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?

26.1k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

5.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

103

u/ImTooOldForSchool Oct 02 '24 edited Oct 02 '24

Lies of P was one of my favorite games of the past year, but I couldn’t tell you who published it TBH. All I know is it wasn’t one of the usual suspects, they’d never take such a risk.

Running around this Victorian horror hellscape as a cyborg Pinocchio slaying all the evil machine puppets and learning that your lies have consequences was soo fucking cool. By the end of the game, I really wanted my character to become human!

20

u/jahkillinem Oct 02 '24

Insane to me that someone considers a high budget soulslike based on a known fairytale a risk in a post Elden Ring world lmao

7

u/ImTooOldForSchool Oct 02 '24

Soulslike products don’t tend to perform that well, usually janky messes that don’t meet the same kind of level/story quality or satisfying combat. Look at how Lords of the Fallen kinda flopped for example.

For me, Lies of P played like a very polished game and the combat was extremely satisfying. Definitely inspired by FromSoftware, but the developer leaned into its own identity with a horrror spin on the classic fairy tale. Much different vibe than the dystopian hellscape of zombies and magic lords being vanquished by an unnamed hero of prophesy in FromSoftware games.

5

u/jahkillinem Oct 02 '24 edited Oct 02 '24

The first lords of the fallen flopped 10 years ago, the new one created record revenues for the company (also post Elden Ring). The literal most mainstream franchise ever in Star Wars went soulslike route and succeeded twice with the jedi games. I think with the sheer number of souls style and souls like games and high profile ones at indie, AA and AAA levels in the last 5 years makes it hard to argue they're a risky thing to attempt anymore.

Soulsborne/Sekiro are the dominant blueprint for single-player action rpg style games right now and even has light influences on things like the new God of War. Remnant, Wo Long, Black Myth Wukong, Jedi, Lies of P, 9 Sols, Flintlock, South of Midnight, Stellar Blade, so many names have been following that lineage lately whether it's pulling from their signature environment/level design, losing your xp/currency on death and retrieving them, combat mechanics and punishing nature, large scale "swing at the ankles" boss fights, dark Gothic artstyle, etc. And people are absolutely willing to take a dive into a version that isn't as good as FromSoft's iterations if it has something unique to offer or just out of morbid curiosity and love for that soulslike flavor.

I'm not saying Lies of P isn't excellent, and I think it gets the closest to actually achieving the feel of a soulsborne game that feels like it could stand next to FromSoft's library as another entry. But I think the success of FromSoft as well as the size of the genre it sits within is solid evidence of it not being a huge risk to go for.

5

u/puffbro Oct 02 '24

It’s published by neowiz a Korean publisher. Their mobile games are generally p2w games so it’s great that they would take such a risk.