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Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the capital structure is fair by any means. I understand all the reasons why people - especially right now - are struggling to justify big purchases.
And I will readily agree that inefficient and improper use of resources is one of the contributing factors to ballooning development budgets
That said, video games are - and I challenge you to disprove this - easily one of the best investments for entertainment. Dollars-per-hour of fun on a 20hr, $60 game is $3. For a live service game where people spend hundreds of thousands of hours playing it can get below $0.10 per hour.
EDIT: I also agree that demos need to make a comeback because I’m sick of wasting money. Though people also need to read some reviews before they buy occasionally :/
I simply chose two big, well known, and beloved titles for the sake of expediency.
This problem is not unique to big budget games.
Indie devs are getting screwed too. You saying that you’ve found great games for $30-40 from indie devs isn’t an argument against more sustainable pricing like you think it is.
If the dev budget for the indie game was 5% of the AAA game but the price was 50% then you’ve literally just helped prove my point
The fact is - and I challenge you to prove me wrong here - video games continue to be hands down the best dollar-per-hour investment for entertainment. Even a $60 game that only lasts 20 hrs is still coming in at $3/hr of entertainment, which is very hard to beat. When you look at live service games where people will spend literally thousands of hours after paying anywhere from $60-200 you’re looking at $0.10/hr in some cases.
Fun facts incoming!
Cost of “Mario 64” on release = $59.99
Development budget for Mario 64 = ~$1.56mil
Inflation adjusted Mario 64 cost in 2022 = $111.91
Inflation adjusted Mario 64 budget in 2022 = ~$2.91mil
Cost of “Elden Ring” on release = $59.99
Estimated dev. budget for Elden Ring = $100mil-200mil
Mario 64 units sold = ~12mil
Elden Ring units sold = ~28mil
These details are provided without comment. You do the math and decide whether the fact that prices haven’t changed since 1996 might be the reason for some of the enshitification we continue to see.
And now for the comment:
Consumers are horrifyingly resistant to price increases for games. It is directly responsible for many of the shitty monetization models we’ve seen. Development budget continue to rise, even on indie games, while consumers pay less and less in “real money value” over time.
It’s completely unsustainable and the very reason the “business types” get involved, forcing unpopular monetization schemes
Exactly this. I work in the games industry as well and even big studios are falling over themselves NOT to release anywhere near GTA6.
Nobody believes there won’t be people playing other games at that time. But it’s going to dominate the media cycle for a month, especially if it is either better or worse than fans hope. And the reality is that many, many people have limited gaming budgets. If you’ve only got $100 to spend, GTA6 is very likely to be the default pick at that time.
It’s a behemoth in terms of grabbing attention from both the media and players. All the best laid plans for a successful release can be completely derailed by a game like GTA6.
Unfortunately most, if not all, of these AI filter apps offer some sort of beautification, as it’s very popular and a good source of user acquisition
It looks like the best you’ll find is something like B612
I totally understand this. I used to do CM work and support stuff, and took the first chance I got to switch to a technical role.
It takes a special type of person to not be permanently fucked up by some of the stuff that gets said and done. I have the utmost respect for the CMs that are able to brush that stuff off over and over again. Cause I sure as shit can’t
Especially the bit about publishers making bad decisions and being unable to even talk about it. That stuff hurts
Good. They deserve the support. And unfortunately these companies have already dealt with harassment from these lunatics and can provide useful guidance on how to handle them.
I really hope none of their staff are scared away from the industry, even though they have every right to be under the circumstances.
Will, first and foremost, these were devs not CMs. Shouldn’t have been posting in the first place for exactly this reason.
But in my experience in the industry, it’s never worth the risk to try to look cool. You lose more often than you win, even when you think it’s the right time. Because even if people agree with the sentiment, there will always be people who object to the tone itself and that tips the scales against you
Yeah, and anyone with an ounce of common sense will point at that and be like “See? This is what happens.” But an outrageous chunk of gamers seem incapable of applying the same logic to game development 🤷
Edit: btw this is why knowing how to give good feedback is a really good skill to learn
Bad feedback: “You should remove this button, it sucks and I don’t want it”
Good feedback: “It disrupts my experience when I go to press button A but accidentally press button B because it’s so close.”
If people knew what devs said (justifiably) about players when nobody is looking, the internet would implode.
Like, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but holy fuck gamers are the worst about actually knowing how games are made or the consequences of various decisions they want made.
I don’t know why 80% of gamers think playing games means they know how to make games, but it infuriates many of us to no end. We get that it’s just misguided desire to see the games improve but jfc it makes life incredibly difficult (especially for the CMs)
EDIT: Imagine someone told an architect “You should just remove that load bearing wall. This other building doesn’t have one in that position and it’s great. Why is it so hard for you?”
Nope, it’s not that game. Nor, IMO, could they possibly make that game successful enough to justify the cost of the remake. There aren’t enough people like you to generate the sales numbers they are looking for. Could you make a reasonably successful product like that? Sure. Would it make the amount of money square-enix is interested in? I strongly doubt it. Because I wouldn’t buy that game and I enjoyed ff7. I don’t really care if they have cubes for hands. I’m not playing it for the graphics heh
Uh sunshine is usually MORE performant, not less. I would suggest heading to the Moonlight/Sunshine discord server and requesting help there.
Personally I have no issues streaming 4k@60 150mbps on a wired connection with moonlight and sunshine. Would try @120 if I had a display that supported it lol
Yeah, you told me a sad story in a thread about other people. You turned it into a conversation about yourself instead of thinking about the perspective of others
You’re the one not listening. I’ve been talking about other people this entire time and all you can think about is yourself and how hard it was for you and your bad memories.
I’m doing fine. I don’t need your support. I’m not asking for your support. Not once have I told you that you should support me.
I’m trying to tell you that compassion is free. You aren’t being asked to take care of anyone. You’re being asked not to place the blame at the feet of people who are suffering, and not to point at people who struggle and call them sick because “only an unwell person would do that.”
You sound really narcissistic. Even your efforts to come off as supportive were performative and came back around to “but I said the thing, so I’m the good guy”.
I don’t think you’re being aggressive. I don’t think you’re being mean. I don’t think you’re angry or hateful.
I think you’re selfish.
Muting you now so I don’t keep seeing your self-pitying excuses for why you should shun those who struggle with mental health. It’s really starting to make me sick
This will be my last response:
Going through that? It’s not something I’m “going through”. It’s a condition I’ve had almost all my life and it’s well managed for a long time now. I’m not asking for your support. Just your understanding. And that’s what you don’t get. Compassion costs you nothing, but you can’t even do that
✌️
If someone tells me they have something mentally wrong with them
You know, I was gonna reply to you with a bunch of information on how to help people and be understanding, patient, and compassionate. But then I read this line and I lost all interest. I’m sorry you’ve gone through what you have. But this is callous and heartless. Don’t project your extreme situation onto the common mental health challenges of others. I hope nobody with mental health challenges - you know, simple stuff like depression or minor trauma responses - ever comes to rely on or trust you. They’ll just have their heart broken.
Don’t be surprised when your children, spouse, family, or friends do not trust you or share their struggles with you. They will doubtlessly fear that you’ll abandon them in a heartbeat once they know this terrible trait of yours
Shame on you for painting all people who struggle with mental health with a single brush.
And since I have my mental health issues (MDD) I’ll assume “you just can’t” and end our conversation here, for both our sakes
P.S. My wife’s best friend when through a rough patch and came out of it with a similar attitude. She tried sharing one of her struggles with PTSD with him, like she used to, and he told her “I need a break from you, you just bring me down all the time” and I saw what that did to her. Made me sick to my stomach
You are suggesting that the symptom of her abuse is the cause of her suffering. It’s completely backwards. When you put people in an impossible situation and then wave away the things they do to keep control of their life as mental illness you’re not only victim blaming, you’re demeaning those of us with mental health issues.
Would I have handled it that way? Probably not. But you can’t arm-chair diagnose someone with mental health problems just because you don’t understand or identify with their choices. It’s not right.
If your employer tries to convince you not to take days off; if you’re employer doesn’t say “okay” when you ask as long as you’ve given the handbook-defined required notice; if they punish you for taking time off; if you are required to put your foot down and take the day off even if you think you might be retaliated against for it: then your company is an absolute shit show and you need to run for the hills.
Your post is victim blaming at its finest. We accommodate requests for accrued time off without question because we have no idea what they are going through and we have no right to pry into it. If their unavailability causes significant harm to the company that is a STAFFING problem, not a problem with the person talking the time off.
I never said anything about the quality of the games. I’m speaking specifically to the monetization bullshit.
As I said elsewhere: budget bloat happens in a lot of places. Greedy executive and publishers is one place. Overambitious design goals that get scrapped is another. There’s also bad tools workflows, mismanagement, and any number of other contributing factors.
But even indie devs are getting screwed on pricing and making far less than they deserve to be in many cases.
If people keep buying CoD and Assassins Creed, devs will keep making them. And if they can’t increase retail price to cover the budget they will find other ways to do it.