90°

Opinion: The AAA game industry needs to take itself private

This is the gaming industry's future. We're powerless to stop it. All we can do is watch.

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criticalhit.net
kalkano1912d ago (Edited 1912d ago )

Number of AAA games I've bought in the last decade + : 2 (Skyrim and The Witcher 3).

And, Action-RPGs are easily my least favorite type of RPG. But, that's the only type of RPG that exists in the AAA space. If I want anything else, I have to look at lower-budget games.

As the need for more and more profit barrels on, the fewer genres are actually made. Though, some of that is the industry misunderstanding what makes games sell (hint: the #1 factor is graphics).

annoyedgamer1912d ago

I can't even bring myself to finish Skyrim..

AK911911d ago

I have that problem with Skyrim and Witcher 3 both are incredibly boring to me.

Codewow1911d ago (Edited 1911d ago )

Developers would highly benefit from being private. Simply put, a public company has to show profits to appease investors where private companies do not need to do so. That allows private developers to build better games that they want to rather than take orders from people who own them.

Cobra9511911d ago (Edited 1911d ago )

See, just showing profits would be fine. They problem is that public companies need to show a *growth* in profits year after year. They need to grow by a percentage well over inflation every year to keep their investors from selling out, and putting their money in other investments. That, of course, is impossible in the long run. Nothing can grow forever, much less so at a significant compounded rate.

Going private would prevent that pickle. A private company simply needs to be profitable in the long run. It doesn't need insane growth. The owners can be happy making good games, and turning just enough profits to pay the bills, if making games is their passion.

Razzer1911d ago (Edited 1911d ago )

Buying a company back from stockholders is easier said than done. Michael Dell did it, sure, but 1) he had to raise a $24.8 billion cash himself 2) he had to persuade stockholders to sell. For companies like EA and Activision Blizzard, we are not talking about company founders buying back the company they started. These are hired CEOs. Hired by the stockholders. They do what the stockholders want. Period. So the question is who is the EA/Activision/etc equivalent of Michael Dell who is going to personally raise $30 billion in cash to buy back the company from the stock market assuming the market agrees to sell? Yeah....good luck finding that white knight.

And also....

"If Metro Exodus doesn’t sell well on the Epic Game Store, one of the game’s developers said there’s a chance the next game doesn’t come to PC again."

Where in the linked article does it say that?
https://www.vg247.com/2019/...

"“We have every intention of continuing this franchise, and a PC version will always be at the heart of our plans.”"

SuperSonic911911d ago (Edited 1911d ago )

If the future of AAA games is Day of Boy then I am so excited.
What a great game it was.
Learned a lot from Kratos.
SIE has put the special ingredient in games for future generations.
PS4 gamers are Fortunate Sons!

70°

Ghosts of Tabor Energises Players With GLYTCH

Ghosts of Tabor creators Combat Waffle Studios have collaborated with GLYTCH on a new "Skill Issue" flavour. Plus PICO is now supported.

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xrsource.net
70°

13 Best Nintendo 64 Platformer Games

The Nintendo 64 era was a fantastic time for platformer games, featuring timeless classics and obscure hidden gems.

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altarofgaming.com
410°

Sony States We Will Know More About the "Long-Term Vision" of PlayStation Later This Month

Sony has confirmed that there is something happening later this month and it involves SIE which is the division that operates PlayStation.

Skuletor14h ago

My guess, is they were waiting for the new CEO position to be finalized before their next showcase and now that's out of the way.

neutralgamer199213h ago

Yes I think you are right. They wanted the leadership in place hopefully now they can give a strong showing of what’s to come

S2Killinit12h ago

Its not confirmed that this will involve game announcements.

Cacabunga12h ago

Tbh this claim doesn’t reassure me at all..

Eonjay8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

@S2Killinit

If this is about games that worries me because I thought they were walking away from announcing titles far in advance. For them to say 'Long Term Vision' sounds like we are getting announcements years in advance. I don't want that. Lets hope the long term vision part refers to their goal for the company and that they also give us info on projects reaching fruition in the short term.

Also, this is gonna be where we find out that they are going full PC day and date (or greatly reduced if they don't have the capacity at their studios). Its gonna happen. Why? Because all you have to do is look at Helldivers... fastest selling PlayStation game ever. And they make good games. They will sell.
Now we can fight over whether this will hurt the console space. I don't think so as long as they provide an option that will allow people to come close to maxing out their graphics... ergo the PRO.

StormSnooper1h ago

@Eonjoy
I think MS already made that decision for ALL consoles when they went full PC. There is no way other consoles can stay away from PC when their competitor decides to treat PC and Xbox the same. If eventually Sony and possibly even Ninty don’t go PC, they would be handing an advantage to MS. Unfortunately

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46player13h ago

Sounds good, PS5 Pro preorders. Let’s do this!

Crows9013h ago

I don't get it....we barely got any ps5 exclusives and people already want a refresh??

crazyCoconuts12h ago

When they show GTA6 on the Pro I think you'll get it

VersusDMC12h ago

Pretty sure we got 5 console exclusives this year so far and 3rd party games took advantage of the PS4pro last gen so it will happen with the PS5pro as well.

romulus2311h ago

I don't get it either but people get new iphones the second they come out even though they just bought the previous one which works just fine. Some people just want the latest and greatest no matter what and have the income to do it. If the improvement to games is significant enough I may get one but probably not at launch.

-Foxtrot11h ago

Exactly

I will always be behind the idea that one of the reasons why this gen doesn't feel as much of a leap is because we kind of got spoilt with the PS4 Pro last gen. It was like a teaser to this gen.

Looking back on a technological leap after 7 years is way more impressive than if it was 3 or so.

Crows905h ago

@versus

You're making this out to be something it isn't. I think it's stupid that sony themselves have barely put out any exclusives that can only run on the ps5 and we already have calls for a "pro" version...that is mindblowingly dumb in my opinion

Einhander19724h ago(Edited 4h ago)

People come up with the silliest reasons to claim the console isn't needed, exclusives made by Sony don't matter, third party games are like 500 to 1 even in the best year.

And since PS1 PlayStation has relied on third party publishing deals, the vast vast majority of games that people see as PlayStation games were made by third party developers published by Sony, Insomniac only recently became a PlayStation studio all their games made before that were as a third party.

PS5 Pro is the same as a graphics card upgrade that no one ever complains about like this, and it's way cheaper performance per dollar than a CPU.

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Profchaos55m ago

Doubt you're getting a pro annoucement in a business update

anast13h ago

Big things right around the corner.

purple10113h ago

Almost optimistic to say, but those leaks of the 6 cancelled games (games that were not even announced)

yeh, maybe some didn't actually get cancelled after all

notachance13h ago

as a long time ps fans I hope they still put great single player games front and center, make your live service games if you have to but don’t force your 1st party studios to make something they don’t want to.. redfall is an unfortunate example of a good studio forced to basically destroy themselves.

Eonjay8h ago

Good points. How would you feel if Sony decided to put their single player games on PC day and date? This would allow their studios making single player games to recoup more money to keep the games coming. If it works with GaaS why not single player?

notachance5h ago(Edited 4h ago)

If they do that, it’s just a matter of time before someone make a console using PC as a platform, then that console would automatically have the full PC games (which means combined PS, PC, and Xbox games) as a library.

In fact, who’s to say steam aren’t working at it right now lol, just imagine it, something with the ease of use of console that can play both ps and xbox games day 1.. combined with the marketbase of steam, there’s the new king of console.

Or better yet, Nintendo would do it and there will finally be one console that can play it all..

Ps: on the topic of games releasing day and date, you could argue that by delaying PC release date there will be a few people who double dipped on buying games, just like what good ol rockstar loved doing with their games..

fr0sty27m ago

PC PS5 ports lack certain features, like the 3D audio and controller haptic support...so there will always be reasons to play PS5 games on a PS5.

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