There's no money in success (Gaming)

by cheapLEY , Friday, May 26, 2023, 09:35 (550 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Obviously the most disappointing thing is the lack of a single player story experience. The irony is that the games that are dominating now in terms of sales, like Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War, Pokémon Arceus, Hogwarts Legacy, Resident Evil 4…

That’s true. But the thing you’re not accounting for is opportunity cost. Making a big single player experience is massively expensive. If it flops, you’re fucked. We’re now in an age where big AAA games are so expensive that they have to be massive hits to be considered successful. Look at Square Enix and Tomb Raider being a disappointment in sakes despite reaching like 8 million copies or something.

That was exactly the point of the post. Even though players want these games the money is simply elsewhere. Elden Ring sold 4x as much as Destiny, and twice as much as Halo 3. And yet, the money is in games like Fortnite.

The money is also in Elden Ring, though. From Soft isn’t going to be making a battle royale any time soon.

I get what you’re saying, and I agree. I think Bungie slapping the Marathon brand on an extraction shooter fucking sucks, and I think people expecting it’ll be very much more than that with some lore sprinkled over the top are setting themselves up for disappointment.

But I also think people doing nothing but lamenting that trend should also open their eyes. Gaming has literally never been better. Because Elden Ring did get made. Tears of the Kingdom exists. Great single player games are not dying, they’re better than ever.