Is 2024 the Year the Game Industry COLLAPSES?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 มี.ค. 2024
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Mass layoffs, game cancellations, studio closures... 2023 was a terrible year for the game industry, and 2024 is off to an even worse start. Is the whole thing about to crash?
Here's that great video from @moon-channel
• The Video Game Industr...
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Additional footage provided by @theRadBrad
"Reloaded Installer #11" by LHS.
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IS 2024 THE YEAR THIS COMMENT GETS PINNED?
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First
Clearly not.
Yo the hidden message! Lets play!
I just want to say I love the use of the Yoshi's Island music for the disclaimers in the beginning, and the random things you say at the start with the Switch click intro... thing.
arlo im having tech issues please help im desperate
Indie devs are doing fine but goddamn has the "triple a" title begun to lose all meaning when it comes to quality and reputation
indie games and small studios make better games then most triple As
Here's to hoping we can pry the industry out of the claws of sweet baby inc this year.
@@stabakoder the what?
@@baconburgeronly3089BIG. MEATY. CLAAAWWS!!!
Exactly.
Probably yes, since once The Thousand-Year Door releases no one will ever need to buy another game ever again.
Oooh.... that may be the best argument for a crash i ever heard. 😢
Me, who is planning on making my own RPG, after reading this: =(
That’s a solid argument right there ngl. However I was actually expecting the crash in 2023 with the release of Pikmin 4 since I thought all of humanity would consider the series as a whole the peak of gaming as a concept and would deem all gaming genres obsolete and open a market for games solely focused on Pikmin and absolutely nothing else (I loved Pikmin 4 and it’s in my top 10 games of all time).
@@t-bird6853Same
Don't translate...
भवतः हृदयस्य धड़कनं कतिपयेषु घण्टेषु स्थगयिष्यति, अस्य शापस्य मुक्तिं प्राप्तुं एकमात्रं मार्गं मम चैनलस्य सदस्यतां कुर्वन्तु…………..
That bubble in 2020 happened in a lot of "hobby industries". I'm a big toy collector, and 2020 was a huge year for buying toys. And now that the demand is gone, companies are over producing, people are under buying, and toys are hitting clearance super fast.
I'm also a toy collector and I'm seeing this in my sectors as well. It's great for us collectors who were putting off purchases until the prices corrected, at least. I'm able to get my hands on new releases for the first time in four years. I do feel for those whose livelihoods depend on the industry tho.
I'm just over here rubbing my hands together buying up all the 2nd market stuff haha
In the US maybe not anywhere else.
And eBay is still overpriced
@@Matanumi step 1: don't use ebay.
For anything.
Makes sense why my revell models arent selling
High-level corporate greed is sickening. That is the major takeaway of this video. It ain't just video games, either.
Naysayers: “Actually, this is a good thing!” 💀
The modern day release of the Final Fantasy 7 remakes is quite appropriate
Every company wishes they were Shinra
Did you guys ever stop to consider that money bad?!?!?!?
@@suspicioustumbleweed4760 you might see this as a joke but reading leftist analysis of capitalism really does explain many things that are cold and evil in the world and make you a more open empathetic person
@@suspicioustumbleweed4760 No, because that's a useless and inapplicable statement to humanity as a whole in the current cultural norms.
It's fun for fiction, like Star Trek, completely unusable for a world of folks who all want nice things and were programmed how to view value for a few thousand years.
I’m getting so sick of all these live service games and i don’t get why companies are doubling down on them i just want more fun single player experiences not everything needs to be multiplayer live service online shit
I think too many companies are wanting to be the next Fortnite, not understanding that Fortnite is so huge that most people into live service games are gonna just continue to play that instead.
@@101kirbyfanExactly if it was just Fortnite I wouldn’t have a problem with it i don’t have a problem with Fortnite but like did we really need all the other live service games nobody seems to be happy that they’re here
Unfortunately, it’s one big money game for them. Their aim is to make money as cheaply as possible, so what could possibly be better than opening up a Live-Service title with endless “content” and micro-transactions? Well, nothing - at least up until nobody buys into it and it goes nowhere. I swear these companies will never learn even when their customers have already spoken.
What they don't understand is that we don't have enough time for multiple live service games so only the ABSOLUTE best will survive, let alone thrive.
The problem isn't the live service it self, It's the greed behind it. If the vision of the game calls for a constantly change player space, then yes, live service is the way to go. An excellent example is Helldivers 2, it's live service, and it works because it's a player driven galatic wa. It should change and evolve over time. But when you try and shoehorn it in, like with Redfall, it feels forced and gready.
Cost of housing, groceries, utilities, etc. You got companies releasing garbage unfinished live service games for $70 claiming their AAAA. Nobody is buying, people are just scrounging by and being extremely super cautious about their purchases with what little fun money they have to spare. Major game companies are getting hit hard, but indie devs that make actual quality products are flourishing.
@@BBWahoo don't forget Israel, and Gaza.
The best games of the year so far can all be bought for the cost of 1 deluxe "AAAA" edition game. Palworld, Helldivers 2 and Last Epoch.
Don't worry Biden is raising taxes on us all to pay for their fuck ups. ::darts out like Skeletor:: BYEEE
@@BBWahoo As usual, the issue is actually that the rich still aren't being taxed enough
@@erix5184no way is palworld "game of the year" worthy
Endless growth is UNSUSTAINABLE. Especially in an economy as complex as this one. Growth, and shrink. We're just seeing it happen on a long, large scale.
Yet in America, it's the law.
It's growth for the sake of growth, the mindset of cancer.
B-b-but line go up 😨
@@JanusHoW The law allows it to happen, it's not required to happen though
Capitalism!
We really need to support indie games and show we dont want Triple A games that dont care bout giving a fun experience and only focus on monetization
Ayup. Yessir.
Right with you buddy! I just picked up Supermarket Simulator for $12, so freaking addictive. Sure, graphics looks wack but its a small company and gameplay is fun.
@@henryjohnson-ville3834That is what I always ask about games now ‘is it fun’. Mostly everything spit out of Unreal Engine for a game trailer now ‘looks’ good so i don’t care how good it looks, is it fun. That’s how I decide what I play.
"why would anyone sell their company?" Dude. Big ass payouts that mean you never have to work another day in your life...
Indeed. Also, it could be that a game dev company-starter honestly isn't that interested in staying in game dev but wants to do a lot of different stuff. If you truly care about your company and the games you make then yeah, you probably don't want to sell to a big corpo who WILL mistreat your smaller one. But if you're not really that attached to it then yeah, cash a big fat check and then move on to the next dream you got. Not much more to it than that.
Yes, but it's a trade. You basically sign away actually making anything for loads of cash.
@@goranisacson2502Yeah basically. You just have to not give a shit.
Nobody wants to Admit that this is WHY Unicronic Arts happened. But its basically the Stuff Behind WHY Unicronic Arts came to be as a meme to Mock EA.
@@t.dmattocks6119 I think sometimes fans can lose sight of the fact that these people may simply be prioritizing their families' security. If it's a choice between securing your legacy in the gaming industry, or securing a university education for your children and grandchildren, someone doesn't have to be apathetic towards their work to decide that their family's future is more important.
It’s not just the gaming industry. It’s all of tech. I have a lot of friends with college degrees still looking for entry-level jobs in the tech industry, myself included. The tech industry in general is a mess right now.
Not just the tech industry. Academia is in a really bad place as well, huge budget cuts, etc. I've had a few friends whose departments decided to stop PhD funding, pulling the rug out from under them, and it's not really possible to transfer as a PhD student.
Maybe everything is falling apart.
@@elio7610 Yeah it's pretty much this, capitalism has reached its late-stage limit and is transitioning into techno-feudalism or neo-feudalism now.
There’s also the matter of manufacturing that tech in the first place. Switch 2 was delayed due to supply shortages, and now bigwigs are playing tug-of-war contesting who owns which oceans… since now people are talking about razing the seabeds for electrical components. Needless to say, dismantling ancient mineral deposits from hydrothermal vents is a terrible idea for multiple moral and ecological reasons.
But there is hope with Moore’s law- I’m no tech wiz, but I have faith that we have the CAPABILITY to create long-lasting consoles and peripherals. Ergonomics and data storage are constantly improving, and more access to tech means more people learning and communicating. We live in an age where anybody with a computer and a creative spark can download some apps and make something great. If we ever find a way to hold all these “forced obsolescence” business models accountable, then people will have security knowing that they’ll always have the tools to learn in their pockets. Unless they drop their phone or something. Get screen protectors, kids.
For all the companies that actually prioritize art and healthy work-life balance, y’all are cool. That’s where the worthwhile innovations come from.
JJ from Spider-Man just laughing at everyone who went to college
I don’t work in the games industry, but I did work at a company that got bought by WarnerMedia a few years ago
I remember the day it happened they came in and threw a pizza party and gave us all Warner t shirts and swag bags and acted like it was this big exciting thing and told us we were all safe and now part of the “Warner family.”
Less than 5 months later, they dissolved the entire company. They laid off every single person on my team except for me, and only kept me for another year after that.
Oof that’s…😬…that’s disgusting man, I’m so sorry for you and your team, I hope you’re in a better position now. I hate how scummy and greedy corporations are now, like…Where is the honor!?
@@PixelaGames2000 It's called For Honor, not With Honor.
That disgusting.
@@PixelaGames2000There’s no room for morals in capitalism.
What astonishes me is how the industry is acting like they didn't see the sudden post-COVID downward turn from a mile away: it was obvious to anyone without a major concussion that COVID would end eventually and things would go back to normal. We're either dealing with corporations that are either stupid on an industrial scale or a bunch of grifter businessmen desperately trying to grab as much cash as possible with nothing but the short term in mind. Perhaps both.
It's because finance guys have literally no grip on reality. They just see a curve go up and their eyeballs turn into dollar signs.
(Also they are addicted to stupid keywords that mean nothing because that's the only way they can pretend to know what they're investing in.)
Definitely both
"I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less" is never going to reach the ears of the corporate leaders making the decisions. Ever. They're just never gonna get it.
I wish I remembered the name of that video.
That's literally the entire opposite of what every single Publisher is doing 😂
And yet, so insanely true.
Work less? Many of these DEI hires barely do anything outside of censoring.
Why should you get paid more for working less?
@@filozof90 I'm going to assume you're genuinely confused, so I'll explain.
This phrase is used as shorthand for addressing many problems in the games industry at once.
"shorter games" means games that aren't constantly trying to one-up the previous thing in scope. AAA games are so ridiculously expensive to develop that to recoup costs developers and publishers try to make games that appeal to "everyone". By making smaller, shorter games, you can have more games that appeal to specific audiences that still turn a profit.
"worse graphics" means that the tech itself is also more expensive, and artists have had to work harder and harder as well to keep up with the tech, for diminishing returns. Especially since more expensive graphics means less people can afford to play a game in the first place.
"people who are paid more" means that publishers and developers should treat the people working for them like human beings. Nobody should have to worry that they won't able to make enough money to survive if they don't work hard enough. The people who make the games you like deserve to have food on their tables. The people who make the games you don't like deserve that, too. *everybody* deserves to make enough money to be able to live, even if they can't work at all!
"to work less" means that "crunch" the practice of forcing workers to put in the maximum amount of time and effort into their work, at the cost of their health and life balance, needs to stop. Crunch is bad for everyone, it's bad for gamers, bad for developers, bad for publishers. Working on games should not be hazardous to your health. No job should force anyone to work so hard their health suffers.
So, "I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less" is the logical opposite of what we currently have in the games industry: massive, bloated games with hyperexpensive graphics made by people who work too hard and don't make enough money.
The tech industry is 80% hype and 20% disappointment.
I'd say about 60% hype, 20% disappointment, 10% really cool stuff, & 10% really cool stuff only a very few can afford.
With an alternative 100% nintendo.
That its neither.
@@CommodoreFan64Nah, cause anything you like and get excited for only has one result...the shine starts to ware off the moment you get it and can only fade till you get bored with it and shift your focus to the next shiny piece of tech, the next smartphone, the next ipad, the next years car model, the next computer CPU, the next video game console. It's a never ending loop, as ego is never content and never will it be satisfied. No matter how cool the thing is, after a half a year or a year you won't feel as OMG about it anymore, it just becomes the norm, which means it's now boring, even though a year ago you were over the moon for it...people get excited to be disappointed, they just aren't aware of it. Cause humans are dumb, docile sheep, drifting through life.
1% evil, 99% hot gas
That's if your money comes from investors instead of customers.
By the time the product is on the market and fails, you already got the money.
God I kinda hope it does. I’m sick to death of live services, filled with tons of time limits on everything, day 1 dlc being the norm now with things like “deluxe editions”, and tons of cosmetics being sold for ridiculous prices. I miss the days when you bought a game and got the full product
Thank you for the shout-out, Arlo! I've been a long-time subscriber on my personal account, and am a big fan of your work. Your videos are always a delight to watch.
Truth be told watching the games industry over the past year or so has been like living in a South Park episode where everyone has to make the objectively stupidest decisions possible even after what is blatantly obvious to everyone else has been banged over their head over and over again like a hammer.
Uhhh $1 Trillion Bailout
That's been life in general since like 2009.
@imahoare4742 But especially so since like 2020
For the record, the rules in Japan are VERY different than the West. They cannot fire people unless they absolutely HAVE to. That’s why their CEOs take pay cuts when times get rough. They have employee protections that we just don’t have.
I’ll be honest, I’m kinda jealous (I’m an American). When did they get such good workers laws?
@@TrinityCore60lmao god this is hilarious
@@TrinityCore60 They certainly don't have good worker protection laws. or the anime and manga industries wouldn't exist.
@@TrinityCore60because America and EU vote for stupid right people
One of very few things they do correctly
Warner Brothers is on some weird butt trip; canceling almost done projects and deleting shows and movies that were already on their streaming service. Hands off my animated stuff Warner Bros! I'm an almost 40-year-old that is ticked off about the multiple Scooby-Doos being canceled
This was a really well done video and I enjoyed it. However I want to point out in the last 3 weeks I have seen no less than 6 different videos from people saying "the Games industry isn't dying, this is normal, everything is fine, don't panic". And I can't speak for anyone else but when I'm in a room and suddenly dozens of people start shouting "don't panic nothing is wrong" it starts to make me think something is wrong and I should start panicking. I really think we are in a game industry crash.
I've lived through multiple "game industry crashes". Unless you are reading the news or watching videos commenting on the news you'd never know it was happening.
@@Hedgehobbit how many of those involved 9k people losing their jobs?
@geasslordzero The video game industry is massive. 9,000 people is barely 3% of the total work force.
@Hedgehobbit losing 3% of the total work force just 3 months into the current year, while having lost what 6k people last year? That's not a sign of a healthy industry no matter how much you try to cope.
To paraphrase that Oscar awards speech, maybe instead of making 1 $200 million game, we make 200 $1 million games
Edit: Original post had the wrong numbers, you're all better at math than me, good job!
What about 200 million $1 games
@@Leopoldsharkthat's indie's jobs
ExACTLY. You could end up finding your next Stardew or Undertale that way!!
It is a problem with how ridiculously big the budgets for some of these games are. I don't think anyone really said they wanted game development to cost so much. There's plenty of examples of games that sell amazingly well despite not having incredible graphics. I could see it happening here and there to see just how far the tech behind a game can be pushed but it doesn't have to be every game coming out of a well established studio.
Is no one going to mention how the original comment doesn't math?
I don’t think video games as a whole will collapse like the 1983 crash in the U.S, but I think we’re seeing the AAA Gaming Crash take place; one which is the result of the corporate greed and abuse that has taken place over the past decade or two.
This is exactly my thought as well. This focus on Live Service crap can't possibly end well for them. Are they secretly shorting their own stock or something? They can't POSSIBLY think that's the viable strategy here. There has to be another angle where, like Arlo said, they're gaming the system.
Eh. We'll Live through that.
I remember the THQ Whalefall, when the company collapsed and all its IPs were claimed by others. Who knows what will happen if several happen at once?
GOOD.
I like this new view of swaping the results of capitalism to "greed", since companies are greedy by essence
What I hate most about this pandemic, is that now the “Live service” category is being merged with the “multiplayer” category.
I like multiplayer games, some of my best memories are playing multiplayer games with friends, it would just be nice if they were actually finished when released.
I love how the 'bloody stuff' warning had the Yoshi Island music.
Videogames and the film industry have a very similar problem happening right now. Both industries revolve around expensive, high-risk entertainment projects with potentially massive reward (read money). Company heads and investors are always looking for ways to lower the risk to ensure the reward comes through. The film industry saw Marvel and thought that cinematic universes ensured excitement from the audience and, therefore, were low risk, high reward. The market got flooded with terrible attempts at building cinematic universes, and now even the once mighty MCU is not doing well. Videogames saw fortnite and GTAV online making tons of money with constant player counts, and thought that games as a service were low risk garunteed reward. So, the market was flooded with terrible live service games. And now, even Fortnite and GTAV have upset playerbases.
What the suits at the top fail to see is that the MCU and lice service games that started the craze STARTED as high-risk endeavors that had passion and talent behind them, making them beloved. People didn't watch the MCU only for FOMO (though I'm sure it was a factor); They watched the movies because they were emotional and fun. People didn't play Fortnite only because it was the new thing, and its always online nature made it infinite; They played it because it was well designed and enjoyable.
In this essay...
You’re so right, and it’s so easy to see once it’s pointed out. Please, write an essay. More than one person would read it.
MCU fell off so hard after Endgame, WTF happened
I know it was likely a typo, but "lice service" just about sums it up.
You’ve summed that up so well. Although 2024 Fortnite is the best it’s ever been, given they evolved by adding brand new games essentially (racing game, rythm game, open world game). Whilst everyone else was trying to copy them, they never stopped evolving and trying to improve, leading us to the incredible heights we see today. Even when it wasn’t doing too hot, the game never slowed down or just conceded to do what they know works and cash in. Even now, there is a Disney mode coming and they rumoured to be experimenting with a couple new ideas for 4,5 years down the line. Game might honestly never stop growing
The movie industry is also so cluttered with garbage remakes that nobody asked for...and these remakes are just made to "fix" the originals that didn't need fixing. Video games thankfully are as over saturated with remakes and usually vidoe game remakes make more sense and can be at least decent new coats of paints.
Sony and Warner Bros Executives: “Nobody is buying our Live-Service Games. Welp, we better make more…”
Everyone else: “My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.”
They follow the path of madness, they keep doing the same thing over and over thinking they will get a different result.
Unfortunately for us, they have the money to fuel their madness for years and are willing to cut limbs and organs so long as they achieve that infinite money pot...
It's like they hate making money.
@@Tejaso 10x more
I'm guessing that the situation is more:
"Well, Hogward Legacy was an unprecedented commercial success. However, looking at the profit generated, they're below our expectations and it's difficult to expect more from a single player game. We could try to put price tags like $200 bucks for a game but we don't think the customer are ready for triple digit prices yet.
To meet our expectations the only path forward is live services. I cannot guarantee you that it will work, but you're here for high risk, high reward, aren't you? Otherwise, I'm sure you'll find peoples willing to buy back your shares while you invest in a more reliable business like weapon dealership."
Also Everyone else: "HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON YOU OLD FARTS!?"
The problem with "stay independent" is that, a lot of times, studios literally can't afford it. In a lot of cases, the choice is between either "get bought" or "go out of business", where "go out of business" would also mean every employee of that company immediatelly losing their job. The reason for this is that game development is just so immensely difficult and risky, and that indie devs don't usually have the reserves to compensate for more than a couple of months of miscalculations.
This is what happened to my company. We were actually doing pretty well as an indie developer, releasing multiple successful games, each of them being delivered on time or just slightly behind schedule, and then just a single project of ours that went slightly badly where we were like half a year behind schedule was enough for the company to almost run out of money. Being bought by a huge publisher legitimately was what allowed us to stay in business.
Thankfully for us, it has worked out for the best so far, but there'll definitely be many more indie developers that have no choice but to sell out to a huge publisher.
The AAA scene is collapsing, surely. But the indie scene is thriving more than ever.
Me tryna get a computer science degree for gaming:
"Shit"
Seems like working in indie game development will be promising in the coming years though. Whenever all of these big game companies collapse, indies will likely still be around to make more unique games that will actually interest gamers to buy.
Me too!!
... Wait...
Oh fu-
You’ll always have the skills, industry or not! If you enjoy it, I think that’s what matters most.
@@HanSanwichnah lmao the indie industry isn’t good either
For every hollow knight or other x popular indie game there’s thousands of infinitely smaller and obscure indie games which don’t get the attention (or money) they deserve. Making an indie game is a massive time commitment (taking 8+ years isn’t out of the ordinary), and it’s really financially risky especially if you don’t have another source of stable income. There are countless stories of indie devs barely scraping by or having to sell personal assets to have enough funds for development. If you have the passion to make an indie game, (or game development in general) that’s great! But keep it as your hobby, not your job.
Yeah me too 😬
13:36 I feel the need to point out that Nintendo did this Payraise because it is a Legal Obligation for Japanese companies to do so during inflation. It’s like another law in japan, which is how when a Japanese company is going Bankrupt, the CEO must take a Paycut Before laying off employees.
Edit: Replies have Pointed out some Items that are Notable enough to be Addressed.
First off, i was Kinda off base with the Whole inflation thing. It Turns out that the Pay Raise was a Request by the Prime Minister of Japan. And they increased pay well over 4%, which is well above Inflation in Japan. That’s very Notable.
I AM Correct about the Whole CEO Pay Cut thing though. (There’s some other things a failing company can do before layoffs, but that’s a big one.)
I have also been asked to find the IDs for these laws-i can’t figure out where to find them. I am No professional in Japanese law, so take that into consideration. I’m Simply posting some ideas i have absorbed throughout the years. I remember learning about the CEO Pay Cut thing from a different TH-cam video. So take this whole thing with a MicroScopic Grain of Salt.
Culturally the Japanese are more well-knit and coordinated. A sense of universal morals is strongly held to, and it’s not like Nintendo is a failing company. The US population is used to looking at laws and legal systems of other cultures without examining how their specific politics is just a down trend of their own culture.
They also can't do mass layoffs for similar reasons iirc
I feel like people bring this up to say "Nintendo isn't the Saint of a company you think it is! They only do it cuz they HAVE to" but really, this just shows how well Japan handles shit like this
@@jakobthomas1926 I Almost Disclaimed that this was the Opposite of my Intention, i just didn’t find a way to convey it Elegantly.
I’m not trying to Put Nintendo down or Make them the Enemy in any way, i just want to put out food for thought.
But yeah, Japan rocks with it.
@@BBWahoo "Make it an American Law. Simple." is one of the best internet comments I've seen in a minute
The whole “make good games and they will naturally make money” is why I loved the 6th and 7th console generations so much.
That was at a point in time where the tech was getting a lot better, but live service wasn’t yet a thing. You could barely patch a game throughout some of that time period, so you had to ship something good on disc to make money!
and 8th generation
The corporations controlling the AAA market have taken away couch co-op, and they're marching forward to single player.
They couldn't care less about providing fresh, original, compelling experiences. What they want is a pool of customers as big as possible stuck in a paying relationship with them, so they can 1) gain max profits, 2) path themselves on the back with their numbers, and buzzwords like "community", "diversity", and "engagement", and 3) prey on people's habits / addictions / FOMO to exploit them with endless paid-content, lootboxes, and microtransaction for - guess what - even more money!!
It's despicable and I'm not falling for it.
I feel like it should be pointed out that yes, Nintendo has a record of not laying off "Full time Employees" and generally treating them well. But the way they do this is by keeping costs low by hiring "Contract Workers" with the potential of becoming full time (dangling that idea) but very rarely delivering, treating them lets say questionably, and then just letting their contracts expire/end. Not "technically" firing or laying off but the end result for the worker is the same.
Well to be exact, this is a common practice that specifically Nintendo of America also does Now granted, the fact that Nintendo even does one shitty corporate thing infuriates me, but there is a subtle difference.
It's not just Nintendo though, most if not all major companies do this
@@SliderGamer55 Very true. My point was more to be careful not to sing any company's praises too much. They're all kind of cruddy one way or another.
@@gamernutttrue, but contract work abuse at Nintendo is less systematic than some game companies for sure, which is generally good. The pay raises is partially Japanese law and partially company mentality from my understanding. But with all that in mind Nintendo as shitty as they are are reasonably not anti worker, something the rest of the industry sure can’t say
Too real, I'm in that situation right now and thoroughly fucked!
They kept dangling that steady job, but now that they have to actually sign me they're just finding a new smuck to do this to for three years!
The Japanese business-culture model that Nintendo embodies has good features (which Arlo mentions), but it also has bad features that Arlo leaves out and possibly doesn't know about (he didn't seem to know that Japanese businesses often refuse to hire anyone who isn't a fresh college graduate, in a previous video).
The worst feature of Japanese business culture is that if you leave your good job, get fired, or your company goes under, you can't get another good job unless you leave Japan. Extreme emphasis on seniority means that if you stay in Japan then you will have to get an entry-level job if you can find one at all. The best feature of the Silicon Valley model is the opposite - if you lose your good job then you can get another good job based on your skills and experience, much more easily than in Japan.
Arlo also doesn't seem to know about the prevalence of unpaid overtime and effectively mandatory after-work-hours social gatherings in Japan. It's so bad that it's contributing to Japan's demographic crisis - people are forced to spend so much time at work and after work that they don't have the time or energy to raise kids.
This is true, but I also hear that Nintendo is highly soucht after because they're actually GOOD for their empmoyees. They have these unpaid overtime and hang-out issues, but according to what anecdotal evidence I've heard, they have it in way less amounts and actually encourage their employees to have a healthy work-life balance.
Granted, they are also just one company and definitely just picks the very best for their work, and those people then stay there for a long time... but they are said to be a company that treats their actual employees well. Far better than companies like Konami, Bandai Namco and Fromsoft, at any rate...
"Unpaid overtime"
The typical work week in Japan is 60 hours, what overtime would they need?
From my understanding, Nintendo has been pretty good about getting new people in on big projects and working around issues of seniority so that their input can be heard. It was the kind of fresh input from newer/younger workers that allowed big titles like botw/totk and Mario Wonder to take shape. So it seems as though they really are pushing to have a more even playing ground for their workers. Which is good because they've been doing this for a long time, so having new people come in and understand Nintendo games is a must. Miyamoto's been doing this for 40 years!
Meanwhile From Soft too an unexperienced 29 year old Hidetaka Miyazaki a chance and look where that took them.
Yeah it's frankly frustrating how many people willfully ignore their notorious mandated work ethic that may as well be promoted self-destruction.
Working to survive isn't living, but working so much you cannot do anything else is just as insultingly terrible. If you have so little free time and energy left that you can't enjoy it, doesn't matter how much you get paid.
I knew this would happen way back in the 7th Generation. I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier but this was inevitable.
I could write an overly lengthy history of the industry showing why this inevitability was destined to happen but what I'll do instead is detail HOW the business works & who made it that way.
*The Videogame Industry* started in *1972* with *ATARI, MAGNAVOX ODYSSEY, NAMCO, & NINTENDO* as the Founding Entities.
*The Crash of 1983* shifted the *Capital of Videogaming* from the *United States of America* where it began to *Japan* where it remains to this very day. And NINTENDO, one of the 4 Founding Entities, is the reason for this shift.
When NINTENDO resurrected the industry through their *FAMILY COMPUTER/NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM,* they REDESIGNED the entire industry in their own image.
NINTENDO wrote the *BIBLE* on how the Industry should run in opposition to the *Waste* that led to the Crash of 1983.
You can go against this BIBLE for awhile but sooner or later your opposing business model will collapse whether it takes years or decades to happen. No matter how big & powerful your corporation is.
SONY was the best at defying this model but the rules NINTENDO set are the *LAW* of the Videogame Industry.
That's why they have been able to survive each & every challenger that went against them.
From Atari to Sega to NEC to SNK to 3DO to Sony to Bandai to Microsoft to Apple to Google to Facebook/Meta to Amazon.
The *LONG-TERM Vision & STABLE Structure* they set in their BIBLE will always outlast the *SHORT-TERM Vision & UNSTABLE Structure* other companies run by.
*YOU CAN'T GO AGAINST NINTENDO'S BIBLE OR YOU WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL IN THIS VIDEOGAME INDUSTRY.*
That's the short version. Anybody who wants me to go into further detail, reply & I'll go into more specifics.
Yeah, supporting the indie game industry is the best thing to do. Sea of Stars, Born of Bread, and Penny's Big Breakaway were some of my highlights recently. And Rollin' Rascal is an indie Sonic Adventure-esque Kickstarter title that just reach its $240K goal in March 7th, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the final product. I'll be sticking with Nintendo games too.
You can tell a CEO with an intestinal parasite “Drinking so much you’ll kill the worms is going to hurt you.” They’ll reply “But it does kill the worms.”
Meanwhile, they're drinking a glassful of worms.
oh worm?
Indie games are a huge reason the soul of gaming is still alive and thriving. I'm more excited for Mina The Hollower than any AAA game coming out.
Oddly enough, the regular brand of AAA doesn’t excite me much, but I always like to keep an ear to what neat new indie is going to make waves. It doesn’t have to be all graphics. Games like Vampire Savior, Loop Hero, and Balatro are newer great examples of games (from a good long list now) with lots of gameplay, really fun mechanics, and still offer great style. Even as basic as Balatro looks, it still manages to have one of the more impressive CRT filters I’ve seen in a game. Playing it on the big screen, it just looks like someone warped my flatscreen into a CRT by magic. I can almost feel like it is physically curving my screen. Even if that is impossible.
wow. nice video. i tried to make a video aobut this and ended up ranting for about an hour. cut it down to 30 minutes... but then decided it wasn't worth finishing because i didn't tackle some of the points i wanted to cover as good as i wanted to... after seeing you do such a good job summarizing everything i feel like i want to go back and see if it actually is salvageable. i didn't agree with everything cause like you said it's impossible to kind of summarize into these broad strokes but where you ended i think is exactly right.
It seems like the gaming industry is just changing it's direction, and indie's are going to start dominating mainstream gaming. I mean look at the numbers Palworld has made. The fact that you can sink 100+ hours into indie games likes Hades or Stardew Valley, and they cost a third of what these $60-$70 AAA games cost (which are like half the time unfinished) is a sign that people aren't willing to pay an extra $40 for a game that's 'high budget' when $20-$30 indie titles have the same amount of content, and are still getting nominated for GOTY awards every year.
If I didn't know better, I'd say it's almost like our whole economic system incentivizes using mass layoffs to keep unemployment high
Yup, high unemployment is great for companies because it depresses wages. It's bad for literally everyone else, but who cares when the execs are making all the money in the world and use some of it to buy off politicians so nothing ever gets better? 😭
Bingo. Capitalism just isn't sustainable. It's deeply flawed.
It's to keep the shareholders happy with the short term gains from firing these people
“At first I didn’t realize, I needed all this stuff…”
It's almost like our current economic system is fundamentally broken and needs to be replaced in order for people to not live like shit and not get fucked over
seeing a muppet say "i just got into aphex twin" made my whole life
The Videogame industry has always imitated the Film industry, even back with the failed CDI.
Of course they're focusing on subscription services now.
Really want to help this practice, pass a law that anyone fired within 6 months of a product launch gets 6-12 months pay. Not just games, any product from any industry, maybe an extrme circumstance clause but it would need to be very clear not to leave loop holes for executives to exploit. Like you wouldn’t want someone offing a coworker and still getting paid.
Big lay offs but the exects will still have their massive checks and self bonuses
One thing you have to commend Iwata and some other Nintendo execs for was how they voluntarily took pay cuts, rather than lining their pockets, when the company was going through rough patches (relative to their previous success, that is)
@@hairyson94 yeah but that's a dime a dozen and they knew how games and the fans worked compared to most execs who probably don't even know what ips they have.
Oh, won't you think of the poor, overpaid CEOs, though? They needed that money to buy a third sports car or a second Yacht.
@@hairyson94Japan also has laws that protects employees (to an extent) from this kind of bullshittery, the kinds of protections that just dont exist in America
@@hairyson94 I hate to say it but it wasn't voluntary, japanese law requires higher ups to take pay cuts before laying off employees. Not to discredit iwata but take that law into consideration
It's greed. Always greed. Instead of admitting they make ENOUGH money off AAA games, they'll blame the lack of money (???) on their performance instead of the focus on live service games. Love service games' micro transactions is the reason, too.
It’s a broken system. They want to grow their company forever, and the consumer eventually suffers.
No no, it's not greed
It's STUPID greed. Emphasis on the "stupid" portion
@@MindinViolet The system is only as broken as consumers allow it to be. We've had micro-transactions for well over a decade now, which wouldn't exist if consumers were wise with their spending. The only reason corporations engage in bad practice is because we allow it to happen. Additionally, this idea that the consumers are "suffering" is completely ridiculous. Purchasing and playing a game is entirely optional, nobody is forced to buy anything aside from food, internet, fuel and electricity. The consumers are causing their own misery by supporting this awful system. The consumers broke the system.
So glad you brought up Moon Channel. Such great videos!
Let it all burn. We’ll always have indie creators.
I live near Seattle. The phrase "I live in Seattle" and "I walk everywhere" is fine until around October. Then there's a 7 month period where you can't tell if it's day or night with how gloomy and cold it gets.
Can you explain this to a non-american? I thought 'walk everywhere' was about infrastructure, cause apparently in a lot of places you... cant. Cause places like supermarkets and restaurants are made for cars.
Neither 'gloomy' nor 'cold' sound like they go against walking to me. Subjectively actually way less than way too hot summers do
@Nelsathis the entirety of Europe can fit inside of America, but America has roughly half of its population. There are huge expanses of untouched or uninhabited land, particularly around the center. It would take months to cross the country prior to the automobile, and the advent of the highway system reduced that trip down to a few days. Because of this, the infrastructure of the western half of the country was developed with cars in mind. Unless you live in a dense city environment like New York, it's infeasible to walk anywhere, making a car essentially mandatory to lead a productive life.
@@Nelsathis hes referring to the weather and whether or not is it good weather to be outside in
@@Nelsathisour whole infrastructure is based around cars in most cities, it's so awful. I hate driving, it's stressful and boring and if i fuck up even a little then OOPS people are dead.
No kidding, the June Gloom was killer last year!
The absolute last thing I want to see is more live service shooter games, they look mostly the same and it feels like we get dozens of shooters every year.
The thing is, too, is that there’s really only room for a handful of them to exist. At least if you want big numbers, since live service games, by their very nature, are massive time sinks. The average person only has enough time for one live service game, and they’re going to gravitate towards whichever one their friends are playing. You can’t have this many on the market.
It’s like a pie, you know? When there are only 4-8 people waiting for their share of the pie, there’s plenty to go around, but if more people try to get in on that pie, you have to cut it thinner and thinner. And at the same time, you’ve got the birthday kids, like Fortnite, who are always going to claim a large slice of the pie, no matter how many people are vying for the rest of it
felt like a common complaint at the game awards this year was how hard some of the games they advertised were to tell apart. They showed so many scifi shooters with the game kind of neon contrasts that people thought they were watching one long trailer rather than three or four back to back.
That’s why, if I’m in a shooter mood, I stick with Splatoon. Its gameplay is very creative and it’s always been fun. Plus, it’s made by Nintendo.
@@TrinityCore60 yet the gameplay has barely changed throughout the series and the latest game is an absolute grind fest. It's a fun game, yes, but it asks too much for your free time.
@@FrahdChikun maybe I’m just easy to please. It’s been a while since I played, after all.
A 1983-style collapse isn't really possible given there's far less shovelware flowing around and causing an universal distate for gaming, and "indie" games were next to nonexistant back then.
On the other hand, a smaller-scale version that sinks AAA companies is far more likely.
Great video as always Arlo. I love watching your videos while having a snack and as I reached for one today, it got me thinking how frequently I'll leave food in the fridge and just forget it, left to go bad. So I don't know what it is but I feel compelled to share this somewhat tragic reality, and maybe check your own fridge, maybe you or someone else has left a sandwich or something behind in your fridge.
Best comment, needs more upvotes
Most industries that involve heavy creative use have been falling apart lately. Anime, Movies, Games, you name it. Artists are heavily disliked by management because of their fluctuating and inconsistent demands and self-importance, so they usually get cut a lot when companies grow really big, leading to companies with no vision.
And once a company doesn't have a vision for the future, they're bound to die.
It’s fun watching CEOs that think AI invalidates the need to hire artists, only for absolutely everything to prove them wrong by clubbing their bottom lines with a mallet.
I’m hopeful that more and more higher-ups will learn to let artists cook, and realize that weirdness is a key component of making art resonate with people.
Wdym the anime industry has been collapsing? I’m not a weeb I don’t watch anime but hasn’t the anime industry like ALWAYS been terrible? Or is it more terrible recently?
@@kekcrocgod6731animator abuse just gets worse and worse in the anime industry
@@kekcrocgod6731 Crunchyroll replaced the VA for the main character for Mob Psycho 100 for just mentioning unions so.... yeah.
Something that concerns me a lot about the future of the AAA game industry is the lack of fresh blood. It used to be that every generation would be accompanied by new kids on the block who make a big splash and carve out a name for themselves. I really can't think of any new names in the last 10 years outside of the indie scene. Instead a lot of formerly beloved game companies have gone downhill. The games people get the most excited about now are always from the established GOATs like Fromsoft and Rockstar. With game development being more costly and time-consuming than ever, the AAA industry is not at all a welcoming place to newcomers trying to break through, and so they just aren't.
I'm fine with the industry shrinking back to just the Sega/Nintendo days. You know, the actual "game" companies.
SegaSammy is also kinda iffy in regards to how they function, given their history with Sonic and such. And with how Hyenas turned out, I wouldn’t call them one of the ‘better’ companies on the grounds that it’s not as bad.
@@demetriusnp49 , They're not perfect (neither is Nintendo), But their Atlus and Yakuza output alone shames most "triple-A" companies.
DEI hires ruined everything.
And it seems they are the ones who got fired first.
Thats a great start honestly.
And Nintendo will delay their console 2 years, redesign it to look like a VCR, and save the industry once again.
Based and "switch 2" delay pilled
As poorly optimized as the Switch is compared to PS5 and whatever the current XBOX is called, the first party support is top notch, and I’m not sure why the other two are failing so badly in that regard
nintendo didnt save the industry, they only revived the north american market
@@Gloomdraketarget audience
@@Oreca2005yeah pretty much, Nintendo knows who their selling too and they got that on lock always. Sony seems to keep trying to push games with things people don’t want, and Microsoft genuinely feels like it’s just giving up.
The reason is monotisarion. The major studios no longer want to sell games once. They don't want you to buy a game and own it. They want you to keep playing for it in perpetuity. The problem is, the kinds of games that you can continually charge for like fortnite, league of legends, etc have a limited market. Those are the kinds of games people can only sink a limited amount of time into. So if someone really devotes time to one, it will only be one. So while that may be continuous income, its also a much more limited resource. But they see "money in perpetuity" and don't seem to realise that the market for that type of game is signifcantly more limited.
I could not figure out how to go frame-by-frame so I could read that message you left from other-universe Arlo. But I figured out that pressing shift + the comma key sets the playspeed slower, so I just had to pause at the right moment on x0.25 speed, which was still hard.
What in the world are you cooking in the text? Anyway, I'm guessing you got tired of showing the arc off and have just decided to do this weird text thing from now on. Works for me. Good on you Arlo for doing anything.
you can go frame by frame with the comma (,) and dot (.) keys, where comma goes back one frame and dot goes forward one frame
So glad to hear about Moon Channel here ! They deserve all the attention they can get !! 😊❤❤❤
It's interesting being a Nintendo and Indie game fan watching the rest of the industry burn around you.
Yes it is. I have been very comfortable with my Switch, and I have had very little desire to get back to Xbox.
@@Jared39480yeah it’s very fun just sitting back chilling getting remakes, originals and all that rolled into one. That’s one thing I can count on Nintendo always, I’m probably gonna have something I want to play without worries and just chill till the next thing I wants comes out.
Again I always feel shocked when I hear the game industry is in trouble cause I’m just panting my rpgs and apex lol.
Yeah, it’s weird. I play almost exclusively Nintendo games and Indies, so constantly hearing how shit the industry is outside of that is strange.
@@bjwill9047don’t discount Shooters! Splatoon is actually very good!
As an employee, it has to be even weirder. Imagine going to work every day, and doing your normal job, getting a generous raise to try and keep up with unprecedented inflation, meanwhile the rest of the industry (aside from indies that have a welcome home on your product) is canning people left and right. Like how more people were laid off from XBox since January this year, than even work at Nintendo's US office.
The solution is to recognize that you cannot make games for these kinds of budgets anymore. They tried - they took ESG money, they added loot boxes, they did day-1 DLC... they literally did everything possible to minimize risk and make more money, and it's still not working. The only answer is to scale back.
Nintendo is honestly a model they should follow. Nintendo games are made with different audiences in mind for each game, and the budgets are always proportionate to the target audience, with a very high chance that they make their money back. Their approach is vastly different from that of Western gaming studios.
Japan, in general, has a much more robust and healthy entertainment economy. They cater to all sorts of genres and tastes, and diversity is actually a lot higher than it is in the West by miles and miles, and it works. It's time to start learning some lessons here.
I personally don't want to see these $300 million budgets anymore. There is no way games should cost that much, and frankly, when I see the end result, I genuinely think it was not worth it.
PS: I don't think the game industry is imitating the tech world at all. The ballooning budget problems are definitely unique the gaming industry. There is no boom and bust cycle here. In the tech industry, as long as you're not doing AI or something, I would say the costs are down and are very predictable. A lot of this is linked to poor management as you said after.
The only reason money is an issue comes largely (though not entirely) from the greedy suits and shareholders who cant just accept SOME profit and stop taking unearned, undeserved, ridiculous bonuses on top of that. They cant stop grubbing at every penny, leaving scraps for the ACTUAL workers, and making otherwise manageable money crises into impossible disasters.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 They are not earning a profit in some cases though. Or if they do earn a profit, it's like 30-percent returns, which is really bad (for comparison, nintendo makes 4000-percent returns). They need to scale back. Mismanagement is by far the biggest problem. Why else do they accept all the blackrock money the last few years? They need it. They don't care about the ideology at all. They actually need the money and are actually making their games less marketable as a result, which is like a double-whammy. There needs to be a major correction in the game industry and looking to Japan is a good way to solve it.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 In some cases, they may not be turning a profit, and even when they do, the returns are often quite low, around 30 percent, which pales in comparison to other companies like Nintendo, which see returns as high as 4000 percent. There's a clear need for them to reassess their strategies and possibly scale back. Mismanagement appears to be a significant issue, evident in their acceptance of substantial investments, such as those from BlackRock in recent years. It's evident that financial necessity rather than ideological commitment is driving their decisions, resulting in less marketable games-a double blow to their bottom line. A significant overhaul of the game industry is necessary, and taking cues from Japan's approach could be a step in the right direction.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 In some instances, it seems they may not be generating significant profits, and even when they do, the returns are relatively modest, around 30 percent, which contrasts starkly with other industry players like Nintendo, known for their substantially higher returns. There's a clear need for them to reevaluate their strategies and potentially streamline operations. There are concerns about management decisions, particularly evidenced by their acceptance of significant financial backing, such as investments from various sources. It appears that financial considerations may be prioritized over creative or ideological motivations, potentially leading to a decline in the appeal of their games and overall marketability. A thorough reevaluation of the industry's direction is warranted, and perhaps drawing inspiration from successful models, such as those in Japan, could offer valuable insights for improvement.
@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 In some cases, they might not be making much profit, and even when they do, it's not as much as other companies. There's a need for them to rethink their strategies and possibly scale back. Mismanagement seems to be a significant issue, as seen in their acceptance of large investments in recent years. It appears they prioritize financial gain over creative or ideological goals, potentially leading to less appealing games and reduced marketability. A significant reevaluation of the industry is necessary, and learning from successful models, such as those in Japan, could be beneficial.
I'm a developer at a triple A company and many of my indie friends are struggling so much. It's basically impossible to get funding now because the money has dried up everywhere. If triple A is doing badly then indies are doing worse, they are NOT fine.
Please support your favourite indie devs! Retweet, buy on release day and tell your friends about these projects!
I've been tired of the notion going around on a ton of influencers' channels/accounts that the gaming industry is "dying" or we're on the verge of some "gaming crash" akin to the crash in the 80's. No, we aren't in the 80's anymore where people didn't know what videogames were and treated it like a fad after so many "slop" games released. We still do get the "slop" games, usually from companies that are making a game solely to copy from other successful games that made tons of profit. Games born from this greed rarely do well, and usually you can tell when one is made for this reason.
The main concern I can agree with is the amount of layoffs we're getting, in the past 6 months alone it's been pretty egregious, some of which get swept under the rug pretty easily. It's true this is more than likely because of the tech boom from 2020 as mentioned, but I think it's also compounded by the scare companies have over the possibility of a failed game. A couple of the bad games of recent months to years have forced companies to either close offices or shut down entirely.
I am happy for Toys For Bob, the development team owned by Activision that are responsible for the Crash and Spyro Remakes broke off and became an independent studio. I've been a fan of Toys For Bob for a while now, and recent direction for Toys For Bob has been a bit concerning at best (got really worried when they moved them to work on COD for a bit), so seeing them go indie has made me excited for what they can produce apart from that. I know it's likely not all sunshine and rainbows for Toys For Bob, but after hearing the team was likely to be shut down entirely just weeks before, this news felt like a 180.
I couldn’t have picked a worse time to graduate with a degree in game design. The job market is entirely dried up and even making it in the indie space has been really difficult, hoping things improve soon for everyone’s sake.
Collapse? No. Reform? Yes.
The stupid thing is that Ubisoft can possibly sustain this failing business model for a good while, since they have a boatload of money, and shareholders have yet to get the memo that live services aren’t the silver bullet they were promised
... to be honest, it'll be similar to the Hollywood Crash of the 1960s, which finally killed the Studio System that dominated the US movie scene for decades.
Collapse? Yes
Reform ? Never
@@GloomdrakeUbisoft definitely does not have the money. The shareholders do. But Ubi is a small player.
_Why can't the business model be _*_"Just Make Good Games"_*_ ?_
Because the game devs who are passionate about games don't run the major game companies. The major companies are ran by business majors who are catering to the needs of shareholders, and the people who make games are just tools to affect stock price and exec benefits packages.
Note that this doesn't apply to all companies, particularly indie companies. That's why, if an indie company can attract good talent without getting taken over by VC investors, they tend to produce bangers.
_Edit:_ Yeah, Arlo basically made this same point later in the video than I originally typed this comment, so he clearly gets it.
So basically according to Arlo a burst triple-A bubble might be a GOOD thing so they pump out less crap! I can dig that
The collapse of economy has to stop at some point. The amount of financial stress and these corporations taking shortcuts and making these cuts. Like something has to give. I'm begging... please. I want this to all stop. How many roommates does it take to live... the world may never know
It’s a great time to be a Nintendo and indie fan. I never play those “real people” looking games and it’s worked out for me lol
I only wann GTA 6 for PS5 😂
lol same! it's nice to see not too many changes happening on our turf
the true next-gen experience is still underwhelming lol, that's why Nintendo keep winning, they have a great library, meanwhile i only have three ps5 "exclusives' that i really want to play (FFVIIR, FFXVI, and BG3), most of the time i only play multiplatform games like Granblu, P3R, Infinite Wealth
Agreed. I was personally never a big fan of games with hyperrealistic graphics and stuff, as to me it’s usually just a sign that the game is using them to compensate for the fact that the actual gameplay, to put it bluntly, sucks. In other words I’d rather have a game with “worse” graphics but is also really fun to play than what’s essentially a buggy, occasionally-interactive movie.
Live service games actively discourage people from buying them.
Due to the nature of live service games, players are basically strong armed into playing ONLY that one game. Maybe 2 or 3 depending on your free time.
As someone who works 48 hrs a week, I can only keep up with 1 live service game. And because of sunk cost fallacy, I'm not going to stop playing that 10 year old game.
Even if layoffs go insane, those employees probably aren't going to leave the industry. What this hopefully means is we'll see new companies form to take up the mantle as the big developers while the ones we've been stuck with for the past two decades fade away
We just need to boycott live service gaming at this point. I don’t understand how people keep buying into this garbage.
Gambling addiction, basically. It’s a problem.
I worked for a company (non-gaming) that got bought out by a big corporation. Cue the massive layoffs, and everyone else jumping ship for a better job because the party was over at a great place to work.
The owners who sold out retired, and it's hard to begrudge them taking a huge cash-out to enjoy their golden years.
To quote Pat from PatStaresAt:
The gaming industry saw a period of time where people were forced, on threat of death, to never leave their homes for months, looked at the numbers games did during that time, and decided "We're gonna base our entire business plan for the foreseeable future on the assurance that we will keep seeing these exact levels of success for decades to come!"
Imagine having your employees make software that generates income and then being allowed to get rid of the employess that made the software and you still get to generate that income.
Roosterteeth's fall can honestly be attributed to themselves. They overinvested in tons of projects and had zero idea on how to properly market and merchandise their own expensive series.
Sort of like a microcosm of their parent company, then?😁
I’ve had a shit day, I teared up when I saw your posted Arlo. Absolutely love your content, thanks for getting me outta my moods.
Hang in there brother
It's still frustrating about the layoffs. These are people's livelihoods and it's not impossible to keep them on.
I was poised to enter the games industry in 2022 but didn't get accepted anywhere (tough competition). I was frustrated but in hindsight I'm so glad I'm not in games right now.
I'm so happy you're in Seattle, Arlo. I hope you love it here!
It really is wild how many companies still want to go for the live service format when passion projects made by single developers like lethal company are out performing them all... oh well, buy indie!
If it means my retro game prices crash down with it I say bring it on.
Don't translate...
भवतः हृदयस्य धड़कनं कतिपयेषु घण्टेषु स्थगयिष्यति, अस्य शापस्य मुक्तिं प्राप्तुं एकमात्रं मार्गं मम चैनलस्य सदस्यतां कुर्वन्तु…………..
With how things have been the last 4 years, i wouldn't be surprised if the retro games inflate more
None of this will touch the retro market at all, that issue lies with the influx of people buying retro games as an investment vehicle
I gotta be honest, I don’t think 1,000s of people losing their jobs is worth it to bring down the prices of retro games.
@@Incompetent_HeroWATA started it the mess
I almost kind of hope so. The industry has been trending in a disgusting direction for years now and it needs a big slap in the face.
Art should never be created to please investors.
I just gotta say I love the arlo warnings in the beginning of videos they are just kinda funny in a arlo way
The thing is the only way this unrealthy state of the industry can ever trully change is if the workers of the games industry make a strong union that allow them to fight against the horrible executive decisions that threaten their livelihoods, but instead of really discussing this everyone just waits patiently for every CEO to just magically think "hey actually I'm completely evil let me cut my salary and turn my company into a great place to work like Nintendo" and become good guys overnight, sorry that'll never ever happen
Honestly at this point I’m surprised there isn’t a nation wide union in the USA cause didn’t the industry lose like thousands of jobs in the last three years. Most jobs lost being because they finished their games.
It's precisely this. Corporations just have too much power nowadays (and this extends beyond the industry and into more global and political areas) and workers as well as consumers need to hold them accountable if there is to be a change in that.
Now that Arlo is here in Seattle I will be cursed knowing I could pass him in public and not know.
I am never safe now
Look up jaggythermas. You didn't hear it from me though
Not know? It'd be pretty hard not to notice if you passed a fuzzy blue monster in public
Between the industry itself actively going against its own best interests and the bigoted culture warmonger consumer fans, gaming is just depressing right now.
I'm furious about the Rooster Teeth shutter. If someone doesn't buy RWBY and faithfully continue it I'll cry 😢
Some point they have to realize small and AA projects are amazing too... We should be flourishing outwards in creativity
Robocop comes to mind.
0:44 the portal to the Arlo Multiverse opens
Closer to 1:13
Unless there's a complete value crash in video games again, there will be no video game crash ever. There will always be a dev or studio out there that doesn't commit unethical monetization practices. Don't like the shit companies pull? Pick a different game from a different studio. Don't give those guys anymore of your money. There are lots of underrated games out there.
I'm currently retro diving with the GameCube, and just started my Metroid Prime Hard Mode playthrough. Hearing the music kick in made me start involuntarily nodding to the beat and makes me excited to get back to it. One of the best soundtracks ever made.
2024 might be the year EVERYTHING collapses... wooo..
So true sadly
The Great Reset is going along swimmingly....
Fr 🥲
The world ended in 2012... 😢
@@LaFlame1 I see some of it as a good thing.
I would argue the problem isn't the live service it self, It's the greed behind it. If the vision of the game calls for a constantly changing player space, then yes, live service is the way to go. An excellent example is Helldivers 2, it's live service, and it works because it's a player driven galatic war. It should change and evolve over time. But when you try and shoehorn it in, like with Redfall, it feels forced and gready.
It's more the style of live service that requires you play or grind constantly (and spend more money).
A game that has seasonal updates can be fine since it gives reasons for people to come back and play. The game that rely's entirely on FOMO and $20+ battle passes and expects all of a player's free time will eventually fail.
Xbox 360 proved that Live-service could’ve been great, but as modern trends shifted norms it seems gaming as a whole changed along with it while entering into the mainstream.
Thank you for shedding light on this Arlo. My partner and I both work in the games industry and we recently put a down payment on a house. With our savings depleted we're just praying we can keep our jobs.
Can we admit that a major factor is the lack of skilled writers ruining American AAA games? What happened to saints row is unacceptable, hiring mobile game writers and screwing over the original writers
Movies and shows are in trouble for the same reason
That's pretty much what the whole sweet baby inc pushback is about. It's actually kind of funny seeing arlo make a video that's tangentially about that subject seeing as he'd never address it directly on this channel.
Excuse me @InkyMuste what is a, "sweet baby inc"?
The entire series of Saint's Row is not a good example of a well written video game.
It’s because activists are NOT talented.
No way the video game industry will collapse this year. Despite high budget AAA games failing to be as good as they used to be, and the companies that make those expensive games laying off lots of employees, I believe that there's a silver lining to these dark clouds: indie games. Honestly, smaller development teams seem to know what they're doing when it comes to making a good game more often than not, unlike the AAA studios. Perhaps indie game studios will be the future of video games. Of course, I could be wrong, but I won't give up hope on video games yet.
Indie games kinda already are the future. What AAA game made in the past 10 years has had as much cultural impact as FNAF, Undertale and Among Us?
Indie Games and Japanese/Asian studios are gonna be just fine. It’s the like of EA, WB, and Ubisoft that have the potential of going belly up.
Because indie devs realized something that big companies forgot long ago; you do not need every little penny in the universe or massive undeserved bonuses for the big suits in order to have a successful release/sale/etc. Companies were never our friends, but at bare minimum there seemed to be a general understanding in the gaming industry that making SOME MONEY was okay, and thus giving developers real time to build the product with love and care. Nowadays, ever since the 2010's especially, its been nothing short of greed greed greed, and "WAAHH I WANT MONEY NOW!!", at the increasing expense of games, the actual workers, and everything surrounding it.
And the 70 dollar standard is just the rotten cherry on the food poison sundae...
@@sdragon21 Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft are probably going to be fine as well because they're the companies that make new consoles for the video game industry. I'm also optimistic about Valve because PC gamers can play almost any game they want through Steam, which is owned by Valve.
@@ScooterCat64 Honestly, every game that I can think of that even comes close to making it that big is an indie game.
All we need to save it is ROB the Robot
Agreed
Nintendo just shadowdrops a trailer for R.O.B. in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
$5 on the eShop. No new courses. Just R.O.B.
@austingordon3709 70 million sold in 3 days the industry is saved
I was literally typing “I miss alternate universe Arlo” and then I saw his message! We hear you, AUA! We have to reach him before the Planck Stream breaks!