Has your trust in AAA publishers diminished ?

[SBan83]

@SBan83 you're forgetting that the FIFA Lootboxes is still prevalent (and i guess throw in 2K NBA's MTX) and then there was that fiasco with the WWE 2020 game. Then there was the Ubisoft sexual harassment incident. Oh and on the subject of ubisoft how Ghost recon Breakpoint suffering less then stellar sales. and watch dog legions being a bit naff. Throw in some issues concerning next gen versions like with control and a couple others (although that might be partly gamer entitlement i didn't follow it too deeply) and trying to justify selling games at £70 despite making record profits in the millions. I think the AAA has a long way to go and shouldn't be let off the hook so easily.

Sports games are definitely the biggest scams of them all by their very nature, unfortunately. Players simply have to own the latest game whether they want to or not and it's true, AAA makers definitely take full advantage of this. I agree with your points and will also add how EA basically released on the Nintendo Switch last year's FIFA game 'as is' this year with no changes yet charged full price, making IGN copy-paste last year's review as a tongue-in-cheek response but with a score like 2 or something. True, this genre is a glaring example of the brazen tactics employed by AAA publishers still.

Control sold poorly on PC and last-gen consoles so I guess the shareholders see the next-gen console versions as a way to recoup those losses a bit and that's why they're not offering a free upgrade. I can't approve but it's what it is when you play on consoles, which have always been loss-leaders for later gouging via software.

 

[Brian Boru]

companies … preferring to opt for the generic tried and tested solution which is baffling. They have the money to experiment

Problem is, the company isn't a person who can do what you wish. There are a bunch of guys whose careers rise or fall on the success of whatever project they're backing. It's not their money, it's the shareholders—who won't be shy about demanding resignations for a brave experiment gone wrong.

when did gamers ask for a new genre game like ARPG like diablo or Dark souls style game?

Indeed, companies can come up with a new genre or approach—it happens from time to time, but it's not often.

you can't really trust any business … They're in it for the money and NEVER have the customer's interests at heart and we should never put loyalty/full trust in return

Imo that's too broad. Jeff Bezos is known for making his execs' lives difficult because he always champions the customers' interests. Part of the significant business practices changes across many industries in the 80s & 90s were totally customer focused. Steam & GOG do a bang-up job for gamers. Etc.

Of course these things wax & wane, and once a company reaches a certain size, money becomes the overriding concern for it to keep going. Those changes I mentioned were of course expected to impact the bottom line eventually, or at least stave off closure—they were in large part spurred by Japan taking the electronics industry, and then making relentless headway in the car industry.

Of course I agree to never put full trust in the sense of pre-ordering or buying on launch day. No company deserves that, but may have earned our eager anticipation of their next product which we'll buy if it proves up to their usual standard.

 

[Zloth]

Sports games are definitely the biggest scams of them all by their very nature, unfortunately. Players simply have to own the latest game whether they want to or not...

Eh? Sports games have been putting out nearly-the-same games for a couple of decades now but this is the first I've heard about players not having a choice. Why can't they just keep playing an older version of the game?

 

[SBan83]

Eh? Sports games have been putting out nearly-the-same games for a couple of decades now but this is the first I've heard about players not having a choice. Why can't they just keep playing an older version of the game?

If all your friends that you play with are on the latest version, you're kind of forced to. Everyone I know in office who plays FIFA upgraded to FIFA 21 almost immediately for this reason only -- to be able to keep playing with their friends.

 

[Zloth]

Conversely, if your friends don't buy the game, you're just as forced to stay on the same version.

 

[SBan83]

Conversely, if your friends don't buy the game, you're just as forced to stay on the same version.

Those among my friends and colleagues who play FIFA regularly pretty much play no other game, so for them, it's an easy decision to buy the yearly full-priced rehash.

 

[Pifanjr]

FIFA has changed a lot since 1998 though. It's probably one of the most static series, but not every version is just a rehash with slightly better graphics.

 

[ceaRshaf]

Very much so. I remember 5 years ago I had a discussion with a friend that said to me that even Blizzard can fail, and I said YES, but in order to really fail it needs to do A LOT of bad moves. Boy oh boy...looking at Blizzard right now...

I regret seeing them fall like that like no other company I adored when I was a child. It's like the corruption of a great superhero.