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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258

u/Agentkeenan78 Oct 02 '24

My brother in christ I do not want to be social. I want a rich and rewarding gaming experience. The market is saturated with multiplayer games if that's your thing. People don't love live service. People have had enough battle Royale shooters. When a game is good, you're not gonna believe this, but it sells.

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u/EastCoastBen Oct 02 '24

I honestly miss the old fashioned one player game. The reason The Last of Us, Bioshock, Red Dead Redemption, etc do so well is because you get to focus on the game as you purchased it. There’s no pressure to buy your way through it to defeat other players or to look cool in front of other people.

It’s not a social pressure environment.

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u/Unlucky-Candidate198 Oct 02 '24

I’m not even that old, but I started gaming younger than I should have been allowed.

Anywho, seeing how much gaming has changed is ridiculous. I mean, I’ve always known the avg person is a moron, but to spend $1000+/year on the same fifa/madden/2k game is actual insanity. Fuck MTX.

Ofc, just cause people are moronic and easy to take advantage of doesnt mean we should let video game companies run rampant doing it. It isn’t right.

It’s predatory, manipulative, literal gambling targeted towards children, and like 100+ other issues that are bad for society. The only ppl who benefit are the suits of publicly traded companies who get to see their money become more money. So glad we ruin society for the many so the few suited wankers can benefit :)

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u/EastCoastBen Oct 02 '24

I have been gaming since I was probably 5 or so. My dad would pull out the PS1 and we would spend an hour every Saturday/Sunday morning playing dukes of hazard or the GI Joe boot camp game and it was some of the best times I can remember with him.

When we put individual or in person play on the back burner and solely focus on the MMO gambling culture of gaming that’s taking over these days you miss out on the opportunity to have moments like that.

I know nostalgia isn’t an economic priority for mega gaming corporations but goddamn it it should be. Gaming used to just be fun for the fun of it.

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u/Unlucky-Candidate198 Oct 02 '24

My father and I use to play Sgt. Hero on N64. Can’t remember if that was the name but it was like green, tiny, plastic army men doing army men things.

Levels were like kitchens with giant spiders and such. Fun games. Some of them genuinely frightened me as a child lmaoo

Anyways, thank you for making me remember that. One of the few early memories of my father that isn’t an awful one :)

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u/EastCoastBen Oct 02 '24

That’s the one! Damn I loved that game. I feel like it was a core memory.

I’m glad I could give you a good one. Fathers are difficult but sometimes the memories are so incredibly meaningful.

1

u/Mekkanos Oct 02 '24

It was Army Men: Sarge's Heroes. I played that when I was younger as well, so it definitely has a place in my memory too.

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u/cactusjon Oct 02 '24

This. I'm 44 years old and the last thing I want to do after a shit day at work is go online and be griefed by tweens.

Grandad wants to be left lone to sit down and play his stories goddamit.

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u/Lysmerry Oct 02 '24

The problem with a social game is that it can’t be truly immersive because a bunch of dorks are talking. Theres definitely a reason for social games but sometimes you want to get lost in the experience

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u/Outrageous-Orange007 Oct 02 '24

If he says thats the case, maybe he has the numbers.

I could believe it. Everyone is assuming that social means competitive.

If you want to be technical the vast majority of games are still single player games.

Multiplayer games(both competitive and co-op) are by far my favorite kind of games, and it wasnt but a few years ago they were practically non existent.

It was so hard to find just one game that seemed that it was worth playing with friends. But since then theres been this wonderful surge in multiplayer games and I have a few on my plate now.

Its still more limited than what I want though.

Are the majority of people on Steam charts in multiplayer games, yes, but if you look at sales I bet single player games sell the most copies by far, and out of all games that release its still mostly single player games.

Multiplayer games are often times competitive and that means match based, which is practically the definition of replayability, their very core and essence is replayability. So it makes sense thats where the majority of people are at on any given day.

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u/throwaway-anon-1600 Oct 02 '24

He’s completely right though, I don’t even like fortnite but I still play it for a couple weeks every season because all of my friends like fortnite. It’s the highest quality live service game on the market, and it’s so successful because of the community features like custom games and social lobbies.

Look at the old king Halo 3, that game was also massively successful because it was both high-quality and had a ton of social/community features. I think it’s an important part of any multiplayer game, single player is different of course.

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u/obp5599 Oct 02 '24

anti social redditors No one wants to be social in games!!!!

I almost exclusively play games socially. I only really play games with my friends. Just because you personally don’t like it, doesnt mean it isnt popular

1

u/DillyWillyGirl Oct 02 '24

Hell I’d love more social games… but like, actual real life social. Games I can invite friends over to play split screen with me. I have so many memories playing the different COD game modes with friends, in PERSON. Nowadays it seems like the only way to play multiplayer is to have multiple screens and be in different places. That has its place, but I still want the first one!

1

u/ye_olde_green_eyes Oct 02 '24

I want to lay supine on my couch and press buttons.

1

u/Unlucky-Candidate198 Oct 02 '24

It’s a classic neo-capitalist move.

Basically, manipulate your consumer’s brains to make them feel worse about not spending money or being social or w.e.

In reality, he’s another out-of-touch corpo suit who worships nothing but money and gets kept up at night wondering why, when he throws more money at beautiful women, they don’t want him more.

Turns out more money doesn’t = quality/interest. Who knew? I mean, besides ppl who are tired of living under ppl who put money over people’s lives, I mean.

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u/obp5599 Oct 02 '24

anti social redditors No one wants to be social in games!!!!!!

Shocker