I have to say, that with the 6 million I was joking a little :) So dont take the number super seriously. But definitely it could be done for less than 20. So anywhere between 10-20 you can make quite good, AAA, 10 hours long singleplayer action game, with cutscenes, AAA graphics and all those production values. Witcher costed somewhere around 30-40 and its giant game. Much bigger and more expensive than your typical 1st person shooter. There is lots of other things and variables to take in account, but there is definitely room for many cheaper AAA games from indie devs :)
Daniel Vavra it absolutely can be done. The only thing keeping games like call of duty above their competitors is the insane amount of money poured into marketing
Gerardo Mendez it's based on historical events and is supposed to be uber realistic. A lot of people like the idea of a historical and immersive game without having to deal with dragons. I'm a fan of fantasy but games like this help keep things fresh.
Gaz Jones Yeah, but why risk? You can try and do both or start with one and when the release date is near bomb ppl with ads. I mean, if you invested 50 million in a game you would not want to take the stupid risk of not advertising it enough, thus losing money at the end cuz you didn't reach enough ppl.
hell naw, its not time for fuck off yet on the witcher lol. That game was the greatest breath of fresh air. For me and alot of others, it is easily one of the best games ever. Obviously not the only one, but one of them. Which is why im playing it for the 5th time. The only good game that came out this year was horizon zero dawn, amazing game. There were probably a couple others early this year that i liked, but they clearly werent memorable for me. This holiday season tho some good games are finally rolling out. So then ill finally be able to retire that old Witcher lol
Lukimuki101 Do you actually compare the shitty EA dlc's to witcher dlc's? The witcher 3 has 16 free dlc's and 2 dlcs that combined are almost as big as the base game.. also gwent was in the original game and A LOT of fans asked for an independent card game Fucking fanboys these days..
"PUBG guys aren't scumbags like EA and Warner Brothers" *PUBG has micro transactions* I guess the height of scumbag practices are OK if it's an indie doing it.
Well, there is a difference bewtween cosmetics and actual ingame items. Cosmetics dont have a big impact on the actual gameplay, except that you look much fancier. Ingame items are the complete opposite.
It seems weird though.. Rockstar could just make a trailer, put it on every social media platform they have and people will automatically share it like Gamestop, IGN, fans... Marketing could be done with 50$ just by uploading a trailer on TH-cam but the companies waste 50M by making posters, ads on the Internet, Billboards and commercials on TV. The biggest marketing could be done on the Internet and the outcome would be maybe a bit less but still a lot.
Ofc it's mostly waste, that's how advertisment and sponsorship sector works. If everyone suddenly decided to be optimal about marketing, we might get economic crash. Companies know they are wasting money, but not wasting it would be worse.
For game franchises that are not GTA, trailers that get a few hundred thousand views on youtube is considered pretty high. Comparing say 220,000 views for a trailer to 60 million console owners, you see why publishers revert to billboards and commercials. Sometimes even outrageous public stunts that seem like a waste of money might have been done to get online articles talking about it, getting a story viral with their game's name attached to it. Though that's a risky strategy.
Rockstar revenue based on GTA V sales alone is almost quadruple amount of money they spend. I don't understand why you pick one of very successful franchise to explain marketing = money waste. First of all, GTA is not Annual game They've planned it years before they launch GTA to GTA 2 takes 3 years GTA 2 to GTA III 4 years GTA III to GTA 4 almost 5 years GTA 4 to GTA V 7 years. Original GTA to GTA V took 19 years. Pick a better example.
Yeah advertising doesn't count just the cost of paying the company to display XYZ, it's all the costs of making the trailer. Stuff like licensing music costs more then $50.
The internet is a beautiful thing. Because of viral marketing and how quickly word of mouth spreads it's possible for great games to rise to the top. No. Not all of these "AA games" will find success, but if enough do they can change what gamers expect out of their games.
what people always forget about CDPRs budget is that they a) own GOG wich is a regular income stream and b) they get heavy funding from the polish government. they play by vastly different rules than 99.9% of the indy market
CD Projekt Red are doing it the right way , the alternative is using a publisher like Ubisoft ,Bethesda,EA,Activision etc and majority of those destroy the gaming industry . Looking foward to Cyberpunk 2077 .
Yet Valve owns Steam and they are not really doing anything. With there money they are taking in. At least CDPR is doing something with there extra money. An look how well that as worked out for them.
Simply put, we either see the gaming crash or we see EA, Activision and Ubi take a nose-dive into a pile of shit while games are set free of publishers' shackles.
We need a crash to hopefully end all this AAA greed bullshit. With a big enough crash, maybe all these greedy companies will realize we won't stand for shit like lackluster DLC and season passes, terrible pre-order incentives, broken messy games with multi-GB day one patches, and pay to win micro-transactions in full AAA games. I want classic style gaming to return: things like complete games that WORK ON RELEASE, no patches (unless truly needed), no ridiculous DRM bs on consoles (aka always online) and some other things I'm probably missing...
I love the speculation. This really does get a conversation started. What's most important though is putting those words to action, and proving that smaller developers can put out a massively successful triple A title. Really hope to see it happen.
The problem with games was that they became too big, they became a serious money maker, which means that more people that were only hungry for money joined the ranks and the more passionate were outnumbered. For every good game there are twenty other games that are just run of the mill coporate money makers.
Which makes any innovation and good gameplay and new interesting gaming ideas die, and hurrahs all these stupid endless multiplayer shouldercam-shooters because "they sell" and meanwhile good new games with new genres are considered a "financial risk".
Julia Shenandoah Which also leads to consumers pulling out of the market which has already been happening slowly but increasingly each year . I predict that we may experience a gaming crash soon and major companies will take a step back and change there plans or small gaming businesses will revive gaming.
I completely agree with Daniel Farfarrah! I felt this for many years now, not only in games, but in a lot of media and entertainment production. However these days AAA games are one of the biggest examples of this. You're right though marketing is expensive, but 1 million on a marketing budget is pretty good, and for the game a few million should be enough. Big studios often have 10-100X more budget, but I find it does not necessarily make a better product.
Do you really need all that money for marketing? Use social media, Give people like Total Biscuit a badass game to show everyone, If it's good, show it off, and then watch the hype train drive its self.
So i do have a question for my fellow gamers, So what if developers for example want to give something back to community and they make a game that is free but they do have microtransactions ONLY for the skins so they can at least make some money in case community wants to treat the developers and them selfs? Is that considered to be a low and scummy thing? Like no pay to win crap or buy good item so u dont have to grind, just skins.
This video is the best video I've seen on your channel, I work in an indie game studio and the things you said were really inspiring, thanks a lot and keep making good stuff!
Honestly I think the cost of making games is to high, people are spending a lot of time and money on sounds and graphics when gameplay and control are more important
No it is not. It is actually quite low for most AAA companies. They reuse game engines, art assets, and they recycle personel between various projects so they get more work for less money. Modern AAA games spend much more money on marketing (which is mostly spend on bribing reviewers under the table) than developing.
I think the biggest problem of going from independent start-up to AAA (apart from the funding) is recruitment, that is, finding enough qualified people. The next hurdle is to keep them busy, as game development is not all happening at the same time. Some stuff will be done halfway through development, so you gotta get everybody involved with that part starting on the next game already, while the first title might be a year (or years) away from release. Firing might be an option, but then you are back to the initial problem, once you start your next game.
Everyone in the comments talks about CD Projekt Red like they are a state company run by a socialist state... They got one very specific grant AFTER they already swam in GOG and Witcher 3 money. It's not like they are owned by the state. And subsidies for the gaming industry aren't that rare. Of course, if the only big dev in Poland is CDPR, they will benefit the most, but tax grants and/or special investments in the gaming industry does happen in other countries, too.
One of the reasons marketing is so high for games like COD is they make deals with other companies like Doritos or Mountain Dew and they also do regular commercials on TV. For video games those are not needed to get players to learn about the upcoming title. Send game reviewers a demo. If they like it they will talk about it. When you add more to the game send them another demo. There's the advertisement you would get with commercials and product tie ins but far cheaper.
CDPR isn't a fair comparison point to the majority of indie studios, they have government funding, they own GoG AND they got the rights to use The Witcher IP for cheap. Remember the author didn't think they could pull off making a game from it. However I think the solution to the issues with the AAA industry can be solved with more independent studios making 'AAA' style games, but only if consumers take action as well. We need to stop preordering collectors editions and season passes, try to stop preordering all together (some games can be hard to get, if you want a physical edition) and just force AAA publishers to stop with the crap. The sheer amount of bells and whistles they are selling is insane.
Killing Floor, Red Orchestra and Rocket League are probably better examples than Witcher, yeah, although CDPR only got the funding after W3 came out. They still risked a lot more than most can though.
$50 million for ads?!?! I've never once heard of a game through advertising. I hear of them through word-of-mouth and journos like you guys. What an obscene waste of Champagne Tokens.....
and the second one of these paid advertised goons says OH GREAT GAME etc asnd it flops and is awful then new laws and rules are gonna come....ONE could have a system of paying them to be honest about your game....but thats its own risk and then you have other issues.....what we could do is have websites owners paid to put up links to trailers etc and tell gamers where these are. when you dont see the AAA's there and start getting better quality you know whats gonna be popular
This is actually true about all media. Productive capital and marketing is becoming much more accessible. The problem is, like what happened in the music industry, this causes dilution. Therefore there will be a lot of games out there but overall quality might drop.
People be thinking another game crash is coming, but with companies like Warhorse and CD Projekt Red there is a great amount of hope. If anything the crappy publishers who are largely corrupting the industry might hopefully crash while the game companies who don't treat their customers like ATMs flourish.
To be fair, the most costs are made just to acquire licenses to release on consoles and marketing. If those get dropped, costs will be reduced big time. But the risks of no marketing can be daunting for many studios.
For 5 to 6 mil. BS. For one if you take the cost of 1 dev as being 50k per year. Which is less than to going rate mind you. For a small team of 10 thats 500k per year in wages. Thats without other costs like computers. Power. Rent etc. All in all a team of 10 may be needing approx 1m per year. To get COD level I think your looking at 5 years minimum. So 5 years for this team of 10. Bear in mind that 50k is the low end of the payscale and your looking at double for a graphics artist. So Im still looking at the very least 5m for 5 years with a very small team. So while possible I dont think very likely. Nor do many companies who are that small even have that kinda money. Hence where publishers come in to help them with the cost. Though I do wish publishers would act more like sponsors and stay out of the development choices.
Thank you I always see this weird idea that making games are cheap but in the US, a developer is making at least 50k (as a Canadian, I can tell you if you want to live in Montreal or Vancouver -hubs of major game studios, you NEED to be making at least 75k - these cities aren't cheap AT ALL) I honestly don't understand how people are shocked that games take millions to make...worse, when companies TRY to keep costs down, reviewers will tear them to shreds - see Mass Effect: Andromeda
Adam McGrath He wasn't being serious with 5-6 mill. I think that was more for shock value or to prove a point. He really thinks between 10-20 million instead of the quarter billion spent on some nowadays
"Bear in mind that 50k is the low end of the payscale and your looking at double for a graphics artist." - on which planet a graphics designer get`s that masses of money as "low-end salary"? Hm more than a bank manager, interesting. And I always thought office jobs don`t pay enough.
www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/Electronic-Arts-Graphic-Designer-US-Salaries-EJI_IE1628.0,15_KO16,32_IL.33,35_IN1.htm "Graphic Designer salaries at Electronic Arts can range from $69,687-$101,199. This estimate is based upon 2 Electronic Arts Graphic Designer salary report(s) provided by employees or estimated based upon statistical methods."
i agree with Daniel Vavra, with all you guys at pretty good gaming. I can't quote prices i am not that into that. However i think some of the more successful smaller company's should take the success when they make ton's more then planned and do there own publishing. It will only do good thing's for the market, first you can get more unique games/storys, second it makes the bigger company's take notice of other success to try there own hand at it which continues the trend.
Oh Yeah! Ninja Theory, Nicalis, Chucklefish and Devolver are some greedy hack frauds. Fuck those greedy devs and publishers. Oh and CDPR with their anti consumer DLC policy. Fuck them too! Its the Toby Foxes and Edmund McMillens that ruin the industry!
ShadowsHeat The reason why Indie games were popular because of overrated TH-cam like pewdiepie, markiplier played their games so indie games were so popular but bringing more cancerous fandoms. Thats I love TheRadbrad and PeanutButterGamer.
I blame game publishers but it's also the community as many will tell you something like this "well you don't have to buy them or just don't buy the same". You can see many are contempt and continue to buy games that do this practice only feeding the fire.
The biggest current problem in one respect with the gaming industry is not that most companies & developers don't know or at least suspect they could achieve more consistent success if they take greater risks. They've long acknowledged this. The problem is, most of them won't in spite of knowing that, because it's in the nature of those with wealth & power to prioritize what's easier to safeguard their own personal benefit over the greater opportunities that inherently demand risk. Anyone can profit off hard work but this industry wasn't built through perseverance alone. It was also creativity, vision, and guts to take risks in pursuit of it. As long as that's undervalued, gaming will always be held back from its full potential.
This is exactly what the industry needs and as gamers what we deserve!! The devs who make the games should be in charge of their own destiny and we will get the games we deserve.
I think the problem is that many you mentioned with the potential to break the wheel are actually just joining it; PuB now has loot boxes and Ark made DLC while it was still in early access. It does appear that the bigger a project gets the harder it is to maintain artistic integrity. Lets hope that the Ninja Theories and Vavra's of the world can open other developers eyes before another great indie developer decides to take the 'Joy' given by the big publishers.
I can't WAIT to get into the industry just to do this sort of stuff. I want to become a publisher of big budget games made for the consumer rather than the investor and I think I might be starting at the perfect time.
Paradox Development Studios are getting into publishing 3rd party games, as well as their own product. They are a bit unusual in that they support their games own games for the very long term anyway, but they've been quite picky about what they have published, and are doing pretty well.
If they're going to self-publish and only do digital distribution, this could totally work. Developers rely on publishers for advertising and physical distribution though. It's very expensive to advertise and distribute multiple copies of every game to every major chain store in the world. As long as the majority of games are still purchased physically, self-publishing won't be viable.
when i was a lad i remember games being around the 30squid mark and they gradually got more expensive but the games were getting better. however i dont think the prices have gone up for a while now staying around the 50quid mark. I think devs want to start charging about 60-70 but dont want to deal with the back lash from the mainstream so they make the extra 20pounds though micro-ts and dlcs.
It all boils down to how much the top manager of the development company earns personally when project is released and sales are over. The paycheck of a top manager in an indie company simply cannot compare with a paycheck of a top manager in a big dev company owned by a huge publisher. Indie devs are driven by desire/need to create a good game, so they have to sacrifice their personal gains. Once/if they establish themselves as competent devs, a lot of them are approached by big publishers with lucrative offers. Some decide to continue being their own publisher, while others "sell their souls", as you guys like to say. Working for a big publisher is also slightly less stressful, because you don't have to worry about advertising your game, that's what that huge marketing budget is for. You also don't have to make sure your game is top-notch, because, once again, a huge marketing budget makes sure your game stays can compete with other blockbusters. Honestly, I can understand the lure of working for a big publisher.
As a game developer myself. I could believe that with $6 million you could make a video game on the same scale if not bigger than Call of Duty. It's really just a matter of quality of art you are willing to pay for, how much of it, and how much time spent carefully designing the levels. The code of it is actually rather simple on the client side, and with so many cloud based solutions for networking penny pinching is the only AAA excuse for not building dedicated servers. I myself have a game in development right now where I just paid for some artwork outright and could slap it in my game. After that there are times where I honestly believe that in terms of graphical quality it definitely compares to some AAA games. Not exactly on the same level as Battlefield 1 or Star Wars (dat photogrammetry), but on something light Skyrim with mods.
Sad thing is, microtransactions do work. You can talk about breaking the wheel as long as you want, but it will never dissapear, only grow larger. Many studios will realise, how much money they lose.
Yeah, the guys who did Hellblade really made amazing work for limited budget while trying a new idea and taking a risk. A game worth supporting as i see it.
Well, he's definitely on to something. If publishers can honestly consider titles that sold well over a million units a failure, they're definitely doing it wrong and it might be a good idea to do more indie "AAA" titles.
He is right. I have been saying the same thing for ages. Modern AAA games do not cost so much to make in reality. Publishers overinflate the supposed budgets for marketing reasons. In reality, most AAA games cost less to develop than many indie titles.
Way too many people don't understand how important the massive marketing budget of 100+ dollars is. Sure you could make a great game with 30 or 40 million $ but investors want their money back multiplied. Witcher 3 is a great example of this and would've have sold much better if it had had a bigger marketing campaign in the US but anyways sold really well for an action RPG (US is really a challenging country for marketing RPGs compared to European countries).
The problem with the industry isn't that publishers want the games to make a lot of money, it's that the publishers want the games to makes *ALL* the money.
I don't know why no singleplayer games are coming out? Everything seems to force you to play multiplayer or into a server and you can never enjoy the good ol days of skyrim
It's obvious that you can make bad ass games with not so crazy budgets that big publishers claim, most forget that games are meant to be fun and creative not money milking operations.
I actually think he's pretty much right. With the tools that are commonly available today and the price of hardware, its definitely possible if you set up in the right place. (where you can set up shop with low overhead. Trying to set up shop in New York City would not be a good idea because of the price of rentals...aka overhead) CD Projekt is in Poland so they side stepped the overhead issue a bit. Not sure what the cost of living is over there, but, I'd bet its somewhat lower than a lot of places in Europe and the US/Canada areas. The other thing is being your own publisher. I think this is totally not only possible but preferable. Yeah, you have to set up a PR department and ship...but, with digital distribution services is the shipping really a problem anymore? That only leaves PR, and with the rise of TH-cam, Twitch etc. getting exposure is easier than it ever has been. TH-cam is how I find most of my games. I don't look at magazines, e-zines, or whatever. I look at actual lets-plays and reviewers that share my sensibilities. Start showing up on my favorite gaming channels and I'll sit up and take notice. So, its totally possible to do it for far less than the big companies and established corporations.
I backed Kingdom Come, from what i have played it has tons of potential and seems to be a very well run project. When it comes to crowdfunding if they deliver (pun intended) they can count on support in the future
I hope there's a revolution coming. It's about damned time. I don't have a problem with $40-$60 for a game. I have a problem with paying that much and getting incomplete games, day 1 DLC, microtransactions, and season passes. I hope some of these devs step up and give the big publishers some real competition to scare them out of their shenanigans.
I'm studying game development (coding, design, philosophy) and video games have been my core entertainment through out my life. I want to be a part of this revolution and make my own company which challenges the norm, which focuses on the customer retention and satisfaction instead of making an extra 20% off shady micro transactions. I want to craft stories which challenge your thought and bring us all together, I want to make multiplayer experiences that are exciting with fun and competitive sides, I want to influence the industry and see companies like EA crash and burn in the dust we leave behind them. The industry will change, it has to, people like me have grown up being slowly and progressively more screwed over by AAA publishers every year and we're passionate about our medium.
I think the industry as a whole just sort of hit a rut. everything sort of felt like it was done before, and so they fell into categories we've already seen and were a bit too sick of, for example FPS games of the past 10 years just seemed to use cod 4 as the template and attempted to beat it by focusing in the wrong areas such as better graphics. They didn't want to reinvent the wheel they just wanted to add more to it like open worlds and a fuck tonne of sidequests that was all very copy and paste. It's how games like witcher 3 broke free of that and was accepted because of it, small things like keeping the same voice actors, actually giving you control of a character you can understand and give a shit towards instead of some nameless gimp you make after 10 mins on a creation screen, even the music was recreated from the ground up by polish musicians playing real instruments. It's simple but key details that get overlooked, when was the last time COD or Battlefield had a soundtrack? (not the promotional eminem on adverts) Now think back to the days of final fantasy and metal gear solid. The graphics were cutting edge of the time but the focus was on the story and soundtrack, the music and tones actually made you feel whatever scene you was in mattered. TBh it's how Zelda BOTW is ticking so many boxes...
the thing to keep in mind tho when using CDPR as an example for this particular discussion is that as i understand it they are basically government funded at this point. thats really the reason why they dont need a publisher and get the luxury of doing stuff like, you know, actually finishing their games before they release them and not put stupid microtransactions into anything or cut finished content from their retail game in order to sell it seperately as story DLC. the witcher games are like one of their countries top financial exports so they are like the mercedes benz of video game developers. basic market rules dont really apply to them the way they do for everyone else
Publishers still have a place in this world for people like me. Anything that is bigger than 5GB, I won't buy digital. For those big games I still go to the store and buy them on a disc.
Its whether or not you have the populous, the people to devote to new games development AS WELL as money for advertising. It all sounds good but it just isn’t feasible really. The industry isn’t pulling itself out of the darkness any time soon.
the issue with Indie developers has always been capital generation. Its something that the AAA publishers just outright outproduce us on because they're essentially like banks. The only way to compete as an indie is to have a successful game to begin with, you cannot compete right out the gate in fact its very difficult to even succeed the first time you release a game. There is a LOT of risk for indie developers starting out and its why most when they do get the success tend to sit on it because its 1. a rarity and 2. easy to loose.
I like to think of this situation like the beginning of a company like Bethesda. They were originally a developer but eventually split into two companies that coexist with one being focused on publishing and one focused on ip development. I think the problem overall is corporate culture eventually compromising the artistic integrity of a product. This is a business after all, and even some of the most treasured game devs/publishers eventually sour the community in the pursuit of money. Not to say a company like projekt red will fall to such a fate, but it isn't out of the question. In the right circumstances, publishers give their devs the freedom to make the game they want with financial backing. Having all of the responsibility fall on to a single company could lead to that fate. I just don't want to see repeat stories like valve or Bethesda, where besides their best efforts, they eventually fall under the spell of pure financial gain to the detriment of good games.
Gaming is in the doldrums not just because of isolationist business models, but because the game story is not all that good, and most games fail to truly engage the player. Games like Skyrim and Tomb Raider, and even Alien Isolation brought with them a truly interactive and engaging story and characters, and offered hours of escapism inside imagined worlds. Also, the gaming world is in transition to a new evolved gaming platform, but which has yet to evolve more so that full AAA games can be played on it to all its potential. I am of course, writing about the 'virtual reality' technology, which is the logical next step for computer gaming. Imagine being able to play Skyrim as the main character from a first person perspective, with all the presence and immersion that the technology offers? It is where we want the technology to be, at that level. Of course, its usage will go way beyond that of gaming alone, it will certainly have 'real world' usages, such as in training and schooling, and even work itself, but it is still a young technology and has a long way to go before it is taken up fully by domestic consumers.
I hope CD Projekt will be able to self publish globally for Cyberpunk 2077. They partnered with WB (the anti CDP when it comes to business ethics) and Namco to publish The Witcher 2 & 3. It worked out well for CDP with TW3 given how their partnerships were strictly for distribution. I think they could do even better if they didn't have to worry about making a publisher happy also.
I would love to start my own video game development company I just need some developers that are willing to program a demo so I can get people interested in supporting a game to get my feet off the ground.
An example: look at Killing Floor 2. When this game released, I was expecting it to rise to the top 10 of player numbers on steam!!! But it didn't. It stayed quiet down, without most people noticing it. Tripwire is an indie developer with no publisher. Killing Floor 2 is a game that made things better than any game made before, looking at how good the gun play is made + being a completely different zombie shooter from previous more arcedy things elsewhere. A game that to mention also is in it's heart a hardcore game rewarding head shots and smart team thinking. One of the reasons is also the players. If I look around in Killing Floor 2 most people still don't understand basic ways of playing in a team, really playing in a team (not just in this game, in general). They accumulate hours and hours, dying on harder difficulties, and also easier ones (in Killing Floor 1 you might have troubles as an old hardcore gamer, but the game is freakin spawning enemies around a corner, an old, but also good game, they changed it in KF 2 in great ways with spawning and other things). The more I write, the more you will understand why gaming developers don't take the steps to be more risky. Now one would call me overstating the party "risky". But in economics, if you do so many things different, they will call you basically insane. With one thing they are right: You won't have it easy, even if you have the cash doing things differently. I am glad to see that in such a mainstream market now, where things are tried to be dumped down industry wise, we see development.
I have to say, that with the 6 million I was joking a little :) So dont take the number super seriously. But definitely it could be done for less than 20. So anywhere between 10-20 you can make quite good, AAA, 10 hours long singleplayer action game, with cutscenes, AAA graphics and all those production values. Witcher costed somewhere around 30-40 and its giant game. Much bigger and more expensive than your typical 1st person shooter. There is lots of other things and variables to take in account, but there is definitely room for many cheaper AAA games from indie devs :)
Thanks for stopping by. All i could think when editing you into the video was 'nice fucking beard'
looking forward to playing your game dude.
just heard of your game from this video, have to say i am now looking forward to it mate, hope it does well and shows what can be done!
Your game is what people have been waiting for in the medieval scene my dude. Good luck looks awesome!
Daniel Vavra it absolutely can be done. The only thing keeping games like call of duty above their competitors is the insane amount of money poured into marketing
Im quite keen for that medieval game and the fact that he wants to challenge "AAA" gaming makes me all the more keen to support it.
Samuel Ancer but why make a medieval game without the fantasy!!!
Gerardo Mythical things are the best part about medieval games right? :D
History is often much more exiting than fantasy. Most good fantasy stories are based upon real history anyway.
Gerardo Mendez some people like me dislike fantasy
Gerardo Mendez it's based on historical events and is supposed to be uber realistic. A lot of people like the idea of a historical and immersive game without having to deal with dragons. I'm a fan of fantasy but games like this help keep things fresh.
Giving youtubers and streamers free copies is probably better advertisement than most billboards and TV adverts
Gaz Jones Yeah, but why risk? You can try and do both or start with one and when the release date is near bomb ppl with ads. I mean, if you invested 50 million in a game you would not want to take the stupid risk of not advertising it enough, thus losing money at the end cuz you didn't reach enough ppl.
It is in our hands, we as consumers should support such studios and maybe maybe the practice of the big 3 change
The truth.
Yes Geralt is how you fix the gaming industry.
gary ? or Geralt ?
RushingDolphin salty witcher 3 hater😂😂😂😂😂
"W...what are you doing?"
"Killing monsters."
RushingDolphin What now you piece of filth?
hell naw, its not time for fuck off yet on the witcher lol. That game was the greatest breath of fresh air. For me and alot of others, it is easily one of the best games ever. Obviously not the only one, but one of them. Which is why im playing it for the 5th time. The only good game that came out this year was horizon zero dawn, amazing game. There were probably a couple others early this year that i liked, but they clearly werent memorable for me. This holiday season tho some good games are finally rolling out. So then ill finally be able to retire that old Witcher lol
In CD Projekt we trust!
1 nation, under games
dlcs,card games :/
i wish you good luck
Lukimuki101 Do you actually compare the shitty EA dlc's to witcher dlc's? The witcher 3 has 16 free dlc's and 2 dlcs that combined are almost as big as the base game.. also gwent was in the original game and A LOT of fans asked for an independent card game
Fucking fanboys these days..
Welp this aged poorly
"PUBG guys aren't scumbags like EA and Warner Brothers"
*PUBG has micro transactions*
I guess the height of scumbag practices are OK if it's an indie doing it.
Raith there are many people have double standard when its indie endless Early Access full with bug are A ok because they aren't finished yet
Well, there is a difference bewtween cosmetics and actual ingame items. Cosmetics dont have a big impact on the actual gameplay, except that you look much fancier. Ingame items are the complete opposite.
Raith
Both PUBG and Fortnite have microtransactions. Oh shit.
"So those publishers be wankers. How about we makes games, and not be wankers and see what happens."
Wise words.
Indeed.
If the suits were not being greedy douche bags we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.
Sanada I read your comment as he said those words lol I agree
Wasteland Seven - suits are exactly that by definition
Sanada Read this as he said it wtf😂😂
It seems weird though.. Rockstar could just make a trailer, put it on every social media platform they have and people will automatically share it like Gamestop, IGN, fans...
Marketing could be done with 50$ just by uploading a trailer on TH-cam but the companies waste 50M by making posters, ads on the Internet, Billboards and commercials on TV. The biggest marketing could be done on the Internet and the outcome would be maybe a bit less but still a lot.
The thing is Rockstar already has a market identity, if you are a new developer no one would give a shit, no mater how good your game would be.
Ofc it's mostly waste, that's how advertisment and sponsorship sector works. If everyone suddenly decided to be optimal about marketing, we might get economic crash. Companies know they are wasting money, but not wasting it would be worse.
For game franchises that are not GTA, trailers that get a few hundred thousand views on youtube is considered pretty high.
Comparing say 220,000 views for a trailer to 60 million console owners, you see why publishers revert to billboards and commercials.
Sometimes even outrageous public stunts that seem like a waste of money might have been done to get online articles talking about it, getting a story viral with their game's name attached to it. Though that's a risky strategy.
Rockstar revenue based on GTA V sales alone is almost quadruple amount of money they spend.
I don't understand why you pick one of very successful franchise to explain marketing = money waste.
First of all, GTA is not Annual game
They've planned it years before they launch
GTA to GTA 2 takes 3 years
GTA 2 to GTA III 4 years
GTA III to GTA 4 almost 5 years
GTA 4 to GTA V 7 years.
Original GTA to GTA V took 19 years.
Pick a better example.
Yeah advertising doesn't count just the cost of paying the company to display XYZ, it's all the costs of making the trailer. Stuff like licensing music costs more then $50.
The internet is a beautiful thing. Because of viral marketing and how quickly word of mouth spreads it's possible for great games to rise to the top. No. Not all of these "AA games" will find success, but if enough do they can change what gamers expect out of their games.
Not true, only the unlucky will fail look at CoD:IW and Mass Effect:Andromeda both looked like a failure from afar.
Lol! That clip of We Happy Few. They were talking about the developers (that scared guy) then the publishers with those evil grins.
That...is what we call good editing! (I agree)
I've seen click bait before but my god, this channel takes it to a whole new level(not the content that much but the titles/images)
what people always forget about CDPRs budget is that they
a) own GOG wich is a regular income stream and
b) they get heavy funding from the polish government.
they play by vastly different rules than 99.9% of the indy market
Plus it took them 17 years to get to the point they are now...
CD Projekt Red are doing it the right way , the alternative is using a publisher like Ubisoft ,Bethesda,EA,Activision etc and majority of those destroy the gaming industry .
Looking foward to Cyberpunk 2077 .
karottenkoenig
I didn't forget, i never knew GOG was owned by them.
Yet Valve owns Steam and they are not really doing anything. With there money they are taking in. At least CDPR is doing something with there extra money. An look how well that as worked out for them.
Seems Poland is doing it right.
Simply put, we either see the gaming crash or we see EA, Activision and Ubi take a nose-dive into a pile of shit while games are set free of publishers' shackles.
Rigel_6 oh poor poor Rigel_6 we are never gonna be free from publisher shackles, but we can control who has reign over the shackles
A nose-dive into the pile of shit that is Ubi's new logo, its not just a logo..its their lifelong goal.
Sergio Anoba the Israeli version of the dollar?
We need a crash to hopefully end all this AAA greed bullshit. With a big enough crash, maybe all these greedy companies will realize we won't stand for shit like lackluster DLC and season passes, terrible pre-order incentives, broken messy games with multi-GB day one patches, and pay to win micro-transactions in full AAA games. I want classic style gaming to return: things like complete games that WORK ON RELEASE, no patches (unless truly needed), no ridiculous DRM bs on consoles (aka always online) and some other things I'm probably missing...
Rogue Raven? Sounds interesting. I'll look into it. Thanks!
Oh yes the czech wisdom. Yes warhorse studios is czech and they are developing the best medieval game.
Typicle The fact that they are Czech doesn't really have anything to do with it.
With experience from Mafia 1, Hiddeen and Dangerous and other games from Illusion Softworks
Bepis they make good porn. I'm sure they can make a good game
The Czechs make pretty good guns, too. Don't know why I'm mentioning that.
GameraTheBrave Yeah, thats us. Guns, games and porn. :D
I love the speculation. This really does get a conversation started. What's most important though is putting those words to action, and proving that smaller developers can put out a massively successful triple A title. Really hope to see it happen.
The problem with games was that they became too big, they became a serious money maker, which means that more people that were only hungry for money joined the ranks and the more passionate were outnumbered. For every good game there are twenty other games that are just run of the mill coporate money makers.
Which makes any innovation and good gameplay and new interesting gaming ideas die, and hurrahs all these stupid endless multiplayer shouldercam-shooters because "they sell" and meanwhile good new games with new genres are considered a "financial risk".
Wisdom.
Julia Shenandoah Which also leads to consumers pulling out of the market which has already been happening slowly but increasingly each year . I predict that we may experience a gaming crash soon and major companies will take a step back and change there plans or small gaming businesses will revive gaming.
its you guys and the game pressure guy...both are the most reliable gaming channel on youtube
Kingdom Come = Chivalry + Mount and Blade + Skyrim + The Witcher
If that equation is correct then I will throw my money on the screen.
I hoped it was something like Skyrim but the world isn't that fleshed out with details, sad. But all in all it looks like a good game.
Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough But minus most of the parts of those games so BannerLord will still be better.
Congrats on 200K! :)
I'd say yes. I've always said that devs as a whole are the ones that have the passion for making good games, and the publishers are the money grabbers
I completely agree with Daniel Farfarrah! I felt this for many years now, not only in games, but in a lot of media and entertainment production. However these days AAA games are one of the biggest examples of this. You're right though marketing is expensive, but 1 million on a marketing budget is pretty good, and for the game a few million should be enough. Big studios often have 10-100X more budget, but I find it does not necessarily make a better product.
Do you really need all that money for marketing? Use social media, Give people like Total Biscuit a badass game to show everyone, If it's good, show it off, and then watch the hype train drive its self.
Bribes for good review scores and "influencers" are expensive.
TB is part of the problem, he's defended bad business practices many a time, he's even pro-microtransaction.
TB is more "if it's cosmetics then it's OK cause i have money to buy it!"
Rusty Spurs yep look at super hot had basically zero marketing but thanks to nerdcubed and others alike it became huge
Rusty Spurs he didn't like NieR Automata though,everyone have different taste so dose critics,people shouldn't trust them blindly
So i do have a question for my fellow gamers,
So what if developers for example want to give something back to community and they make a game that is free but they do have microtransactions ONLY for the skins so they can at least make some money in case community wants to treat the developers and them selfs? Is that considered to be a low and scummy thing? Like no pay to win crap or buy good item so u dont have to grind, just skins.
Why was he flipping us off? The guy in the beginning
ElderKnight 0331 who?
Haha! i saw that too.
This video is the best video I've seen on your channel, I work in an indie game studio and the things you said were really inspiring, thanks a lot and keep making good stuff!
+Hosein Akbari thanks Hosein. Good luck to you dude
Honestly I think the cost of making games is to high, people are spending a lot of time and money on sounds and graphics when gameplay and control are more important
Jordan Freeman but what if I want both
Jordan Freeman Sound and graphics are very important...
And yet i have a better memory on sounds from the 16 bit era....
No it is not. It is actually quite low for most AAA companies. They reuse game engines, art assets, and they recycle personel between various projects so they get more work for less money. Modern AAA games spend much more money on marketing (which is mostly spend on bribing reviewers under the table) than developing.
haha sound and graphics are just as important look at mass effect andromeda. Solid gameplay with shitty graphics/character models
I think the biggest problem of going from independent start-up to AAA (apart from the funding) is recruitment, that is, finding enough qualified people. The next hurdle is to keep them busy, as game development is not all happening at the same time. Some stuff will be done halfway through development, so you gotta get everybody involved with that part starting on the next game already, while the first title might be a year (or years) away from release. Firing might be an option, but then you are back to the initial problem, once you start your next game.
Everyone in the comments talks about CD Projekt Red like they are a state company run by a socialist state...
They got one very specific grant AFTER they already swam in GOG and Witcher 3 money. It's not like they are owned by the state.
And subsidies for the gaming industry aren't that rare. Of course, if the only big dev in Poland is CDPR, they will benefit the most, but tax grants and/or special investments in the gaming industry does happen in other countries, too.
One of the reasons marketing is so high for games like COD is they make deals with other companies like Doritos or Mountain Dew and they also do regular commercials on TV. For video games those are not needed to get players to learn about the upcoming title. Send game reviewers a demo. If they like it they will talk about it. When you add more to the game send them another demo. There's the advertisement you would get with commercials and product tie ins but far cheaper.
CDPR isn't a fair comparison point to the majority of indie studios, they have government funding, they own GoG AND they got the rights to use The Witcher IP for cheap. Remember the author didn't think they could pull off making a game from it. However I think the solution to the issues with the AAA industry can be solved with more independent studios making 'AAA' style games, but only if consumers take action as well. We need to stop preordering collectors editions and season passes, try to stop preordering all together (some games can be hard to get, if you want a physical edition) and just force AAA publishers to stop with the crap. The sheer amount of bells and whistles they are selling is insane.
Killing Floor, Red Orchestra and Rocket League are probably better examples than Witcher, yeah, although CDPR only got the funding after W3 came out. They still risked a lot more than most can though.
That hand-rubbing clip was very well-timed.
$50 million for ads?!?! I've never once heard of a game through advertising. I hear of them through word-of-mouth and journos like you guys.
What an obscene waste of Champagne Tokens.....
Marketing, not ads. Paying reviewers for good scores, paying youtube "influencers" to play your game, etc etc.
Χρήστος Κώτσαρης, the guys running this channel have admitted they don't get paid for their opinion. A big reason I trust it.
There are game adverts in between the football matches and halftime, The division had a massive campaign
Imraan Omar, can't stand football. Live in New Zealand.
and the second one of these paid advertised goons says OH GREAT GAME etc asnd it flops and is awful then new laws and rules are gonna come....ONE could have a system of paying them to be honest about your game....but thats its own risk and then you have other issues.....what we could do is have websites owners paid to put up links to trailers etc and tell gamers where these are.
when you dont see the AAA's there and start getting better quality you know whats gonna be popular
This is actually true about all media. Productive capital and marketing is becoming much more accessible. The problem is, like what happened in the music industry, this causes dilution. Therefore there will be a lot of games out there but overall quality might drop.
The way to fix gaming is to clone Larian studios.
People be thinking another game crash is coming, but with companies like Warhorse and CD Projekt Red there is a great amount of hope. If anything the crappy publishers who are largely corrupting the industry might hopefully crash while the game companies who don't treat their customers like ATMs flourish.
We greedy few
against1virus They just signed up with a bad publisher.
...FEW!?...
congrats! one of the best channels on TH-cam! thank you
is it REALLY necessary to write your TITLES like THAT!?!?!
This would be an amazing direction to go into. I hope more companies do this!
They will make the gaming industry great again! xD
Let's just hope they don't build any walls.
Dante Angelo Build a wall around EA and Ubisoft lol
To be fair, the most costs are made just to acquire licenses to release on consoles and marketing. If those get dropped, costs will be reduced big time. But the risks of no marketing can be daunting for many studios.
For 5 to 6 mil. BS. For one if you take the cost of 1 dev as being 50k per year. Which is less than to going rate mind you. For a small team of 10 thats 500k per year in wages. Thats without other costs like computers. Power. Rent etc. All in all a team of 10 may be needing approx 1m per year. To get COD level I think your looking at 5 years minimum. So 5 years for this team of 10. Bear in mind that 50k is the low end of the payscale and your looking at double for a graphics artist. So Im still looking at the very least 5m for 5 years with a very small team.
So while possible I dont think very likely. Nor do many companies who are that small even have that kinda money. Hence where publishers come in to help them with the cost.
Though I do wish publishers would act more like sponsors and stay out of the development choices.
Thank you
I always see this weird idea that making games are cheap but in the US, a developer is making at least 50k (as a Canadian, I can tell you if you want to live in Montreal or Vancouver -hubs of major game studios, you NEED to be making at least 75k - these cities aren't cheap AT ALL)
I honestly don't understand how people are shocked that games take millions to make...worse, when companies TRY to keep costs down, reviewers will tear them to shreds - see Mass Effect: Andromeda
Yeah, but $60 is just soo expensive for a videogame
kappa
Adam McGrath He wasn't being serious with 5-6 mill. I think that was more for shock value or to prove a point. He really thinks between 10-20 million instead of the quarter billion spent on some nowadays
"Bear in mind that 50k is the low end of the payscale and your looking at double for a graphics artist." - on which planet a graphics designer get`s that masses of money as "low-end salary"? Hm more than a bank manager, interesting. And I always thought office jobs don`t pay enough.
www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/Electronic-Arts-Graphic-Designer-US-Salaries-EJI_IE1628.0,15_KO16,32_IL.33,35_IN1.htm
"Graphic Designer salaries at Electronic Arts can range from $69,687-$101,199. This estimate is based upon 2 Electronic Arts Graphic Designer salary report(s) provided by employees or estimated based upon statistical methods."
i agree with Daniel Vavra, with all you guys at pretty good gaming. I can't quote prices i am not that into that. However i think some of the more successful smaller company's should take the success when they make ton's more then planned and do there own publishing. It will only do good thing's for the market, first you can get more unique games/storys, second it makes the bigger company's take notice of other success to try there own hand at it which continues the trend.
Indi devs are just as greedy as Activison and EA
Oh Yeah! Ninja Theory, Nicalis, Chucklefish and Devolver are some greedy hack frauds. Fuck those greedy devs and publishers. Oh and CDPR with their anti consumer DLC policy. Fuck them too!
Its the Toby Foxes and Edmund McMillens that ruin the industry!
karottenkoenig I hate toby fox and EdmunMcMillans so much, their games makes fandoms so bad and cancerous.
It's all pewdiepie's fault anyways.
Well, that too
ShadowsHeat The reason why Indie games were popular because of overrated TH-cam like pewdiepie, markiplier played their games so indie games were so popular but bringing more cancerous fandoms.
Thats I love TheRadbrad and PeanutButterGamer.
Subi_fan don't forget world of tanks and war thunder which is a shitty game
I blame game publishers but it's also the community as many will tell you something like this "well you don't have to buy them or just don't buy the same". You can see many are contempt and continue to buy games that do this practice only feeding the fire.
The biggest current problem in one respect with the gaming industry is not that most companies & developers don't know or at least suspect they could achieve more consistent success if they take greater risks. They've long acknowledged this.
The problem is, most of them won't in spite of knowing that, because it's in the nature of those with wealth & power to prioritize what's easier to safeguard their own personal benefit over the greater opportunities that inherently demand risk.
Anyone can profit off hard work but this industry wasn't built through perseverance alone. It was also creativity, vision, and guts to take risks in pursuit of it. As long as that's undervalued, gaming will always be held back from its full potential.
This is exactly what the industry needs and as gamers what we deserve!! The devs who make the games should be in charge of their own destiny and we will get the games we deserve.
I think the problem is that many you mentioned with the potential to break the wheel are actually just joining it; PuB now has loot boxes and Ark made DLC while it was still in early access. It does appear that the bigger a project gets the harder it is to maintain artistic integrity. Lets hope that the Ninja Theories and Vavra's of the world can open other developers eyes before another great indie developer decides to take the 'Joy' given by the big publishers.
I can't WAIT to get into the industry just to do this sort of stuff. I want to become a publisher of big budget games made for the consumer rather than the investor and I think I might be starting at the perfect time.
Sounds like we could be on the verge of a new renaissance of video games with this... so long as companies start implementing it.
Paradox Development Studios are getting into publishing 3rd party games, as well as their own product. They are a bit unusual in that they support their games own games for the very long term anyway, but they've been quite picky about what they have published, and are doing pretty well.
If they're going to self-publish and only do digital distribution, this could totally work. Developers rely on publishers for advertising and physical distribution though. It's very expensive to advertise and distribute multiple copies of every game to every major chain store in the world. As long as the majority of games are still purchased physically, self-publishing won't be viable.
1) start with fun gameplay
2) then variety
3) then graphics
4) THEN monetization if you really must
2:10 "Microtransactions" *see a guy facepalm*
That fits so well haha
when i was a lad i remember games being around the 30squid mark and they gradually got more expensive but the games were getting better. however i dont think the prices have gone up for a while now staying around the 50quid mark. I think devs want to start charging about 60-70 but dont want to deal with the back lash from the mainstream so they make the extra 20pounds though micro-ts and dlcs.
It all boils down to how much the top manager of the development company earns personally when project is released and sales are over. The paycheck of a top manager in an indie company simply cannot compare with a paycheck of a top manager in a big dev company owned by a huge publisher. Indie devs are driven by desire/need to create a good game, so they have to sacrifice their personal gains.
Once/if they establish themselves as competent devs, a lot of them are approached by big publishers with lucrative offers. Some decide to continue being their own publisher, while others "sell their souls", as you guys like to say.
Working for a big publisher is also slightly less stressful, because you don't have to worry about advertising your game, that's what that huge marketing budget is for. You also don't have to make sure your game is top-notch, because, once again, a huge marketing budget makes sure your game stays can compete with other blockbusters.
Honestly, I can understand the lure of working for a big publisher.
As a game developer myself. I could believe that with $6 million you could make a video game on the same scale if not bigger than Call of Duty. It's really just a matter of quality of art you are willing to pay for, how much of it, and how much time spent carefully designing the levels. The code of it is actually rather simple on the client side, and with so many cloud based solutions for networking penny pinching is the only AAA excuse for not building dedicated servers.
I myself have a game in development right now where I just paid for some artwork outright and could slap it in my game. After that there are times where I honestly believe that in terms of graphical quality it definitely compares to some AAA games. Not exactly on the same level as Battlefield 1 or Star Wars (dat photogrammetry), but on something light Skyrim with mods.
Sad thing is, microtransactions do work. You can talk about breaking the wheel as long as you want, but it will never dissapear, only grow larger. Many studios will realise, how much money they lose.
who would have thought that of all studios, Ninja Theory is going to be the one to save the industry.
Yeah, the guys who did Hellblade really made amazing work for limited budget while trying a new idea and taking a risk.
A game worth supporting as i see it.
Well, he's definitely on to something. If publishers can honestly consider titles that sold well over a million units a failure, they're definitely doing it wrong and it might be a good idea to do more indie "AAA" titles.
He is right. I have been saying the same thing for ages. Modern AAA games do not cost so much to make in reality. Publishers overinflate the supposed budgets for marketing reasons. In reality, most AAA games cost less to develop than many indie titles.
The problem isn't the problem, the problem is your attitude about the problem. Things don't change with mindsets that created them.
Way too many people don't understand how important the massive marketing budget of 100+ dollars is. Sure you could make a great game with 30 or 40 million $ but investors want their money back multiplied. Witcher 3 is a great example of this and would've have sold much better if it had had a bigger marketing campaign in the US but anyways sold really well for an action RPG (US is really a challenging country for marketing RPGs compared to European countries).
The problem with the industry isn't that publishers want the games to make a lot of money,
it's that the publishers want the games to makes *ALL* the money.
I don't know why no singleplayer games are coming out? Everything seems to force you to play multiplayer or into a server and you can never enjoy the good ol days of skyrim
Pretty Good Publishing needs to happen. Take the control and join the ranks of the indie rebellion.
It's obvious that you can make bad ass games with not so crazy budgets that big publishers claim, most forget that games are meant to be fun and creative not money milking operations.
That j.... I mean, orc rubbing hand and talking microtransactions was subtle as fuck. Fucking LOL'd
Oh so a reasonably positive title and you have a Witcher 3 image in the thumbnail..
Must be pretty good gaming
Ha, love the description opener!
Saving the industry is basically the only way I can forgive Ninja Theory for DmC.
Who else been hyped about Kingdom deliverance for like 5 years. The first trailer been out there for so long!
Ah if only more devs ditched the major publishers...
I actually think he's pretty much right. With the tools that are commonly available today and the price of hardware, its definitely possible if you set up in the right place. (where you can set up shop with low overhead. Trying to set up shop in New York City would not be a good idea because of the price of rentals...aka overhead) CD Projekt is in Poland so they side stepped the overhead issue a bit. Not sure what the cost of living is over there, but, I'd bet its somewhat lower than a lot of places in Europe and the US/Canada areas.
The other thing is being your own publisher. I think this is totally not only possible but preferable. Yeah, you have to set up a PR department and ship...but, with digital distribution services is the shipping really a problem anymore?
That only leaves PR, and with the rise of TH-cam, Twitch etc. getting exposure is easier than it ever has been. TH-cam is how I find most of my games. I don't look at magazines, e-zines, or whatever. I look at actual lets-plays and reviewers that share my sensibilities. Start showing up on my favorite gaming channels and I'll sit up and take notice.
So, its totally possible to do it for far less than the big companies and established corporations.
I think it takes a lot to jump to AAA and it is a LOT safer to go incrementally. However the other part is studios that get there get bought.
All we need is games with strong story/action/puzzle/ voice acting/ yes im talking about Darksiders
I backed Kingdom Come, from what i have played it has tons of potential and seems to be a very well run project. When it comes to crowdfunding if they deliver (pun intended) they can count on support in the future
I hope there's a revolution coming. It's about damned time. I don't have a problem with $40-$60 for a game. I have a problem with paying that much and getting incomplete games, day 1 DLC, microtransactions, and season passes. I hope some of these devs step up and give the big publishers some real competition to scare them out of their shenanigans.
I'm studying game development (coding, design, philosophy) and video games have been my core entertainment through out my life.
I want to be a part of this revolution and make my own company which challenges the norm, which focuses on the customer retention and satisfaction instead of making an extra 20% off shady micro transactions.
I want to craft stories which challenge your thought and bring us all together, I want to make multiplayer experiences that are exciting with fun and competitive sides, I want to influence the industry and see companies like EA crash and burn in the dust we leave behind them.
The industry will change, it has to, people like me have grown up being slowly and progressively more screwed over by AAA publishers every year and we're passionate about our medium.
I think the industry as a whole just sort of hit a rut. everything sort of felt like it was done before, and so they fell into categories we've already seen and were a bit too sick of, for example FPS games of the past 10 years just seemed to use cod 4 as the template and attempted to beat it by focusing in the wrong areas such as better graphics. They didn't want to reinvent the wheel they just wanted to add more to it like open worlds and a fuck tonne of sidequests that was all very copy and paste.
It's how games like witcher 3 broke free of that and was accepted because of it, small things like keeping the same voice actors, actually giving you control of a character you can understand and give a shit towards instead of some nameless gimp you make after 10 mins on a creation screen, even the music was recreated from the ground up by polish musicians playing real instruments. It's simple but key details that get overlooked, when was the last time COD or Battlefield had a soundtrack? (not the promotional eminem on adverts) Now think back to the days of final fantasy and metal gear solid. The graphics were cutting edge of the time but the focus was on the story and soundtrack, the music and tones actually made you feel whatever scene you was in mattered. TBh it's how Zelda BOTW is ticking so many boxes...
the thing to keep in mind tho when using CDPR as an example for this particular discussion is that as i understand it they are basically government funded at this point. thats really the reason why they dont need a publisher and get the luxury of doing stuff like, you know, actually finishing their games before they release them and not put stupid microtransactions into anything or cut finished content from their retail game in order to sell it seperately as story DLC.
the witcher games are like one of their countries top financial exports so they are like the mercedes benz of video game developers. basic market rules dont really apply to them the way they do for everyone else
Publishers still have a place in this world for people like me.
Anything that is bigger than 5GB, I won't buy digital.
For those big games I still go to the store and buy them on a disc.
I do seriously wonder how much COD would cost if you took out all the cinematics.
Its whether or not you have the populous, the people to devote to new games development AS WELL as money for advertising. It all sounds good but it just isn’t feasible really. The industry isn’t pulling itself out of the darkness any time soon.
the issue with Indie developers has always been capital generation. Its something that the AAA publishers just outright outproduce us on because they're essentially like banks. The only way to compete as an indie is to have a successful game to begin with, you cannot compete right out the gate in fact its very difficult to even succeed the first time you release a game. There is a LOT of risk for indie developers starting out and its why most when they do get the success tend to sit on it because its 1. a rarity and 2. easy to loose.
With TH-camrs and communities the way they are right now getting your games name out there is easy now, if it's good word will spread
I like to think of this situation like the beginning of a company like Bethesda. They were originally a developer but eventually split into two companies that coexist with one being focused on publishing and one focused on ip development. I think the problem overall is corporate culture eventually compromising the artistic integrity of a product. This is a business after all, and even some of the most treasured game devs/publishers eventually sour the community in the pursuit of money. Not to say a company like projekt red will fall to such a fate, but it isn't out of the question. In the right circumstances, publishers give their devs the freedom to make the game they want with financial backing. Having all of the responsibility fall on to a single company could lead to that fate. I just don't want to see repeat stories like valve or Bethesda, where besides their best efforts, they eventually fall under the spell of pure financial gain to the detriment of good games.
Im liking this video before even watching it,, respect the title!!
Gaming is in the doldrums not just because of isolationist business models, but because the game story is not all that good, and most games fail to truly engage the player. Games like Skyrim and Tomb Raider, and even Alien Isolation brought with them a truly interactive and engaging story and characters, and offered hours of escapism inside imagined worlds. Also, the gaming world is in transition to a new evolved gaming platform, but which has yet to evolve more so that full AAA games can be played on it to all its potential. I am of course, writing about the 'virtual reality' technology, which is the logical next step for computer gaming. Imagine being able to play Skyrim as the main character from a first person perspective, with all the presence and immersion that the technology offers? It is where we want the technology to be, at that level. Of course, its usage will go way beyond that of gaming alone, it will certainly have 'real world' usages, such as in training and schooling, and even work itself, but it is still a young technology and has a long way to go before it is taken up fully by domestic consumers.
Is there a list of games that where shown during this?
You guys got any info on Dragon Age 4?
Yes. Developers need to be their own publishers. Suits and executive chairboards are their worst enemy.
I hope CD Projekt will be able to self publish globally for Cyberpunk 2077. They partnered with WB (the anti CDP when it comes to business ethics) and Namco to publish The Witcher 2 & 3. It worked out well for CDP with TW3 given how their partnerships were strictly for distribution. I think they could do even better if they didn't have to worry about making a publisher happy also.
I would love to start my own video game development company
I just need some developers that are willing to program a demo so I can get people interested in supporting a game to get my feet off the ground.
An example: look at Killing Floor 2. When this game released, I was expecting it to rise to the top 10 of player numbers on steam!!! But it didn't. It stayed quiet down, without most people noticing it. Tripwire is an indie developer with no publisher. Killing Floor 2 is a game that made things better than any game made before, looking at how good the gun play is made + being a completely different zombie shooter from previous more arcedy things elsewhere. A game that to mention also is in it's heart a hardcore game rewarding head shots and smart team thinking. One of the reasons is also the players. If I look around in Killing Floor 2 most people still don't understand basic ways of playing in a team, really playing in a team (not just in this game, in general). They accumulate hours and hours, dying on harder difficulties, and also easier ones (in Killing Floor 1 you might have troubles as an old hardcore gamer, but the game is freakin spawning enemies around a corner, an old, but also good game, they changed it in KF 2 in great ways with spawning and other things). The more I write, the more you will understand why gaming developers don't take the steps to be more risky. Now one would call me overstating the party "risky". But in economics, if you do so many things different, they will call you basically insane. With one thing they are right: You won't have it easy, even if you have the cash doing things differently. I am glad to see that in such a mainstream market now, where things are tried to be dumped down industry wise, we see development.
Just know what game you want to make, and it'll be Golden.
Is your podcast available on Google play? @Pretty Good Gaming
I am a simple man. I see Geralts face in the thumbnail and I click it.