im worried that most AAA rpg games are owned by microsoft

[JDR13]

Since you seem to want something easy and cinematic to help you unwind after work, have you heard of Call of Duty? It's a AAA RPG published by EA. You Play the Role of a soldier in this Game. It is very immersive and has stats and everything you seem to want.

Meh... that one was ok. I was disappointed there weren't more romanceable npcs though.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

I actually think that the era of cinematic games has ended because the film world has lost a great deal of its prestige along with its financial pizazz. The biggest figures in filmic gaming like Ken Levine have been in the wilderness for 10 years. What gaming companies admire are the mobile game makers and the gambling companies, which turn out much greater profits than any cinematic game could hope to. What drove a lot of that cinematic game decision making was envy by business executives towards Hollywood, combined with a firm belief that the future of games looked like that of movies.

Business leaders sought the prestige and influence accorded to Hollywood, and made creative and technological decisions accordingly. I don't think anyone in business envies Hollywood anymore unless they have a fanatical nostalgia.

One way in which the gaming companies want to emulate film is in the economics of the streaming business. Microsoft is the only company that has succeeded in introducing a "Netflix for games" at large scale at a similar price point. There is probably more investment money available now for small games companies looking to try out a new model than at any other time in recent memory, just because a lot of the old ideas are saturated and are just not delivering the kinds of returns that they were in the past. I don't think Microsoft really has a direction in this, they just know that they can justify making more acquisitions to shareholders because they have a good narrative about what they're going to use it for: if you like stocks like Netflix, in the gaming space, we are imitating the acquisition strategy of Netflix, and our stock price is likely to go up. As it relates to how those individual games are monetized, Microsoft just wants literally everyone to sign up for the GamePass subscription and is probably less concerned about the monetization of individual titles than it is about generating huge growth in subscribers.

The emerging consensus on how streaming services have impacted Hollywood's creative strategy is that creative quality overall has gone sharply down, with studios more focused on generating volume and picking content themes that just have high ambient demand, since SEO and recommendations are the only thing that matter, with ad campaigns and conventional marketing not really moving the needle. I don't think anyone really knows how to make these content acquisitions work well. I think this model is a boon for mediocre games, but probably makes it harder for big ticket blockbuster style games to stand out and to have their old economics work. If the new habit that the corporations are trying to train is to have Joe Couchpotato click on GamePass to see what's new and NOT to buy individual games, it just leads to a very different creative and business dynamic in the industry than existed in the past.

The last thing video game developers need is another financial cushion between them and failure. This is going to turn into another subprime mortgage market, where every developer thinks they don't have to pull their weight, because the developer next to them will, but that adjacent developer is thinking the same thing as the first developer.

 

[samoilaaa]

There's loads more publishers than just Microsoft making AAA RPG's so I wouldn't be worried if I were you.


Since you seem to want something easy and cinematic to help you unwind after work, have you heard of Call of Duty? It's a AAA RPG published by EA. You Play the Role of a soldier in this Game. It is very immersive and has stats and everything you seem to want.

please dont , im begging you
its not that i want the game to be easy , it just about the part where i have to read instead of hearing people talk , it doesnt even have to be a cinematic as long as its fully voice acted like in DOS2 or POE2
using cinematics in BG3 is a dream come true to me , cant wait for full release

 

[Nifft Batuff]

If a game company is listed on the stock exchange, it is almost a guarantee that the games will be shit.

 

[Falksi]

Thanks Falksi. The prices I've seen lately have been ridiculous. A boxed original DOOM II going for $200-$500?!! Give me a break! There were sooooooo many of those produced they are not rare by any means! Heck, the shareware versions of this and Heretic, Duke go for even higher prices... what the...?! It also seems that any game still in shrink-wrap gets jacked up by hundreds of dollars, regardless of the actual game!! Man, I sold my collection at the wrong time....

Legend of Zelda game from 1987 sells for $870,000 (fox5ny.com)

 

[Darth Canoli]

John Van Caneghem is still independent right?

Yeah! Independent mobile games incoming...

 

[Mortmal]

If a game company is listed on the stock exchange, it is almost a guarantee that the games will be shit.

Eaxctly there's no reason to worry, it will be shit by default. Shareholders want their money, it has to go mainstream and sell a lot. Then its the same for every product to go mainstream nowadays you have 50 tick boxes to check , woke only being one of them.It's miracle there's still anything good after that.
The best stuff will be indies out from nowhere as usual.

 

[lycanwarrior]

It's monetization you should be worried about. Microsoft bought those companies at a premium. They're going to be expecting mad profits. Single player RPGs don't print monies compared to other games. So who knows what nefarious money making scheme they'll come up with.

Either that or being dumbed down to the point where the "RPG" label becomes virtually meaningless...

 

[lycanwarrior]

Now microsoft owns most AAA rpg game developers , Bethesda , Obsidian , Inxile , and Playground games ( with Fable )

is there any hope that these games will turn out good ( im not even hoping for great ) and wont be filled with woke shit ?

there are other upcoming AAA rpg games but they will 100% be woke like hogwarts legacy and dragon age 4

Fortunately Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, heroic saviors of AAA games, managed to stay independent

Well, Assassin's Creed Valhalla did win "RPG of the Year" award last year by PC Gamer:

https://www.pcgamer.com/best-rpg-2020-assassins-creed-valhalla/

:D

 

[lycanwarrior]

Knowing the history of big publishers buying developer studios and then shutting them down once they don't meet monetary expectations, I believe we will see Microsoft putting an end to many of their recent purchases within the next few years. No matter how Microsoft tries to look like a good guy for gamers, they are nothing else than a corporation and rules for those did not magically change.

You'd be surprised by how many gamers are posting comments on Youtube and Reddit going goo-gaga over Microsoft being the only one that "cares" about the gamers LMAO.

MICROSOFT

It's like they didn't learn their lesson with CD Project Red and the CP2077 debacle...

 

[Thonius]

There are going to be ads in the games and that's a good thing here's why...

 

[Shrimp]

Knowing the history of big publishers buying developer studios and then shutting them down once they don't meet monetary expectations, I believe we will see Microsoft putting an end to many of their recent purchases within the next few years. No matter how Microsoft tries to look like a good guy for gamers, they are nothing else than a corporation and rules for those did not magically change.

You'd be surprised by how many gamers are posting comments on Youtube and Reddit going goo-gaga over Microsoft being the only one that "cares" about the gamers LMAO.

MICROSOFT

It's like they didn't learn their lesson with CD Project Red and the CP2077 debacle...

From the Outer Worlds 2 trailer:

Spoiler

 

[Crispy]

rpg games

WHYYYYY????!!???

 

[vonAchdorf]

John Van Caneghem is still independent right?

Not that it would matter, considering Creature Quest isn't game which anyone here wants to play.

 

[Cryomancer]

Who cares about AAA RPG's? they are 99,9% decline garbage for casual console market.