r/gaming • u/CiabattaKatsuie Console • Oct 01 '24

The games industry is undergoing a 'generational change,' says Epic CEO Tim Sweeney: 'A lot of games are released with high budgets, and they're not selling'

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-games-industry-is-undergoing-a-generational-change-says-epic-ceo-tim-sweeney-a-lot-of-games-are-released-with-high-budgets-and-theyre-not-selling/

Tim Sweeney apparently thinks big budget games fail because... They aren't social enough? I personally feel that this is BS, but what do you guys think? Is there a trend to support his comments?

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u/xenoriddley Oct 02 '24

no, I'd argue the money is also an issue. Didn't one of the new Tomb Raider games, I think the 2nd one, sell like 5 million copies, but it didn't meet sales expectations due to how much it cost to make?

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u/TheWuffyCat Oct 02 '24

Right, sure, but it's possible for a game to cost a lot, and then make a lot. The problem is that the people wielding the money think that more money = more success, like it's just a money printing machine.

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u/xenoriddley Oct 02 '24

Ah, I get what you're saying. Kinda like the GTA/RDR syndrome? They put so much money in and make so much, so that's all other companies see and try to emulate instead of taking notes on what actually makes those games popular?

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u/TheWuffyCat Oct 02 '24

Exactly, yeah. Finance (like, investment banking) is very simple, really; you look at trends of what's been a successful strategy, and you repeat it. Only a handful of investment strategies involve trying anything truly novel. Then, when these finance people go into gaming, they use the same approach, but just regurgitating the same thing doesn't work in a creative field. Especially if you don't understand what made the previous thing good in the first place!

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u/portalscience Oct 02 '24

I think FFXIV is a good example of this, generally. Each expansion has had increased budget and has been better received. Visible places they have spent their budget:

  • more voice acting
  • more assets (digital art)
  • more marketing (to get more players)
  • more servers (to allow for more players)

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u/Southpaw535 Oct 02 '24

Have Square ever been happy with sales figures for the last few years?

The impression I've got is it's more a projected profits problem rather than an actual "this didn't make the money we needed" problem?

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u/ArthurBonesly Oct 02 '24

What happened there was a capitalism problem. The issue was the projected return raised the stock value of the company. Even though it made a profit, the profit didn't meet the projected expectations that they had told shareholders.

The issue wasn't that the game failed to make money, but that it failed to increase capital gains.