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[GonSama]

Rise:
CD Project Red (The Witcher 3)
Platinum Games (Nier Automata)
From Software (Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro)
Sucker Punch (Ghost of Tsushima)
Insomniac Games (Spider-Man, Ratchet, Sunset Overdrive)
Guerrilla Games (Horizon Zero Dawn)
Capcom (Resident Evil 2 and 7, DMC5, Monster Hunter)
Playground Games (Forza Horizon 3 and 4)
Respawn (Titanfall 2, SW Fallen Order, Apex Legends)

Stay in the top:
Naughy Dog (Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy, TLOU2)
SIE Santa Monica (God of War)
Rockstar (Red Dead 2)

Fall:
Bioware
Polyphony Digital (maybe they can make a comeback with GT7)
Bethesda
Blizzard
Konami

 

[SpartanN92]

343 took a gut punch. Haters can hate but Halo 4 was a flawed yet great first attempt by a fledgling studio.

They are now over 10 years old and have no excuses. MCC was a disaster, Halo 5 was garbage, and Infinite so far has completely ruined the Series X launch.

 

[HE1NZ]

Declined: Rockstar, Naughty Dog, Volition, Bioware, Bungie

Risen: CDPR, Playground, Capcom I guess.

 

[Shubh_C63]

did you change the fov in the file?

I did, but it didn't affect the low health red splash screen.
in fact it made it even more distracting.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Rising

Sucker Punch
Insomniac Games
Capcom
Bend Studio
Naughty Dog
CDPR
Sony Santa Monica
Moon Studios
Remedy Games
Studio MDHR

 

[Tschumi]

Bethesda is the best call. Those guys were just so great, I'll never get over Morrowind and its impact on my gaming life... What on earth has happened to them? I guess Bioware fell by the wayside in the previous gen ey~

I think EA might be considered a group who've gone up, with Jedi Fallen Order~

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

Uncharted 4 and TLOU2 were great I agree. Uncharted 4 was better than 1-3 and up there with 2

Gameplay Wise TLOU2 improved in most ways over TLOU1. Its the story that get people pissy.

Just because some people dont like the story doesnt mean they fell off

 

[Uncle Obscure]

When it comes to over delivering, Guerilla Games is at the top of my list. Horizon Zero Dawn came out of nowhere and Guerilla totally nailed it.

Sucker Punch is close behind with Ghost of Tsushima.

An honorable mention to Insomniac Games for Spider-Man. Insomniac does consistently fine work, but this was next-level stuff.

Who blew it? No studio fell harder IMO than Bethesda Softworks. For years, Bethesda has gotten a free pass on their buggy, glitchy games, because despite the flaws, the games were in general still worth playing. The modding community perpetually bailed them out...almost to the point of being a humorous co-developer. However, with the "unleashing" of the disastrous, online mega turd, Fallout 76. they have sunk to rock bottom. They have a massive amount to prove next gen, and doing more of what they did this gen ain't gonna get them there. As always, YMMV.

 

[Fbh]

From the top of my head (there's more)

Went up:

-CDPR: Witcher 2 was good but it was Witcher 3 which really positioned them as a AAA RPG powerhouse
-Larian Studios: Their previous games weren't bad but IMO The Original Sin games took them to the next level
-Guerilla: Horizon and the decima engine have turned them into one of the top studios at Sony
-Team Ninja: Became almost irrelevant when Itagaki left, but have had an amazing resurgence with Nioh
-FROM: Best studio out there right now. Have continued to improve and in a gen where it felt like everyone slowed down they released 2 amazing new IP's.

Went down:
-Bioware: From one of the top western RPG devs to complete irrelevance.
-Bethesda: Went from releasing some of the most beloved RPG's from last gen to not releasing a single (self developed) great game. Also no new Elder Scrolls in 9 years as they continued to milk Skyrim.
-Naughty Dog: First gen with no new IP and both big sequels they released were worse than their last gen offerings IMO. They went from being the studio that defined how to make "cinematic" gaming right to being another studio that spends too much time pretending to make movies.
-Ubisoft: Last gen (and early this gen) they did at least still try to make more unique and varied stuff. Now they mostly just make reskins of the same 1-2 formulas over and over and over again.
- Dice: Started decently with BF4 but they haven't managed to keep fans happy and it feels like the franchise gets closer to irrelevance with every new entry. Add to that a disappointing Battlefront and a sequel that took them years to turn around and DICE just doesn't have that pedigree they used to have

 

[Kokoloko85]

Just because some people dont like the story doesnt mean they fell off

I totally agree.
They are already up there amongst the best if not, “Thee best”

 

[levyjl1988]

Yeah, perception wise Bioware went downhill especially with shit like Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem, two colossal failures. The only thing redeeming them right now is a remaster of Mass Effect Trilogy in which hopefully they don't fuck up with.

Blizzard got into the shit storm of the Hong Kong protest which gave them negative PR. Diablo 4 looks meh. I don't think I'll purchase that. Also, Overwatch 2 is bleh, if you missed out on cosmetics in the first game you surely won't have access to them in the second game, pass, also didn't they say to play them you have to be always online?

343i went to shit with their Halo Infinite reveal, build so much hype and the game looks like shit.

CDPR is catching waves of attention, they are doing so well with taking their time and making CyberPunk 2077, this is going to be a colossal hit and make cultural impacts like when the Matrix hit.
Games like those stand the test of time. Most games are there and they blink out of existence.

 

[Hayabusabruh]

All studios bought by Microsoft fall off by default...

 

[Imtjnotu]

Rockstar - demoted for what they've done to the GTA franchise since the end of the previous era.

But rdr2?

 

[Clarissa]

Stock raised

Capcom
Sucker Punch
CD Projeckt Red

Stock dropped

Bethesda
Blizzard

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

How have they been negative? They made one game and it got generally pretty good reviews.

I think that's why he says they fell off. Last gen they made 3 games all high in quality where as this gen they only made one game and have yet to fully reveal their new one but we already know it's a Gaas

 

[BusierDonkey]

Rise

Playground Games - Started off the gen with bang with Forza Horizon 2. Continued that push with Forza Horizon 3 and Forza Horizon 4.

Moon Studios - Imagine being a small indie studio and your first game is one of the most beautiful side scrolling games ever made. Then they topped that with something bigger, better and more beautiful.

CD Project Red - Coming off The Witcher 2 into a new gen, introduce a Witcher with more freedom to explore that became one of the most talked-about games this gen. They also fired up GOG, with DRM-free being the backbone of their approach.

Respawn - Starting with Titanfall, moving on to Titanfall 2 which has one of the best FPS campaigns I've played, to an original Star Wars game that is by far the best Star Wars thing to release in the last decade.

Fall

Gearbox - Coming off Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3 was a tough pill. Lacking any sort of charm and filled to the brim with flat humor. One of the biggest disappointments this gen. Also the first time I dropped a BL game after one playthrough.

Bioware - This actually started last gen. Quality of their games were steadily declining. This gen, they gave us Anthem, one of the least complete games to ever launch.

343 - Their first game was Halo 4, which had several issues but I don't consider to be a bad game. By the time Halo 5 launched, it was apparent 343 was not taking the series in the right direction. Blatantly misleading advertising campaigns pissed off a lot of fans. Their handling of the franchise and it's expanded lore has been disastrous, with nonsensical retcons, artistic changes to things that have been established, and agenda-driven changes made to established characters. The launch and subsequent mishandling of MCC showed that they had no idea what they were doing.

Bethesda - Bethesda's best work is way behind them. Morrowind was a great way to show the abilities of the Gamebryo engine. The X360/PS3 gen brought Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim, all using variations of the Gamebryo engine, with the games starting to show the limitations of the engine, but still taking the world by storm. I have more time in those three games than I do on entire consoles. With the new gen though, they decided to switch things up and released Fallout 4, a more limited game using the ancient Gamebryo engine with a few tweaks that barely ran. Then theyu released a MP-only Fallout that nobody wanted in a broken state.

 

[VFXVeteran]

For next-gen:

Asobo - broke out with FS2020

iD - been stagnant for years now
Bethesda - stagnant
Blizzard - stagnant
Bioware - stagnant

 

[tylrdiablos]

Game Freak for their lazy Pokemon Sword & Shield cash-grab.

This looks like something out of Ocarina of Time (1998)... I have to stop here or I'll rant all day about the core gameplay loop, online "features" etc

 

[TaroYamada]

Rise:
- CDPR: Witcher 1/2 just didn't have the polish or detail of 3. 3 was where they finally had the resources to make the games what they should have been. I don't even like the first two all that much but I think the third is among the best games ever.

- Sucker Punch: This is mostly about perception though, it seems they finally had the right game in Ghost to get the perception. To be 100% Sly 2 is among the best 3D Platformers ever made so if you were paying attention during the PS2 you already knew they had it in them but PS3 was a bit of a detour for them, infamous wasn't an inspiring IP imo.

Fall:

- Xbox Studios generically: 343 has never proven themselves so I feel it's not fair to say they "fell", Halo 4 wasn't so hot folks. Similarly other stuff like buying Gears, which was always a pretty cornball IP but maintained popularity due to being a technical showcase. They just can't seem to quite figure out first party development and the only IP they still have in their stable that has mass market appeal and is in overall good shape is Forza by my assessment, admittedly it's both very good and very popular. I think they'll partially recover next gen due to the Obsidian/Double Fine/InXile acquisitions, if they can manage those studios well, they'll make good games. Eventually they might also figure out how to meaningfully move Minecraft forward too, and despite the poor reviews Dungeons seems to have been a popular release.

 

[Sejan]

I don’t know if Bethesda, BioWare, or Blizzard can recover with anything less than more than one stellar release. All three went from developers that could generally be assumed to release something good, to developers that I hardly trust to accomplish anything good until proven otherwise.

I’d hate to be a Dev with a name that starts with the letter B.

 

[Camreezie]

How have they been negative? They made one game and it got generally pretty good reviews.

I thought arkham knight didnt hold up to their previous two batman games and then they put out a VR tech demo

 

[LazyParrot]

Blizzard went straight into the gutter. If you had told me a decade ago that the announcement of Diablo 4 (or anything by Blizzard) would fill me with dread rather than anticipation I definitely wouldn't have believed it.

 

[J____Av]

Naughty Dog fell right off at the end and is a sign of things to come.

Probably not a sign of things to come. The game got amazing sales, but a huge drop off after the first week and likely won't come close (maybe half) to Uncharted 4 or The Last Of Us numbers. ND has undeniably talent, but Druckmanns ego is through the roof and his ego driven choices divided their fans and likely cost Sony a shitload of sales. Chances are Sony will try keep Druckmann and ND more in check next game to try get back to the sales levels of the previous 2 ND games. I expect their next game to lean more to the Uncharted tone than TLOU 2 to try win back some pissed off fans

 

[J____Av]

Lol naughty dog fell off.... ya'll are crazy

They didn't fall off per say, but sales are way down from Uncharted 4 (15 million) and TLOU (18 million). ND had a VERY loyal and massive fan base. The ND name was more important than any IP to Sony. Now the once loyal ND fan base is basically split in half with half of them pissed the fuck off. Thats not a good thing. I know people that worshiped ND that are hating them right now. ND was Sony's golden studio, but that probably SSM now

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

They didn't fall off per say, but sales are way down from Uncharted 4 (15 million) and TLOU (18 million). ND had a VERY loyal and massive fan base. The ND name was more important than any IP to Sony. Now the once loyal ND fan base is basically split in half with half of them pissed the fuck off. Thats not a good thing. I know people that worshiped ND that are hating them right now. ND was Sony's golden studio, but that probably SSM now

The games beens out 2 months and we are claiming its nit as good because of sales? How long did it take Uncharted 4 to reach 10 million and up? Thats how we should classify it, on hoe fast tlou 2 can sell in the same amount of time, not 2 months

 

[J____Av]

The games beens out 2 months and we are claiming its nit as good because of sales? How long did it take Uncharted 4 to reach 10 million and up? Thats how we should classify it, on hoe fast tlou 2 can sell in the same amount of time, not 2 months

I never said anything about it being not as good so don't make shit up (or just get better reading comprehension). I still have to play it before i judge. I am talking SALES and if the ND fan base being divided hurt the SALES.

The sales projections do NOT look good for TLOU 2 in comparison to the other two games. It started really hot and then plummeted fast. Much faster than Uncharted 4 and TLOU. When there is such a drastic drop in sales after the first week or so thats not a good sign for the longevity of the sales. Its very unlikely sales will pick up to the point its even close to Uncharted 4 or TLOU 2 numbers

The game undeniably split the ND fan base. That is not a good thing

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

Meh we will see overall sales

I never said anything about it being not as good. I still have to play it before i judge. The sales projections do NOT look good for TLOU 2 in comparision to the other two games. It started really hot and then plummeted fast. Much faster than Uncharted 4 and TLOU. When there is such a drastic drop in sales after the first week thats not a good sign for the longevity of the sales

The game undeniably split the ND fan base. That is not a good thing

meh we will see overall sales and tlou2 has not as much replayability compared to the first game etc. The problem is the people who dislike the game are louder than people who like it. Ive had many more interactions with people who like it compared to dislike it. Only reason the dislike got so much traction is because geeks and neckbeard gamers couldnt pick on star wars anymore because there hasnt been any movies to take his own agenda to

 

[Gediminas]

Yakuza studio was pretty great. Platinum Games also.

 

[Hobbygaming]

They didn't fall off per say, but sales are way down from Uncharted 4 (15 million) and TLOU (18 million). ND had a VERY loyal and massive fan base. The ND name was more important than any IP to Sony. Now the once loyal ND fan base is basically split in half with half of them pissed the fuck off. Thats not a good thing. I know people that worshiped ND that are hating them right now. ND was Sony's golden studio, but that probably SSM now

Lol I have a feeling it's not as drastic as you're making it here. Some people were upset at the story, the game was divisive but gamers will be on board with their next game provided it looks good

 

[J____Av]

Meh we will see overall sales

meh we will see overall sales and tlou2 has not as much replayability compared to the first game etc. The problem is the people who dislike the game are louder than people who like it. Ive had many more interactions with people who like it compared to dislike it. Only reason the dislike got so much traction is because geeks and neckbeard gamers couldnt pick on star wars anymore because there hasnt been any movies to take his own agenda to

I completely disagree. Druckmann has a massive ego and made some decisions that he knew would piss of a good portion of TLOU fans. I have several friends that are big ND fans. One HATED the game and thought it was too depressing and bleak, one hated the choices ND made, one loved it and a few others wont even play it. It is NEVER a good thing for sales to split the opinions of your fans. From what I have seen Druckmann failed to find the right balance (TLOU 1 did it perfect). The people most disapointed are die hard ND fans who have loved everything ND has ever done

I would bet anything the next ND game will be back to a more Uncharted tone to win back the fans they pissed off because I would bet at least half of their fan base was not happy


And come on man, the new Star Wars movies sucked haha. But like Druckmann and his ego for TLOU, it was likely because Rian Johnson and his massive ego threw out the script for the second movie and fucked up the plots haha

 

[JonnyMP3]

Personally for me, Rockstar aren't the hype they were anymore. It's all overblown storyline, old game mechanics and online. Releasing the same game on 3 gens is piss taking.

 

[J____Av]

Lol I have a feeling it's not as drastic as you're making it here. Some people were upset at the story, the game was divisive but gamers will be on board with their next game provided it looks good

Eh... its pretty drastic. The people most disappointed (not few loud ass trolls spamming Abby memes) seem to actually be the hardcore ND fans. Most people I have talked to were unhappy with the choices ND made even though they loved everything else ND has done in the new era. Even the people who loved it seem to say they understand why people would not like the direction they took. A lot of peple are not happy with Druckmann. Espesilly because he has been coming across as very pretentious lately

 

[Hobbygaming]

Eh... its pretty drastic. The people most disappointed (not few loud ass trolls spamming Abby memes) seem to actually be the hardcore ND fans. Most people I have talked to were unhappy with the choices ND made even though they loved everything else ND has done in the new era. Even the people who loved it seem to say they understand why people would not like the direction they took. A lot of peple are not happy with Druckmann. Espesilly because he has been coming across as very pretentious lately

I'm one of the people that understands why some don't like the story but the gameplay and everything else was great.

A studio doesn't go down with just one divisive game unless they were heading towards closing their doors

 

[J____Av]

I'm one of the people that understands why some don't like the story but the gameplay and everything else was great.

A studio doesn't go down with just one divisive game unless they were heading towards closing their doors

Problem is ND was known to always put out games that almost every ND fan loved. Its what made them Sony's golden studio and why the ND name was more important than any Sony IP. Their first game to really split fans is kinda a big deal. Druckmann is definitely not helping things with his interviews and tweets either. I kinda think they need to put him on a leash lol

Any yeah everyone will forget if their next game is amazing and less divisive. But they probably have much less margin for error now, which is why I think they will do a more Uncharted toned game next instead of trying to be gaming's GRRM

 

[Griffon]

Rise:
-CD Project: Witcher got big and Cyberpunk looks good, but they could fall from here.
-From Software: I still can't believe they delivered so many god tier games in a single gen. Looking almighty strong.
-Adobo Studio: They delivered amazing tech twice and a huge game in Flight Simulator, next gen they could go big.
-Larian Studios: Finally an RPG studio that isn't afraid to make good turn based combat and not some shitty real time hybrid.
-Epic: They hit it big during this generation, and with a very unexpected retooling of a failed project. I would've never thought to hear so much about them.

Fall:
-Bioware: Well, the ME3 ending already made them the laughing stock to some of us, but they just kept getting worse and worse. A parody of their former selves.
-Konami: I would've never thought Konami would fall so hard and so fast. Thankfully Kojima got out and managed to build a solid studio.
-Blizzard: They were already on the way down, but know they're just a corpse puppet for Activision.
-Bethesda: They never changed their shitty development methods, and it finally bite them in the ass.
-Rockstar: No GTA6, and I'm personally not fond of RDR2. It was a very slow generation for them.
-Eidos: Both the sequels for Deus Ex and Tomb Raider were mediocre, uninspired and badly directed. To the point the current incarnation of those franchises are dead. Thankfully IO interractive got out, and are now making real Hitman games.

 

[GHG]

Playground Games, CD Projekt Red and Larian Studios have all excelled this gen IMO.

 

[Kdad]

Ok but do you know their last game features LGBTs and a muscular woman?

Fun fact, Q*Bert was a lesbian, but back then we just called it eccentric.

 

[{insert code here}]

Up: Capcom, Square Enix
Down: Naughty Dog, Bioware, KojiPro

 

[Maxwell Jacob Friedman]

I completely disagree. Druckmann has a massive ego and made some decisions that he knew would piss of a good portion of TLOU fans. I have several friends that are big ND fans. One HATED the game and thought it was too depressing and bleak, one hated the choices ND made, one loved it and a few others wont even play it. It is NEVER a good thing for sales to split the opinions of your fans. From what I have seen Druckmann failed to find the right balance (TLOU 1 did it perfect). The people most disapointed are die hard ND fans who have loved everything ND has ever done

I would bet anything the next ND game will be back to a more Uncharted tone to win back the fans they pissed off because I would bet at least half of their fan base was not happy


And come on man, the new Star Wars movies sucked haha. But like Druckmann and his ego for TLOU, it was likely because Rian Johnson and his massive ego threw out the script for the second movie and fucked up the plots haha

A guy who created this world and the characters in the world killed off a character that had it coming with his actions in the first game, which was a huge part of the plot to begin with and is essential to happen or the story has no pull to begin with has a big ego?

I think the people playing the game and having small gripes telling a director what to do need to get their ego checked before they start creating stupid fan fics of their own on what "should" have happened.

 

[SEGA_2012]

Obsidian. They used to make masterpieces like Fallout New Vegas and Alpha Protocol and now they are making stuff like Outer Worlds and Grounded .

 

[Kokoloko85]

A guy who created this world and the characters in the world killed off a character that had it coming with his actions in the first game, which was a huge part of the plot to begin with and is essential to happen or the story has no pull to begin with has a big ego?

I think the people playing the game and having small gripes telling a director what to do need to get their ego checked before they start creating stupid fan fics of their own on what "should" have happened.

Spoilers man...

 

[30yearsofhurt]

Rise:
CD Project Red (The Witcher 3)
Platinum Games (Nier Automata)
From Software (Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro)
Sucker Punch (Ghost of Tsushima)
Insomniac Games (Spider-Man, Ratchet, Sunset Overdrive)
Guerrilla Games (Horizon Zero Dawn)
Capcom (Resident Evil 2 and 7, DMC5, Monster Hunter)
Playground Games (Forza Horizon 3 and 4)
Respawn (Titanfall 2, SW Fallen Order, Apex Legends)

Stay in the top:
Naughy Dog (Uncharted 4, Lost Legacy, TLOU2)
SIE Santa Monica (God of War)
Rockstar (Red Dead 2)

Fall:
Bioware
Polyphony Digital (maybe they can make a comeback with GT7)
Bethesda
Blizzard
Konami

What this guy says.

 

[Quixz]

Surprised Bend Studios hasn't had a mention

 

[Thugnificient]

Surprised Sucker Punch being mentioned is surprising because atmosphere notwithstanding, GoT is the same old open-world garbage we’ve seen a million times and critics reception has given it the same score as the inFAMOUS games. Competent game but hasn’t elevated them from their status as solid AAA games developers. They don’t belong with Nintendo or CD Projek Red.

 

[McCheese]

Suckerpunch really raised their bar this generation, I enjoyed second son, but it was rough in a lot of ways that ghost isn't, they really improved in a lot of areas, art direction team must be using cheat codes or someshit to get so much better between games.

Blizzard took the biggest nose dive, I went from being a superfan to having almost no interest in what they develop next, I don't even play their older games anymore since they keep fucking them up retroactively.

Bioware doesn't even count as they are for all intents and purposes, a dead company.

 

[VertigoOA]

Risen:

Bungie Another original Ip made that revolutionized the entire industry again that no one can compete or replicate with as well as becoming the largest independent game developer and publisher in the industry.

Fall:

Kojima. Death Stranding is shit

 

[Hunnybun]

I feel like Guerrilla Games is the obvious one. Have gone from producing pretty but mediocre games to mind blowingly impressive tech and a much-loved new franchise in Horizon.

The start the new gen as one of the most respected developers in the world. I think they've almost doubled in size, too.

Playground have also been put firmly on the map, although I'm not quite sure what they've done to deserve such confidence that they can revitalise a AAA RPG franchise like Fable.

 

[TGO]

oh my gosh,dont tell me there is a lesbian on the game? and instead doing more of the same they have the balls to do somehing new and differnt? fuck them

It's 2020, nothing about that is new and different
Just ask The CW

 

[II_JumPeR_I]

Im missing old DICE. Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3 are my favorite. But since they started with Starwars games, everything has gone downhill....

Rockstar is another sad subject... just milking that gta online garbage nowadays and nothing more

 

[MrJTeera]

Side note: How have we gone through a whole gen without a new GTA or Elder Scrolls?

Answer to both? Online.