What The AAA Industry Should Learn From Baldur's Gate 3 (And Elden Ring. And Stray. And Disco El...

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NOTES:
-Loot boxes were eventually removed from Shadow of War, but that doesn’t excuse them being there in the first place.
-One thing I didn’t dive too far into is how games like BG3 and Elden Ring, while lucrative on their own, can’t bring in the same money as mobile/live-service stuff. In the spot the industry is in right now, the money coming from mobile/live-service stuff is what is setting the market. If the industry had more of an emphasis on non-service/non-MTX-based games, it wouldn’t be valued as high as it is now (something like $180 billion). I think this is somewhat an existential problem, because we’re questioning how much a good game industry should be worth (at least in dollars). I would say that if the only way to facilitate that kind of value is through the live-service emphasis the AAA industry currently has, then that kind of value is not worth it because it results in a games industry that makes demonstrably inferior games (and inferior art).
-Some of the games I discuss are, of course, AAA games. The AAA space is not completely devoid of quality or creativity. But I think there could be a much better balance and variance of experiences made by bigger publishers and the games I discussed (along with others) are evidence to that.
LINKS
Red Dead 2 Sells 50 Million Copies
tinyurl.com/k2vx65d6
Tencent’s Stake In Larian
tinyurl.com/y3xne78w
Supergiant Games Has Fewer Than 20 Devs
tinyurl.com/yzdcphkw
Warner Bros Earnings Call
tinyurl.com/4k6sv5zm
Pictures of bears
tinyurl.com/ydvjcre5
Loot boxes cripple shadow of war
tinyurl.com/msf9mhfz
Footage:
-EA FC 24 Trailer
-CoD Modern Warfare 2/Warzone trailer
-Destiny 2 trailer
-Stray trailer
-Death Stranding trailer
-Read Dead Redemption
-Read Dead Redemption 2 trailer
-Hades 2 trailer
-Tears of the Kingdom
-Hades
-Disco Elysium
-Baldur’s Gate 3
-Elden Ring
-Divinity: Original Sin 2 trailer
-PUBG Mobile trailer
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[@TheGamingDiscourse]

NOTES: -Loot boxes were eventually removed from Shadow of War, but that doesn’t excuse them being there in the first place. -One thing I didn’t dive too far into is how games like BG3 and Elden Ring, while lucrative on their own, can’t bring in the same money as mobile/live-service stuff. In the spot the industry is in right now, the money coming from mobile/live-service stuff is what is setting the market. If the industry had more of an emphasis on non-service/non-MTX-based games, it wouldn’t be valued as high as it is now (something like $180 billion). I think this is somewhat an existential problem, because we’re questioning how much a good game industry should be worth (at least in dollars). I would say that if the only way to facilitate that kind of value is through the live-service emphasis the AAA industry currently has, then that kind of value is not worth it because it results in a games industry that makes demonstrably inferior games (and inferior art). -Some of the games I discuss are, of course, AAA games. The AAA space is not completely devoid of quality or creativity. But I think there could be a much better balance and variance of experiences made by bigger publishers and the games I discussed (along with others) are evidence to that.

[@psyphon604]

Your thoughts on the industry always make me think. Thank you for continuing to put out videos (and podcasts) of well thought out criticism. We’re lucky to have you!

[@d3athth3kid]

I was just posing this argument to my friend yesterday. We need new systems and ideas in gaming, because it fuels the development. There are too many franchises that are just another spin on what was once creative and groundbreaking. Good Video!

[@celstark]

Nice essay - you deserve more views

[@maxxfoster9245]

This was a great and explorative dive until the industry. Please make note of this content. I look forward to your next video.

[@htf2387]

As always, awesome videos (and awesome shirt)! You made a lot of great points and insights.

[@Nathanyel]

BG3 had the benefit of being indie-developed with a basically AAA budget, with no time limit (development was 6 years) - there's a lot wrong with the AAA industry, but we can't expect this to repeat over and over. Stray was _this_ close to being a PS5 and/or EGS exclusive. Annapurna is a great publisher overall, but it has let Epic control them way too often.

[@_Travey]

months after launch and Act 3 is still crashing all the time hahaha. Checked online and its insane how many people cant even play the game right now.... It would have been my GOTY if it actually worked properly.