The unfortunate truth is there are likely a lot of very talented developers at most big studios who ultimately don't have a say on what goes into the game.
Many don't turn around and try making a start-up game though, most just burn out of the industry forever.
The way business is structured in the modern day completely strangles progress and innovation by ignoring and sometimes even punishing workers trying to improve. Companies should be run by workers not businessmen so that there's a focus on the product rather than profit
Many don't turn around and try making a start-up game though, most just burn out of the industry forever.
I think a big reason for this is because they need to have some kinda airtight clandestine OPSEC if they want to work on anything themselves that they plan to show anybody.
It's been common practice for AAA's to say "Anything you make while you're employed here at all is ours." Sometimes even if you're not AT the studio when you do it.
They just simply assume entitlement to your creativity.
So, quit and make that indie darling, right? But then you need a financial "runway" set up, which sets a hard time limit on production and adds a ton of stress, and you'd better hope it sells well enough to make back the lost income.
The indie successes we've seen are nothing short of extraordinary, but also a textbook example of survivorship bias in action. For every success, there's a million projects that never got off the ground, much less sold successfully.
Facing all this...I celebrate the efforts that beat the odds, and love genuinely good games that simply didn't sell enough to keep the ball rolling.
But I don't fault anybody for just going into something more stable before burnout hits, and they would be destroyed from the inside out.
Ever notice how the best games out there are either indie games or made by ex-devs formerly from a big developer?
Capitalism does away with ingenuity and creativity. Look at the biggest developers, like Ubisoft or Activision or EA, and their most flagship product(s), and you'll see that none of them are inventive in any way, they're all just regurgitated forms of whatever sells.
No wonder ML text and image generators are so popular with large corporations.
I had the same thought. They just want cookie cutter shit. The same as they've gotten previously and generic enough to appeal to most.
That's basically what ML is all about, catering to the average.
Meanwhile Ubisoft itself continues to pump out digital slop
Anno games
AC Odyssey
Immortals Fenix Rising
Mario x Rabbids games
Prince of Persia TLC
Rocksmith is great for learning guitar
Real talk. Ubisoft in general have made some great games. Their current business model is to pump out repeats of things that worked, and so earn our scorn for them 'as of right now'.
Who played AC 1 and didn't want more. That we're now up to AC 76 doesn't diminish that they made something fun before they beat it to death.
Even their primary accomplishment of making every open-world game follow their formula of '1000 sidequests, item hunts and mini-puzzles' doesn't detract from the fact that those were really fun the first few times.
I wish the best to all the ex-Ubisoft developers. Go make cool shit without the $business oversight$. In an ideal world, the publisher should be there to cover the gaps when a new concept falls flat, not to force developers to keep doing the same profitable thing and otherwise stifle innovation.
Mario/Rabbids is the game nobody asked for or expected anything from, and it turned out great. Instead of just a knockoff silly minions game, it was an amazing XCOM-lite with fun environments and suprisingly-deep tactical gameplay.
Too bad they shut down the prince of persia team :(
Played through stray for the first time recently
The game was great, especially for how relatively small the team was, but honestly the reveal of the largest mystery in the game was very underwhelming.
It's still a good game though, I do recommend it.
Hey, your cat thinks you're underwhelming as well, but she's fine with that as long there's food and scritches.
scritches
🤎🤎🤎
Awww, and here I thought only my family uses that word.
The reveal that
? I thought it was incredible.Tap for spoiler
there's a dedicated meow button
Stray is such an amazing game. Real work of art. I love how we discover more and more of the story of this world.
I can't wait to play Expedition 33.
I desperately want to play through it but they seem to have made some weird technical decisions with the sound system and I don't get half the sounds on any of my devices.
Stray was so mid... If it didn't have cute cats it would have been forgotten instantly.
I was most flabbergasted by the fact that you never hunt anything!! What a miss! How do you make a game where you play as a cat without any stealth stalking of prey??
Yeah, but it did have cute vibes and a lot of people love things just for cute vibes
If all the games didn't have the stuff that made them enjoyable then they'd be mid.
I remember when the first screenshots for it came out years ago as a cat game inspired by Kowloon Walled City and thought it would be this profound game where you play as a stray cat who weaves itself in and out of all the lives and stories of the people there...and then it turned out to be this really basic linear game. I was so disappointed.
So... you found it mid because it didn't have more robust stealth mechanics than dealing with the Sentinels? It wasn't GOTY material, but it was one of my top games that year. Do you also find games like Destroy All Humans, Portal, and Firewatch mid?
Disclaimer: I'm not mad if you find all those mid, just want to know what your baseline for a "good" game is.
never knew Stray was made by a ex-ubisoft employee
I can't wait for upper management to stop trying to make games.
it isn't Ubisoft to thank, it's the "ex". suddenly not having to waste your life peddling more assassin's gray sludge can do wonders for your creativity.
It's a sarcastic thank, like thank you for firing them, or thank you for driving them away from AAA studios.
Ubisoft is the sexual abuse place right?
...or is that Activision Blizzard?
...or Rockstar Games?
Is there a funny GIF that says "why not all three of them?"?
Highly recommend Expedition 33. The game play is exactly what I've been looking for in a game, and the story and world are both amazing.
I mean Ubisoft has probably tens of thousands of ex employees
And growing!
Don't forget about Outlast, Astroneer and Sifu!
What is the point of this post?
Ubisoft has been releasing games half-assed over the last 10ish years also, they turned Rainbow 6 Siege from a $60 first-person shooter with lootboxes into a free-to-play with “Premium” membership.
Also neglect & ban Linux/SteamOS users who want to play their games.
This post shows that Ubisoft devs have real potential if they aren’t constrained by corporate greed and bureaucrats.
All in all, fuck Ubisoft.
Damn right! Also, fuck those extra launchers and their buggy shit too. Crashing asses!
the same could be said for any set of devs that aren't contrained by corporate bs
Also neglect & ban Linux/SteamOS users who want to play their games.
Neglect, Thats almost every studio on the planet, linux gaming is being held up by steam through proton. Tell me more about the banning end of that comment though?
Tell me more about the banning end of that comment though?
Apologies I was kind of vague here, Ubisoft will ban people on their forums or social’s like Discord if you bring the topic up, essentially they’ll brand you as a cheater and tell you to get lost.
If I can find some examples I’ll link em here.
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