REMEMBER CITADEL
Banned
If there were no rising user expectations, there would be no need for new hardware.
No, let me rephrase that, there would be no need for more powerful hardware.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
ihobo: The current business model is doomed
- Thread starter Amibguous Cad
- Start date
If there were no rising user expectations, there would be no need for new hardware.
No, let me rephrase that, there would be no need for more powerful hardware.
I mostly agree with the article, but I wouldn't necessarily say AAA games are going to go. Currently, there is definitely too much competition in the high-budget console games space. The market needs to open up and allow for lower budget games at variable prices. We're already seeing this in the PC space, and it has proven that medium budget games can be successful.
Is there more money to be made with high budget games? Probably. The point is, however, that high budget games have much greater risk associated to them. If the success of medium budget games can be proven in the console space, and if the public can accept these titles at a reduced pricepoint, then this will offer a less risky ventures for new IPs and for publishers to experiment.
Of course, as the writer of the article has implied, this may all be usurped by the uprising of "games as a service". No matter how attractive paid games may be to the public, they will be competing for the customer's time against free to play games.
I'm glad that, as a PC gamer, I don't have to worry as much about the future. No matter what happens, there will always be a stream of low/mid budget PC titles to satisfy my interests. PC gamers have already moved on and have accepted the fact that we no longer profit from AAA titles, at least not in the way we used to.
That is the biggest problem console gaming has faced this gen. As the graphical bar raises, so does user expectation and as a result it drives development costs up across the board. What needs to happen is that lower budget games need to prove that there can be successes in the console space without needing to resort to $30m costs and 3+ year dev cycles. Besides the PS2 HD port projects, I don't think we've really seen any developer/publisher rise to the challenge.
As I've been saying, I think publishers only need to look at the PC space. There are many low budget titles that have been a great success, despite user "expectations". Minecraft is the most obvious example.
Publishers need to realize that there are more ways to make money than having expensive graphical showcases at E3 and marketting budgets larger than development budgets. They need to realize that word of mouth is the best marketting. Create a great game, and it's going to sell.
Is there more money to be made with high budget games? Probably. The point is, however, that high budget games have much greater risk associated to them. If the success of medium budget games can be proven in the console space, and if the public can accept these titles at a reduced pricepoint, then this will offer a less risky ventures for new IPs and for publishers to experiment.
Of course, as the writer of the article has implied, this may all be usurped by the uprising of "games as a service". No matter how attractive paid games may be to the public, they will be competing for the customer's time against free to play games.
I'm glad that, as a PC gamer, I don't have to worry as much about the future. No matter what happens, there will always be a stream of low/mid budget PC titles to satisfy my interests. PC gamers have already moved on and have accepted the fact that we no longer profit from AAA titles, at least not in the way we used to.
That is the biggest problem console gaming has faced this gen. As the graphical bar raises, so does user expectation and as a result it drives development costs up across the board. What needs to happen is that lower budget games need to prove that there can be successes in the console space without needing to resort to $30m costs and 3+ year dev cycles. Besides the PS2 HD port projects, I don't think we've really seen any developer/publisher rise to the challenge.
As I've been saying, I think publishers only need to look at the PC space. There are many low budget titles that have been a great success, despite user "expectations". Minecraft is the most obvious example.
Publishers need to realize that there are more ways to make money than having expensive graphical showcases at E3 and marketting budgets larger than development budgets. They need to realize that word of mouth is the best marketting. Create a great game, and it's going to sell.
sixteen-bit
Member
2012 will be worse
Apocalypse?
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
There are other ways to expand, other than simply pushing "grunt". Obviously the big thing over the last few years has been packing performance in tiny form-factors like phones.
It'd also be unfair not to concede that the rise of flat-panel displays as the standard for in-home entertainment has made HD res consoles something of a necessity as SD software designed for CRT's simply doesn't look as good as it used to.
That hurdle has been cleared now though, and you have to wonder if the next gen of home displays (4k res) will have anything like the same uptake rate now that having a big, but relatively thin screen is commonplace.
I think that looking at what's happened with Blu-Ray versus DVD, compared with DVD versus video the upgrade in (image) quality is less significant to buyers than the convenience and improvements to usability.
Similar threads
- Poll