Why Are AAA Games Getting WORSE?!

It seems like AAA games have gotten worse lately. They are too safe, they don't take enough risks and are excessively monetized. Why have AAA games gotten worse? After watching this video, you'll know...
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___TIME STAMPS___
Introduction - 0:00
What Does ‘AAA’ Actually Mean? - 3:45
Games Have Gotten TOO Big - 5:33
Why So Many Layoffs? - 7:49
AAA Games Are TOO Safe - 9:23
We Need More AA Games - 13:45
Indie vs. AAA - 15:35
Lack of Creative Control - 17:35
Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen - 19:08
Conclusion - 22:35

[@TheActMan]

Pre-order a like for this video, only $10!! What a steal!! Join The Act Clan Discord ➤ discord.gg/yBABtkh

[@Sh1pmaster]

Will there be gold and ultimate editions for preorder too?

[@amachiftis]

Why would I do that if you haven't already made 2 dlcs

[@gizmo2006]

I like how he's talking shit about PlayStation even though he made a video about enjoying helldivers 2 MADE by PlayStation aka SONY.

[@AddisonVibran]

Join the server today!!

[@amachiftis]

@@gizmo2006 not made. PUBLISHED

[@DOOMStudios]

It’s actually insane that people had to get completely burned 11 years in a row just to actually realise there was a huge fire going on.

[@manzac112]

The power of denial is strong my friend. Too strong I'm afraid.....

[@devizesolstice4617]

11 years? 11 years ago we had great games. It's more over the last 5 or 6 at least not 11 lmao

[@DOOMStudios]

@@manzac112sadly, it will get worse.

[@sdFreerey]

@@devizesolstice4617go back and watch videos from 2013 (and prior years) and you will see several rants about on-disc DLC in capcom games, stupid cosmetic DLC for Fable III and Final Fantasy, and server instability for Sim City and Diablo III. Maybe also actually listen to people next time.

[@sdFreerey]

@@devizesolstice4617go look up videos from 2013 and prior. Several rants about DLC, server instability, and patch dependency are still up.

[@Grovelaar]

Ubisoft got a Pass. Since they create AAAA games nowadays.

[@TheActMan]

we are all so blessed

[@omega6749]

I hate so much the fact that Ubisoft is now just as bad as Activision and EA. I'm not even mad, just incredibly disappointed by how they fell down. They used to be one of my favorite videogame companies.

[@Grovelaar]

@@omega6749 yeah that’s a shame. They want faster downhill than France during the 2nd world war 🏳️

[@Grovelaar]

@@TheActMan You are blessed my man. Your video content pipeline should be stacked for years to come 😎

[@SL4PSH0CK]

It's categorized as AAAA since they wasted more budget than AAA all these years 😂

[@Helifax19]

As a senior engineer that worked in the gaming industry for over a decade, I can say one thing: You hit the nail on the head.

[@dylananhorn1]

He is absolutely right, the corporate structure ruining games. Its such a massive problem, its hard for me to even get excited for any AAA games now because they are just such uninspired trash. Devs cant create anymore at these massive corporate companies, all they do is put terrible managers terrible ideas into games. What could possibly be more uninspiring than that. Each of those devs probably has a fantastic idea for a game that they got into the business to get an opportunity to create but never will because they have no freedom to make anything beyond what Billy wrote on the board today. I honestly dont even blame that dev that said it would take 4 weeks to write 10 lines of code, first off he could not give a fuck less about those lines that you could have written by the afternoon. That's straight up job security right there in a market that is super volatil for devs. That dev probably could have written it in the afternoon as well but why should he when he will get canned the second the job is finished.

[@Walooeegie]

My take on the "game as content" approach that started with CD-based consoles: 1995: We doubled the budget for our next game, and our profits increased 100x! 2005: We doubled the budget for our next game, and our profits increased 50x! 2015: We doubled the budget for our next game, and our profits increased 2x! 2023: We doubled the budget for our next game, and our profits is half of the previous game!

[@Walooeegie]

Over the past decade, it has ben seen by the (non-Nintendo/non-indie) game industry that it is more risky trying to make a game that requires talent than simply dumping more and more content into games. It requires more talent to get it right to produce a great story and great gameplay. Whereas mindlessly adding more and more items, visual effects, sound effects, , things to distract you, quests, epic soundtrack, voice lines, maps, weapons etc simply equals more success. But now story and gameplay is getting more repetitive and consumers are tired of it.

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

you it the nail on the head some time in the 00s the law of deminshing returns started to hit hard

[@ironhell813]

That’s because despite more and more investment by game devs the customers keep on refusing to pay for the games because they expect them to be cheaper but not lesser. Doesn’t sound like it’s a dev problem sounds like a freeloader problem.

[@aboutwhat1930]

@@ironhell813 Not hardly. Computers are far more capable and graphically things are modelled extremely well. But the stories suck, the gameplay is wooden, and usually a lot of shit gets gutted. Easiest thing to look at is EA's Sims franchises-- SimCity 4 was solid, SimCity (2013) was a broken buggy mess with limited gameplay, limited map sizes, and was a single player only always-online game. It took a full YEAR for EA to offer a stinkin' offline mode! If you were on an airplane or out in the country, you simply couldn't play it.

[@ironhell813]

@@aboutwhat1930 yeah that sounds great except sim city stopped being a triple a license decades ago, unlike The Sims, which is where all of the dev time was being spent. This is why I’ve advocated against hostile take overs for years, because if you’re aren’t aware, maxis is part of EA but it’s still a separate company (team) within EA, and EA only gives them so Much as a budget. To understand how the industry works is to understand why it is the way it currently is, and it’s all based on monopolies and consumer demand. So in other words, it is you the customer buying games from monopolies that does this.

[@fonkyfesh]

It's funny how the movie industry is paralleling the video game industry during the same time period. Big budgets, lots of greed, zero inspiration.

[@hylianro]

I thought the same thing while watching this. It's truly a shame

[@pokemaster211]

At the end of the day, it makes them money. More money than they did when they “tried”

[@heroicgangster9981]

tv show industry as well with how many shows are getting too expensive for their own good in order to offer a maximum of 8 episodes of story content. I consider that a ripoff tbh

[@AirBRUH]

same with almost every type of media, games, movies, shows, music, general websites, programs, not even just media, but even real physical products like cars, houses, phones. It's only getting worse all across the consumerist capitalistic world.

[@duckyduckington9736]

if they lose profits it'll add up, but if you buy the slop they can keep doing it.

[@believeinmatter]

I’m going to quote EmpLemon here because he summed it up brilliantly “People are so focused on making a product Profitable, that they forget to make it Valuable”

[@xxczerxx]

That's a great quote. There is this thing with late stage capitalism, that profit gain in the short term tends to put firms into this death spiral because they completely destroy their long-term legacy.

[@axllaw427]

Reminds me of Steve Job's product people vs marketing people explanation.

[@mosquitopyjamas9048]

That is a dynamite quote, imma put it on a tee, please buy it! (Sleeves as DLC)

[@williamlumley95]

Which video did he say that on?

[@LordVader1094]

Not "forget", it's on purpose. They know it's not worth trying, that people will buy it anyway

[@fliedlice6985]

From a personal perspective, the $70 price tag doesn't help. Unless it's on steam where I can get a refund if I don't like the game, $70 makes me hesitant to buy games anymore, let alone pre order. I have to see it first then decide.

[@tylergeorge9946]

I quit pre-ordering anything once I got good enough internet to buy digital. I used to pre order games because some big releases my local Gamestop would sell out so the pre order guaranteed me a copy. And back then I bought a lot more games in general because I had the time to play them

[@dudeimdudely]

Tbf, games have always been so expensive. A 30 dollar game in 1991 would be 70 dollars today

[@rezarfar]

Actually no, this proves how out of touch consumers are. With the cost of making games, the development time, staff over heads and everything you factor in to market the game, games are technically meant to cost $200 each 😂. In fact that $200 is actually a bit out of date too, based on figures from the previous generation, not even from this current generation. "$70 iS ToO mUcH" 😂

[@nasfoda_gamerbrbigproducti5375]

​@@rezarfarTechnology evolved so much that half of the money invested in an AAA is just wasted. Modern AAA games run so bad, have so many bugs and are so anti-fun that is surprising people still buy them for 70$.

[@blarggimblies2008]

Helldivers turning into a dumpster fire after this video is poetry

[@camala.]

It is fix

[@403Bunkly]

Wait what happened?

[@panzershreck8077]

​@403Bunkly Sony locked off access to helldivers 2 for pc players ubless they made an Sony account and linked it/activated it alongside their steam account. People pissed because sony is known for their horruble security breaches over the years and vulnerability of user data. That alongside their anti chest for helldivers 2 that can scan and go through all ur computer access is a recipe for disaster. That and the fact people from over 100 nations lost access to hd2 cus rhey quite literally and legally ate unable to make a ps account in their region lol.

[@lumbagoboi1649]

Gaming has never been worse. In just the past week we lost Tarkov, helldivers, I mean what's next.

[@The_whales]

Good news: Sony has backed down, after realizing that a game which unifies communities can be very effective. At review bombing

[@cybersoldierforever]

Greed is one of the reasons why modern gaming isn’t fun anymore. Edit: No I don’t play Fortnite and COD. Even the recent COD games suck. I don’t play live service games in general. Yes there are good games that have came out last year in this year. But I mainly avoid the bad or mediocre ones.

[@Novanimator]

Agreed👍

[@bullymaguire243]

Obviously

[@deliriushunter]

Just play good games man.. There is more than enough out there, modern gaming is better than ever just don't always look at the biggest TripleA companies and you can find some awesome gems..

[@db_524]

Yep 🙂‍↕️

[@PadreMaronnolo]

@@deliriushunter I agree but that is copium, the state of the game industry its shit even If u play good games or not

[@Manan_K]

We're also at fault for continuously purchasing their overpriced games, and the quality of AAA games has declined in recent years. Oh, wait. AAAA games : /

[@jffry890]

"We" Speak for yourself, consoomer.

[@Monkeylighthouse]

​@@jffry890I don't think you understood what he was saying

[@nuclearocean]

Nah, fam, never blame the customer, the system is rigged to sell any garbage to everyone. By blaming consumers, you only increase your own guilt and hopelessness. It's like victimblaming, but for gamers honestly

[@SL4PSH0CK]

Speak with our wallets guys 👋

[@thegreenbolt2819]

Honestly I think one of the main problems is that people keep buying the pre-orders, which helps exacerbate the problem as it's telling these studious who make awful games that they make money by just generating hype, make false promise and/or lie. Not only that, but by pre-ordering, this can cause a company to have their unfinished game stay unfinished cause they already got the money from pre-orders. If players stop buying pre-orders, and wait for the game-day release, I think this would cause studios to be more careful with how they make their games, and force them to have their games finished. Star Wars Battlefront Collection is a very good example of why no one should be pre-ordering anymore, a game that came out in 2005 got revamped in 2024 and was worse than 2005 in almost every aspect, with gameplay somehow broken. We as players need to collectively stop buying pre-orders, else nothing will really change much.

[@kevinsmith6414]

You nailed it. The biggest problem is the game companies want to make sure their investors get a return rather than make the best game possible. That's why everything has microtransactions, DLC, loot boxes etc. The crazy thing is if they just made the best game they could then that would have success.

[@pauloazuela8488]

It's more than a just a return , they want big bucks going on. Because certainly if investors aren't aholes and greedy and invest in a safe way and let studios handle and develop at their own pace. There's more chance for it to gain profit. It's like investors these days don't even trust human creativity and talent and only wanted the quickest way to get money. By scamming and half assing everyone. This is more than just greed at this point

[@kevinsmith6414]

@@pauloazuela8488 oh I agree with you. You see it in film and games. Those industries are dependent on investors to help increase budgets but investing in art like that is a risk. No one knows what will be a success and won't. Where I think the problem is is that those investors don't want to lose their money so only invest in what they think will be a success (hence why we have so many sequels as they can see if its been successful or not). Investors are the worst possible people to be having any influence over the creative process as they have no idea what makes a game or film good or what people want. As you say, they can make crazy amounts of money a lot of ways now so taking a risk just isn't worth it to them but the big studios are desperate to make them happy so just trample all over the actual game designers and creatives just to make the investors happy and a profit.

[@chivasroco1752]

@@pauloazuela8488 Additionally the money from investors doesn't come for free, if you make an FPS game and take money from the US army, you can be sure they want the devs to paint the US army in the best light possible, rather than make a good game, since the US army doesn't need a return from this game, they need recruitment numbers.

[@rezarfar]

Well yeah because in 1994 your average AAA video game cost you $40-50 and would take 30-50 people about 2 years to make. In 2024 your average AAA video game takes 150-200 people 4-5 years to develop, with the game costing you 60-70 dollars. See the huge cost disparity? See how the math isn't mathing up? Never mind the fact that on inflation ALONE, without additional development time and overhead costs, you should be paying $110, just based on INFLATION alone. Want to blame someone? Blame yourself for the current state of the gaming industry. Out of touch consumer expectations.

[@megasean3000]

It’s ironic, the more devs try to make a game safe and profitable, the more skeptical I am of its quality.

[@alexdasliebe5391]

“Hey, megasean3000, wanna check out this game? It’s helluh profitable!” You’re telling me that isn’t a convincing sales pitch? ~Andrew Wilson

[@LD-pt5ur]

AAA games are all morphing into the same game. Battlepass ✅ Crossover ✅ Cosmetic store ✅ Macrotransactions ✅ Excessive in game advertising ✅ Horribly goofy cosmetics ✅ Content paywalls ✅

[@McNyloLT]

These are literally the biggest and only issues affecting gaming right now. It’s insane how simple it is, yet so many people just scream wokeness and ignore the issues you pointed out

[@c1borgen]

Network connection requirement for solo game ✅

[@Nightykk]

Well, they do want to build the metaverse, or Ready Player One - the actual game. Nobody else really wants that, but they sure do. The amount of cashflow they could gain from it would be... insurmountable.

[@STiLLTRiLL98]

There’s a reason games keep releasing like this, it’s because like it or not it’s what the masses want

[@TravisFawver]

Don't forget about every game twisting their established models into 'hero shooters' or 'commanders' in RTS so they can sell a bunch of cosmetics for them specifically. Bonus points for making every one of your heroes insufferable douches.

[@land_of_buffer207]

DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?!

[@DrillerOfRocks]

ROCK AND STONE!!!!!!

[@Wangmasta104]

ROCK AND STONE!!!!

[@mathieuverschelden4525]

ROCK AND STONE!

[@KanetheSpaceWolf]

ROCKITY ROCK AND STONE! ⛏️

[@MoistureBoisture]

IF YOU DON'T ROCK AND STONE, YOU AIN'T GOING HOME!!!

[@Isomeria450]

Asmongold said right in one of his videos: Modern companies became too big to succeed at making a good game.

[@Amanitaland]

It’s one of the same theories why capitalists along time ago used say that as the companies get larger they lose touch with the consumers and then smaller companies outcompete them. It’s one natural ways capitalism changed overtime occasionally.

[@Baka_Mop]

I work at a startup and know full well how fast things can get done on the coding side of things when you can actually talk to the person working on it. If there's a bug somewhere, you can go to the guy that wrote that line of code and tell them "Hey, your shit has bugs, go fix it." and it'll be done by the end of the day. Compare that to a big company with 5000+ employees working on the same project. First you'd have to figure out who worked on it, then you would need to email them or create a ticket and hope that they actually see it, then you gotta hope they give enough of a shit to fix it. Which is why it takes so damn long to fix a minor issue.

[@TheRogueCommand]

There's almost a paradox of success where something goes from too big to fail, to too big to afford to fail.

[@jjay350]

Makes sense, what started off as something popular by creative design, becomes corrupted by committee design.

[@4Gehe2]

It's not a paradox really. There is a pivot in every industry whoih happens when you become big enough that your primary stakeholder changes from customer to investor. Your goal goes from quality product at any cost so you stay relevant in the market, to ensuring you that you keep increasing value to shareholders. Basically there is a point of critical mass of capital. Mass which when it is reached shifts the primary target from consumer to investor, from creating product for A consumer to accumulation and generation of capital. This is also a point where a company becomes oddly self sustaining, no person in it is critical for the existence of the company. When you are below this point a loss of a key figure basically means you are out of business. So... what ruined video games? Capital did... no... not "capitalism" or "capitalists", but capital itself. Games market became so capital heavy that it started to collapse under it's own weight. It started to pull other markets into it (hardware and tangential software sectors) and started to be pulled into the even bigger market of finance. There is a odd case to be made for that if gaming was less "valuable", games could be better. There is a reason for the smaller capital or no-capital companies are able to make better games than big capital. (No-capital is the... 1 dude in their bedroom making a passion project and releasing it).

[@Lily-xl4hg]

Sounds like Pokemon

[@TomCruz54321]

The higher budget you have, the more you have to cater to casuals and the lowest common denominator just to break even. So you make a game for "everybody" which is just another word for generic.

[@Diogo85]

​@@TomCruz54321Companies cater to the majority and the casuals are the majority.

[@WigneyR]

They’re conditioning the younger generation to think this is how games are at launch these days and it wasn’t ever different. We’re the old guard, it feels like we’re losing 😢

[@ElvenRaptor]

We're not. Dude, AAA games are collapsing. The industry is likely going to implode and restart again very soon.

[@woogieboogie3889]

​@ElvenRaptor No, it won't. Kids are the majority of the consumer base. The adults have more important things to do, like feed those kids. All it shows is that kids now are dumber than we were because our education system has become a political indoctrination camp.

[@KevinFlores-if7fi]

@@ElvenRaptorlike the 80s but on a much larger scale 😂

[@LegendaryGoetz]

If you want to win, don’t support mediocre releases, and don’t pre order games. Get over the FOMO of not owning a game the night of release. A bad game will expose itself rather quickly.

[@ericb6048]

@@ElvenRaptor many of us are working to ensure exactly that. ;)

[@naonna1]

This aged well.

[@The_whales]

And like milk at the same time(if you are referring to Helldivers)

[@commanderkaoz1556]

I really appreciate the format of these videos... ActMan manages to throw out his opinions, and also put out mostly non biased pieces of info out there as well and consider the thoughts, opinions, and questions of others all while being entertaining. Really well done my dude.

[@vettu407]

I saw a tweet a couple months ago that said something along the lines of how because of all the layoffs, employees are now competing against each other in an attepmt to keep their job, rather than working together as a team, which is cultivating a toxic and non-productive work enviroment

[@rabbitcreative]

Competition is inherently destructive. See "No Contest" by Alfie Kohn.

[@mattd5240]

No it's not, there is so such thing as healthy competition. It's just the kind that's fostered in the modern workplace is toxic.​@@rabbitcreative

[@wdf70]

@@rabbitcreative Competition is AMAZING in a marketplace where similar products exist and offer difference features at different price points where a consumer can make a decision based on their choice of which one to buy. Competition within your company creates this, where nobody can agree on anything and are trying to 1-up each other in order to keep their jobs. Creating terrible products where no vision exists and hoping that the die-hard fans buy it. It's toxic and un-needed and I hope these companies eventually realize this or the indies are gonna come and take their places very fast.

[@joeykeilholz925]

Yep it's all a pointless thing. I hate capitalism

[@RenegadeVash]

Thing is gaming is making more money than ever but thanks to both advance in technology and AAA sucking, smaller studios are thriving. In reality AAA are cannibalizing themselves with LIVE SERVICE like streaming wars. People just don't have enough time. You will also notice alot of DEI firings, which 9/10 times is just redundant HR. This is mostly due to ESG funding which is failing because the grifters who it attracted divided playerbases and more often then naught were too incompetent too make successful products.

[@christiandaniel9881]

They said Skull & Bones was a AAAA game. I suggest that Helldivers 2 is a AAAAA game. And not just because my Democracy Officer told me to.

[@shepherdrm8486]

Yeah but it's not even A game tbh who makes a pirates game solely focussed on boats

[@romie-777]

helldivers 2 is not worth buying on pc after the recent controversy. sony is trying to force people to make playstation accounts just to play the game. even if you have never owned a ps5

[@HealerType0079]

Hoo boy. This isn't aging well like you think it is.

[@thestar37]

​​@@HealerType0079 Not arrow heads fault ppl need to use a psn account. Its forced by Sony. They even demand ppl give the game bad reviews so they can force Sonys hand...

[@HealerType0079]

@@thestar37 I know it's not their fault but it will damage the game regardless as unfortunate as it is..

[@jugqug57]

the fact they are making a game and asking u to preorder dlc is crazy

[@sinajust4586]

"AAA" rating: Denotes the lowest expectation of default risk, when it comes to credit and finance. Never actually realised that's where AAA games get the term from lol. It's all business baby

[@bixbysnyder-00]

It is even more ironic than I thought possible

[@Kyotosomo]

In the movie industry the exact same thing is happening. But one studio that goes against the grain is Blumhouse Productions who only spends a few million dollars per movie so when they bomb they barely loose money, but when they succeed, they make their money back upwards of 100 times over. Their studio has been very profitable. I'd like to see some game developers try this approach.

[@pavma7]

I agree let's go back to ps2/ps3 times and actually make good games with less time and way cheaper

[@williammartin500]

I don't think the game industry need more companies shitting out dozens of awful titles just to hope one hits gold. We already have been over saturated with slop for 10+ years

[@redridingcape]

​@@williammartin500 You don't understand. Less people working on it and less money doesn't mean a worse game by necessity. If they aren't stupid, they will reduce the scope of the game, and/or plan for a longer development time, and it will be easier for them to make their intended product because they won't have to deal with the problems that Act Man brought up in this video that large development teams face.

[@mikev8746]

How very hipster off you.

[@williammartin500]

@@redridingcape what ? What you said has nothing to do with what I said ?

[@raiguard]

I am an indie dev. The amount of bureaucracy and red tape in AAA studios is mind-boggling to me. If we encounter an issue, we fix it. Or if it requires more thought or collaboration, we make a trello card and talk about it in our weekly meeting. That's the beginning and end of the process. I mever want to work for a AAA studio if they won't let me do my job.

[@cemsengul16]

You guys are the real heroes.

[@silvach2]

I think actman is just repeating things he heard about the absolute worst case scenarios. As someone who works in 3A I can tell you that the only paper work is your Jira tasks and sprints. Developers have free hands in how they want to fix issues and Ive seen them being even encouraged to fix low priority issues if they have time. The corporate process is mainly connected to game design and direction - that is heavily enforced by publisher and management. But not the individual work of a dev.

[@kasperbolding18]

The future is with Indie devs, by far the best games in the past decade. Rust, Tarkov, Dark and Darker, Terraria, the list goes on. Keep doing what you do.

[@Sneakyboson]

Sounds like government work. There's just too many employees, off in their own silos.

[@hueco5002]

@@silvach2in ActMan’s example - it was a very simple request that the initial dev was probably thinking: I can’t touch it if it ain’t in Jira and we’re mid sprint and next sprint is already locked in so…4 weeks. Makes sense when you’ve had to work in those environments. Most companies doing “agile” do it wrong.

[@DaddaPsy]

If AAA studios will continue as they have been doing, they'll cease to exist sooner or later. Then when Indie-studios grow and become the new AAA studios, they'll suffer the same faith and someone else will take their place. Thus completing the cycle.

[@FuhzyLiquids]

Weak men make hard times. Hard times make strong men, strong men make peaceful times. Peaceful times make weak men. Or something like that

[@LordKosmux]

I guess Starfield is one of the best warnings of how bad the industry is right now. The marketing for it was catchy, everyone expected No Man's Sky but AAA version with much more, instead we got Loadingfield.

[@ryuno2097]

Imagine telling Timothy Cain, the man who used to be a programmer / lead programmer since 1997 that he doesn't know how to do his job, and what he's asking is impossible. The nerve of these people.

[@Double-Dubz]

Imagine yelling at Tim Cain for asking you to do your job, he seems like a pretty nice dude

[@Cerberus19660]

Go ahead. He has a KZbin channel /s

[@Eye_Of_Odin978]

​@@Double-Dubz Yeah, he's nice until you're Chris Avellone and he refuse to pay you and your entire writing staff for over an entire year. Tim Cain is a bad dude, he doesn't deserve to be pedestalized.

[@Double-Dubz]

@@Eye_Of_Odin978 that's actually the first I've ever heard of this, and I can't find any sources anywhere for it Got anywhere I can read more about it, or know any of the particulars?

[@johnrmcclure1]

Guarantee the person was a DEI hire.

[@questingcrusader]

If you give a studio millions of dollars, its like removing the limits that normally breed creativity. It just leads to inefficiency.

[@YoYotheyoyo]

WERE RICH

[@scotttimbrell8632]

Tbf that game was a shit concept to begin with. Shoot dudes with hand cannon? Wow, amazing...

[@homelander2243]

People are acting like they didn’t just get done shitting all over AC and Farcry. Why would anything they put out be good

[@thetrashcanman7537]

No it’s dei consulting ruining gaming

[@b1bbscraz3y]

@@thetrashcanman7537 lmaoooooo what a clown

[@tragictoast2956]

Wow this was a very well thought out and well-spoken video. Great job.

[@GilesFAhrun]

Good vídeo. Altough only half of the whole issue is explained. (but even when it was mentioned as a jest, the Aloy case is the tip of the iceberg of the other half)

[@JimmyJoeBob]

"Why is (thing) getting worse?" Greedy companies and dumb consumers.

[@The9thMonth]

It's like democracy, except everyone is spending their money on predatory slop. Oh, wait...

[@TomCruz54321]

AAA Games = Monetization is the main priority and gameplay was the afterthought. I've played some games where my thought was "I bet they spent 95% of their board meetings on microtransactions and live service and only 5% on gameplay".

[@belladonnahigh9206]

And wokeism that infected the whole entertainment industry.

[@JimmyJoeBob]

@@TomCruz54321 And the only discussion on gameplay is: "Will this end in a lawsuit?"

[@SenkoisWatchingYoutube]

Capitalism.

[@Dialogos1989]

The entire point of a pre order is to secure your physical copy of a game before it comes out. Pre order for digital content makes zero sense.

[@lutherheggs451]

Its literally why they have started doing things like early access. To offer something extra.

[@arkalile]

@@lutherheggs451 Let me help, you pay extra for physical media because it's someone's job to drive to your house and give you the game 1 week early. You pay extra for digital media because the game company makes more money and they get to test out their first draft on you.

[@saggyrob]

I always thought it was so multiplayer games could gage interest and how many servers they needed... which is laughable when the games come out and their is not enough server capacity.

[@sacredpower7530]

​@@arkalileSo a beta tester?

[@xd3athclawx554]

The only reason I like pre-order is if they allow you to pre-install the game before it is officially released. It allows me to play the game the day it is released rather than waiting like 35 hours for an 100gb game to download. Doesn't super matter if it is a single player game, but live service multiplayer games it can matter a little.

[@CoolHandMikeYT]

Perfect. You hit every point I thought of and more.

[@BarjoBinard]

Outstanding work on this one! Cheers!

[@YouraverageFPSplayer]

It’s crazy that it took skull & bones, what people call the 1st “Quadruple A game”, took 11 fucking years and your ship has a fucking stamina bar on it. Incredible

[@sebastianvroom7595]

11 fucking years to copy the AC4 boat bits into another story without assassins in it. And they still fucked it up. At the end the poor bastard was just spawned out of contractual obligation and it shows

[@LordZedz]

@@sebastianvroom7595 Skull & Bones was funded by the government of Singapore and like most government projects the execs at Ubisoft just embezzled the money until it ran out and had to release something.

[@seventhson2151]

Wait, is this real? It sounds like a joke

[@Sir_Carnage]

Wait wat?! Your ship has a stamina bar??? Just do Black Flag with some QOL improvements, implement multi-player and BOOM, but no, let's put a fucking STAMINA BAR on your SHIP. Good Lord.

[@Armageddon-yt3so]

A What! How the ever-loving Fuck does a Ship have a STAMINA BAR? IT'S A SHIP! It's an inanimate object, a vehicle. Like I get having a Health meter so we know how much Health we got left before the ship is destroyed. Oh my brain hurts.

[@nuclearocean]

10:20 DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE? ⛏️

[@professionalthroat]

IF YOU DON'T ROCK AND STONE YOU AINT GOING HOME

[@trollguy0629]

Rock and Stone!

[@TheActMan]

YOU BET YOUR SWEET GODDAMN BEARD YOU DID

[@s2pak1985]

ROCK AND STONE!

[@codyduff655]

If you dont rock and stone, you ain't coming home

[@jimk3]

One of the biggest issues with huge teams is that there's not enough talent pool on the market available to fill those positions with quality candidates. You get diminishing returns. 1700 might be only twice as productive as 40 top talent would be alone.

[@madilynh62]

Honestly, I haven't been excited about a game in a long time. Everything feels bland or recycled with different skins a pathetic attempt at a cash grab.. There is so much trash out there That I could spend 3 hours browsing the steam store and still not find anything spending my money on...

[@JJtheUtahRealtor]

Big corporations ruin everything. Hollywood is experiencing the exact same issues. It's actually kind of insane just how similar their declines are. They'd rather dump a gazillion dollars into the same ip over and over rather than invest a fraction of it into smaller games/movies that could ultimately turn into massive franchises if they gave them a chance.

[@Agohlmador]

It's the same with the mainstream music industry. It's almost as if that's not how art is supposed to be created.

[@sellis2819]

same investors that really like people pushing "good thing" on to projects they fund

[@alexworm1707]

Only one to be blamed is us, we dictate the market with our money.

[@MrREAPERsz]

Hollywood is failing because they make dumb shit nobody wants to see. The game industry isn't really failing. Companies just make live service games because everyone plays them

[@Andum48]

For years money men have been trying to crack the creative process problem. The video game space is definitely the creative industry they've come the closest.

[@jackmarl3237]

Showed my brother the "i need 4 weeks" clip and his response was "why are they paying these people"

[@bustywaifus]

To fill quotas. They're called "green plants" at Ubisoft.

[@egilala9847]

4 weeks for 10 line of codes. Might as well higher someone that has zero knowledge of how to code

[@bldontmatter5319]

Diversity hire

[@tw-ij3kc]

@@ahmadimran5262 19:48

[@axxjazz.]

ya i was very confused why it would take 2-4 weeks? did he have to go into every single enemy individually?

[@jfarmer808]

He really just wanted any excuse to bring up Fallout New Vegas, and I'm here for it

[@R0GU3ST4TU5]

Its really interesting to watch how you get better and better at your scripting and video editing.

[@drakeboutte1466]

It’s funny how whenever I show my younger cousins indie games and such, they say “why are the graphics so trash?” Or “this game looks like ass why would I play it.” We officially live in a world where kids are being brought up in AAA garbage and when something of actual quality comes up, they think the opposite

[@whyisyes3957]

Because the exterior appearance is being valued more than gameplay quality, wrap a shit in shiny gold foil and you can sell to people who see graphical quality as the main denominator of quality

[@MZ-ul7vx]

This is an interesting point and for example Final Fantasy 13 was a terrible title because most of the maps were just straight lines, the writing was trash, gameplay was lackluster but for the time it had the best graphics around. Squaresoft sunk a lot of money towards the graphics alone and everything else got heavily cut and this strategy seems to be the predominant one used. Corporations and large budgets are typically needed for the high polish and CGI, same goes for hollywood, but it will often be heavily sanitized. Theres more to a game than how it looks, polish a turd all you want, put sprinkles on it, its still a turd. But with indie games, its a chocolate icecream that to these kids, just looks like a turd but tastes great haha indie games make up for the lack of graphics with epic retro gaming features. But when all you know is crap, and don't give high quality a chance theres no reference point for these kids to realize the new games are trash.

[@alexander_mejia]

There is a very high quality bar games need to hit before they can even have the chance to be successful now. There is also an appeal factor that the game needs to be communicated right away in a clip they might scroll by in social to be even considered. Attention economy is tough right now for entertainment.

[@TRONiX404]

We shouldn't have to compromise on Gameplay, Performance and Graphics.

[@dopaminedreams1122]

Makes me glad mew and my cousins grew up playing on trash school pcs so bad graphics is just a part of life lmao

[@chaosXP3RT]

"A game for everyone, is a game for no one." - Arrowhead company motto

[@pullthatup2973]

Yet the combat is bland and casual focused, clearly showing they are throwing as wide as possible net with it... Peak of gaming is farming season passes BUT hey they are cheap(free if you farm hard)!😮😂

[@neggaballs3840]

@@pullthatup2973 real

[@chaosXP3RT]

@@pullthatup2973 Oh, if you haven't played Helldivers 2, then I highly recommend it!

[@aztkshorty9138]

@@pullthatup2973bro the grind on helldivers is extremely easy what are you on about? Are you playing on easy difficulty expecting it to be more then casual?

[@lutherheggs451]

Helldivers 2 is owned by Sony....It literally says at the start up screen Sony Interactive Entertainment, Licensed to Arrowhead games.....Its Sony's IP licensed to Arrowhead, they have ZERO say over what happens with the game, they have to get Sony's approval for everything.

[@ultragtman1563]

6:26 Noticed that music i can still hear the tremors and shakes from that level!

[@LordBathtub]

Really odd, during Covid I fell in love with my old games, I don't even remember if I bought any games. TF2 was home for 3 months on furlough 🥰

[@jeffreykelley4774]

With the success of Helldivers, BG3, and now Manor Lords and hopefully Kingmakers, idk how the hell AAA producers haven’t even started to learn their lesson yet.

[@duckyymomo5714]

Because they said setting standards based on those games are unrealistic and they will continue to push slobs out because a lot of people will still buy them

[@vidmasterK1]

Helldivers is live service something which AAA games have long done and you cried over

[@tearex8688]

​@@vidmasterK1 yea. Actual decent live service.

[@vidmasterK1]

@tearex8688 but still live service. Your praises for this particular instance only encourages its presence even further

[@Wizardbeard91]

@@vidmasterK1 there's nothing wrong with live service in fact live service means year and years of content it's when they go and charge you for EVERY LITTLE THING that it becomes a problem helldovers doesn't push its battle pass in your face every chance it gets you don't get out of a mission to get a huge pop up saying BUY OUR SPECIAL EDITION FOR A FREE MONTH OF BATTLE PASS!!! you don't have skins shoved down your throat at every possible moment and they also do balance patches and additive patches often and for free

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Ubisoft is also the same company that wanted gamers to get comfortable not owning their games while, at the same time, also shutting down The Crew while also removing access to the game.

[@makoaki9071]

"An executive at Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft has said gamers will need to get “comfortable” not owning their games before video game subscriptions truly take off." ... this is taken way out of context. It looks shitty with them removing the crew, but that's not what the guy meant when he said it.

[@supajasiu]

​@@makoaki9071 Well Ubisoft has to get comfortable not selling anything then.

[@RyneLanders]

Just think about how comfortable you'd have been in that situation if you never owned that game to begin with 😂

[@pullthatup2973]

Don't worry, this same youtuber and others will be selling you that idea in 2-4 years. Mark my words. "Oh, it's great guys. You get a free battle pass access if you revoke your rights."

[@TomCruz54321]

@@makoaki9071 Lol you're a Ubisoft apologist. It's not taken out of context, the context is obvious to everyone with a brain. He was complaining that people have accepted Netflix and not owning movies, and they wanted to replicate that business model in video games. That was the context and everybody is aware of it.

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

the title nay be sensationalist click-bait, but the viseo itself is actually very balanced, serious, and inspective. well done!

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

about the problem of risk taking: extra credits actually made a very goos video about this. they basically suggested importing the solution that exists in cinema: have a few small labels for your experimental stuff; if it does well, market it under the main label, and if it does poorly, then let it remain under the small label

[@johnmarston3232]

They're completely out of touch. They don't know what gamers want. But the companies know that they want money. That's the one thing they know.

[@jjay350]

Bingo. It has become all about what the corporate suits want as opposed to what the actual audience wants. Heck the "modern audience" has basically become the corporate ideal audience, not exactly one that actually exists. It's all about big corporate ego and investor pandering these days.

[@Mrmidknight-yx9pg]

But are they outta time?

[@BlackMoonHowls]

@@Mrmidknight-yx9pg Yes, they are out of touch with reality and their consumers. Halo forgetting what Halo even is, 343i making "their" own Halo and it is on every platform know to humans and nobody cares. It's like the game is having an Identity Crisis, it doesn't even know what it is or wants for that matter. The ostracized adopted kid nobody likes nor wanted for that matter. Out of time because they are outdated by now. Just like "Girl Boss" term dying the Live Service games is just a crap shoot and fake just for MUNNEH. Fortnite got it right, problem is that too many people copy/paste that shit like it is candy. Had they read even one fucking book from the source material, the Halo Encyclopedia, Halo Legends, Halo The Fall of Reach, The Cole Protocol, or just simply anything at all they would have had a great series. Hear a lot of people are liking the Fallout Series and it is actually good. Never mind Kenobi and The Rings of Power from the past, The Mandalorian falling off, Bad Batch being great, Survivor and Fallen Order. Sick ass SW games. Do they hold up to Kotor and stuff, no but you can actually jump finally, and video game trope Double Jump/Air-Dash. Playing with the Force Push/Pull was better in Fallen Order, you just don't have the boxes around to do that anymore, exploiting the slow down on a box that is thrown you can do some real black magic with that kind of exploit in Fallen Order. I have even seen Survivor broken to all means by just skipping whole sections on the map and sequence breaking it all to shit.

[@Diogo85]

It's always been like that.

[@MemeDegenerate]

Remember everyone for an $120 Star Wars Game, you can also buy KOTOR 1&2, Forced Unleached 1&2, OG Battlefront 1&2, Republic Commando, AND the entire Jedi Academy collection, and still have about $4 left over. And this list isn't even counting the Lego or the EA Games.

[@crystalfeline]

KOTOR KOTORRRR GANG KOTORRR *froths at the mouth and dies

[@crystalfeline]

(I heavily agree with this comment)

[@ryosama1988]

Star Wars Outlaw Gold Edition is $159.90 (Digitally) where Im from and with that kinda of money, I can literally buy Stellar Blade AND Helldivers 2 (Digitally ofc). Physical discs is sometimes cheaper where Im from too.

[@nickguzman1734]

People that are big enough fans to get the 120 dollar version probably have those other ones 😂 nobody drops 120 on a game they're not familiar with

[@HermannTheGreat]

@@nickguzman1734 They do it all the time, for some people money like that isn't an issue.

[@jamestroxler3507]

I wanna hear ActMans thoughts on the PSN fiasco with HellDivers 2

[@ta9891]

It's not just triple A games, it's big budget movies, music... Hell even just house/kitchen appliances, electronics etc. In 80s,90s people got what they paid for and things worked for decades...

[@ambrosianapier7545]

Yeah without greed the world would look very different. And work more efficiently.

[@bruhm0ment6000]

We can't forget gems like Final fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, Elden Ring, Baldur's gate 3, and The Breath of The Wild series for being gems of the modern gaming era. People complained about FF7 rebirth having "too much content", "too much variety", "too much quality of life" in the game but when lackluster games that actman mentioned comes out or greedy games that are pointed out in the video, people gobble it up like left over dunkin donuts. Honestly FF7 rebirth is Game of this year. Can't forget Elden ring and BG3 for being revolutionary, BG3 was so ahead of last year other game devs admit they can't compete. Shoutouts to the FGCs devs for making great games, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive and Grandblue fantasy versus rising are Fighting games I recommend, personally it's Tekken and Guilty gear for me. At the end of the day, we can point out more flops than gems like I mentioned. But it's never too late to appreciate these AAA games. The gaming devs should learn from RPGs are FGs if they want to make a change, have a great one.

[@WilhelmEley]

@@ambrosianapier7545 people were greedy in the 90ies as well. The corporate buerocracy is the issue.

[@teenermeener971]

Greed is killing everything. Welcome to the end.

[@BlackMoonHowls]

I had actual metal Tonka Toys that my dad got for me, best toys ever.

[@courier6640]

This f*ckin' guy who's only experiences with Fallout are New Vegas and the show even manages to differentiate Interplay/Obsidian RPG's with Bethesda RPG's. Love this guy.

[@TheActMan]

Love you too man

[@irarelyupload6930]

He should play Fallout 4. It doesn’t deserve to get lumped in with 76 as the “new fallout”. (Also Fallout 3 isn’t too bad)

[@travisimo3749]

Eh, I remember selling Bumble to Eulogy Jones, and then eating a ghoul after selling his ear to a wandering merchant. Can't sell a kid drugs if you already sold the kid

[@superk9letsplays419]

​@@irarelyupload69304 is a bit worse from what I've heard, but not bad. Fallout 3 is great

[@Gameprojordan]

​@irarelyupload6930 fallout 4 sucks lol yeah sure if you add 1000 mods it's fun but that's a complete overhaul of the game

[@maxparker4808]

With you on project size - and can confirm the problem is the same in the rest of the tech industry, it’s just not playing out in front of our eyes like gaming. Every day I’m arguing for smaller, less risky projects. The critical point for me is that once you realise a project is not going to work, you can afford to give it the bullet. I’d also confirm that smaller dev teams are better - there’s funny aphorism, give me a dozen developers and I can do amazing things in 6 months, but give me 100 developers and I’ll do the same thing in just 5 years!

[@69camiloo]

"if is not fun, why bother?" This inmortal quote will never stop fascinating me in relation with how nowadays the industry is going.

[@MiniProductionVids]

*Sony has entered the chat on behalf of Helldivers*

[@better-shotgun1686]

*Sony hits ArrowHead and Helldivers in its confusion*

[@roxashenry8315]

Oh God, this was perfectly timed too mess up my Grove

[@chargeminecraft]

*Helldivers and Arrow Head strike back. Sony had been defeated, Super Earth is liberated, but Arrow Head needs healing*

[@space_artist_4real138]

@@chargeminecraft The people have spoken

[@m16dude967]

*Microsoft issues a cease and desist on their platforms towards Sony*

[@swagchadd6925]

21:34 this is honestly the same exact thing that happens in construction in, it used to be “oh its broke lets fix it before lunch” now its “ oh its broke well we have to get it fixed by having it approved by 19 different corporations and just maybe it will be fixed”

[@sv-et7gq]

Bro this is why I have to fix things in secret by myself if I can or it may nerver be fixed. Complete nonsense

[@axxjazz.]

@@sv-et7gq lol yeah I do that alot, knock off early then come back later to finish it while no safety inspectors are present

[@aredjayc2858]

Do you think that's why infrastructure has gone to shit? And if not would the government increasing funding solve that?

[@bladelazoe]

lol honestly at that point, Just fix it in secret and nobody has to know haha They wouldn't even realise it.

[@gianmarcosalerno1942]

As a developer that has worked on all types of code, I can confirm that sometimes codebases can be overly complex. Sometimes it can take months to fix a line of code. There are several reason why this can occur. Often times there are just too many cooks in the kitchen. When the developers have to constantly change things and have tight deadlines it would be like concrete workers being told to change the concrete 100 times, but not given enough time to clean up. The end result would just be a huge heap of garbage.

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

what you said about team size makes me think about an interview i saw with one of the devs for deus ex: human revolution. he basically said that the higher ups gave them 2 choices: either you can have an 80 man team and 3 years of dev time, or 240 man team with 1 year. they chose the former, and the game turnes out great and even philosophical. now, he did say originally that he chose that option because deadlines change everything, but i also think that it massively contributed to having a focused game with a clear vision. i mean, these guys started out by reading evey sci fi book about cybernetics that they could find! ain't no way that was going yo happen with just 1 year to make the game!

[@Yeeldarb]

Ive worked for many pest control companies over the years, and the bureaucracy is the exact same. At the larger companies any time I asked for a specific tool or chemical for a job it could take weeks to get it, or never at all. At my current mom and pop job the difference is incredible. If I need something I buy it myself and get reimbursed instantly, or they order and it's delivered to me within the week. No questions asked, they'll tell me to get what I need to do the best job I can. The quality my customers receive is night and day.

[@tdylan]

I will offer a counter argument: I work in cyber security for a health care provider in the USA. Any change to an application/system etc needs to be presented to a Change Approval Board. The board meets twice per week. Changes must also be performed after close of business in order to limit the impact to patient care etc. We can't have Joe Blow "making a quick change" in the middle of the day, finding out that he "goofed," and having servers/applications offline while he "tries to figure out what he did wrong." We have "test environments" but our network team is currently fighting an issue that "works in the test environment but fails every time it's deployed into production." The change has had to be rolled back 3 times now. They're going to re-test but will not be able to deploy until the go before the board again because we can't have them upgrading out routers in the middle of the day. Especially when "whoops! It's not working." It sucks that it takes a long time to get approval, but it's often to keep cowboys from getting gung-ho. I worked at a hospital where in the middle of the day the director of IT decided he was going to "test" the fail over circuit for the internet without planning or announcing it. He simply went to the server room, disconnected the primary internet and "Waited to a few minutes" to see if the fail over circuit came online. It didn't. Then it took several more minutes for the primary to be restored. The entire regional hospital was without internet all because this guy had a hair up his ass and didn't want to "wait for corporate" to approve. Hell brook loose but it wasn't the IT director that got in trouble for it. He threw his subordinate, the network admin, under the bus. The networking admin quit the job a few months later. It sucks, but sometimes there are very good reasons these safeguards are in place.

[@Ractrin]

As someone who works for a major tech company, the way I see games come out looks a lot like how other major corporations release products: It's just a product and we're completely disconnected from the customer. The company I work for is trying to release a new product right now, and it is so disjointed, terribly put together. And we're selling it! It's in ALPHA and we're selling it. It's not just gaming corporations, It's ALL corporations. This is just how they do things now. "I want my money and I want it now"

[@freshhands9461]

Thanks for the insight. Been thinking the same for some time...Games as an industry have only recently become the focus of shareholders and investors, in contrast to, say, Chemicals or Cinema. It is pretty jarring sometimes to watch Capitalism turn your passion into soulless profit :( We are learning, though.

[@selphconscious]

... Thx for the honesty, sadly it's obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub.. the thing is.. it's MY money.. and y'all will never get any it - if I'm not getting something of solid quality.. 🤷🏻‍♀️ lol

[@bellm79]

Can't see one downside to everyone in every industry having that same attitude at once. Not one.......

[@IfonlyIwassmaller]

Bro I’m not gonna lie you got my ass with the “It was murdered.” 🤣🤣🤣

[@janky477]

The best way to describe how a AAA Game gets made is like if you invited 20 of your friends to one event for the weekend and tried organizing that strictly through DMS. Now I know a lot of people in the comments may not have that many friends, but let me just tell you. After trying to plan stuff with more than 6 people, especially if they're friends of friends, THIS IS AN ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TASK. Very quickly people break off and do their own thing, ask questions that were already answered, ignore the DMs completely, get wrapped up in some drama that's completely unrelated, or just don't show up even though they said they would, which ruins the plans further. That's what a AAA Game Studio looks like now.

[@Red_Eyed]

I used to love exploring open world games, but these days they’re just so big for the sole purpose of being big. It became really exhausting traversing these games which is conflicting because I’ll be invested in the story, but get bored from exploring.

[@jjay350]

Yeah I think that's why I lost interest in most modern open worlds, especially ever since they decided they needed to become online games. I just like to explore the worlds in these games and play them at my own pace, doing what I want to do. When it goes online, a lot of that seems to go away and you're forced to play at other people's pace. Only so many games just let you relax and enjoy them.

[@zombrexozelexi9069]

I found a solution in some of the open world games like the massive assassin's creed rpg trilogy with Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla. Remove the compass from your HUD and remove the map markers for question marks and then only do quest and whatever open world activity you come over while travelling to said quest, I didn't do this during origins and got burned out by exploring ancient Egypt, but I did this during Odyssey and am still enjoying Odyssey and Valhalla by replaying them a lot as I always discover something cool and new.

[@BlackMoonHowls]

@@zombrexozelexi9069 Yeah but you forgor you can't just simply DO THAT in other games. Fallout 4 doesn't let you remove quest markers and stuff, unless you mod it in there or get a mod for that.

[@Jeremy-ql1or]

@@zombrexozelexi9069 Lol, AC Origins is the one I always think about. I loved it and I loved the scenery and settings but those damn question mark markers on the maps were just too much. I couldn't stop playing until I went to one more area...well, one more after that one...just one more then I am done...

[@arttizkappa2588]

Yeah Big empty and lifeless same with corpa practice 😂

[@vitalitydoesstuff3603]

Arrowhead Games needs to be the reference point we judge companies by from now on. Because they aren’t even doing anything that crazy they’re just being ethical and chill.

[@LyonPercival]

Thank god for Sony Playstation for creating Helldivers….. yet Act Man is so pro-xbox he never even mentioned Sony owns Helldivers in his 2 video reviews of Helldivers. H1 and H2 are such good and fun games that put a smile on people who play them…. yet he’s lumping in Sony Playstation with MICROSOFT TRASH…….

[@vitalitydoesstuff3603]

@@LyonPercival console wars are for fucking idiots grow up. Do you have to make everything negative in life?

[@JokersDisciple]

​@@LyonPercival No. Wrong. Sony financed Arrowhead. Arrowhead created Helldivers. Sony simply owns the ip. Without the creators at Arrowhead, Sony would open the floodgates to activists. God bless, Arrowhead.

[@JustSomeDude848]

​@@LyonPercival Pipe down Sony pony, no one asked you to meat ride a corporation. You're exactly part of the problem why gaming is going the way it is.

[@BasedBebs]

@@LyonPercival This might shatter your world but I think you need to hear this; Not everything is a console war

[@josephteller9715]

Note, Helldivers 2 was deceptive... as it now can't be played in 175 countries thanks to requiring a PS account (which it wasn't at launch) and which was not that obvious to folks who got it on Steam and then were refused refunds when they discovered its impossible to play in their countries without violating the EULA etc.

[@GamerBot125]

Good news is that the community did enough review bombing and refunds to make Sony revert the decision.

[@jasontodd1226]

OOF the Helldivers bit aged like milk.

[@ravenwhiteduck3158]

Didn't they fix it?

[@savitar5985]

@@ravenwhiteduck3158 yeah democracy won

[@jasontodd1226]

@@savitar5985 hell yeah

[@Hr1s7i]

@@ravenwhiteduck3158 Yes and no. They fixed it, but it's too late now. A company is supposed to fix stuff before the refunds, not after.

[@Nimbus3690]

​@Hr1s7i bro what? It's fixed. It's not too late. Some refunded, they'll buy it back

[@veleno2473]

I scrolled down to leave my 'ROCK AND STONE TO THE BONE, YEAHHHHHHHHHHH'

[@flamethrowr_]

ROCK N ROLLIN STONE

[@derithor4391]

DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?!?

[@darkfighter8899]

For Rock And Stone ⛏️

[@keli9083]

"STONE and ROCK!!! wait..."

[@Oakensongs]

GIMME AN R, GIMME A S, GIMME A ROCK AND STONE!

[@wanderingbufoon]

Here's why: 1) CEOs can only fail up because they are hitting really good numbers via cutting corners and exploiting live service 2) CEOs have a great exit: golden parachute 3) CEOs actually get a higher paying job lined up after they get fired because of the stats that they have 4) consumerist mentality: they just whine but still buy 5) despite being informed about the dangers of spending money unnecessarily, they still do it because they're addicted In other words, consumers are to blame for making CEOs look good on paper which attracts investors which attracts more of this.

[@themightymcb7310]

Also, corporations tend to promote to your level of incompetence. For example, a good worker might get promoted to team lead, a good lead might get promoted to management, but once you get promoted to a job you're no longer good at, you'll stop catching promotions and find yourself stuck at a position you suck at. Skills don't always transfer between positions, a good worker might be a garbage manager but they'll be promoted based on their good work and now you're down a good worker and you have a subpar manager instead.

[@saschaberger3212]

🐑🐑🐑🐑

[@toolittletoolate]

It's the consumers fault companies are allowed to operate like this? Is it also the victims of scammers faults for getting scammed? Or addicts faults for becoming addicted? What colour is the sky in your world?

[@Meloncholiac]

@@toolittletoolate Comparing drug addiction to somebody willingly supporting a company is wild. Then again, considering you play DI2, you're probably insulted that we're laughing at you for buying slop.

[@kriet7445]

yessir :DDDDD, you know and i know most will cope to these facts, but I'm fortutantly we weren' born as a male hypogonadism, AHmen

[@EpicDonutDudeMemes]

Currently it feels like Rockstar is the only studio that can handle big budget titles and actually pull it off

[@SGG_7567]

- FromSoftware - Santa Monica - Insomniac - Guerrilla - Sucker Punch

[@gamethink2933]

Yeah like ever heard of this small game called god of war

[@hannanah8036]

They fumbled really bad with red dead 2 online, and gtav was released at the turning point of all this becoming a problem. Also basically none of the team that worked on gtav, and most of the rdr2 staff are gone now. And take2 making the work environment strained. I wouldn't hold my breath for gta6

[@mlgcactus1035]

-Nintendo

[@jojocasimir1118]

@@SGG_7567sucker punch is just to good look how they set the bar high for samurai games and they literally only had a 60 million budget and they did what Ubisoft was scared to do

[@colin1177]

It's halarious how not even a week later Arrowhead lost all the good will they had with the community.

[@tapewormsandstoplights2868]

It wasn't Arrowhead it was Sony that fucked it up

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

arrowhead told people to review bomb the game

[@ZombieOnCoke]

I'd say most of the time, it's why we see publishers focus so heavily on marketing of a game. If they can drum up enough hype, they can sell enough copies of the game either through pre-orders or on day 1 enough to potentially make a profit before players even realize what they actually bought.

[@rickwoods5274]

Just one of the many ways in which companies choose to compete on literally _anything_ except quality

[@soupcangaming662]

And sunken cost fallacy drives them the way. Then, when they get defunct, start a new studio or get absorbed by a bigger one and start all over again.

[@anabe2]

"... Game didn't just die, it was murdered." Thanks for bringing it back, Act Man. I'm elevated

[@Vonriga]

G'day mate. Thank you for an excellently expressed and well thought through video. In recent years the two games I have put the most time into are Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Battletech. I am no expert, but I believe Warhorse Studios (KCD) and Hare Brained Schemes (BT) are both very small studios that used crowd funding as a component in financing their production. They both appealed to niche markets (Historical and BT fans) and were able to deliver games that were much loved. I do not know how much either cost to make, nor what the return on investment ended up being, but I am confident that both would have had a superior ROI than any triple A game in the last 5 years. They did not pitch the games at the lowest common denominator and KCD famously refused to yield to pressure from DEI type criticism. BT was made for a very niche fan base of the venerable tabletop game. Both must be regarded as absolute successes. KCD has a sequel slated for this year and is a much more expensive offering this time around and I am very interested in seeing it's quality and profitability. The head of the project Vavra (sp?) seems to be still insistent on the historic nature of the game, which will satisfy it's original fans, while still offending the DEI crowd. I hope it will be just as successful, if not more. Time will tell. Sadly, Hare Brained Schemes will not be making a follow up game for Battletech, which saddens me. I suppose that is the commercial reality of a publisher not wanting to fund a developer's second outing. Thanks again for this video. It was very interesting.

[@LionelBercovich]

As always, spectacular video

[@x86ed]

I was just talking about this with my wife. I don’t even want to buy a next gen console because companies are only releasing one game every decade. It’s ridiculous.

[@JishinimaTidehoshi]

ikr

[@NineS5]

Same, I was debating whether I should upgrade my PC, but I put the money towards a new hobby instead and am enjoying it so much more than gaming.

[@mrspicolli]

One thing they do that I know they are scamming us on, and I am pissed about is the controllers and the joysticks. I don’t know how long you’ve been gaming, but I was five when I got an NES and I’ve been a gamer ever since and I’ve had almost every major console or at least access to it in the house. My brother had a few I didn’t vice versa anyway I bought a controller to play games on my computer and I learned what “stick drift” is. It happened on my oculus and it’s unbearable and unfixable apparently And it’s apparently because these companies are buying el cheapo joysticks not hall sensor joysticks … Growing up, no console with sticks had fucking “ stick drift”. They worked until they were chewed up by the dog or smashed or soaked in water and even then they worked --perfectly … What the fuck is up with these companies thinking they charge $70 $80 for a controller and then not have the stick work forever minus forced damage like throwing at the wall or repeatedly dropping it off the second story?!?

[@christianbethel]

Buy an Xbox Series X and just play the old games you already have.

[@ThunderClawShocktrix]

@@NineS5 im still updagring cause even intdie needs more power than it used to but its why i go for mid tier GPus rather than high end and I dont get why anyone would pay 1500 for 4090 or 1100 for 4080 when a 4060ti will do just fine for every single indie game even at 4k

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Indie games are definitely valuing creativity and innovation more these days. It's disappointing to see the AAA space getting so constrained by financial goals rather than the passion of making fun and interesting games.

[@2265Hello]

Yes despite it being obvious it’s not often discussed or at least seen in popular arguments as to why triple A games are dying and indies are rising

[@CarTastic-fv6eo]

Especialy when budgets are so big one flop can tank entire studio. Look at GTA 6 and 2 Bilion budget or Spiderman 2 with 300k $. They simply cant afford to lose so they play safe.

[@chroma1004]

Real answer, corporate greed and also they own popular IP's that people will buy it regardless.

[@commandandconquer6303]

Having fun doesn't pay the bills. The real reason games are getting worse for some people is because it doesn't appeal to their tastes. No humans are the same, we all like different things in games. 2042 for example, I personally enjoy it. I like the stealth helis (not many people like them because of the bombs and not able to lock on when it's stealth), I like free classes (putting an anti material rifle and a javelin in the same loadout), and I like the maps (I'm more of a vehicle player). As you may have guessed others have different tastes. Some hate the helis and want them removed, others love how the class system locks out variety, and a large amount hate open maps and want more infantry focused ones. Studios can't cater to everyone so they pick common ground from each or just side with the majority.

[@thomasnielsen5580]

There is too many people involved in the project. It becomes a product, not a game.

[@gabrielpezzinigazzaneo3342]

Is that soundtrack at the end of the video from Warcraft 1, maybe 2? Fuck me that brings back some good memories

[@powerdude_dk]

Spot on Act Man, spot on!

[@LobbeWOW]

Not all games which are made by passionate developers turn into great games, but all great games are made by passionate developers. Without passion you're never gonna create magic, and without creative liberty you're not gonna have passion.

[@b0nes95]

Creative liber-tea.

[@thomasnielsen5580]

Which is why AAA games are garbage. Capitalism cannot inspire passion.

[@SuperRobbinhood]

@@thomasnielsen5580i wish i could like that comment twice !

[@Diogo85]

​@@thomasnielsen5580Not all.

[@thomasnielsen5580]

@@Diogo85 Almost always the case. The exceptions are where the management is healthy.

[@eleviathan7488]

The 'too many cooks in the kitchen" analogy works really well. When one person makes a game, its their expression and theirs alone. When 50 people make a game, it's a mesh of a small, like-minded group's ideas and expressions, making something entirely new but still personal. When 10k people make a game, its a incoherent mess of conflicting ideas, desires, and misplaced priorities. So much so that the finished product has no real identity of it's own. And this is especially apparent when you can clearly see that, the main purpose of a creative project, is not the production of the creation itself.

[@MasterCJ117]

Another awful part of having so many people is that some will poison the game with their personal agendas or ideology when the few people who came up with and pitched the concept initially were like, " Let's make something fun that WE would want to play."

[@MC_Hammerpants]

Too many incompetent DEI cooks to be exact

[@Paul_Ward]

Large teams have leads for each division who are responsible for making sure everything their division puts out meets a design brief that will have been predetermined in the planning phases of each project. Games are made alongside something called a game design document (GDD), which serves as a guide for everyone to stick to. The lead signs off everything people put out, to ensure consistency. The reason a lot of AAA games feel soulless is because they're made to be safe, with the belief that this appeals to more people. It's the same reason Hollywood franchise films all feel the same. Risks aren't taken enough, creative exploration is almost zero, and so all these types of games start to feel like the exact same thing in a different skin.

[@sarcasm-83]

Yeah and throw in some millionnaire CEO who barely understands anything about games to manage those 10k people teams with their trusted friends in suits to call the shots and no matter how talented the 10k people are, it's going to be a disjointed effort that'll need luck to gain any sort of a coherent vision...

[@Sojo214]

@@MC_HammerpantsMinorities having jobs has no negative impact, quite the opposite even since there are more perspectives and hobbies to help diversify the pool of experience to pull from. Greed, on the other hand…

[@jedison2441]

As a programmer myself I certainly don't blame him for saying 4 weeks. He probably said it, because he is swamped with BS work like Charts, PowerPoint slides, and other crap that shouldn't be his job in the first place. Yeah, it's only ten lines of code, but we don't know his workload and we don't know how ragged the company is running him.

[@ashrunzeda4099]

Cover the Helldivers 2 situation for good content please!

[@wolfshade5020]

This is why I consider the 2000’s to be the the era where gaming peaked. The 6th generation(ps2,xbox, gamecube, and dreamcast) had some of the best releases where we got new IPs and new entries from older IPs. There was more risk=reward when it came to game development and gaming culture was the perfect balance between niche and mainstream. This was also present in the first few years of the 7th generation(ps3,x360, and wii) but gaming started to get bigger and more mainstream towards the end of that generation where we entered the dark ages where there was less risk, more monetization, and the franchises were going in directions that muddied their reputation

[@Darkslayer125]

"AAA is derived from the US system of grading where A is the highest possible mark. Each A has a different meaning: the first A denotes “critical success”, the second A marks “innovative gameplay”, and the third is meant to signify commercial success." None of these "AAA" companies even deserve a single A anymore. Hell, demote them to B and even that will be a disservice to indie game companies.

[@luizeduardogomesribeiropen324]

And nowadays they added a fourth A to it, what does that fourth A stand for?

[@goingblargh]

@@luizeduardogomesribeiropen324Ass-blAsst

[@nestormelendez9005]

@ss @sinine

[@elhazthorn918]

So, I've always been in favour of ditching "AAA." I've been lobbying to get people to call them "big corporation games." AAA implies a great product or great company, but the meaning has changed. Nowadays, people use it to mean something with a huge budget. Ergo, something backed or produced by a big corporation.

[@liquidbruce9787]

Is it me or people mix what "Indie" and AAA means. An indie developper like Larian had AAA budget thanks to partners like Google Stadia. Helldivers 2 is not an indie game, it's a Playstation and Sony IP, funded by Sony investors with a AA budget. Arrowhead is an indie developper hired by Sony. At 16:15 he mentions HD2 monetization and makes it like it was Arrowhead who had the last word on monetization, how is that, can someone please educate me ?

[@guitaripod]

You nailed it, yet again

[@Heinz-dv7bs]

Briliant work!

[@diamonddust4486]

'Baldur's Gate 3 is an indie game' is a phrase my brain can't handle...

[@k0lpA]

It's at least AA I guess ?

[@DavidC-fk2wg]

What Larian did with BG3 is so far outside the usual game development model it kinda defies classification. Basically it's what happens when you apply indie studio mentality (make the best possible game) with AAA budget ($120m). Larian took one hell of a risk with BG3 and it paid off for them but I don't think it's a model that can be easily replicated. One dud on that budget and your studio (and probably your house) is gone.

[@Alas7eR]

​@@k0lpA It is absolutely AAA, lmao. It had massive budget with mocap and shit. North of 100 mil. Its independent, but calling it indie is laughable, given what the term has come to mean.

[@WonderDuckie]

I wouldn't say it's a Indie game, more so as the first AAA game from a newly elevated AAA studio. Much like what the Witcher did for CDPR.

[@mattandrews2594]

No it isn't. Larian have huge backing from Tencent.

[@margitthefellomen172]

Foul The Act Man, in search of a video review. Emboldened by the watchtime of ambition. Someone must watch Elden Ring. Let it be Margit the Fell!

[@yasserkerbache]

Thy kind are of a piece... Reviewers, emboldened by the watchtime of ambition! Let it be writ upon thy Elden Ring review... Watched by king Morgott! Last of all kings!

[@Doesnotmatter-uo7gd]

elden ring is overrated tbh its a joke

[@ArcticVXR1]

Overrated garbage game mate, simple as that. Dark Souls 1 - 3 trump it in every way apart from graphics. Dead obvious Fromsoft games do better in closed environments. Enjoy fighting the same bosses in the same dungeons and having the same enemies spread across the map though 👍 absolute garbage.

[@endoskel9262]

@@ArcticVXR1mmm no actually it’s not garbage but you’re welcome to think that

[@user-qz8pb5dx1x]

​@@Doesnotmatter-uo7gdquantum,is that you

[@GREENACEx009]

14:00 is exactly how the “golden era of Star Wars games” worked. Lucas Arts was just pumping out games back in the day with medium and smaller studios and created MULTIPLE classics. The modern era of Star Wars under AAAA EA games only put out “safe” 2 games until Fallen Order popped up.

[@d_6963]

21:00 I am a Dev, I understand this man's frustration and in my experience this comes down to a bad software architecture. When your code is decoupled, meaning a change in 1 module does not cause a ripple effect on the whole system, a change like this guy's request is easy. If it is coupled, a small change could cause huge changes in how the system operates and requires massive amounts of work.

[@TihetrisWeathersby]

Back then games were made by passionate small teams, Now they are made by hundreds of overworked devs micromaged by large publishers

[@Klepto2322]

And temporary contracted employees, don't forget them

[@sacredpower7530]

​@@Klepto2322 Are those the consultant firms?

[@Andum48]

This, Actman only eludes to the demoralizing effects the AAA game space, but that is why these games suck.

[@grimsdol4665]

It's not that AAA games are getting worse, it's that many of the established AAA companies are getting worse as they overvalue themselves and their products and think they can get away with selling trash and thinking players will eat it up. Not realizing that smaller studios are now able to compete with them

[@darthconquerus]

I heard someone the other day saying that the biggest difference is the shift to monetisation within the game. Previously the entire focus was on getting that customer to buy your game which meant it was either good or it wasn’t. Now it’s about getting them in and to keep paying

[@grimsdol4665]

@darthconquerus I think that's half right but most of the monetization isn't a problem, just the prices are. like there's nothing wrong with OW2 selling skins, there is a problem selling them for $25 dollars. there's nothing wrong with say skull n bones as a game. but there is a problem with being $70

[@darthconquerus]

@@grimsdol4665 if you’re monetising within the game though then gameplay has likely been affected in one way or another. The most common way is to make it grindier to get ‘free’ XP/rewards because they want you to pay more. The amount of hours you have to put into completing a season’s battle pass in whatever game is deliberately lengthy to try and encourage people with less time or patience into paying for that skin they really want

[@thomasnielsen5580]

I doubt that's the case (them overvaluing themself). I think we will see them revert back to basics in the coming years, or they will be eaten by the smaller studios.

[@kiratwo4u]

they definitely are getting away with it tho

[@davethescrub858]

Actman got the bussin fr fr haircut, in bless we trust ong 🔥

[@tibsky]

there's actually a term for what's going on with many online platforms, and i think it applies to gaming now: enshittification