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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776

u/DarkR124 Oct 02 '24

God these CEOs and high level execs are so fucking dense.

There are tons of games with obscenely high budgets that sell very well. Want good sales? Make good games.

260

u/petesapai Oct 02 '24

Sweeney is just being a salesman here and so many people don't see it. He purposesly doesn't mention WuKong, Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate.

And purposely doens't mention concord. And he seems to think Suicide Squad is not a live service game.

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u/Numerous-Cicada3841 Oct 02 '24

What’s funny is WuKong was built on Unreal Engine so they made a pretty penny off of that game.

8

u/Ok-Comfortable-3174 Oct 02 '24

i mean thats chump change compared to the 20 Billion per year Fortnite has generated for the last 5+ years

19

u/Chit569 Oct 02 '24

He is literally only fluffing up Fortnite and jerking off because it still prints money for them.

If he wants to put his money where his mouth is he would make a new IP that has all those features and see if it survives in the market place. It wouldn't because people don't buy video games because they can "talk to their friends in voice chat" in them.

4

u/Sirromnad Oct 02 '24

He also brings up fortnite as a reference point a bunch, which i understand is an epic game, but is also a complete freak anomaly in terms of it's success. And chasing that dragon is just leading everyone down a failure hole.

1

u/dumpling-loverr Oct 03 '24

Probably because Fortnite in the long run still prints more money than Wukong, ER or BG3. And for shareholders it's always the "profits go up" motto that matters.

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u/obp5599 Oct 02 '24

2 of the 3 games you mentioned are social lmao

-2

u/vegetablebasket Oct 02 '24

I don't think suicide squad should count as a live service game because I religiously play live service Looter shooters and I could tell within 20 seconds of gameplay that it was not a Warframe, Destiny, Division, or First Descendent, but more of a Borderlands or Outriders. There's no way they're adding new characters and content and have huge grinds and horizontal progression and hub towns and global chat or whatever makes a game in that genre... a game in that genre. Maybe I'm dumb and wrong, but, it immediately read to me as multiplayer campaign game.

2

u/Flabbergash Oct 02 '24

problem with Suicide Squad is you can see it was clearly meant to be a live service game but they backed out

I really enjoyed the 12 or so hours it took to complete the campaign, but all the extra little shits dotted about just all melded into the background. The only extra "outfits" I got during the whole campaign were a special outfit to defeat a boss, and a horrible outfit from the "free" battle pass track.

During the campaign, I think I got to level... 40? Of the free battle pass and recieved one (1) outfit, and 100 of the premium currency. It's so predatory - you get 900 premeium currency for installing, then 100 on the battle track... guess how much the cheapest outfit on the store is? That's right, 1100.

If Suicide Squad was changed to be more like Guardians of the Galaxy, I think it would have played much better

But that chance is gone now, it's just a footnote in the history of bad launches instead of the great game it could have been

1

u/TheStinkySlinky Oct 03 '24

I gotta ask.. why? Why is that religiously all you play? Honestly sounds like you’re the poster child for the demographic they’re after with all this bs, to continue siphoning money from.

1

u/vegetablebasket Oct 03 '24

I never said it's all I play, it's just my favorite genre.

I'm not sure what you mean by "all this bs," it's taken 13 years for one Warframe-like to come out. The industry is constantly churning out stuff I don't care about like competitive shooters and single player games. I feel unrepresented by the industry. Sometimes a game looks good but they ruin it with fomo or dumb monetization so I ignore it. I grew up playing Diablo 2 and miss just chatting and grinding with random people. Even Path of Exile is so butt-clenching and solo-oriented that you can't really make friends while playing. I don't think I'm that crazy for yearning for that feeling. I've been really enjoying The First Descendent but they designed almost everything to be better if you're solo. I think Tim has a point, honestly.

1

u/TheStinkySlinky Oct 03 '24

I mean… “I basically religiously play live service looter shooters” Is a statement that says that’s all I play.

1

u/vegetablebasket Oct 03 '24

Here's the definition from Google

  • with consistent and conscientious regularity.
  • "he practices religiously for four hours every day"

I probably spend four hours every day playing a looter shooter, so, it tracks. I understand the example sentence isn't to be taken literally but it's kind of funny to me.