Nintendo, Microsoft, Square welcome us to the era of fewer big video games
Data shows that Nintendo was ahead of the curve on this one.
www.gamefile.news
Nintendo, MS, Square welcome us to the era of fewer big video games. AAA slowdown has begun
- Thread starter Cyan
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www.gamefile.news
cheapchips
Veteran
Part of that drop in Nintendo releases is that the Switch consolidated development their home and portable platforms. They often had two versions of the same game across platforms (not necessarily in the same release window or generation). That's not all of the release slow down though and that platform consolidation has clearly helped them manage the increased fidelity that came with Switch.
Nintendo are such an odd duck! They side step some of the ballooning budgets issue by not pursuing photo realism or heavy use of cinematics. They're not immune to it though.
Really, they're still straddling the gen8/9 era. How much does the Switch 2's increased power push on the art resources required? Maybe it's not that much.
Nintendo are such an odd duck! They side step some of the ballooning budgets issue by not pursuing photo realism or heavy use of cinematics. They're not immune to it though.
Really, they're still straddling the gen8/9 era. How much does the Switch 2's increased power push on the art resources required? Maybe it's not that much.
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They're basically tracking 1 to 1.5 generations behind in technical pursuits and so costs, IMO.
Nintendo will be the last to abandon the full walled garden model because they made the right choice to keep it the longer...But in the end, eveything point to it becoming unstainable alone (inflation, increasing of costs of everything console and game related, time to relase content)
The model was saved by paid services, indy game explosion then MTX
I don't see the next thing to attach a '"wall cost" to to get even more $ per head of the console population that is more or less stagnant. Also can that population pay it (especially in current context) ?
If not , prepare for the "garden door" to open more and more even for nintendo at some point.
The model was saved by paid services, indy game explosion then MTX
I don't see the next thing to attach a '"wall cost" to to get even more $ per head of the console population that is more or less stagnant. Also can that population pay it (especially in current context) ?
If not , prepare for the "garden door" to open more and more even for nintendo at some point.
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cheapchips
Veteran
I'd been pondering that and don't really know how to break that down a more. The crux of my pondering is that they mostly avoid realistic graphics. It's not that cartoon graphics/animation haven't increase their overhead, but I don't think it's followed the same art demand curve as realism in the AAA space.
From a general perspective on dev costs, they do benefit from much of their team being under one roof. They can ramp up and down across projects in a way that other aggregated studios can't necessarily manage. If you look at who's worked on what, many of their staff are all over the credits for everything.
cheapchips
Veteran
It means the Switch 2 has the powah to run UE5 titles just fine of course!
I don't know if your reply was in jest but to respond in similar kind does this mean they'll finally give up on portable form factors ?!
cheapchips
Veteran
It was half in jest. Given how Steamdeck performs with UE5 titles, there's at least some scope for their titles to scale to Switch 2.
If you're referring to the DF tests then they're not great data given that a number of those games past the intro/beginning sequence become unplayable in the later stages ...
It shouldn't be. They care most about their "special" lighting which Miyamoto loves, but on a small screen I see no need to create AAA games. Their games are AAA for the most part, if we consider fun, not budget.
True AAA games though suffer from slowdown, but if they keep slowing down more they are going to be released every 15 years.
The situation of Square Enix is difficult and peculiar. They have been Sony's bitch, and Sony kidnapped them like Bowser kidnaps princess Peach, but look at them now, but aligning with Sony didn't work for them, because of the AAA crisis. You could blame Sony too, it's not only MS which has a bad effect on studios.
This is mostly a problem for subscription services where people were told if they kept subscribing, they would get a few game of the years, per year, every year. Then being told for years: “wait until next E3/ wait until next year!
If I am getting some indie titles mixed in with some b-grade exclusives, with the AAAA promise for that year being a disappointment, then I don’t think it is a surprise that there is no more subscriber growth. It is down to us fanboys basically
If I am getting some indie titles mixed in with some b-grade exclusives, with the AAAA promise for that year being a disappointment, then I don’t think it is a surprise that there is no more subscriber growth. It is down to us fanboys basically
Even though gamepass is not the most popular thing, I have many games of mine, but I also have pc gamepass, and to be able to discover a lot of family games, which I didn't know and hence would never buy, to play with my nephews and other family such as Human Fall Flat or Overcooked 2, which I played yesterday with my 4 and 7 years old -just turned -... is a really good thing.
Seeing them interact with each other -which is the point- playing games with local co-op or split screen, it's as valuable -or more- for me than any AAA or exclusive.
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You could have actually bought those games AND take them to an amusement park every year for less money and your nephews would think of you as an ever better uncle.
Johnny Awesome
Veteran
Except this didn't happen. As you can see in the 1st party thread, MS was pretty competitive (2022 excepted) and not only that but provided INCREDIBLE value with GP. The argument at Beyond3D isn't whether or not GP is amazing value as almost everyone agrees that it is, but whether or not MS can provide that amazing value in a profitable way.
I don't know where you've been, but it costs about $800 a day to go to Disney World with your family of 4.
$800 a day is on the low end.
I think MS's two weakest years were 2020 and 2022 .
This year for many just including cod in game pass will save them a lot of money
"No" what? That's an inadequate contribution to the discussion.
This "No" refers to the suggestion in the title of the topic.
The slowdown in the release of AAA games can be attributed to the past few years, in the following years there will be an acceleration in game development and game releases. In fact, this can already be observed this year, in the second half of the year 6-7 Microsoft games will be released, and next year MANY AAA games will be released.
Furthermore, there are factors, such as the use of AI in game development, which essentially speeds up the time required to create games.
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