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[Vol5]

It's the worst its ever been. Everything is focus tested and safe because of the astronomical increase in budgets and complexity of modern development. Then you have AAA pubs chasing trends that are completely uninteresting by the time the games come out due to 5-8 year dev cycles for these games. I'm only talking AAA space, to be clear. Indies have a little for everybody, but most lack the budget, skills, and management to compete at the higher level. I'd love to see pubs step back from AAA with notable exceptions, make a bigger variety of new IPs and AA games that can be completed in a realistic amount of time (2-4 years).

This is so right and especially true of western developers. Essentially we are getting re-skinned games that were released 1 or 2 years ago.

Thank fuck for the likes of Kojima & Miyazaki who aren't kept up at night by sales data and instead have a vision of how they want their game to play and follow through on that vision.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Honestly, not really, and I haven't been for awhile.

I feel like the recent AAA (some 1st and majority 3rd party) titles have felt more "safe" and repetitive than ever before. You can blame it on the cost of development, sure, as it just continues to go up. But we're also seeing less innovation and creativity. I guess it's because devs and pubs are worried about putting so much development time and money into potential duds that could hurt their business. So, we see mechanics "that work" that we're already well aware of crammed into multiple titles that create an outcome where everything feels so similar or less exciting.

At least that's what it feels like to me. It's one of those situations where there are a good number of different variables, so who knows exactly what the "issue" is.

 

[FunkMiller]

Fuck no.

Absolute trash fire of greed, laziness, repetitive concepts, more greed, cross-gen bullshittery, and greed.

Triple AAA is now full of creatively bankrupt companies who onky care about the bottom line, and don’t give a fuck about making innovative or exciting games.

 

[Fare thee well]

Triple trash.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

It is all debatable, even Nintendo games, cuz folks have different likes and dislikes. Personally I've always been partial to Sony's first party over the other two (although Xbox games are growing on me), but truth is I play more third party than anything else primarily because most of the games come from third party. As far as the "very best games" coming from third party as @SOULZBOURNE believes.........not really sure about that, but one could also argue that the very worst games come from third party as well. A bit overgeneralized for my tastes either way.

Nothing coming from Sony,Nintendo or MS can touch Elden Ring.
A argument can be made for The Witcher 3 as well.

Because of the sheer amount of 3rd party games that are made, yes we have more garbage but the good ones best the best 1st party.

 

[Hobbygaming]

I think there's a ton of good 3rd party games out there including last gen and the current one

Hitman 3
Resident Evil Village
RE2 remake
Tales of Arise
Control
Metro Exodus
The Witcher 3
Scarlett Nexus
Life is Strange
Unravel
Injustice 2
MK11
Dying Light
Lost Judgment
Kena
Life is Strange True Colors
A Plague Tale
Crash Bandicoot
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
Red Dead Redemption 2
GTA5
Resident Evil 7

This isn't even scratching the full list. I think there's something for everyone

 

[Topher]

Nothing coming from Sony,Nintendo or MS can touch Elden Ring.
A argument can be made for The Witcher 3 as well.

Because of the sheer amount of 3rd party games that are made, yes we have more garbage but the good ones best the best 1st party.

Nothing wrong with that opinion, but Elden Ring isn't a game I'm looking forward to at all. I'm just not a Souls fan so I'm expecting Elden Ring won't be up my alley either. Witcher 3 is definitely a game I love and yes, I would put it up among the best of first party, but it doesn't have a lot of company in that list as far as I'm concerned.

I'll put it another way. For me, there is more truly great first party than there are truly great third party. I think it is in the second tier that third party really shines. Not every game needs to be GOTY and 90+ meteoritic. Third party is also where we find much more diversity and situations where you and I disagree on Souls games but agree on Witcher 3. That's why I love third party in that it really has something for everyone.

 

[Topher]

This isn't even scratching the full list. I think there's something for everyone

That's why I love third party in that it really has something for everyone.

 

[kikkis]

I dont really buy the first party being more creative, pinnacles of innovation and just down right better. Horizon zero dawn was pretty much just ubisoft open world game gameplay wise, Uncharted indiana jones tomb raider, Tlou zombie game were you are not allowed to call them zombies. God of war, was just your typical 3rd person hack and slash. Talking about gameplay front here, I just dont see first parties being anymore creative (as if that should be some priority to be aimed at in the first place, quality should be first priority).

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

It's the worst its ever been. Everything is focus tested and safe because of the astronomical increase in budgets and complexity of modern development. Then you have AAA pubs chasing trends that are completely uninteresting by the time the games come out due to 5-8 year dev cycles for these games. I'm only talking AAA space, to be clear. Indies have a little for everybody, but most lack the budget, skills, and management to compete at the higher level. I'd love to see pubs step back from AAA with notable exceptions, make a bigger variety of new IPs and AA games that can be completed in a realistic amount of time (2-4 years).

Most AAA 3rd parties don't take 5-8 years though. They take 2-4. I think the problem is that all the power has shifted over to these companies. We are buying games in record numbers. Microtransactions and GaaS along with gamers being rediculous fanboys buying and defending these companies as they release their buggy incomplete games and basically lie about their games (broken "roadmaps", lying about resolution "4k", saying their game has HDR but actually its broken and they never bother to fix it). Also, social media and the disgusting games media has an incestuous relationship with the publishers and that makes it easy to mislead and create hype. It all adds up to them feeling like they can get away with whatever they want to and they have been doing just that.

We need to be one step ahead but we're really 2 steps behind their pr and marketing and I don't see that changing. For example look at what Bungie has gotten away with with D2: they have literally taken out of the game $200 worth of content with this "destiny content vault" bs. They successfully convinced the community it was somehow good for the game through their YouTube 'influencers'. Who signed up for having $200 worth of stuff just disappear? God save us when other publishers start doing the same. All in the name of GAAS. The fact that Sony and MS allowed them to do that is also one of the reasons the state of gaming is what it is. Sony and MS are not exactly looking out for our best interests. Another example was how they let Cyberpunk 2077 release in the state it did.

It's not just one thing that's the cause but it's the greater gaming ecosystem that's rotten right now.

 

[Deerock71]

I see a lopsided victory for 3rd party games.
As 3rd party games offer way more.

Nintendo's best in recent years is BOTW.
They don't even have enough to compete with Sony.

Since the 360/PS3 era like the OP mentioned...

Quantity does not equal quality, and it is never better than quality.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Quantity does not equal quality, and it is never better than quality.

Right and I addressed this in that post.

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

I've never really been concerned how many "A"s people are thinking a game has just as happens with separating "indie" games as it's always seemed largely meaningless. Indie is a little different as it is supposed to signify an independently published title but of course it does get used on games that aren't independently published too so it's largely meaningless now.
The entire "A", "AA. and "AAA" things is far worse though as it's such an arbitrary way to classify things like this. I know it's a marketing led phrase in much the way that the term "indie" was and because it was marketing led is why it ended up losing all real meaning because companies used that and the idiotic "A" classification thing so often that both just lost their shape.
I know that marketing divisions do their own thing but it's probably better to just let those marketing teams to speak their own language and leave them behind.
Anyway, far more importantly! There certainly isn't a shortage of wonderful third party games out there on all three consoles and I've been very happy with many of them. I know it;s pretty common thing for people on pretty insular communities to moan about the quality of games every generation but I'm yet to experience a generation that doesn't have more top quality games than I'd ever be able to play and that's all I can really ask for really.

 

[Kacho]

Third party games are still the best for my tastes but there is no denying it’s not as strong as it once was.

For starters new games are so spread out compared to the 360 era. Back then there was a wealth of stuff to look forward to and now it’s maybe 1 or 2 a year. Part of the problem is games have become so expensive to make. Devs just can’t churn them out at a regular pace because they take 3-5 years to make. This also means they’re willing to take less risks so we get samey experiences.

The other problem is the hyper focus on multi/GaaS shit. I know it’s easy money for publishers but that just isn’t my cup of tea. It’s probably my age but I much prefer meaty solo experiences that don’t require constant internet connection and other people to enjoy.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

With the exception of a disappointment here and there, im very satisfied with third party AAA titles. The only true negative for me is that a lot of 2021 games were delayed into 2022 but that just means, I will have a stacked and packed 2022.

 

[Unk Adams]

Nope, not satisfied.. It doesn't help that they're going out of their way to ruin previously good third-party series as well (such as Mass Effect, Saints Row, the Tom Clancy series, and the list goes on)...

 

[Kenpachii]

Fine to me, lots of gems dropping.

 

[EDMIX]

In my eyes, the decline since the PS3/360 generation has been staggering. Fewer games than ever and the ones we get, (Far Cry 6 the most recent example) are formulaic and by the numbers. TBH, Bethesda was one of the last publisher's that had games I was interested in. Sure, there are a few standouts like Elden Ring, but otherwise, it seems like a wastleland out there to me. You get your yearly COD, BF or Fifa, and bunch of multiplayer stuff and a title from Rockstar every 10 years, but the wheels seem to be falling of the cart.

You don't make much of a far argument, you simply cherry pick series that have been established for literally like 3 to 4 generations.

I think the state of 3rd party AAA titles is just fine and we have many publishers (ironically Ubisoft being one of them) that seek to do new IP every generation or at least try.

I don't see any evidence of any "decline", if anything I see that PS3/360 generation as a massive rise in those 3rd party titles as we got many new IP, many records broken in terms of sales to show no fucking evidence of a "decline" even remotely.

Last gen saw stuff like Borderlands, Bioshock (though more of a spiritual successor to System Shock, a new IP for the most part) Mass Effect, Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Dead Space, Dead Island, Fallout 3 and NV, Assassins Creed, Gears Of War (at the time was owned by Epic...at 3rd party) Batman Arkham series, Dishonored Dragon Age, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Ni No Kuni, Crysis, Army Of Two, Mirrors Edge and many more, the point I'm making is not only did we get many new IP or reboots of older IP or reimagined, we got many great 3rd party titles in general.

So I see nothing to really suggest this whole "fewer games then ever", like nothing other then your post that tries to fucking pretend Far Cry, COD, BF and Fifa are the only 3rd party games that come out.

Then proceeds to ignore

Titanfall
Destiny
No Man Sky
Apex
Overwatch
Kingdom Come Deliverance
The Division
Watchdogs
The Crew
Immortals Fenyx
For Honor
Biomutant
Sekiro

Not even counting the massive AAA sequels we saw, we got a solid generation in regards to new IP by 3rd party, regardless if personally liked it or not, someone did for many of those games to break records for those publishers and become established series.

It's fucking depressing at this point how badly the AAA industry is struggling.

I see zero evidence of that. Dear god, reference something folks, stop just saying "struggling" and give zero evidence. Lord, you even fucking state Rockstar of all teams, the one team that fucking just moved RECORD UNITS OF GTAV, over 100 million units sold is now "struggling"? Not sure about that.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game with a free MP mode, a 60 hour story, the largest most detailed open world Rockstar has ever made...I don't know what to tell you, but they are not the best examples to use for this silly argument, not even remotely. You fucking telling me in the past Red Dead Redemption 1 was 300 hours and had 3 free MP modes or ? What are we using to measure this in terms of this whole fake "complete" argument? Would the previous title not be the one used to measure this claim? This is a very, very hard thing to claim as a game, like a book doesn't have some set thing for "completion" to argue something is not done other then being unplayable or something.

If anything, Rockstar is the best example to argue how expensive the gaming industry is for AAA development if they feel they need 8 years to really provide a AAA quality title and only put out 1 title per gen, I'd us that better to argue something vs struggling or incomplete etc, they are not the ones to make that odd claim against.

Might as well switch over to indie or start branching out over to Nintendo

LOL YESSSSS!!!!! ^^^^ The funniest comment thus far. Imagine complaining about expensive games and then you want to branch over to Nintendo....good luck with that =). Complete? Isn't Smash Bros still putting out those characters? but you right though, "complete" =)

So we need to have some fucking set rule or concept or something to actually address this vs trying to ONLY argue about this shit with certain publishers , then ignore the ones we like I don't know how one worries about price, but looks to the company that has a format where its price rarely drops, prices its ports at full price many times and then tell us about complete, from a publisher that has many games where they are literally selling you even the rest of the games difficulty for the right price.

Is the Announced Breath of the Wild DLC a Good Idea?

Nintendo have recently announced that there will be Breath of the Wild DLC as part of an “Expansion Pass”. This is set to be a highly divisive topic among Zelda-purists and gamers in ge…

www.gamerpros.co

 

[BadBurger]

Since I play on every thing, even Apple Arcade, I am satisfied on the whole. There's enough good third party stuff across all platforms that I don't notice. But it seems the PS360 years, particularly down the stretch, was kind of the golden age of third party production.

 

[EDMIX]

Since I play on every thing, even Apple Arcade, I am satisfied on the whole. There's enough good third party stuff across all platforms that I don't notice. But it seems the PS360 years, particularly down the stretch, was kind of the golden age of third party production.

Maybe lol

I like a lot of the titles that came out that gen, but during PS4 and XONE, we got a lot of fucking gems

RE2 remake
RE3 remake
REVII
REVIII (on another level of god like)
DMC5
Monster Hunter World (shit Capcom in general last gen was just on another level and really rebuilt a lot of trust)
FFXV (i like it more then XIII)
KH3
Nier Automata
Dragon Quest XI
Yakuza 1 and 2 remake
Yakuza 6 and 7
Judgement
BF4, BF1, BFV
The Division series
Evil Within series
Doom reboot
Red Dead Redemption 2
Sekiro

and so many more, we got a fucking beast amount of great 3rd party titles, revival of Capcom, Ubisoft doing lots of new IP, lots of great sequels etc.


Like I said, I like the PS3/360 gen titles a lot, but I try not to rose tint that view too much and really actually look at the good and bad and I have to say PS4/XONE gen was by far better in more respects. We not only got sequels to great IP, we got many new IP and we got better output by a few publishers that gen then the one prior.

 

[arkhamguy123]

Awful. Where's the new IP's? Where's the sequels to beloved franchises? Where's the steady stream of Batman games? Where's... anything?? I echo the same sentiments already laid out here that AAA third party has become a wasteland basically exclusively for casuals and middle schoolers. And I mean like, extremely casual. Like see's games as dumb toys, plays once a week maybe casual. Not even a soft core gamer or any variation.

It's just terrible gaming was always such a hobby and passion of mine growing up since I was a little kid and I've grown with it and I feel like I'm witnessing the slow steady decay of my former passion as corporate greed and mass appeal takes over heart and soul.

 

[onnextflix5]

Cant blame them, AAA production is very expensive and risky, wish more devs take more bets on AA games, like little nightmares and other smaller titles,

 

[Marty-McFly]

You don't make much of a far argument, you simply cherry pick series that have been established for literally like 3 to 4 generations.

I think the state of 3rd party AAA titles is just fine and we have many publishers (ironically Ubisoft being one of them) that seek to do new IP every generation or at least try.

I don't see any evidence of any "decline", if anything I see that PS3/360 generation as a massive rise in those 3rd party titles as we got many new IP, many records broken in terms of sales to show no fucking evidence of a "decline" even remotely.

Last gen saw stuff like Borderlands, Bioshock (though more of a spiritual successor to System Shock, a new IP for the most part) Mass Effect, Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Dead Space, Dead Island, Fallout 3 and NV, Assassins Creed, Gears Of War (at the time was owned by Epic...at 3rd party) Batman Arkham series, Dishonored Dragon Age, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Ni No Kuni, Crysis, Army Of Two, Mirrors Edge and many more, the point I'm making is not only did we get many new IP or reboots of older IP or reimagined, we got many great 3rd party titles in general.

So I see nothing to really suggest this whole "fewer games then ever", like nothing other then your post that tries to fucking pretend Far Cry, COD, BF and Fifa are the only 3rd party games that come out.

Then proceeds to ignore

Titanfall
Destiny
No Man Sky
Apex
Overwatch
Kingdom Come Deliverance
The Division
Watchdogs
The Crew
Immortals Fenyx
For Honor
Biomutant
Sekiro

Not even counting the massive AAA sequels we saw, we got a solid generation in regards to new IP by 3rd party, regardless if personally liked it or not, someone did for many of those games to break records for those publishers and become established series.



I see zero evidence of that. Dear god, reference something folks, stop just saying "struggling" and give zero evidence. Lord, you even fucking state Rockstar of all teams, the one team that fucking just moved RECORD UNITS OF GTAV, over 100 million units sold is now "struggling"? Not sure about that.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a game with a free MP mode, a 60 hour story, the largest most detailed open world Rockstar has ever made...I don't know what to tell you, but they are not the best examples to use for this silly argument, not even remotely. You fucking telling me in the past Red Dead Redemption 1 was 300 hours and had 3 free MP modes or ? What are we using to measure this in terms of this whole fake "complete" argument? Would the previous title not be the one used to measure this claim? This is a very, very hard thing to claim as a game, like a book doesn't have some set thing for "completion" to argue something is not done other then being unplayable or something.

If anything, Rockstar is the best example to argue how expensive the gaming industry is for AAA development if they feel they need 8 years to really provide a AAA quality title and only put out 1 title per gen, I'd us that better to argue something vs struggling or incomplete etc, they are not the ones to make that odd claim against.




LOL YESSSSS!!!!! ^^^^ The funniest comment thus far. Imagine complaining about expensive games and then you want to branch over to Nintendo....good luck with that =). Complete? Isn't Smash Bros still putting out those characters? but you right though, "complete" =)

So we need to have some fucking set rule or concept or something to actually address this vs trying to ONLY argue about this shit with certain publishers , then ignore the ones we like I don't know how one worries about price, but looks to the company that has a format where its price rarely drops, prices its ports at full price many times and then tell us about complete, from a publisher that has many games where they are literally selling you even the rest of the games difficulty for the right price.

Is the Announced Breath of the Wild DLC a Good Idea?

Nintendo have recently announced that there will be Breath of the Wild DLC as part of an “Expansion Pass”. This is set to be a highly divisive topic among Zelda-purists and gamers in ge…

www.gamerpros.co

To each their own, but the list you posted seems pretty thin to me, especially considering that's supposed to be several years worth of highlights. For me it's eh to pretty much the whole thing. Though Titanfall 2 had a great campaign and Sekiro was great.

Titanfall
Destiny
No Man Sky
Apex
Overwatch
Kingdom Come Deliverance
The Division
Watchdogs
The Crew
Immortals Fenyx
For Honor
Biomutant
Sekiro

 

[Hobbygaming]

For those that feel AAA gaming is on a decline the best thing we can do is speak with your wallet when a game that interests you comes along

I'm trying to buy more games in general than I used to

 

[teezzy]

Tekken, Madden, NHL

All other games are for nerds

 

[EDMIX]

To each their own, but the list you posted seems pretty thin to me, especially considering that's supposed to be several years worth of highlights. For me it's eh to pretty much the whole thing. Though Titanfall 2 had a great campaign and Sekiro was great.

Nah thats just you, the list isn't even complete and its just of new IP, include all the amazing sequels and reboots and we had a solid generation.

If during the PS3/360 generation didn't do much for you nor the PS4/XONE generation, I'd start to even question why you are still gaming if you hate THIS much content. That seems a bit hyperbolic and absurd to me, to the point of legit just asking you to fucking make your own game if you know so much about what it takes to make something better lol

You basically sound like you are asking for a unicorn, like you are asking for pure fan fiction at this point.

People know that I have a fond love for the past generations as I legit keep lots of my older systems to revisit older IP, but what I don't do is just fucking pretend nothing good is coming out as I'd argue its a disrespect to the very developers that are still putting out great games.

So publishers have their ups and downs and generations where the do better then other generations, but that doesn't just apply to 3rd party, sir...that applies to ALL PUBLISHERS, it applies to ALL DEVELOPERS, its not a thing that is solely based on 3rd party to even have a thread like this as if some common thing is going on with 3rd party, that never happens to first party publishers or teams etc.

For those that feel AAA gaming is on a decline the best thing we can do is speak with your wallet when a game that interests you comes along

I'm trying to buy more games in general than I used to

Oh trust, I'm sure people have been doing that for eons as I don't buy that people just blindly buy anything for lolz and be like "ok NOW i'm going to start voting with my wallet" etc lol Its a disrespect to consumers as it makes it sound like you need to inform them to now buy things they believe are of good quality, as if that wasn't what they were doing before or something lol (that isn't to say you mean that either Hob)

I feel people have voted and simply can't take that they lost the vote....those AAA games are moving fucking record numbers. Someone wants them enough for many 3rd parties to have broken so many records last gen, from Capcom, Square, EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft etc. Several have literally moved the most units in some series history, publisher history....in general lol So I don't know where this decline concept is coming from, because I simply don't see it. I'd argue the focus on AAA games is getting even more insane with fucking 1000 developer teams, the term AAAA being thrown around by MS, mega teams being made, Activision dead ass focusing all their main teams on COD lol Even Rockstar taking 8 plus years to put out a game tells me that concept is getting more wild vs on decline. Its not to even say ONLY AAA can move record units, but gamers don't seem to shy away from those mega AAA block busters.

 

[Kagey K]

I think ppl need to stop labeling shit AAA, AA or Indie.

There are a fuckton of games out there, and sure not all of them are going to suit everybody's taste, but refusing to play any of them because they aren't AAA, is fucking stupid.

Imagine only wanting to play Mousetrap because it looks like it had money poured into it instead of Monopoly or the Game of Life.

 

[Marty-McFly]

Nah thats just you, the list isn't even complete and its just of new IP, include all the amazing sequels and reboots and we had a solid generation.

If during the PS3/360 generation didn't do much for you nor the PS4/XONE generation, I'd start to even question why you are still gaming if you hate THIS much content. That seems a bit hyperbolic and absurd to me, to the point of legit just asking you to fucking make your own game if you know so much about what it takes to make something better lol

You basically sound like you are asking for a unicorn, like you are asking for pure fan fiction at this point.

People know that I have a fond love for the past generations as I legit keep lots of my older systems to revisit older IP, but what I don't do is just fucking pretend nothing good is coming out as I'd argue its a disrespect to the very developers that are still putting out great games.

So publishers have their ups and downs and generations where the do better then other generations, but that doesn't just apply to 3rd party, sir...that applies to ALL PUBLISHERS, it applies to ALL DEVELOPERS, its not a thing that is solely based on 3rd party to even have a thread like this as if some common thing is going on with 3rd party, that never happens to first party publishers or teams etc.


Oh trust, I'm sure people have been doing that for eons as I don't buy that people just blindly buy anything for lolz and be like "ok NOW i'm going to start voting with my wallet" etc lol Its a disrespect to consumers as it makes it sound like you need to inform them to now buy things they believe are of good quality, as if that wasn't what they were doing before or something lol (that isn't to say you mean that either Hob)

I feel people have voted and simply can't take that they lost the vote....those AAA games are moving fucking record numbers. Someone wants them enough for many 3rd parties to have broken so many records last gen, from Capcom, Square, EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft etc. Several have literally moved the most units in some series history, publisher history....in general lol So I don't know where this decline concept is coming from, because I simply don't see it. I'd argue the focus on AAA games is getting even more insane with fucking 1000 developer teams, the term AAAA being thrown around by MS, mega teams being made, Activision dead ass focusing all their main teams on COD lol Even Rockstar taking 8 plus years to put out a game tells me that concept is getting more wild vs on decline. Its not to even say ONLY AAA can move record units, but gamers don't seem to shy away from those mega AAA block busters.

I mean, if you look at the poll most of the people agree with my take on third parties declining, so it's clearly not just me.

 

[EekTheKat]

Not much has changed from the 3rd party AAA front for me, except it's feel like I'm paying more for less content out of the box.

2-3 day Early Access being a bonus/perk offered for buying more expensive editions in a world where games sometimes barely work day 1 out of the box seems utterly insane to me.

 

[Hobbygaming]

Nah thats just you, the list isn't even complete and its just of new IP, include all the amazing sequels and reboots and we had a solid generation.

If during the PS3/360 generation didn't do much for you nor the PS4/XONE generation, I'd start to even question why you are still gaming if you hate THIS much content. That seems a bit hyperbolic and absurd to me, to the point of legit just asking you to fucking make your own game if you know so much about what it takes to make something better lol

You basically sound like you are asking for a unicorn, like you are asking for pure fan fiction at this point.

People know that I have a fond love for the past generations as I legit keep lots of my older systems to revisit older IP, but what I don't do is just fucking pretend nothing good is coming out as I'd argue its a disrespect to the very developers that are still putting out great games.

So publishers have their ups and downs and generations where the do better then other generations, but that doesn't just apply to 3rd party, sir...that applies to ALL PUBLISHERS, it applies to ALL DEVELOPERS, its not a thing that is solely based on 3rd party to even have a thread like this as if some common thing is going on with 3rd party, that never happens to first party publishers or teams etc.


Oh trust, I'm sure people have been doing that for eons as I don't buy that people just blindly buy anything for lolz and be like "ok NOW i'm going to start voting with my wallet" etc lol Its a disrespect to consumers as it makes it sound like you need to inform them to now buy things they believe are of good quality, as if that wasn't what they were doing before or something lol (that isn't to say you mean that either Hob)

I feel people have voted and simply can't take that they lost the vote....those AAA games are moving fucking record numbers. Someone wants them enough for many 3rd parties to have broken so many records last gen, from Capcom, Square, EA, Rockstar, Ubisoft etc. Several have literally moved the most units in some series history, publisher history....in general lol So I don't know where this decline concept is coming from, because I simply don't see it. I'd argue the focus on AAA games is getting even more insane with fucking 1000 developer teams, the term AAAA being thrown around by MS, mega teams being made, Activision dead ass focusing all their main teams on COD lol Even Rockstar taking 8 plus years to put out a game tells me that concept is getting more wild vs on decline. Its not to even say ONLY AAA can move record units, but gamers don't seem to shy away from those mega AAA block busters.

Yeah I don't think 3rd party AAA games are on the decline (the non-Gaas ones at least) I'm just making a general statement

 

[StateofMajora]

When xbox one and ps4 came out, most companies stopped giving a shit.

 

[Rickyiez]

There use to be a time where in a rpg or adventure game you have to write down the clues, make maps of dungeons you could really get lost in, truly explore every option.

now days you don’t even get multiple choice to select from.. it’s “ just walk near object context triggers “. Not just no more mazes but a glowing trail to follow straight to what you are looking for.

gaming ( besides multiplayer bang bang ) has truly just become interactive movie experiences with participation trophies.

Really ? How about Bloodborne , Dark Souls , Demon Souls and Sekiro ?

Oh and FROMSOFTWARE is the only reason why I still have faith with third party AAA

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Third party games are still the best for my tastes but there is no denying it’s not as strong as it once was.

For starters new games are so spread out compared to the 360 era. Back then there was a wealth of stuff to look forward to and now it’s maybe 1 or 2 a year. Part of the problem is games have become so expensive to make. Devs just can’t churn them out at a regular pace because they take 3-5 years to make. This also means they’re willing to take less risks so we get samey experiences.

The other problem is the hyper focus on multi/GaaS shit. I know it’s easy money for publishers but that just isn’t my cup of tea. It’s probably my age but I much prefer meaty solo experiences that don’t require constant internet connection and other people to enjoy.

Its not our age but a preference thing. GaaS appeals to people who want a game that's typically multiplayer and that can continually churn out new content, although by its nature that content is disposable.

I recognize Gaas has a couple upsides but its also got some things that many find really negative. We all know them by now. Destiny 2 has removed $200 worth of content and entire expansions from the game. That's GaaS to me. Along with microtransactions, broken launches, broken roadmaps, getting spammed with in game advertisements etc. It's been a net negative on the industry and on 3rd parties but I admit I can see why some gamers welcome it due to that constant drip of content.

I think there are still a ton of good 3rd parties, it's just that all the bullshit that surrounds those games these days that has gotten so much worse over last 6-7 years.

 

[ShirAhava]

AAA third party games fell off in 2012 and has been a complete joke after 2017

First party sony/microsoft fell off even harder.....IMO I haven't cared about an 'exclusive' in like a decade

Halo 4/Motorstorm Apoc days

 

[Kagey K]

Really ? How about Bloodborne , Dark Souls , Demon Souls and Sekiro ?

Oh and FROMSOFTWARE is the only reason why I still have faith with third party AAA

All that diversity, and not the same game repeated.

You were probably the best example of the OP complaint so far.

 

[The Eradicator]

Here are all of the 3rd party games on PS5 / XBS but not on PS4 / XBO:

The Medium
Hell Let Loose
...

... um, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. I guess.

Let me know if there's any I missed. Its been a year of cross gen.

Cross gen games being everywhere the first year into a console generation isn't too abnormal

 

[The Eradicator]

I dont really buy the first party being more creative, pinnacles of innovation and just down right better. Horizon zero dawn was pretty much just ubisoft open world game gameplay wise, Uncharted indiana jones tomb raider, Tlou zombie game were you are not allowed to call them zombies. God of war, was just your typical 3rd person hack and slash.

Horizon doesn't play anything like a Ubisoft game in terms of actual gameplay.
Calling TLOU a "zombie game" misses the point entirely.
God of War 2018 was hardly a "typical" hack n slash.
Seems like you just want to dump on Sony games with really poor takes

 

[kikkis]

Horizon doesn't play anything like a Ubisoft game in terms of actual gameplay.
Calling TLOU a "zombie game" misses the point entirely.
God of War 2018 was hardly a "typical" hack n slash.
Seems like you just want to dump on Sony games with really poor takes

In terms of gameplay, I don't think any one of them contained any innovation or creativity, but it appears we are quite far on our own views on those particular games, so probably not worth arguing any more.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

The very best games are still 3rd party games.

Yes, but they're not "AAA(A)".

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Yes, but they're not "AAA(A)".

Some are AAA(AA)

 

[The Eradicator]

In terms of gameplay, I don't think any one of them contained any innovation or creativity, but it appears we are quite far on our own views on those particular games, so probably not worth arguing any more.

When people say that the gameplay in Horizon has "no creativity", then I know they didn't play the game. There's more unique systems in that gameplay than any open world game i can think of.

 

[OrangeSun77]

It is not good to deny reality, I see some make an effort to say that everything is better than ever, when the decadence is more than clear, it is simply enough to see Rockstar, who lives from GTA V since 2013. Rockstar in the generation of PS3 and Xbox 360 released several major games, GTA IV and its expansions, Red Dead Redemption and its zombie expansion, Max Payne 3 and GTA V. On the PS4 / ONE generation it only had one new release, RDR2. Generation that started in 2013 and we are already in 2021 with another new generation on top and the "new" launch is GTA V for the third time ... but don't worry, there is no such thing as decadence in triple A games, everything is fine

The only ones who are making quality triple A games are the Japanese designers, they are the ones who are sustaining the industry.

 

[kanjobazooie]

"Satisfied"? Yes. I enjoy even these Ubisoft games we like to make fun of.
Too many 7/10s imo, and that's fine with me. I don't expect a masterpiece from every AAA release, and sometimes I even enjoy the 7s more than the 9s and 10s.

I honestly can't remember the last time I played a triple A game and hated it. They've always been serviceable.
Then again, I buy most of these games when they're heavily discounted. I may have another opinion if I paid full price.

Do I want them to get better, though? Absolutely.

 

[DGrayson]

My main concern is games take too long to make.

 

[ethomaz]

Cyberpunk was the peak of 3rd-party bad management that delivery sub par quality game that should be acceptable.

But the industry seems to not get hurt enough yet.

 

[ethomaz]

My main concern is games take too long to make.

I will take that over unfinished and unpolished games like we are getting lately.

 

[EDMIX]

I mean, if you look at the poll most of the people agree with my take on third parties declining, so it's clearly not just me.

Thats amazing, so no real evidence of this huh?

OrangeSun77 I greatly disagree. They are not moving the most record units of AAA titles for anyone to really make that odd statement. I don't see this as a east vs west thing as both moved massive units of AAA titles.

Even the comment you are making about Rockstar if anything should show how hard it is to put out a quality AAA game this gen compared to last if its taking them 8 years to put out a monster like Red Dead Redemption 2, if you fucking feel AAA gaming is hurt, lets start with those that clearly didn't take that time to really craft a title of the same or similar quality and rushed a game out the door to meet deadlines. Output by all major publishers is down based on the cost of AAA gaming, at the very least put that up to be talked about as the topic at hand vs pretending AAA games is on the decline, Rockstar fucking moving 100 million units of GTA shows otherwise.

DGrayson THIS! I believe if anything, THAT should be the topic. The cost of AAA gaming, is it sustainable, raising the price of games and the time it takes to actually make a quality title.

I see no evidence of any fucking decline even remotely, The Division moved like 20 million units, Call Of Duty MW reboot is the best selling game in the series history, GTAV...best selling GTA in history, BF1, best selling Battlefield in History, Battlefront...best selling Battlefront and star was game of all time, I don't see anything remotely that argues we are selling less of anything as in a decline, I see we are spending more money to develop, games are getting much more complex, team sizes are massive (imho it needs a standard as some teams need to be larger to meet the request of the publisher) etc.

 

[DGrayson]

I will take that over unfinished and unpolished games like we are getting lately.

Ya i get you. Im not against games taking a long time per se. The problem has a lot of different facets.

- Lack of high profile AA games so then we get indies or AAA with not a lot in between
- AAA hype train and marketing starts early usually, so it makes the wait seem longer
- Besides lack of AA games, there is alos a lack of AAA games to some extent, or a lack of variety, mainly the same big budget games coming out yearly or the same franchises


So all of this makes the development cycle seem even longer as there is not as much variety to look forward to. (plus the additional development time)

 

[teezzy]

I think ppl need to stop labeling shit AAA, AA or Indie.

There are a fuckton of games out there, and sure not all of them are going to suit everybody's taste, but refusing to play any of them because they aren't AAA, is fucking stupid.

Imagine only wanting to play Mousetrap because it looks like it had money poured into it instead of Monopoly or the Game of Life.

It's a fairly modern trend, isn't it?

Sorta started with digital storefronts and much smaller developers/publishers getting their opportunity to stand among the big names.

Doesn't feel like that long ago when there was just first party, third party and "second party"

Ironically, Steam sorta makes me forget about these sort of classifications. Even old and new games just feel like "games" to me. Some better than others

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

It's a fairly modern trend, isn't it?

Sorta started with digital storefronts and much smaller developers/publishers getting their opportunity to stand among the big names.

Doesn't feel like that long ago when there was just first party, third party and "second party"

Ironically, Steam sorta makes me forget about these sort of classifications. Even old and new games just feel like "games" to me. Some better than others

Yup. Very silly.