Do you think AAA studios should calm down with their pursuit of visual showcase and high production value?

[Kaivan]

We've seen it all from the previous decade or so. Every time there's a game delay announcement, it usually came from a big AAA studio. From my observation, there's an obvious silver lining. They're all going for the same pursuit: visual showcase and high production value. These include, but not limited to, graphics (textures, polygons, etc), animation, sound, and the scope of the game. The standard is so high while the devs have so limited time, and the result is the same: delays and/or crunches.

Thus, do we really need AAA games to keep hitting the limit? Why not step back for a bit and maximize the potential of current technologies and best practices instead of just pursuing the unknown?

This doesn't mean to limit the creativity of the devs. Instead of clogging the resources to production value and cutting edge technology, the devs can explore the other parts of the game that were not possible before. The visuals from current gen techs are impressive already, why not try to maximize that instead? For example, they can improve on much better LOD, less pop-ins, faster load times, and consistent framerates, new mechanics, and more creative stuff. Just imagine how fast and efficient would it take to develop new games that way. AAA studios may be able to produce more than just 1 game within a generation.

The current trend of AAA development is simply not sustainable.

 

[Lite_Agent]

Should they? Absolutely.

Will they? Nope. Never.

 

[Yuntu]

Short answer is yes from me. Games look great as is and them pushing it further and further is what leads to people expecting more and more visual flair which in return again leads to them pushing further and so on.

 

[PucePikmin]

Yes. I think more devs should take the Nintendo approach and focus on unique art direction rather than bleeding edge tech.

 

[modiz]

people here would say that they should, the problem is that they will also complain when the games come out if those studios will do that.

 

[Zalman]

Absolutely.

 

[Thiago]

people here would say that they should, the problem is that they will also complain when the games come out if those studios will do that.

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This.

 

[Mik2121]

Every time a AAA title hits the limit, it will be better reviewed and people will compare other AAA titles to that one, therefore making sure the pursuit of visual showcase will "never" stop. So yeah, maybe once we reach a point where you can't tell the difference between games released in the prior 10 or so years, but for now, no.

Should they, though? Yes, to a point. It's extremely taxing for many companies that don't know how to handle it and just stress their employees to make them create stuff at a similar quality than things done by larger teams with larger budgets, prior knowledge, etc.

 

[Chivalry]

Someone should do it, and only they have the resources. But I wish at least some of them pursued interactivity instead. I'm tired of only being able to interact with worlds by killing things.

 

[Nightengale]

people here would say that they should, the problem is that they will also complain when the games come out if those studios will do that.

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modiz got it right.

Also, competition exist. One company choosing to not pursue it, while everyone else does will result in that one company being punished by consumers and critics in sales. They won't be praised for it.

 

[Dekuman]

People will always demand visual spectacles. During the 8bit and 16bit, computer and console era , Cinemaware was the leader In this field. There's actually a few really good docs (I believe one by Kim Justice) on their work and their rise and fall

That said outside of nostalgia value games that look really good with no intrinsic value tend to not age well and fall off quickly , also a problem with Cinemaware games

Not saying I don't like good looking games, but games can look quite good using relatively modest hardware these days. The pursuit for 4K quality textures, models and high res gaming in general feels unecessary and wasteful

 

[Lant_War]

I could be wrong about this, but doesn't RayTracing give a massive visual boost effectively for "free" compared to having to manually fake all of the lighting with smoke and mirrors?

But yes, I'd like more AAA games to tackle many more artstyles.

 

[Łazy]

Huh... I expected to be in a huge minority thinking yes. I'm surprised.

 

[Deleted member 49535]

A good art style is most of the time good enough.

 

[DNAbro]

Uncharted 4 was not a great game and the super high end graphics didn't help make the game too much better. FFXIV looks a lot worse than FFXV most of the time but it can still wow me and the game is better that they can create so much content than trying to be technically high end.

 

[Dezzy]

Yes because at least for me, many of them aren't actually fun or engaging to play.

 

[Vimto]

Of course not. Hit the limit and go beyond.

God of War absolutely blew me away, what a revolutionary title.

That's the kind of production everyone should aim for.

 

[Asbsand]

Absolutely. It's been actively hindering the amount of effort put into systems design and gameplay for a decade now.

 

[Majukun]

YES

 

[John Omaha]

Absolutely. The "Oh my fucking God! Graphics!" approach is directly responsible for the homogenization and lack of innovation in the AA - AAA space.

 

[Fisty]

I dont think they necessarily need to, but they probably shouldn't announce a release date until the game goes gold and more time should be given in general. Theres no reason a game needs to rush from gold to shelves, so just get the damn thing gold and then start marketing for a few months before releasing it. It'll give them a bit more fluidity so there isnt this looming deadline that millions of people are waiting for

 

[texhnolyze]

Absolutely.

modiz got it right.

Also, competition exist. One company choosing to not pursue it, while everyone else does will result in that one company being punished by consumers and critics in sales. They won't be praised for it.

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Nintendo games proved otherwise, with BOTW as the latest example. It was praised through the roof and received many awards and recognition.

It's not all about cutting edge visuals. Artstyle and mechanics matter too.

 

[Nekyrrev]

Absolutely not. But I think they should do it well, yes.

 

[Windu]

No. There should be games that always try to push the envelope.

 

[Vonbon]

I think there's a little more to it than a simple do or don't type decision. These are creative people who are trying to one-up or match the quality of their previous works. A lot of the time the demos or reveal renders made are a target of what they think they can reasonably achieve with the talent they have at the studio, right?

 

[Squid Bunny]

 

[Dark Knight]

Would be nice, but it's honestly a visual arms race of sorts at this point for the AAA studios to stay viable. The trends of what sells in that realm definitely gear towards impressive graphics.

 

[Transistor]

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100% the soundbite that entered my head when I read the title.

 

[Deleted member 36708]

Should they? Absolutely.

Will they? Nope. Never.

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.

 

[Nightengale]

Nintendo games proved otherwise, with BOTW as the latest example. It was praised through the roof and received many awards and recognition.

It's not all about cutting edge visuals. Artstyle and mechanics matter too.

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There are always exceptions; and Nintendo has historically always been able to be one of those who held their fort in that aspect.

There are not many examples of others.

 

[adinsx]

Why should they do that? Showing new tech and possibilities is one of the good thing of AAA.

 

[jviggy43]

Not even a question for me. It would make things so much more sustaintable and healthy for the industry and the employees.

 

[Pharaoh]

No. But they should approach it differently.

 

[Deleted member 18161]

It's a graphical arms race between Sony and MS. Neither will back down anytime soon...

 

[Deleted member 8593]

The AAA space is what it is because the people buying these games want all the eye candy they can get. As much as I'd want that, you're basically asking AAA devs to stop making AAA games.

 

[Majukun]

modiz got it right.

Also, competition exist. One company choosing to not pursue it, while everyone else does will result in that one company being punished by consumers and critics in sales. They won't be praised for it.

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i think it depends what you substitute the production values with.

basically where else the money you save on those goes.

 

[toy_brain]

Should they? Absolutely.

Will they? Nope. Never.

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Oh look, first post nails it yet again.

 

[BubblegumNemesis]

TBH most of the games I play are not AAA. Most AAA games are, IMHO, just Michael Bay movies nowadays.

 

[texhnolyze]

There are always exceptions; and Nintendo has historically always been able to be one of those who held their fort in that aspect.

There are not many examples of others.

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There are.

From the previous 3 years alone, we've had multiple indie games that received multiple awards and scored pretty high on meta/opencritic. Inside, Kentucky Route Zero, Divinity Original Sin 2, Shovel Knight, Hollow Knight, Into the Breach, Undertale, Celeste, Disco Elysium, and more that I may have missed. They all had 90+ metacritic scores.

Now, imagine what AAA studios can achieve with their resources if they went for creativity route instead.

 

[Voyevoda]

Yes and no, for me.

I love that studios like Naughty Dog are always trying to push the boundaries of visual fidelity. But I also don't want each and every AAA studio to focus primarely/solely on that aspect.

Basically, I would some studios to focus on graphics and high production value, and others on gameplay/systems and content (not that one and the other are incompatible). Variety is always better, but I get that AAA development is expensive and that pretty graphics are attractive.

 

[Com_Raven]

people here would say that they should, the problem is that they will also complain when the games come out if those studios will do that.

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Amen. Think about how mercilessly any graphical glitch in an AAA game is dragged across social media for years, often being one of the top google results for the games etc.

 

[Servbot24]

I think each studio should make whatever game it wants to make.

The idea that high production values are a universal ideal should be quelled though. The "let's aim for this because it seems like the thing that everyone is aiming for" is never a good place to start from.

 

[Kinthey]

We've seen it all from the previous decade or so. Every time there's a game delay announcement, it usually came from a big AAA studio.

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I think that's more related to AAA productions having to determine a release date earlier than smaller productions because of pre-orders, physical release etc.
An indie game getting delayed also doesn't really hit the news cycle.

 

[Future Gazer]

No. Keep raising the bar.

 

[Damn Silly]

100% the soundbite that entered my head when I read the title.

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Same.

And yeah, I do. Aside from other reasons, for the most part, being on the cutting edge visually is great...for that moment. But the ones that have stood the test of time are always more stylised.

I realise that it would an incredibly difficult argument to make to convince studios to stop now however.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Yes. I think more devs should take the Nintendo approach and focus on unique art direction rather than bleeding edge tech.

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You think Nintendo's devs aren't crunching?

 

[CountAntonio]

After the mixed reception for Valorant for having a clean visual aesthetic for competitive play it's obvious AAA studios know what their audience wants.

 

[Nekyrrev]

Btw, not chasing insanely high production values and not wanting to create a visual showcase will not automatically delete crunch. When you make a game, and when you want to make it as good as possible, chances are you will be in a big rush at some point during its development.
Game development is not an exact science and there will always be unforeseen problems, especially if you try new creative things. Even if you don't create a big realistic looking open-world.

Game developers and game development studios should absolutely aim for the less crunch possible and work towards that goal, but it's just not as simple as what that thread implies.

 

[Jakisthe]

Of course not; bizarre question. Why people cheer for stagnation is beyond me.

 

[Pryme]

Consumers are often the ones driving this push for crazy visuals and content.
See how much flak Respawn kept getting even here for slow addition of content in Apex legends.