I agree with @MeachtheMonster

[O³ (O cubed)]

Budgets for AAA games need to be reined in. It's unsustainable to keep going the way things are.

300 million for a single game is ridiculous. There's gotta be a major shift because if one game flops, it's over.

And I don't usually agree with him.

 

[winb83]

Budgets for AAA games need to be reined in. It's unsustainable to keep going the way things are.

300 million for a single game is ridiculous. There's gotta be a major shift because if one game flops, it's over.

And I don't usually agree with him.

Spider-Man No Way Home had a budget of $200 million and made $1.9 billion. Spending $350 million on a video game is insane. There are just better ways for a company to spend money than that.

Hell their projections for what Spider-Man 2 will make is what like $75 million? The movie Morbius was trash and it'll pull in more than that and it only had a budget of $80 something million.

 

[Diondon]

No one disagrees with this

 

[MeachTheMonster]

pretty much every AAA studio is one flop away from death.

If you read some of the story’s from devs on these games, the human toll it takes to bring these games to fruition is crazy.

Entire industry gone have to do some soul searching. shyts gotten way outa hand.

Remember we all laughed at square for complaining about tomb raider being a “failure” cause it “only” sold 5 million copies. Some AAA games in 2023 need to sell 7+ mill just to break even.

 

[Rekkapryde]

No one disagrees with this

This.

And it's only certain titles that get high budgets...AFTER they were proven hits.

Problem is the costs of business continues to go up especially in regards to personnel salary. You want the good devs and talent, you gonna have to pay.

FromSoft Devs weren't even making the US equivalent of 20 dollars and hour.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

pretty much every AAA studio is one flop away from death.

As are most indie studios. I love how yall think the biggest studios making the most revenue from games are the ones in trouble, and not the smaller studios struggling to get one game through the door

 

[Rekkapryde]

As are most indie studios

Yeah man.

But what do you do? Hire cheap trash devs and end up making trash games?

 

[Batsute]

I agree, but you cant compare movie production budgets to game production. Gaming devs don’t come cheap, plus movies don’t have QA, or utilize so much energy, so those budgets are justified.

As for the other side that would mean the general gaming populace has to accept games like SM2, TLoU2, and Halo Infinite are rarities and not the standard. If not these companies see them as the way forward. I’m record saying that AAA gaming has been trash for a long time interactive movies that hand hold throughout the entire quest. AAA gaming as a whole is formulaic taking no risks, everything George Lucas said about Hollywood can be applied to modern gaming.

 

[Neuromancer]

Stop buying them then. Vote with your wallet buy more indie games.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

As are most indie studios. I love how yall think the biggest studios making the most revenue from games are the ones in trouble, and not the smaller studios struggling to get one game through the door

No.

Smaller game flops you only lose a couple mil or you take a bit longer to break even.

Larger game can sell 6 million copies and still lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

It’s way easier to get investors on board for a 5 million dollar risk than a 100 million one.

That’s why all the leaders of these huge studios eventually leave and try to do something creative on their own.

 

[levitate]

It will likely decrease once more AI dev tools are implemented.

But yeah, maybe Sony and MS need to have better dev kits with robust ready-to use coding/assets and shyt. Cause it don’t make no damn sense for games to be costing this much to develop.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

And it's only certain titles that get high budgets

Hence the bubble rushing towards bursting.

Less and less games are “proven worthy” of big budgets. That number will continue to dwindle.

Even the most successful and proven studios are under major pressure to cut costs

 

[Batsute]

Yeah man.

But what do you do? Hire cheap trash devs and end up making trash games?

Trash devs are rarely the problem is the people who come up with the game. Like anything else gaming is not impervious to cash grabs and poor execution.

The real problem is tools are easily accessible by everyone and visibility/marketing has never been easier.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

It will likely decrease once more AI dev tools are implemented.

But yeah, maybe Sony and MS need to have better dev kits with robust ready-to use coding/assets and shyt. Cause it don’t make no damn sense for games to be costing this much to develop.

Every game needs to be bigger and better.

I think microsoft jumped off this train a while ago. Outside of bethesdas big games, they seem to be aiming for a bit smaller budgets and unique inventive games instead of chasing hollywood.

For sony, their standard is big budget hollywood movie. They gotta up that shyt with every game. But sales aren’t growing with the budgets.

 

[MajesticLion]

The Way of the Patient Gamer endures.