DrAlex said:
irishda said:
I'm curious when video gamers became akin to political parties. "This person/company is destroying our way of life..." No, no they're not. Single player games will always be around. They're not going away. Bethesda, Activision, and Nintendo still exist along with a host of other developers. EA does not hold the keys to video game development. Not to mention, a "tacked on multiplayer" doesn't diminish the quality of a single player element. I still liked Dead Space 2's campaign, and didn't once feel I had to play the multiplayer.
There is a difference between a developer and a publisher. Publishers unfortunately wield too much power and are currently out of touch with their market. That's the problem.
But that's the point. It's not that publishers are out of touch with the markets. On the contrary, they know exactly what people want. And what people want is a lot of shit to do. In video games that means two things. Either you can make an open world sandbox where there's a lot of random stuff thrown in but no one really cares cause it's fun to do whatever you want, narrative be damned. Or, you can throw in a multiplayer.
Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong. Tell me people NEVER hold it against a game when the campaign is only 6 hours or so and it's NOT made by Valve. (I'm looking at you Portal). Please, tell me that everyone loves games that are so completely original.
The sad fact is, the vast majority of gamers these days LIKE the CoD shooters, the easy RPGs, the multiplayer aspects, the free-to-play casual models, because the vast majority these days are casual players. But you'd never know that on here or other "hardcore" gaming sites where people still think everyone played Diablo 2 and wants gaming to stay the same as it was in the 90s.
And yes, multiplayer is what a lot of gamers go by to justify buying a game to ensure they get their 60 dollars worth. Hell, I know I typically just rent single player games unless they're really really good. Not every developer can make some massive open world environment that tricks players into thinking its really good just because its got a shit-ton of random stuff to do.
Then don't charge $60 for a game that isn't worth $60. Running a business is not as difficult as some people make it out to be. It's only difficult if leadership and management are incompetent.
That's the catch 22 of today's technology. Either spend a fortune putting together the graphics, voice acting, etc. of a AAA game in today's market, or get lambasted on review websites for having "shit graphics", "the same guy doing everyone's voice", and everything else your game doesn't that every other game in your market bracket does.
