Ex Developer Tells Us What Really Happened

Today's story encapsulates just how wrong things got. At a certain point, rather than build, the largest publishers merely extract. This is amazing for their bottom line, but it's at the cost of the artistic vision that built them in the first place.
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Sources:
• 「クレイジータクシー」開発者インタビュー
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• Dead Rising Deluxe Rem...
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[@BellularNews]

Let's hope GTA VI brings back narrative DLC. GTA V could have been so much more. Join us at bellular.games for early access content, 20 editions of 'Loading Screen' a month and to support our team!

[@gunm808]

it won't. Shark Cards destroyed that track a long while ago.

[@trentonemy4241]

So weird how people seem to be more obsessed with DLC than the actual quality of the main game. It would be like hearing The Matrix was coming out but you’re only interested in whether it was getting a sequel 🤔

[@boburanus69]

You are better off installing GTA 4 and calling it a day. Gaming is over.

[@spence6195]

Grand Theft Auto became the same thing it was mocking, Capitalism over Satire

[@RageRaccoon]

Having any hope for gta vi being anything else other than an even more monetized version of what we already have, is naivety on a level I wouldn't even expect from a child. It really really sucks to say that, but it's the truth. I'd rather be realistic and accept what i once loved is gone, than get high off hopium to deal with reality.

[@xSPAZNSPARTANx]

This industry can basically be summed up as "Good news! The product has met expectations. But the bad news is that it didn't meet our "higher" expectations, so our stock has crashed and we're closing down."

[@PaulGuy]

And by "crashed", they mean "didn't go up as much as we'd hoped".

[@op4000exe]

@@PaulGuy I'd argue that by "crashed" they mean: "We fired 20% of our workforce to make the earnings reports look better than they are!"

[@dab88]

so much the same as every other industry? Greed is universal.

[@ArifRWinandar]

@@op4000exe Gotta respect Arrowhead for not immediately increasing their workforce and instead staying small and keeping expectations low despite Helldivers 2 being one of the biggest success story of the year.

[@mathieus.1851]

Welcome in ultra capitalism

[@steadyrow]

gaming is going the same direction as everything else, we live in an economy of exploitation.

[@murdendev]

This!!

[@dvs21a]

Only if people choose to be exploited. Nobody forces anyone to play the crap. They choose. There are plenty of good games coming out from other developers. After the mess of the Trilogy Definitive Edition, I won't spend a penny with Rockstar again.

[@dundercontrol]

If you think gaming is getting exploitative now, then you must be very new to the scene. This kinda shit has been going strong for 10 years +. The only problem is the consumers won't wise up to it and keep buying into trash like call of duty every year. This is a tired conversation that gets reheld every 6 months and no one does shit to actually help

[@truecaliber1995]

​​​@@dvs21a We are trapped within this system --- we're all victims. Blaming each other isn't going to change that. Thinking it will is counterproductive. Additionally, whether you know it or not, we're being exploited _daily._ Such is the result of late-stage capitalism. You can make as many good purchasing decisions as you want. Soon enough, most of us won't be able to afford even the quality games, let alone basic necessities. You are right, though. We _should_ support the hard-working developers of this industry, i.e. the people who actually deserve our money. While we still can, anyway.

[@custos3249]

Careful. Don't wanna risk sounding like one of those scaaaaaaary Marxists.

[@Npi13O7]

Shareholders were a mistake

[@goosewithagibus]

Corporations took capitalism from dumb to outright fantasy bullshit

[@maxmikester8185]

The stock market was a mistake.

[@Jormungrandrserpent]

@@Josh_728 that is false, the modern stock market was first introduced by the Dutch East India Trading Company in Amsterdam. In fact, relating to Stock Market to the Jewish is anti-sematic itself, by assuming one's faith means the stock market was their creation.

[@Josh_728]

@@Jormungrandrserpent "G-strings are female underwear" "Well ackshually that's false, it began as a tribal male underwear"

[@lunaqueer]

​@@Josh_728That's what rich white people through the last century and a half of history want you to think🙄

[@ea_gaming]

Everything is now measured in quarters, not decades. The company I work for is slashing jobs in the US every quarter to hire those same jobs overseas- despite them providing virtually none of the quality. My job is to clean up the messes they create. All so we can pay a larger dividend to shareholders, while watching our customer base evaporate due to crap customer service.

[@firestarter000001]

I think thats the main problem, the quearter timeline. Without a review of the company in 1-5 years interval, and an incentive to make it really grow in such a longer time, the whole system just doesnt work.

[@Furzkampfbomber]

@@firestarter000001 It basically sets the company on overdrive, which also means it will be burned out quite fast. But like any good locust, the shareholders don't care, they've made their cut and now move on to greener pastures.

[@bargainbincatgirl6698]

And the worst part is, that if you're really good cleaning the mess, they can still claim their decision was good. Underpaying employees for low quality work and pay someone else to fix it is still good in the quarter earnings.

[@Eltener123]

I've never understood why there was so little outrage over Rockstar having some of the most (if not THE most) egregious monetisation practices in gaming

[@todesziege]

Rockstar/GTA always gets a free pass for whatever. It is tradition.

[@XBluDiamondX]

Probably because they like to be sheep and buy all those shark cards to keep the cash cow going.

[@zuriyel5368]

@@todesziege Yup, it's the same way with how Bethesda got a free pass for the longest time and people just accepted that their games would be buggy af and that fans would be fixing their games.

[@lycanwarrior2137]

@@todesziege Them and Valve/Steam.

[@user-vu9ug4vb3u]

My guess is that most of people who still play GTA V are either joined gaming industry just recently (aka kids), or dont realy care about quality of content. Sadly, there are alot gamers like this, otherwise games like CoD and FIFA would not exist

[@earlyriser03]

When Take-Two/Rockstar believe putting a literal casino in their game is more important than expanding the narrative, truly…they’ve jumped the Shark. YEEEAAAAAAAAAH!!!! 😎

[@MastaofPasta]

I guess you could say they... Jumped the Shark cards?

[@trentonemy4241]

I mean the majority of their company is literally working on their next narrative game. What difference does it make if their narrative efforts go into the next new game or dlc for the old one?

[@earlyriser03]

@@trentonemy4241 it makes a difference when announced narrative DLC for the now over 10-year-old game was scrapped early in said game’s life cycle in favor of some of the most predatory money vacuums imaginable: microtransactions and a casino.

[@trentonemy4241]

@@earlyriser03 except they didn’t announce any DLC.

[@trentonemy4241]

@@earlyriser03 and I’m much rather play a brand new next gen gta then dlc for an older title. Especially with the love and care they poured into RDR2

[@kellyjr0918]

Lets not forget how hi fi rush was successful then the studio was closed in a year

[@vytah]

Was it successful though? Didn't everyone play it on Gamepass, not paying a single cent?

[@urracojalpa4481]

@@vytah Yes it was, according to every key metrics.

[@brandonedlin2052]

@@vytahThat’s not an outlying point that’s a symptom of the problem. The Devs made a very good game (according to most people it seems) it getting rolled into Microsoft’s genius decision to follow a profit model that has proven unsuccessful for most streaming platforms and all movie theaters isn’t that fault of the Devs.

[@thahirshibu5042]

Kaijuu entertainments made some solid cult classics and shadow dropped a smash hit And they still got shut down

[@shadeblackwolf1508]

That is not just gaming... Why invest in the future when you can profit today kinda sums up the state of industry today.

[@BigQuadsOnCampus]

Short term gains is what runs the world

[@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese]

It's why every company puts out one solid version of their product and then cheapens up the next wave. The product suffers, ratings lower, the company loses stock and eventually becomes just another generic producer. It's the stupidest cycle in the corporate world (and trust me, that's saying something). MAKE your product good, KEEP your product good. This shouldn't be so difficult to understand.

[@Max_Mustermann]

There's also the aspect of AAA games becoming increasingly more expensive to develop, so game studios are trying to avoid risk. Making the 26th entry to an established franchise is less risky than coming out with something unique and original.

[@matheussantos250]

I don’t know a single person who has ever bought shark cards, I don’t understand how people still play GTAO to this day with the amount of grind and insane mtx

[@greenhowie]

I got a shark card once on payday when I was stoned. Bought a property and then someone hacked the lobby and gave everyone millions. Complete waste of money for the card but at least I spent the hacked money on cars to sell later, Rockstar takes money away if it detects you were in a hacked server but not cars or property.

[@quademasters249]

There's a small core of people who spend this money. It's really small, under 10% of all players. They're the ones giving millions to rockstar every year.

[@dalethepineapple4337]

Glitches make it a lot easier. I just like driving around in the game at this point. I love the way the driving feels.

[@quademasters249]

@@dalethepineapple4337 Agreed. My two favorite things are the driving and listening to Lamar and Trevor talk to each other.

[@lelciones]

I still not recovered from the lack of a Undead Nightmare DLC for RDR2

[@fiel81]

yeah, it's pretty ludicrous that we never got any single player dlc

[@animuslite8809]

I'm thinking about how good that would look and honestly the idea of it scares me. Being chased through the bayou by the undead would be insane.

[@trentonemy4241]

Umm maybe ‘recover’ by playing the entire epilogue they included in the game for free.. something every other publisher on the planet would have charged money as DLC

[@TomoEriGoto]

They wasted all that time and money on Online that they inevitably abandoned, but making a SP Undead Nightmare II was a bridge too far, apparently.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

​@@fiel81 or multiplayer. RDO is just not my cup of tea but I played it for a friend who loves the atmosphere and warmed up to it somewhat. we found out the planned story for multiplayer was basically abandoned and I lost what enthusiasm I had. Now when we play we use a mod to whitelist only us in our session and keep cheaters from blowing us up while we mind our own business.

[@ThePhantom9495]

This is my 80% of my library is indie games.

[@brianestrada1993]

For me it's like 50% Indie 25% Live service/Gacha 20% AA games And maybe 5% AAA games that are mostly older ones released before 2018.

[@seawind930]

Why I have three emulators on my computer and a few GOG and steam games

[@1mariomaniac]

​@@seawind930 Half of my games are just stuff for PCSXR, PCSX2, and Mupen64Plus. Golden age of gaming right there and I wasn't even alive for the PS1 and N64 lol.

[@thekotabear3262]

​@@1mariomaniacahh culture I see

[@greenhowie]

Sometimes indie games fall into this as well but it's a lot rarer than standard AAA trash

[@dogethegamershibe]

It’s exactly why I decided to check out of online/AAA titles and put my focus solely on the retro/indie singleplayer titles. I get an actually complete product this way and I still have fun. I can play them whenever I’d like, even without an internet connection. On the plus side, the gaming companies can’t shut down any servers making them unplayable because they’re singleplayer. I did have some good memories with the community on some online games such as FFXIV and Guild Wars 2, but I can’t play them anymore. When the servers inevitably shut down for those games, they’re gone for good and I loose all the money I invested into them. The Crew situation made that very clear.

[@1mariomaniac]

I have a bunch of emulators on my PC. PCSXR, PCSX2, Dolphin, Mupen64Plus, BSNES, mGBA, DOSBOX, NEStopia, and MAME. Those 9 emulators probably make up the vast majority of my game library lol.

[@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese]

Chained Echoes is one of my favorite games to come out in recent years. It's better than most AAA titles and it was developed almost entirely by a single drunk German

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

I dropped games like Destiny 2 and Warframe for singleplayer roguelikes. satisfies that weird brain itch for progression and random rolls without feeling like a second job.

[@snark567]

​@1mariomaniac Recently I've been playing mostly indie or emulated games from the ps1, ps2 era.

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

Honestly. The existence of GTAV online makes the announce if GTA6 even weirder. Why finally go for a sequel if online prints money only outmatched by the mobile gacha empires.

[@VioletElite4]

And at a certain point once GTA 6 is justified enough to play online consistently, the gta 5 servers will be shutoff, just like gta 4 online...

[@walalon8719]

Maybe they want to create GTA6 Online 2! And the whales are going to burn money again because it's a new version.

[@trentonemy4241]

Or maybe they just love making single player games ?

[@searchengine27]

Because GTA online is stagnating. GTA 6 with its own online generates new and revitalized online revenue streams. Its pretty simple, actually.

[@Sniperbear13]

with the updates they are making to GTA Online though makes me wonder if GTA 6 is gonna have a online component(at launch anyway). why keep adding to the old one if you could be spending that time and energy on finishing GTA 6 online?

[@olchum7605]

Damn. the bots are quick af lmao

[@kato2395]

Ye ccp bots like u sure are fast

[@Frostea]

Western AAA games development have absurd bloat and terrible pay, leading to crappy employee retention. Complicated games are complicated software. I have a strong feeling that studios make garbage games now, not mainly because shareholders demand quarterly profits, but rather, losing experienced employees due to poor compensation. Experienced devs are older, meaning they got more concerns, like a family. A stable income at a regular tech company tends to pay better.

[@nerdjournal]

Lol. But the poor compensation is driven by the push for higher and higher quarterly profits. You basically just said It isn't the demand for high profits that cause it, it's the insistence on low compensation. BRO THOSE ARE THE SAME THINGS. The reason the compensation is low is to make the quarterlies higher. Then there is also the need for the CEO's to show gains in areas to earn their Bonuses. Which in some years are based closely on how much money is saved from letting people go and paying them lower incomes.

[@boburanus69]

The industry is led by 'corporate structure' and when you have a CEO in a board meeting trying to understand the relationship of the lines on the graph, it's painfully obvious why developers don't put out good games anymore. Leadership isn't a KID excited to see a sequel. Leadership is an old woman serving court papers to randos.

[@adrianocs4]

​@@nerdjournalAlso quartely profits don't make any sense in gaming. 3 to 7 years to make a game that has 3 months to recover all development cost and make a profit. You need dozens of IPs or live services games to make quartely profits work.

[@1mariomaniac]

​@@nerdjournalYep. Companies want extra money NOW so they lay off workers, cut pay, and fill games with more monetization. The company suffers long-term because of a lack of skilled workers and alienating some of their players but they want to make more money NOW so they do it again. It's a vicious cycle. Maybe if the CEO took a smaller bonus they'd do better but you don't understand he just _needs_ a third yacht.

[@San_Vito]

Only Western? My man, have you seen Genshin Impact?

[@LecherousLizard]

...and it all started with a $2 DLC for TES4: Oblivion.

[@XBluDiamondX]

Not to mention the assholes over at Bethesda have been trying to shove paid mod content down our throats. I'll be honest, I really have no desire to see modders get compensated. They can piss off for all I care.

[@LecherousLizard]

@@XBluDiamondX It's not the modders who want it (well, not the majority at least). It's a grift for Bethesda to make free buck off someone else's work.

[@Furzkampfbomber]

@@XBluDiamondX And even worse, they _had_ to cram this payed mod crap into Fallout 4, thus breaking a massive amount of mods. FFS, you know a company is broken when you actually sigh with relieve after they stop supporting a game - because you know that _finally_ there will be no more patches that do nothing good, but break your mods every. single. time. I actually thought we'd be on the safe side with F4 by now, but nooo...

[@BEARDEDSLOTH802]

I agine thinking horse armor was the cause. It was happening regardless of game

[@LecherousLizard]

@@BEARDEDSLOTH802 Um. Did you get had by the auto-correct there?

[@missitheachievementhuntres560]

I’m so glad we have so many AA studios and indies. They are picking up the slack the big companies leave behind. I love the 20 hour games without micro transactions, multiplayer and nog too many dlcs if none at all. I love the variety of different gaming worlds.

[@Dr.AvenVon]

too bad most of those AA studios and indies also release just garbage

[@vuklind_9301]

​@@Dr.AvenVon That's just because you don't know what or how to search good AA or Indie games lol, it's not really hard to find the good ones tbh

[@Dr.AvenVon]

@@vuklind_9301 well, then tell me how. because all of the indie games I try out are trash. no matter how well known, no matter how generic or how unique it looks. basicaly all of them were shit

[@vuklind_9301]

@@Dr.AvenVon What games do you enjoy and what indie games did you try out? Because I can name a whole lot of great indie games, but if you don't like a particular genre, it's obvious you won't like a game. Still, I find it weird that you didn't found at least 1 enjoyable Indie or AA game considering how much more diverse they are compared to AAA, pretty sure you just got recommended stuff that you particularly don't like cuz ain't no way you can't find something redeemable between all the sea of unique games.

[@Lakrushma]

Lets not forget the good modern video games however. Elden Ring, BG3, Tears of the Kingdom, etc. Its time for people to speak with their money. Make your own value propisitions and give money to the studios that are giving consumer surplus rather than taking as much as they can.

[@linkfreeman1998]

Even with those games exists, I rather spend the money somewhere else more important. Entertainment industry is overvalued.

[@Lakrushma]

@@linkfreeman1998 Kinda ironic when your name is literally from two video games😂. But spend the money wherever you see value. However the entertainment industry isn't going nowhere and tbh it really shouldn't. Its offered some amazing expieriences in the form of games/media that I'm quite grateful for personally.

[@Random_dud31]

And yet even all that success, fortine made more money that year. The problem is that Executives that taking money from kids is a great business strategy

[@dundercontrol]

To be fair, Baulders gate 3 is the same game as the 3 other DND like games that companies made that are all equally fantastic like the divinity series and tears of the kingdom was a 60$ expansion for botw

[@Lakrushma]

@@dundercontrol All were excellent games. Its why I said etc.. Including Tears of the Kingdom. Also you could make the same argument that Majoras Mask was just a dlc to Ocarina of Time then. I have no problem with a game reusing assets as long as its done in a creative unique new way, which Tears of the Kingdom 100 percent did.

[@TheArtist808]

"why invest in the future, when you can profit off the present" perfection

[@Dark_Depresion]

I have said for years, and will continue to say for many more to come, that by far the two worst things that ever happened to the gaming industry was GTA V and Fortnite. The amount of damage those two games alone have done will take decades to fix... and that's assuming a desire to fix it, which we don't have yet from the C-suite and AAA studios.

[@earlyriser03]

Honestly, this was the dream of major publishers since online connectivity came to consoles in earnest during the sixth generation. Sega execs for the Dreamcast were talking about how the ideal platform and game would capture users and keep them inside that one experience with virtually endless content and potential for virtually endless revenue stream.

[@lycanwarrior2137]

@@earlyriser03 You are describing an ecosystem essentially. That's already becomes the case for the console manufacturers like Nintendo and Sony. And on the PC side, that would be Valve/Steam.

[@earlyriser03]

@@lycanwarrior2137 correct. Ecosystems are exactly what GTA V and Fortnite are. The term is not limited to hardware, especially since games only need a screen and a streaming dongle to be played.

[@dundercontrol]

Hahaha GTA sure but fortnite isn't why most single player games went to coop looter shooter trash

[@samuel5591]

To be fair, if you want to point fingers... I would be looking at WoW since they were the first major game to charge for a subscription. Their success made all the studios take notice and wonder how they could copy that monthly payment model.

[@A-Duck]

"Money now" is a fundamental quality of a publicly traded company. It is intrinsic and unavoidable.

[@piedpiper1172]

Ish? Prior to legalization of stock buy backs, it genuinely did make sense to invest on longer timescales. Public companies will always favor the quickest legal money, but that doesn’t mean we have to allow the system to remain so deregulated that the quickest path is less than one financial quarter. There is a big difference in what gets produced, and how money is invested, when you expect your ROI in 1-2 years instead of 3-4 months.

[@wakakulyonetwo]

the biggest disappointment to me still to this day is that GTA 5 online was too successful and it cost us the dlcs and so much other games. Before it, R* had yearly releases and was not afraid to experiment sadly all of that is gone now, in an endless greed filled race to the bottom Still sad that Agent never got released

[@1mariomaniac]

It's a crying shame that Rockstar left their Midnight Club series to rot. I loved those games. Tough as nails, but super fun when you get it right.

[@TheExileFox]

Nit just that. TakeTwo were asses and tried to exterminate singleplayer modding for good. They still need to be sued for this shit.

[@WhatWillYouFind]

Pirate Software : " A single horse cosmetic purchase in WOW was more profitable than the entire game of SC2 WOL."

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

No one knows what SC2 WOL is

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

​@@josephbrandenburg4373 literally all it takes is watching the 60 second short he mentioned. you can do it 💪

[@ThatGuy-nb7zf]

Just like Bethesda pinky promises that ESO is not the reason we haven't had a new Elder Scrolls game in 13 years but I think we all know the truth.

[@XBluDiamondX]

Eh... I don't know about that. Keep in mind, the primary studio has both Fallout and now Starfield to develop games for. They don't want to bring in other studios to do the work, so when you have one studio and three IP's to make titles for, it makes sense that we haven't seen a new Elder Scrolls in a while. Also, from my understanding, ol' Todd mentioned he is tired of Elder Scrolls.

[@San_Vito]

​@@XBluDiamondXYet ES6 was announced six years ago...

[@johnfoe3574]

Here we go again... make good money is never enough, you have to make ALL MONEY.

[@terrythegnome2408]

yep the only reason why we get any single player games is because of people like myself who refuse to play multiplayer at all. If every studio switched to multiplayer, I'd never play games again. Unfortunately we are not as rampant as those who play online constantly

[@TheExileFox]

Multiplayer can work well, the problem is the MMO's and such. It's very different to be a handful of players compared to hundreds (yes that includes lobby games, like Counter-Strike)

[@terrythegnome2408]

@@TheExileFox yeah there is definitely a place for well tailored high end mp but it is a dying breed sadly.

[@chpsilva]

@@TheExileFox FPS games are highly monetized now. I'd say way more than MMO's

[@Necropheliac]

It’s just kind of sad that it takes them so long to course correct. I started to notice the crop of disappointing game sales in 2018, and it only got worse with every cycle. It seemed like with every iteration the game developers decided to double down on the same things that caused the failure in the first place. When businesses behave this way, for a long enough time, the only eventual conclusion can be dissolution of the business, but for some reason these companies seem to be invulnerable to reconciliation of their mistakes. To me this is the most frustrating part of it. Tons of game studios have been chewed up and spit out, but Microsoft, Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Sony, just carry on as they’ve always done, same mistakes, different studios.

[@samuel5591]

Silly consumer! You don't know what you want. You need us to tell you what you want. Now stop talking and start typing your credit card details.

[@1mariomaniac]

Yeah. The leadership just doesn't know what they're doing mostly. If they see they aren't making the expected amount of money they do the simplest thing to increase income, lay off workers, cut pay, and put more microtransactions into the game. This makes their products worse so they suffer long term and they notice they're not making their expected amount of money again and the cycle continues. It's honestly amazing how people so incredibly tone deaf to customers can make it into a position to lead a company.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

it takes two to tango. gamers need to make execs tighten their belts, but that means gamers need to curb _their_ addictions. no more preorders, no more paid skins, no more battle passes. corpos will adapt to what we say we want from them if we stop sending one message with our voices and another with our wallets. no more of this "I'll buy it again, it will be different" delusion.

[@Delpino666]

People can shit on Nintendo all they like, at least they still focus on making great games instead if subscription bullshit

[@TheExileFox]

Never gonna buy Nientendo until they stop being asses with content creators

[@kurosu-samaklipleri7090]

Because they are not open minded, not opportunist, Japanese company. They are not thinking of their players when making games, trust me bro

[@garethmartin6522]

This is the worst fears of those who criticised horse armour realised.

[@svsv1191]

it peaked in the 90s, mario 64 and zelda oot is better than most games in terms of creating creative, even relatively

[@urracojalpa4481]

The PS2/Gamecube era was the peak of the gaming industry.

[@01swainco]

The Xbox 360 ruled consoles because they had a healthy 50 percent that never played online. Split screen games brought new players into the fold and the machine was used by kids at birthday parties, everyone in the house, and trained them how to play and immersion into gaming. When the teenage son got his own machine for his room he went online to do the PvP thing. The accountants killed split screen and they lost half their base. They lost the feeder system that put players into the other side, the online world. Half of the base was looking for escape from stress and never played the Fortnite or battlefield VS games. Phil Spencer says he wants to build the base but it's too late and everything they do pushes new players away

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

if half of 360 users didn't touch online multiplayer I don't see how that platform is to be blamed for the current state of the industry.

[@izzymosley1970]

I think it's very interesting how these huge companies like Rockstar that have the potential to make some of the most beautiful works of art of all time though their games are instead trapped by their obligation to make the most money possible for their investors. In a way it's like Rockstar made a deal with the devil.

[@trentonemy4241]

Oh you should play RDR2.. widely considered one of the most beautiful and well written pieces of art ever made in gaming. They had potential, and they exceeded it

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

​@@trentonemy4241 and now the game's online component is abandoned.

[@gearzdesign]

Rockstar and Take Two being greedy assholes? Noooooo, say it ain't so.

[@TheExileFox]

I still want Take Two sued for attempting to kill off singleplayer modding.

[@BFBeast666]

GTA Online was the most miserable time I had playing a multiplayer game. Screw idiots on Forza race tracks, screw griefers in CoD - all the gangsta wannabies in GTA Online made me quit multiplayer with randos entirely.

[@Queldonus]

Everyone remember, the franchises we all used to love and are now sick of started as an indie or AA developer. If you aren’t getting a quality product for your money, don’t give it to them just for nostalgia. There are better games to be found.

[@Daynation69]

GTA 6 is so cooked. They are probably gonna make you pay real money for modifications on your car.

[@elainetamika4822]

There is only 2 solution to this problem: 1. Game companies need become all indie and in a permanent way, no buyout, no share-holders, the only people entitled to earn the profits of it are the works in it (devs, designers, artist, etc) or the works in the company need hold something like a golden share, this way the company still operate in the share market, but no share-holder will be able to point in which direction the artists need to go. 2. The concept of IP needs go away or at least other companies need have right to make games about it if the holder are not using it nor planning doing in the next 3-5 years. This way no more companies will keep an interesting story in ice, because they will not entitled to be only ones to make something about it. Take for example Warhammer series, soo many companies started doing games about it, some were bad, others were damm good. Please comment and say what you think about it!

[@windexhc]

Counter point: Ready or Not is still an amazing game that maintained an ethical development process and created a fantastic experience. Frankly, squad, ground branch, and baldur’s gate all fit that bill as well. Like other forms of media, it seems like when games become too big to fail those experiences lose their souls.

[@bandolierboy1908]

Well when you're too big to fail, there's no drive to survive anymore

[@InvidiousIgnoramus]

Rockstar lost any business from me when they abandoned the Midnight Club series. Literally the only good thing they have ever produced, and i will not be convinced otherwise.

[@Goatcha_M]

The stupidest part is that the story mode expansions would have made an easy 1 Billion additional without really reducing Online revenues, but there was no way they could afford to hire more staff after Online was so unexpectedly successful that's crazy talk. And of course the constant push for more money out of less features has now left Online a shell of its former self.

[@bestill3x]

corporate gaming is the downfall of any studio who was successful enough to be bought by a corporation.

[@aleczero]

This reminds me of that Golden Goose story

[@LiftandCoa]

If i would own a well running private company is genuinely do not see any advantage in going public/inviting shareholders if you arent trying to solve a liquidity problem (which would be a gamble in the first place) with it. I think Valve is the perfect example. From game studio to publisher/distributor, to hardware developer. At both stages of "growth"/expanding the extend of their operations they could have used new cash funds via shareholders but didnt, because it shows time again its detrimental for your business future.

[@robertciesialka5495]

I loved RDR2 Online. And then there was the prey bug where we went weeks with only crows to hunt and skin and they did nothing. By the time they fixed it, the community was dead, which was sad because it was fun and different.

[@San_Vito]

I had a hard time enjoying it due to the ridiculous amount of monetization. Having to pay for each role was harsh.

[@BubbleoniaRising]

Enshitification is simply the last step before the final extinction. Why do you suppose the biggest stakeholders are building luxury bunkers and enclaves?

[@marsmotion]

because some time were all gonna be so fed up and come after them

[@rep8778]

I think more people are okay with gambling than in the past, especially here in the U.S. Companies are exploiting this complacency against the dangers of gambling addiction to the fullest. Now such a large portion of gaming profits are from lootbox/phone game garbage why would companies care to make a good game anymore?

[@San_Vito]

It's not just in the US, it's everywhere. Even the government of China expressed concern. Also, over here in Argentina we have not really put up regulations for online gambling. We have strong ones for traditional gambling.

[@michaelharder3055]

If you wanna profit from the present your product is no longer art. There are some of us who knows that and therefore don't play it.

[@kurtmueller2089]

almost as sad as learning that that one WoW cosmetic made Blizzard more money than all of Starcraft 2 combined

[@XZ-III]

my friends got mad at me for saying anyone who's bought shark cards is kinda an idiot. They kinda told me they bought sharkcards without really sayin they bought sharkcards

[@izzymosley1970]

I think it's a tragedy that Rockstar can't just focus on making the game good because there are forced to focus on making as much money as possible by their investors.

[@smartgoku9048]

man these companies need to remember that bigger isn't always better.

[@edi9892]

That line holds true for pretty much every single aspect in the West: politics, quality, customer service, declining investment in research and maintenance...

[@jamesrosenbaum8770]

At this point, the older I get the less engaged I am with AAA games. In fact, I actively avoid them because of the amount of exploitation and monetization on their part. I love exploring the older game or indie space, there's so much untapped gold. Meanwhile, AAA games have the pretty graphics but no quality control and seem to get stupider and stupider story wise. Special shoutout to Fromsoftware though, that team knows what they're doing. I also fully recognize that, as I'm the older generation that's becoming jaded, I'm not the target audience here. I only hope the younger generation gets wise to these predatory practices and stop investing in this rat race. I have hopes that's the case.

[@rd-um4sp]

"How to fit a product that have a minimum 3y development cycle but the financial model requires to make money every quarter?" Well, if you are big you can assign multiple teams with different projects and hire good managers. But most importantly, you need to set your shareholders expectations about how your business work and think about long term strategies. Setting expectations and attracting the "right" kind of investor is the key point. "How about we set everything up as a live service that we can put minimum effort and fill to the brim with overpriced mtx and FOMO so we can keep exploiting people's weaknesses? We can even fire some developers and hire behavior analysts instead so we find new ways to exploit people?"

[@Br3ttM]

The investors probably hope they can get profit now then sell it before the company collapses.

[@garaktartv3647]

Pretty much why i stopped buying almost if not every triple A slop.

[@Goatcha_M]

A large part of the reason Red Dead Online failed is because they pushed hard with the Premium Currency and Battle Pass instead of copying what worked with GTA. You can also add in a similar thing to one of the biggest complaints with GTA, tons of stuff already in the game that players aren't able to purchase, but in Red Dead there wern't even premium replacements for eg. boats and carriages.

[@TheJacktheripper92]

The read dead online argument is really simple, you can sell shark carda for flying horses or expensive apartments

[@pomey13]

I never understood why people bought shark cards. It's so easy to mod in money with 0 repercussions. The most fun i've had in the game was spawning in a bunch of cars and cool stuff for people and messing around in the server

[@darkjackl999]

Honestly the upside to the current gaming industry is its been great for my gaming backlog, I'm finally getting to it because it's better than the alternative

[@DBExplorer]

... i havent bought a big aaa game in ages... fun indie games on steam etc are where its at

[@kaipacifica1289]

The problem specifically with not expanding RDR II is that R* has become a one-trick pony. If GTA faulters (and it will in time), what other IP do they have to compete? Just a few other IP they discarded and people forgot about. For me, I own the GTA games, but I only play their offline modes. RDR? I play both online and offline. LA Noire? I'd love a "grounded" online mode! Max Payne!? While not wanting online MP, I thought R*'s MP game was FANTASTIC and definitely want more! Take 2 has crafted R* into money machine dependent one franchise, but that just means R* is only as valuable as GTA... that one IP. And from what I've heard, GTA VI isn't going to land at all like V.

[@L1v1ngDeAdGirl]

This is exactly why I'm scared for GTA6's release. I can almost guarantee the story and gameplay will basically be the same as 5's but the online will be really grindy and money hungry from the start.

[@R0BB0CK]

"Live service". The cancer killing gaming.

[@Nirob615]

Having amazing times with friends in online games can create meaningful impact as well. The older CODs and Halos are perfect examples of this with their multiplayer modes. There is room for them it's just that everyone is chasing them now plus they've been over monetized. Pretty much everything today can be or is a micro transaction meanwhile back then it was really only the map packs while everything else was earned in game.

[@Gigawood]

12:11 “why invest in the future when you can profit from the present” is ALL of late-stage capitalism in a single sentence. 😓 Perfectly put.

[@kitkami]

We did this to ourselves. And at this point we are screwed. They know theres enough people who will buy that crap. I just hold out hope for indie games and larian.

[@jasonhopkins1584]

"Why invest in the future when you can profit from the present?" Absolutely based.

[@joshuam4921]

I'm ol enough when Elder Scrolls tried to sell horse armour DLC for 3 dollars.

[@spence6195]

If GTA 6 is a live service game, I will keep my money

[@XBluDiamondX]

Yeah. I'll play the SP version of the game. Any online component, however? Not a chance.

[@TheExileFox]

Until there is an official apology and something's done that's actually a positive for singleplayer modding, I won't be buying anything connected to TakeTwo ever again. Attempting to kill off singleplayer modding deserves at the very least a pr disaster.

[@srengramgaard2154]

Dont blame the companies. When you can get people to pay for nothing, why not do it. People pay several hundred dollars for unfinished games, early access ore a stupid skin, and since the average consumer apparently want nothing for their money, why not give them nothing. They complain every time, but next month, the pay again. There is only one stupid part in this, and it is not the companies.

[@fernandomendes7451]

Thank god we still have indie devs, cuz becoming popular became the death of creativity in gaming ffs

[@DVictor23]

And the blame is entirely on the consumerists who buy stuff like this.

[@sayLeotardbutsayitChinese]

"How could we justify making a story?" Because memories stick with people, and content does not. Creating memories is how you foster a fanbase. It is the only reason GTA had a fanbase in the first place. This is how marriages stay together. Relationships built on memories are inherently strong. Relationships built on "sharing content" are inherently weak.

[@Duckman8213]

At least Square Enix and Atlus still make my favorite games… turn based RPGs. They are practically the only ones making turn based games and it’s very very sad. They are amazing games though. I just binge the entire FF series and I’m half way through my binge of the Megami Tensei/Persona series.

[@alymac163]

@BellularNews I know you say you arent going into why companies have to go quarter to quarter, at 10:30 , but perhaps you could link to some further reading?

[@pilsplease7561]

My industry is food/agriculture, and basically we rely on the weather, not having fires that damage grapes, to make money and costs go up and we have to raise up our prices and then people complain but its tougher and tougher to make money with the risk for us and the growers. People want us to make a $10 product when we cant even buy what we need to make it for less than $15-20 people want something for nothing and dont understand that our prices are based upon cost of production.

[@omegagilgamesh]

"5 million [Eldin Ring DLC] sales at $40 a pop is, basically, 400 million dollars." Okay, I WOULD question the math there, but you're the journalist.

[@W0lfenstrike]

I really don't wanna know how they'll exploit GTA 6 when it comes out.

[@blowmonkey51]

Full priced games have 0 reason to have monetization it should be one and done purchases with expansions being the only extra purchases

[@AlexPatterson-co4gh]

1990-2015 Companies treating their employees horribly. 2015-Present Companies treating their customers and employees horribly.

[@archvaldor]

12;10 that line actually explains everything that is wrong with the world.

[@kildain3438]

The GTA RP playerbase must be massive whales, I've never met a person who played GTA online at all, let alone spent money on it.

[@TegPi]

Gta RP (fiveM) =\= GTA online Its a custom server, not rock stars server (online)

[@San_Vito]

As far as I know, GTA Roleplay (fiveM) is not monetized. If you have the game then that's it, no microtransactions. Well, unless some private server wants to charge you to get in, but most are completely free. My guess is that GTA VI will monetize all this.

[@kildain3438]

@@TegPi You can't buy cosmetics or content for the game if you play on fiveM? That even makes it harder to figure out where all the money is coming from.

[@MustacheMerlin]

The compound interest graph is one of the most damaging lies ever told.

[@Byrvurra]

Genuinely feel sorry for anyone looking forward to GTA 6.

[@chadrye8088]

Came for the title. Stayed for the mass effect andromeda galaxy map music.

[@barbarbar3084]

watching ur vids is like watching a very well written movie. ur awesome

[@youtubevanced4900]

Elden ring has been a top three seller since the dlc came out and hasn’t left. So it’s not just sales of the DLC.

[@JakobKobberholm]

#7:11 "The revenue for this at $40 a pop with 5 million sales is basically around $400 million" Am I missing something or should this not be $200 million?

[@demoncushion9600]

Aside from Elden Ring and BG3, I dont remember the last AAA game I bought. None of them are worth $60. Hell, most of them aren't worth $20 in the state they release in, and the insane macrotransactions.

[@habibikebabtheiii2037]

Baldurs gat looked like to much sex proopagandaa for me to play. I don't like animals

[@flashpoint5292]

Rockstar 100% will have gta6 online fail since they will try to hyper monetize it and more and more people will notice this. They need to release it and make story dlc while keeping the online more barebones during that time. They have literally no reason to make content for gta6 online right away since gta5 online exists and has 10 years of content

[@verios44]

This is the exact reason why I fully expect GTA 6 to even be more focused on the live service than ever before, no matter what the marketing team is putting out atm.

[@matthewhurley5117]

This is one reason that I'm becoming more and more convinced that going public and even private investment is just a fundamentally bad business decision, or at the very least is a short-term solution that corps need to move away from as soon as they can stand on their own. When you've got shareholders (regardless of public or private), you no longer get to do what you want. You have to keep the investment money.

[@jdubz8173]

I think the majority of game devs misconstrue what "story" or "narrative" is in a game. Dumping text from characters speaking is efficient, but it is a digital book, not a game. Games need to leverage their unique position in the consumer's state of mind. A player's input affects the state of the game in real time determined by how the developer defines it. That's a broad and powerful tool for storytelling and it's NOT "press A to continue reading". I love FF6 (for example) as much as the next guy but that story exposition still was limited to short bursts at a time due to technical limitations. It's unreal how much text is dumped down people's throats these days.

[@neelakandan6650]

This is such an underrated video and I would highly recommend to those gamers who wonder why big companies are just doing live service games.

[@calebpace8788]

While the indie scenes are the best its ever been, ever major brand and AAA studio is well into the inshitification process. In order to continue to make "number go up", they go to making things as addicting and casino like as possible. That doesnt mean fun, and is closer to being just another opoid effectively at long term mental effects. Meanwhile the indie scene has been building quality away from Vanguard/Blackrock/Statestreet and any other private equity firm so they are able to focus on their product and not "number must go up".

[@fioredeutchmark]

1:52 for like 6 months or something. MS at it again with the excellent business decisions 😂

[@jonathanviens7761]

"Why invest in the futr when you can profit from the present" is literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say. Let's apply that statement to everything you do in your life to get ahead and you'll see where this falls apart. Goes to show rich people aren't smart, they just got lucky.

[@erwinruff01]

yes, single player games make money, but online shops just make more, we now know. Was probably an easy decision tbh, they have to make money for the share holders. Any company that is traded on the stock market, will always work for the stock price, and not the customers anymore. Yes, they can still make good products, but only if it's the best or easiest way to make money

[@lupusabanglespenna]

I know that I'm not very business smart. But just can't understand the whole profit for the sake of profit mentality. Like I understand wanting to bring in enough money for you and your team/company/share holders to not only stay in the positive growth but to actually thrive and grow. But so many of these high level investors are so far beyond needing any amount of money to live life how they want to. All I can think of is they're all just playing a macro version of "number go up, one with highest number wins!" I have a friend that plays stock market and company investor. He explained how he's got a large share of some new experimental pharma drug company and how he believes it's a pretty safe gamble to multiply what he put in. So I asked him if his investment is helping the company test and iterate on the product? Or expanding their ability to produce and supply their product. He looked like I was growing another head. long story short we just couldn't find a agreeable middle ground. I just want to want to see skills, concepts and projects pushed to their limit. I want to see how humanity's spark of creation isn't fading.