The logical endpoint of prioritizing short-term profits over long-term anything

In recent times, triple-A publishers have repeatedly had their lunch eaten — at least, in terms of mindshare — by more creatively nimble indies. Lethal Companywas last holiday season’s breakout hit, andPalworld followed not long after. Balatroand Manor Lords have come out of nowhere to tear up the Steam charts, as have mind-bogglingly fast riffs on this new paradigm like the Lethal Company-inspired Content Warning. Helldivers 2 is both the exception that proves the rule and an example of exactly why big publishers should let studios cook even in the face of only modest success (or failure!). WithoutHelldivers 1, a relative unknown, you don’t get Helldivers 2, the biggest breakout hit of the year. Recent triple-A darlings like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring come from similar lineages.

Yes, it’s a slow year for triple-A publishers, but that’s what happens when you spend years quietly canceling projects that you’re worried *might *not achieve such a spectacular liftoff as to take over the entire universe. Eventually, it catches up with you. And years from now — already a record year for layoffs — it’s gonna catch up with the video game industry again.

  • MudMan
    12•2 months ago

    Ok, there is a real lesson here:

    In recent times, triple-A publishers have repeatedly had their lunch eaten — at least, in terms of mindshare — by more creatively nimble indies

    And that lesson is that online-obsessed, industry-focused journalists and fans have a super skewed view of the industry.

    Don’t get me wrong, all these layoffs suck and I agree with the sentiment that a longer term strategy for investing in games where you snowball up from small, successful ideas, is probably a better way to do things than trying to constantly chase the billion dollar game right away… but the “mindshare” argument is very skewed and the examples are cherry picked at best, tortured or outright incorrect at worst (Baldur’s Gate 3 and Elden Ring “come from similar lineages”? Seriously?).

    I think it’s time we take a deep breath and decide what we mean by “triple A”. If Grayson wants to argue that triple A is “American conglomerates spending a lot of money in games with some degree of games-as-service design meant to make billions” then maybe we need a new term for all the other games with nine digit budgets.