Are games companies running out of ideas

[mjs warlord]

I know that you could argue that a lot of games look like each other and a typical example of this is is their are loads of ... go on a quest , kill something , get rewards.
They all follow the same gameplay but with different graphics,
In recent weeks i have seen a lot of left 4 dead look a likes , satisfactory look a likes and valheim type games.
This leads me to ask the question as shown in the tread title ... are games companies running out of ideas.

It is very rare that you see a game and think ..... hey thats a one off theirs nothing else around that looks like that.

I would certainly like to find something original as i am fed up looking at games and thinking ..... that looks like xyz but with different graphics

 

[neogunhero]

I agree game companies are running out of ideas and a lot of games aren’t very unique or original overall. Every now and then you get something fresh and new, for me the most recent example is Balatro, but most of the times it’s just a different spin on an already existing formula.

However your example of look-a-likes isn’t what I’d classify as companies running out of ideas. Those are typically clones trying to capture the success and hype of more popular games, or even the hype around a certain genre. An example of this is the flood of cozy farm sims, which may have different features between them all, but the basis of each game is nearly identical.

Games are so similar to each other because unfortunately it’s been proven the larger gaming audience in general typically buys games that are going to be familiar to them. Shooters, open world exploration RPGs, sports games, they’re all very similar with not a whole lot of distinction between them all. Publishers and investors are getting more wary of funding original IPs regardless if the gameplay is similar to other popular games. This is why we see so many sequels to pre-exiting IPs instead of more fresh, unique ground-breaking games. People are more willing to buy the next Battlefield or Call of Duty rather than something that tries to break the mold those franchises are stuck in.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

To be fair its hard to make a 3D open world game that doesnt look like something that came before in some way. Theres a lot of smaller budget games that are unique in some way though, sometimes theyre really good, sometimes not. Just have to take a punt sometimes I think.

 

[DXCHASE]

This is why the indie market exists. Its a great way for original ideas of games to get out there. You might not be seeing them as much because a lot of that you have to search for yourself, even if i personally find most of them uninteresting, its still a great place for originality in 2024 i think.

However your example of look-a-likes isn’t what I’d classify as companies running out of ideas. Those are typically clones trying to capture the success and hype of more popular games

And this is the reason why bigger AAA companies seem to be "running out of ideas" to me too, its not that companies are running out of ideas per se, i think it comes down to "ideas that make money" rather than "great ideas".

Original concept/ideas tend to not make bigger AAA companies a lot of money. We see the same franchises and ones similar to them because they are so successful. They are their own games, but genres exist because theres huge markets in each of them.




Look at Ubisoft (AAA dev. whos probably doing bad atm because they cant seem to make an "original" concept take off) and look at the pricing on their new "insert Star Wars game name here" IP.

its Star Wars, so they believe its worth 70 for the base game, 100 for the base game and 1 dlc pack with 3 day early access, and that paying 130 (140 probably after taxes) USD is a good price for the game/its day-1 dlc and the battlepass. And theyll make their money too because if you attach that name to anything, its usually a safe bet.

Until the idea of star wars labeled stuff because not-profitable, youre going to keep seeing star wars games.

 

[Pifanjr]

I think there's plenty of original ideas still. Probably more than there ever were and being made by the same kind of people who used to make the great original games of the past. Which means small dev teams with limited resources, because I don't think triple A companies have ever been the leading innovators.

However, there are a lot more games nowadays, so it's a lot harder to hear about new, original games from unknown developers. Plus most gamers have a lot higher standards nowadays, so it's a lot harder to make a game successful even if you do have a good, innovative new idea.

 

[Johnway]

Tbh i don't think they are. Its just that game development is expensive and as a business the AAA(A) are moving towards a product strategy as opposed to new experiences. its easier/safer for them to just rehash the same thing that people would just eat up rather then diversify as much. Too often the changes are more money driven rather fun or an experience as its what they're after. Not surprisingly the game experience suffers and honestly, for most companies they;re more prepared to just suck the life out of the game, chasing trends then making the next best thing. Just look at the Battle Royale fad that all the publishers tried to make like some gold rush.

part of the problem (as josh hayes rightly mentions) we have more books and understanding how to make a casino disguised as a video game then we do with making a good, fun game that sells. in the past we have games that were critically acclaims and sold badly. Case in point: TTLG studios.

 

[Brian Boru]

Assume talking about publicly traded AAA studios. As most say above, not running out of ideas, but rather production resources, with big games taking years of dev and hundreds of millions. Executives in USA are obliged to maximize shareholder value, so they must follow the money.

Such executives will well know from sister entertainment industries—sport, TV, books, movies, music—that giving the market what it wants is the only sensible strategy. This of course applies to all mass markets.

Indies are the producers who can try new stuff, since there are very few depending on their success. With ~40 games per day releasing on Steam, and I'm guessing over 100/day if we include mobile, those of you who want diversity and innovation are so much better served than those of us who want proven quality. At least 95% of releases are in your area, 99% if you include mobile.

So don't worry about the less-than-1/day AA and AAA releases, revel in the cornucopia available in the innovative sector!

 

[Colif]

We need another market crash, too many in it just for profit, not about making fun enjoyable games.

its Star Wars, so they believe its worth 70 for the base game, 100 for the base game and 1 dlc pack with 3 day early access, and that paying 130 (140 probably after taxes) USD is a good price for the game/its day-1 dlc and the battlepass. And theyll make their money too because if you attach that name to anything, its usually a safe bet.

that or its a push to make people buy the 4th choice, a subscription to their gaming service so you constantly paying for access to their files, that in a few years will be deleted off their servers and out of your game directory. You don't own games, you rent them until they remove them from service. Digital only means you don't own anything really. You didn't know you bought an NFT but it sure looks like one from the outside. As valuable as one as well. SO glad Steam doesn't work that way

Movie tie in games ... have people forgotten the past? Guess they weren't there... they aren't a sign of quality, they just the first example of riding success of someone else. ET wasn't the only bad one... Shadows of The Empire wasn't amazing either. Superman 64 comes to mind as well.

Trying to use Star Wars for profit is Disney's game. Using it as a skin suit for modern stories is ruining it but oh well, everyone else is doing it. Latest Tomb raider won't raid any tombs... thats one way to subvert expectations I guess, or ruin franchise... or get clicks... Using the name of something and not being anything like the original is how you sell products now... almost everything does it. Bait and switch. Shame its also how you completely lose an audience. You can only do it so many times before people won't believe you.

killing the golden goose, People will stop buying sequels if they have to guess if its actually like the game they played before. I don't buy anything without seeing video reviews for it. That extends outside of games and can be difficult if no one reviews the thing.

 

[Zloth]

How original does it have to be to be original? You can boil things down to the point where everything seems pretty much the same. The game teaches you how to play it, then you play it for some amount of time, then you win. If you run into trouble, just re-load, so winning is inevitable as long as you stick to the game. MANY games are going to fit that model!

Take board games. You place your markers on the board. Eventually, one of the players gets to a pattern that is winning, or there is a tie. That's tic-tac-toe. It's also Go. The tactics are massively different but, hey, if you boil it down enough....

There's a lot of stuff out there that seems mighty original to me. Hideo Kojima would sooner take up accounting than make a game that isn't highly original. Egosoft's X games are like nothing else I've ever seen. Marvel's Midnight Suns is just barely like a Persona game - but Persona games aren't even in the same genre. Wildermyth is very original.

 

[mjs warlord]

DXCHASE said ....And this is the reason why bigger AAA companies seem to be "running out of ideas" to me too, its not that companies are running out of ideas per se, i think it comes down to "ideas that make money" rather than "great ideas".
--------------------------------

A group of games writers could come up with a brilliant idea for a game ,,,,, something that has never been done before , but i guess they have to be realistic and ask themselves if it will appeal to the mass market..

Their is of course another reason why any good idea should go into production , they are not selling to the local shopping centre they are selling to the whole gaming world. I just looked at steams stats , at the moment their are 25 million online worldwide and it peeked at 32 million. I dont know the figures for other games interfaces such as GOG and Epic.

 

[Brian Boru]

We need another market crash, too many in it just for profit

Surely not, aren't the 95-99% of games made outside the public companies enough? Why wish to ruin the other few?

Lack of innovation is not the problem, ideas are a dime a dozen in most pursuits. Picking the one in a hundred worth pursuing is the big skill, and great execution is the other main requirement for getting something desirable into consumers' hands.

any good idea should go into production … they are selling to the whole gaming world

So are the other 40/100 games released on the same day. The major marketing problem is discoverability—there's a big chance your game will sink without trace under the hundreds of others per week.

Indies can try that anyway—no big loss if it disappears, only one or a few suffer. A big company can't afford that, especially say an AA—the dev and pub costs could take the company down if it flops.

 

[mjs warlord]

Hi Brian .. As i have mentioned before i helped an indie guy debug a game called crystal rift it is an old fashioned dungeon crawler , it was full of bugs , most of the coloured crystals you needed to open doors or leave a level were in the wrong place. We exchanged many emails and i found the final bug on the last door so to make sure it was now bug free i did a complete run of the game right to the end.

Despite reporting what i had done on the games steam discussion page their were loads of players saying it was riddled with bugs and unplayable which was odd because i debugged and completed it. Their were so many negative comments about it that it must have effected his sales which is a shame really because at that time it was one of the best indie games of its type

 

[Zimbaly]

I feel that way sometimes, but not about the similarities of games. That's been how it is since I can remember for games, but all these remakes and remasters. That makes me feel like the idea well has run dry for some people.

 

[Brian Boru]

all these remakes and remasters

Correlation is not causation Iow making those does not imply there are no ideas around at the same time. It may be a big company subcontracting a likely money maker while their core studios work on new stuff, or a smaller studio trying to raise the cash to develop their next idea.

Or it could be as you say, and company has to keep devs ticking over while they decide which new ideas to get behind.

 

[Colif]

Perhaps I want less companies that want to make the next game like fifa where you constantly paying to play, and just more companies who want to make fun games. The number who are in first category and are AAA outnumber the ones who are AAA in second category...

Perhaps I should keep staying away of AAA as most games I play aren't from big companies, but they can't really be called indie either. AA maybe? Bigger you get the more the first type of company you become. Money & power corrupts.

Plenty of ideas out there but they all seem to want to make the one that makes the most money, not the ones that are most fun to play. If the idea is good enough it can achieve both

 

[ZedClampet]

I know that you could argue that a lot of games look like each other and a typical example of this is is their are loads of ... go on a quest , kill something , get rewards.
They all follow the same gameplay but with different graphics,
In recent weeks i have seen a lot of left 4 dead look a likes , satisfactory look a likes and valheim type games.
This leads me to ask the question as shown in the tread title ... are games companies running out of ideas.

It is very rare that you see a game and think ..... hey thats a one off theirs nothing else around that looks like that.

I would certainly like to find something original as i am fed up looking at games and thinking ..... that looks like xyz but with different graphics

There has never been a time with more variety. Look to indie games for creativity.

 

[Colif]

Zed been making me hungry all day

 

[BeardyHat]

There has never been a time with more variety. Look to indie games for creativity.

/thread

 

[Brian Boru]

/thread

Not so, thread is about companies, not indies

 

[ZedClampet]

Not so, thread is about companies, not indies

A company is just a commercial business. Most indies would qualify as companies. Not the guy working out of his basement, sure, but most of the indies we've come to know and love are legal entities with employees, benefits, etc. But even the guy in his basement could start a limited liability company if he wanted to.

Were you maybe thinking about "corporations"?

 

[Brian Boru]

Were you maybe thinking about "corporations"?

No, I was thinking of OP. But of course it can be interpreted your way too

 

[ZedClampet]

No, I was thinking of OP. But of course it can be interpreted your way too

I was thinking of OP as well since he mentions 2 indies in Satisfactory and Valheim. But I suppose there could be multiple interpretations.

 

[Brian Boru]

he mentions 2 indies in Satisfactory and Valheim

Yeah, interpretation is the thing

I wouldn't regard Coffee Stain > THQ > Embracer as indie, I see them more like eg Ubisoft Shanghai or any other studio of a larger entity—but I won't argue the point either.

 

[ZedClampet]

Yeah, interpretation is the thing

I wouldn't regard Coffee Stain > THQ > Embracer as indie, I see them more like eg Ubisoft Shanghai or any other studio of a larger entity—but I won't argue the point either.

They were indie when they made Satisfactory and Goat Simulator, but sold themselves right before launching Satisfactory. But it doesn't matter whether Coffee Stain is an indie. Indies are companies is the whole point here. He said companies and indie studios are companies. But whatever. I need another break.

 

[gibbs45]

I agree game companies are running out of ideas and a lot of games aren’t very unique or original overall. Every now and then you get something fresh and new, for me the most recent example is Balatro, but most of the times it’s just a different spin on an already existing formula.

However your example of look-a-likes isn’t what I’d classify as companies running out of ideas. Those are typically clones trying to capture the success and hype of more popular games, or even the hype around a certain genre. An example of this is the flood of cozy farm sims, which may have different features between them all, but the basis of each game is nearly identical.

Games are so similar to each other because unfortunately it’s been proven the larger gaming audience in general typically buys games that are going to be familiar to them. Shooters, open world exploration RPGs, sports games, they’re all very similar with not a whole lot of distinction between them all. Publishers and investors are getting more wary of funding original IPs regardless if the gameplay is similar to other popular games. This is why we see so many sequels to pre-exiting IPs instead of more fresh, unique ground-breaking games. People are more willing to buy the next Battlefield or Call of Duty rather than something that tries to break the mold those franchises are stuck in.

I agree with you. Nowadays, it's not that easy to create something 100% new and unique.
Indeed, if creators see that one game is so popular, they create sequels/prequels, and they are sold fast, so it's a sign that there is no need to work on something new and take such a risk. It's better to stick to someone which is already on the top.