How Corporate Greed is Killing Your Favourite Video Games

Noxia said:
You know you're on thin ice when you have to preface a post addressing the mods lol.
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It’s not trolling.
It’s about someone making games posted in the gaming section of this forum.
It may be a disastrous idea, but we’ll see what him and his team come up with.
If no one tried anything new, then we’d be stuck with some of the slop we’ve got now.
 
But I thought the purpose of generative AI in things like programming and legal services was that it can quickly produce routine work, surely that brings down the cost of programming computer games and leaves more cash for developing the higher order features. More human effort shaping the outcome whilst AI does more of the lower value work? Not even Musk is suggesting AI will write the entire game is he?
 
PlacidCasual said:
But I thought the purpose of generative AI in things like programming and legal services was that it can quickly produce routine work, surely that brings down the cost of programming computer games and leaves more cash for developing the higher order features. More human effort shaping the outcome whilst AI does more of the lower value work? Not even Musk is suggesting AI will write the entire game is he?
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I thought we were still a way off it being able to do that, though there is no mention of when we'll see their first title. @mid_gen has experience here so maybe he can shed a bit more light on it.
 
Ayahuasca said:
I thought we were still a way off it being able to do that, though there is no mention of when we'll see their first title. @mid_gen has experience here so maybe he can shed a bit more light on it.
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There are or will very shortly be plenty of 'AI Slop' games starting to appear, various tools for 3d models, audio, animation, etc are proliferating. Start with an FPS template and just AI slop generate a load of assets and throw it at storefronts and hope a few suckers buy it, that will be a entirely viable business in the very near future.

AI will not compete with a good human developer at the critical stuff though. Ultimately game development is about using a controller and a display and making the player feel something emotionally, which is something human designers and teams are uniquely positioned to do. Things like the 'feel' of a shooter, the weight of the character, the way the animations and timings fit together, that'll all need the human touch and the best practitioners will stand out above the slop.
 
The most important thing to remember about so-called AI (which is nothing of the sort) is that it is just a collection of billions of previous ideas, averaged out. As such it is by definition incapable of an original idea. Which is the main thing that games are missing. I agree with mid-gen above: look forward to hundreds of lookalike games pushed out for minimal cost and with no testing, for mugs to buy.
 
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the thing is, movies do need to be remade some times, as the tech has come a long way that plenty of movies could benefit from a new version for a new generation to enjoy. the issue is if it's too soon, or of a really succesful movie that really doesn't need it. LOTR movies would be a perfect example of movies we don't need a remake of, but in 30 year? maybe.

the same applies to games. there are great games i'd love to play, morrowwind springs to mind, that i'd want a remake of. but what i want is a full remake, none of this remaster/HD quality stuff. i don't see the harm of having a 2028 morrowwind, that game is old enough that it would almost be a totally new game

i guess there are some genres/series of games it works well with, elderscrolls being a good example as each game is it's own unique story with it's own main character of unlimited amount.

witcher however i guess i'd rather just get witcher 4 over a remake of 1
 
Meridian said:
The most important thing to remember about so-called AI (which is nothing of the sort) is that it is just a collection of billions of previous ideas, averaged out. As such it is by definition incapable of an original idea. Which is the main thing that games are missing. I agree with mid-gen above: look forward to hundreds of lookalike games pushed out for minimal cost and with no testing, for mugs to buy.
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we already kinda have that with a lot of games using the same game engine.

AI in development will do nothing for games but save costs and make shareholders more money.
it won't improve the end product


The "AI" tools or the people using them might not even be aware of context and make mistakes like in one of the GTA remasters when it changed a dough-nut, "nut" sign into a smooth circle instead of a nut like what goes onto a bolt...
 
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Regulation needs to do something about this. Not just gaming, but all business. There are so many companies now that are just failing to provide good products/services because they are driven by profit. How you would regulate this is beyond me.
 
SpellowHouse said:
There are so many companies now that are just failing to provide good products/services because they are driven by profit.
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Er... that's how capitalism works? Beethoven was driven by profit, as was Michaelangelo. What is happening now is that the cost of making games is increasing much faster than fans will allow game prices to rise, so game studios are getting increasingly risk-averse as they need to cover those rising costs. As are film studios.
 
Meridian said:
Er... that's how capitalism works? Beethoven was driven by profit, as was Michaelangelo. What is happening now is that the cost of making games is increasing much faster than fans will allow game prices to rise, so game studios are getting increasingly risk-averse as they need to cover those rising costs. As are film studios.
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Not so long ago companies were driven by the product first and profit second. Some prime examples are BOEING and intel. Two companies wrecked by putting CEO's in charge who were not engineers. People who are entirely driven by profit are great for short term but really bad for the long term. Investors just don't seem to care any more. They just shift their money out when they trash a company. It's hit and run. There are just so many examples, these days, of companies and services being destroyed by investors that just don't care about the long term. It seems to be the same for the gaming industry.
 
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Well, ultimately this bust cycle has driven me away from the games industry. Not a decision I've taken lightly as it was a dream of mine. 12 years I've been in the industry though, and it can be pretty soul destroying. I got ONE game credit to my name in that time, although I've worked on five projects....due to them either being cancelled, or just AAA projects stuck in development hell never getting any closer to release. Actually shipping a game and seeing people enjoy it is the real payback, and it doesn't happen very often these days.

I'm sure I could get another job in games, turned down some interviews, but I've got an opportunity back in FinTech that's paying really well and using all the latest AI tools, which the games industry is so behind the curve on. Salaries are dropping in the games industry at the moment with all the people on the market, and retirement isn't so far away that I can just suck it up anymore.

My plan now is to make bank in this finance job for a couple years at the same time as building my game prototypes out using all these AI tools and then just go back to games with my own studio and not deal with any AAA nonsense. IT was already eminently possible for a solo developer to build games with Unreal etc, but the AI tools available now make it much more viable, as they can do all the donkey work stuff that would consume loads of time you want to be concentrating on the core gameplay.
 
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mid_gen said:
Well, ultimately this bust cycle has driven me away from the games industry. Not a decision I've taken lightly as it was a dream of mine. 12 years I've been in the industry though, and it can be pretty soul destroying. I got ONE game credit to my name in that time, although I've worked on five projects....due to them either being cancelled, or just AAA projects stuck in development hell never getting any closer to release. Actually shipping a game and seeing people enjoy it is the real payback, and it doesn't happen very often these days.

I'm sure I could get another job in games, turned down some interviews, but I've got an opportunity back in FinTech that's paying really well and using all the latest AI tools, which the games industry is so behind the curve on. Salaries are dropping in the games industry at the moment with all the people on the market, and retirement isn't so far away that I can just suck it up anymore.

My plan now is to make bank in this finance job for a couple years at the same time as building my game prototypes out using all these AI tools and then just go back to games with my own studio and not deal with any AAA nonsense. IT was already eminently possible for a solo developer to build games with Unreal etc, but the AI tools available now make it much more viable, as they can do all the donkey work stuff that would consume loads of time you want to be concentrating on the core gameplay.
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Needs must mate, I think the games industry is undergoing a real epiphany at the moment with companies looking to cut costs and that usually means staff. The number of cancelled games and projects recently have been huge. And hugely concerning. Even Marathon from Bungie is getting absolutely slated.
 
What's people's thoughts on Early Release stuff on Steam? I get the concept and the benefits for both developers and gamers, but sometimes I do feel like some games are taking the proverbial and released far too early and then updates take an age, if at all.
 
ninjag said:
What's people's thoughts on Early Release stuff on Steam? I get the concept and the benefits for both developers and gamers, but sometimes I do feel like some games are taking the proverbial and released far too early and then updates take an age, if at all.
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I won't touch it. I think Early Release destroys a game. You get to play a partially complete game and when it finally releases you are too bored of it to play it any more.
 
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