Thunderbolt: "Too much of a good thing; it's what the games industry has had over the past ten years, wasting millions on shoddy software and making games, not for the fun of it, but for the profits alone. At the time of writing the PC market is flat on its back, despite Nvidia's upbeat press releases and interviews, and the games industry has only itself to blame."
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
The Callisto Protocol director thinks the solution involves the right people, the right timing, and perhaps a little bit of AI
I don't agree with that. I WISH I could agree with that. But buying habits and customer opinions prove otherwise
We've seen developers in the AAA space try new things and ideas. More often than not, the customers aren't willing to give things a chance, or not enough people buy into the project for it to grow.
Creativity works better in the indie space because the budgets, pressures, and expectations aren't the same.
it's a nice idea and it worked during the PS2/PS3-era when AAA didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars. smaller budgets and shorter development time left room for more creativity and more risk. a game didn't need to sell 4 million+ copies to break even. things are different now.
This is the guy who bragged about crunching his staff and having them work through the night. Crunch culture has lost more talent and done more damage to the industry than any other factor. Screw him.
"This route towards more realistic graphics could be a curtain call for the business as a whole, as it's already forcing developers to operate (financially) beyond their means. Whether this is the fault of publishers or console manufacturers has to be decided, but videogames are constantly released having sacrificed gameplay and lifespan for their looks. It’s as if Hollywood has invaded our hobby with its big plastic tits bereft of personality."
Seriously after this quote I just wanted to shout, Can I get an AMEN! Ha ha.
I don't agree with this persons opinion however well written and valid points.
Although Publishers are usually pretty strict on what they want to see in their game.
I welcome the increase interest in video games. It helps push the boundaries, drives demand up, and developers can no longer turn a profit without producing a worthy game. I will have to admit these past 2 years video games have changed a lot, some things worse some better, but for the most part first party development has become the staple for norm. In the future i can see the first party devs creating the technology and 3rd party devs using it to create more robust stories and games. It's key to provide the tools necessary to the 3rd party devs or these giant expectations are met with mediocrity. Regardless i havent been this excited about videos in a long time, we have finally reached the realms of producing CGI graphics realtime. And that my friends is awesome!
I've believed for years that "beta" testing and "patches" on consoles are completely unnecessary.
PC games need these things because it's impossible to get it right on the first shot for every hardware configuration out there for PC's. On consoles, the hardware is the same throughout, so the testing you are doing should play out at or very near the same on every machine it's designed for. Allowing broken games to go to retail, along with the tendency to implement a lot of patches later makes a person gunshy when looking for a new release game.
I know that I've waited on new releases just because I didn't want to be frustrated with a broken game. Then again, I've always been more a fan of game play than graphics.
-CadDad
Too much sky is falling in the article. Games have taken off in the last few years and although some companies have folded and layoffs seem more prevelant, games aren't immune to the current recession. Plus, companies have layoffs and fold all the time, they just seem to be getting more press as of late.
While sequels are the norm, it is hard to argue that publishers aren't taking some chances. Alot of new IP has come out that doesn't just walk the same old paths of other games:
LBP
Mirror's Edge
Madworld
No More Heroes
Heavy Rain
Bioshock
Braid
Assassin's Creed
Just some recent (and yet to release) games that are like nothing before it.