayer shooters. I’m tried a few and they come across as walking simulators and fidget spinner simulators.
Oh you meant like…the old games. I thought you were like dying for the Unreal story to continue or something.
Yeah. Epic delisted the old games. You can not purchase a new copy on any of the digital store fronts, even the single player games. They also shutdown the servers that listed the available open servers. Not the game servers themselves that had map files stored on them. The master server was just a list of IP addresses that cost next to nothing to run. You can configure your install of the games to point to community run master servers, but no new players will know how to do that without someone helping them.
Buying a Triple A Game has become a liability:
Online Only
Limited Lease via Digital Store with unknown lifespan
User Account Activation
Actual Fucking Rootkits
Well then. Why not make them not shitty?
I’m gonna take a wild guess that the games with high budgets that aren’t “selling”, are just not selling “enough” to cover the “costs” of the executives. I guess it wasn’t much of a guess:
and they’re not selling nearly as well as expected," Sweeney said. "Whereas other games are going incredibly strong
Do they think that these other games “going incredibly strong” are making the money they hope to make? They’re probably making much less but managing it much better. The savings are almost infinite when you don’t approve every executive bonus pay package.
It’s because the games are mid or worse. Took me one google search to find a plethora of games released in the last few years that had high budgets and sold very well. God of War: Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Elden Ring, Horizon: Forbidden West, Doom Eternal, Hogwarts Legacy, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, The Last Of Us Part II, and so many more. These are just the ones I played. Just because the only game you guys make is Fortnite after abandoning all your IPs and that your Epic Games Store money isn’t as high as you thought it would be doesn’t mean other people aren’t making amazing games. It’s just you, my guy. I consider myself a patient gamer and I’ve bought more full price games over the last 5 years than I ever have.
How’s about you guys spend some of that budget on QA?
Or like the game instead of the credit card collection form.
Or how about they start making games people want to actually buy?
How about truly new games instead of zero-risk remakes/reboots/sequels or truly awful slop like Concord?
It’s because video games turned into investment vehicles where companies want to make at least 50% return on their investment instead of create a fun and engaging peice of entertainment.
Video games are an art form, there’s no art i’ financial vehicules
Fun beats pretty.
If they want me to buy AAA releases when they come out; they need to be actually fun, no rootkits, no microtransactions.
Exactly. And no game-breaking bugs at launch.
Nintendo for all the awfulness that is their legal department got this right. I pre-ordered Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and it worked absolutely fine when I plugged it in. Yeah, there was a day 1 patch (didn’t check the state of things before the patch), but I haven’t had any issues with it so far.
Indies also often get this right. There are plenty of devs I trust to have a solid product day 1. No stupid DRM, microtransactions, etc, just a fun game.
I don’t care too much about graphics, I just want a fun game to play, and I’m unwilling to pay to be a beta tester.
Right? Why should I pay full price for a game and it’s a buggy mess, sometimes even unplayable past a certain piont? All this has done has made me wait a year or two for games that I want, so I can get functional games, which is the opposite of how the studios want to make money.
Remove all the garbage. The DRM, the proprietary launchers and the requirement to constantly pay to win.
Ok. Interesting take. Let’s look at Alan Wake 2. High Budget and pretty good. One of the best games I played in recent years I would say.
And why did it sell poorly, I hear you ask? Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that you published it on your Epic Store only, being fully aware that the overwhelming majority of PC players are on Steam (and very lazy when it comes to switching away from it). Also you didn’t produce physical copies for consoles. Download only for an environment known for being fiercely pro physical copy.
But we all know it’s not about these things. It’s about calming down investors. That’s why you use buzzwords like “metaverse” and shit. I am actually impressed you didn’t ramble about AI.
Man, I’d love to play Alan Wake 2. Big Remedy fan; Control was my game of the year for two years. Be nice if they’d release it on a platform I’d buy it on.
When I buy a game, I want a game.
Not yet another platform to bleed my wallet dry.
I also don’t want to be forced to use some stupid storefront just because the publisher wanted an extra 18% cut or whatever. If your game lives and dies by that 18% cut, perhaps you should make a better game.
If I want to use EGS, GOG, or Steam, that should be my choice, don’t force me to switch to something else just because you want higher margins.
Tim Sweeny when he notices that enshittification in games doesn’t seem to work very well anymore: industry is going through a “generational change”.
