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/kdebones Oct 02 '24

Welp, he was right in the first half, a lot of high budget games aren't selling. Tho because "they're not social enough" is a level of brain rot that's indicative of the overarching real issue.

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u/Reuniclus_exe Oct 02 '24

I don't understand why anyone would buy any AAA game at launch. I have too large of a backlog to drop $60 on a game that won't be finished for another year.

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u/Danielfrindley Oct 02 '24

Agreed. But also they're $70 now so even more of a reason to wait for a sale

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u/10000Didgeridoos Oct 02 '24

I'm more surprised game price stayed at $60 for as long as it did. It was well over a decade. $60 in 2010 is $87 now, so $70 for a game is actually significantly cheaper adjusted for inflation than new games cost during the PS3/Xbox 360 generation.

But yes, I'm not dropping $60, 70, whatever on a brand new game that is likely to be filled with issues, either.

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u/guitarburst05 Oct 02 '24

And minimum wage in 2010 was $7.25 and minimum wage today is $7.25.

I don’t care for throwing around the costs of inflation for a luxury recreational item when wages aren’t going up in kind. People need bread and gas and rent and don’t have an option to hold off on those due to rising costs, so yeah, maybe game prices should’ve stayed $60.

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u/P4azz Oct 02 '24

even more of a reason to wait for a sale

Or, how about this, you buy the game you've been waiting for when it's available, instead of demoting it to "won't play it" status the instant you hear about it.

"Just wait 2 years" isn't really a great piece of advice for people who actually want to play the game. It's fantastic advice for people who don't care about the game, but why are they part of the discussion on "who buys games on day1"?

When From releases a new game that looks good, then yeah, I'll buy that. When MHWilds is released, I would buy that day 1, if the requirements weren't so crazy steep, because I want to play the game.

At some point people seem to have deluded themselves into thinking you can't enjoy games unless you get the perfect bargain.

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u/-s-u-n-s-e-t- Oct 02 '24

Also, there are massive downsides to waiting. For multiplayer games, you don't even know if the servers will still be up, or if your friends will still be playing it 2 years later. And even if they are, the game is already well established, the fun of exploring the meta is gone, and you are behind everyone.

For single player games, waiting means you risk getting the story spoiled. I didn't immediately play TLOU2 on launch and I regret it so much. Pretty much every story beat was spoiled in its entirety. People just stop caring about marking spoilers a few months down the line.

You'll be downvoted, but you are 100% correct. If you are excited about a game, it's perfectly reasonable to buy it when it comes out. Especially since we aren't talking about a 2 million home purchase here, spending 60-70 bucks on something you love is not something a functioning adult with a job can't handle.

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u/angiexbby Oct 02 '24

some people just enjoys playing games on day1. I can wait 2+ years until the game I want goes on sale for $5. but most people can’t or don’t want to.

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u/LordOfDorkness42 Oct 02 '24

There's some games I've reluctantly brought day one due to expecting a storm of spoilers online and knowing if I try waiting I'll have the story ruined.

Been a while since I felt that, but games like Return of Obra Dinn, Aegis Rim: 13 Sentinels, Dredge, or Lies of P once that last one turned out so dang good.

Otherwise... Yeah. Usually wait until at least 30%-50% of myself. There's just so many great games out there, and a lot of 'em just don't play or look dated in the slightest even if you wait years to go play them nowadays.

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u/[deleted] Oct 02 '24

I'm waiting for the new Dragon Ball release next week, and I'm not preordering until the game is FULLY out and the verdict on the streets is good.

There's literally no reason to preorder, not even for the "play 3 days early" gimmick, which is basically "pay some extra to help us iron out the inevitable launch issues".

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u/TheYango Oct 02 '24

The other thing is that information travels so fast now that you will get full impressions from people who binged the game in just a few days after release. You can still get in on the launch hype if you just wait a few days after release rather than preordering.

If a game launches on a Wednesday, I won't even get a ton of time to play it until the weekend anyway, so there's zero reason for me to buy it before it launches. Better to wait for people to formulate opinions about the game for 3 days then buy it when I would have time to play it anyway. There just isn't a meaningful difference between owning the game on Day 1 and Day 4 when I have work and other life commitments anyway.

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u/Fantastic_Snow_9633 Oct 02 '24

Some games just work better when they're bought and played at launch due to the community and social aspect of them. A single-player, story-focused game will have a thriving community at launch with people discussing anything and everything about it - secrets, easter eggs, themes, plot points, etc. Play the game a year+ and the community is more than likely stagnant because anything left to discuss already has been ad nauseam.

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u/mucho-gusto Oct 02 '24

Literally only did it for Astro Bot 

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u/Yourself013 Oct 02 '24

Eh, I have disposable income and sometimes I am very excited for a game so I go for it, especially when my friends are also getting it as well, so we can go through the experience at the same time/together and talk about it. Some games are also better to experience Day 1 when you also engage with the community (like Elden Ring) and not get spoiled on the internet (which happens quite often with random clickbait articles or youtube video suggestions).

I have a large backlog, but I found that I enjoy gaming a lot less when I play whatever I want to instead of trying to knock off games from the backlog one after the other, even if I am not entirely in the mood for them. So if something new and good is coming that I am excited about (like Space Marine 2 currently), I have no issues paying for good content.

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u/OneBillPhil Oct 02 '24

And if it’s an online focused game it’s usually released in terrible shape. 

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u/HonseBox Oct 02 '24

People replying to the price bit, but the backlog is the issue for me. I have enough games to catch up on I could skip buying one for probably 3 years!

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u/Numerous-Cicada3841 Oct 02 '24

I preserve launch day buys for games I know are gonna be awesome. God of War Ragnarok, for example. GTA VI will be another one. But those are special buys that I know aren’t gonna miss.

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u/Bageland2000 Oct 02 '24

Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew Cyberpunk was gonna be awesome. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

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u/TheFlyingZombie Oct 02 '24

Cyberpunk is the perfect example why I wait now. I literally refunded the game it was so bad, bought it way later after the fixes and it ended up being one of my favorite games ever. I'm good to wait, so many games nowadays get released in a beta state.

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u/Bageland2000 Oct 02 '24

Agreed. I lost all faith in humanity when I began hearing people defend the game and try to paint it as some sort of quality game with some flaws. It was an absolute dumpster fire and people should have their PCs/consoles taken from them for saying otherwise.

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u/absolutelynotarepost Oct 02 '24

That wasn't the universal experience.

I played it at launch all the way through multiple times on PC and didn't have a single one of the "game breaking bugs" that people complained about. Hell I don't think I ever it even crash which is more than I can say for Elden Ring, BG3, Dead Space, or RE4.

You clearly had issues so your opinion is what it is and that's valid.

My copy functioned perfectly and therefore it was a great game that only got better as they worked on it. That experience is also valid.

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u/Bageland2000 Oct 02 '24

No, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. The game ran really well from a stability perspective. It was the actual game itself that was garbage. Literally everything that the game was advertised as was omitted. It was also just objectively bad.

I don't actually care that much, at the end of the day people should like what they like, but I just can't understand how anyone liked it. There are so many games out there that were just better in every way possible.

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u/absolutelynotarepost Oct 02 '24

Alright tell me this. What do you consider to be a good game?

Because I'm a life long RPG player and it's story was one of the most interesting and emotionally engaging I've ever experienced. One of the endings actually made me cry, a thing a game hasn't done since I was like 13 and Yuna fell through Tidus at the end of FFX.

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u/Bageland2000 Oct 02 '24

I mean, the obvious example is The Witcher 3. I love all genres from the original Monkey Island to Mario RPG, the Talos Principle, It Takes Two, Ocarina of Time, OG Overwatch, Undertale, Papers Please, Half Life 1&2, StarCraft 1&2, Cuphead, etc. I could list games that were really well executed that delivered on their promises for hours.

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u/absolutelynotarepost Oct 02 '24

That's interesting how much our opinions differ because I found CP2077 to be engaging and fun whereas my experience with TW3 was that it was one of the most boring and annoying games I've ever played. I forced myself through the entire first continent before finally giving up because I disliked it so much.

Maybe my opinion is because I didn't have my thumb on the pulse of what was promised for launch. I was vaguely aware it was coming out and tried it on a whim and had a blast with it. I can see people being understandably salty over failing to meet what was promised, but for me I had zero expectations going in and I suspect it made it a much different experience for me than for you.

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u/DJKokaKola Oct 02 '24

I mean, I bought cyberpunk day one and it played really well on my PC? The only glitch I encountered close to release was because I was on an HDD and there were some weird graphical things that popped up.

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u/Ashzael Oct 02 '24

Same, I just upgraded my whole PC so it ran fine. It wasn't as smooth as it is now, but with the exception of a few minor bugs here and there I had 0 problems.

However I was lucky that by pure coincidence my previous pc broke down just before the release so I had to upgrade. I have seen the horrendous horror stories with pictures and video's online and pffff.... It was rough.

But understandable, the game was clearly made for the next gen but at the last minute, had to downgrade to the previous gen because of covid and scalpers.

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u/Bageland2000 Oct 02 '24

Oh and it was an absolutely empty, hollow, terrible game.

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u/DJKokaKola Oct 02 '24

I mean. You're free to think that. I disagree, and quite enjoyed my time with it despite areas it could have done better.