The devs say Returnal is AAA so I believe them.
And yeah, this.
A Sony First Party game can't by definition be indie. That's ridiculous.
And yeah, this.
A Sony First Party game can't by definition be indie. That's ridiculous.
In a press release today, Kuittinen revealed that Housemarque will be moving to AAA development and is currently working on an unannounced IP. The studio is nearing a total of 70 members and it is continuing to staff up for the project.
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"We started working on new, more ambitious concepts, but of course we had some challenges to face there as well," Kuittinen says. "It took time to convince ourselves that we could be up to the task of developing a much bigger game than we have done in the past, as we were only around 50-people strong, working on two projects simultaneously. We knew this wasn't enough people to create a AAA game, so we dug in and took the plunge. We started working on new, creative concepts to present to potential partners and eventually, we landed a great opportunity to start working on pre-production for a new, unannounced AAA IP last year.
"At the same time, we truly started to rethink our company culture. What is really needed to build up AAA game development capabilities, and how should we approach our overall development process and the future of the company."
The price jump happened this year so not many examples. Do you genuinely think Returnal will sell millions heck 100 of thousands more if it was less by 10-20€? I'm talking life time sales. Because Returnal will get price cuts and will sell at lower price points to people who want it at the lower prices.Which games had a 80€ suggested retail price and sold for it? None in the last decade. Even MHR is down to below 50€ currently.
This should be put in the OP lolMore than 40% voted on AA...
It's AAA.
Housemarque goes AAA with new project
"The era, the ten-plus years that we've been mostly working on smaller, downloadable, arcade-inspired console games has…www.gamesindustry.biz
Does it have the same budget as something like TLOU, GOW or Horizon? Most certainly not. But that doesn't make it AA.
As the devs already said, it's an AAA game.I feel like every thread I go to someone calls this game something different. I've heard it referred to as an indie due to housemarques reputation of creating smaller titles and being a relatively smaller studio.
I've heard people call it triple AAA because it looks like sony is throwing a lot of money behind it.
I've heard people say it's AA because it doesn't quite look like Sony's other big polished AAA games.
Which is it?
Sony pushed them? We can see it doesn't look AAA? Really? Have you played it? Have reviews said that? Again, I'll stick with what they say until I can play for myself. The studio said AAA. So that.They said that cause Sony pushed them and fixed the price at 70$, but we can see with our own eyes that the game doesn't look like a next-gen only AAA game should look, also the team is not as big as other studios which make AAA titles
Hard to make a case of anything being indie when it's bankrolled by Sony, is made not only by Housemarque but has XDev and other studios (like Climax at the very least) behind it. And the developers themselves refer to it as AAA, but obviously everyone is entitled to an opinion since the whole AA/AAA feels like nonsense and everyone defines it differently.
That's why I always tell my wife after we go out for dinner, "Hope you enjoyed that AAA meal!"
Not sure about the budget. From the gameplay and marketing seems to be on higher end of AA similar to hades.
I'm not sure many devs trying to talk up their game would actually refer to AA, so I'd say them saying "it's AAA" probably doesn't mean much when PR is so important.
Why is this game in particular generating so much conversation about its price, budget, and anticipated quality?
The fact that these things keep coming up in every single discussion about Returnal makes me think that something is deficient in the game's marketing
Misplaced pre-conceptions about roguelites being of lesser quality and Housemarque being historically known for indie games, as if they're suddenly boxed into that and can't go into AAA production or something.Why is this game in particular generating so much conversation about its price, budget, and anticipated quality?
The fact that these things keep coming up in every single discussion about Returnal makes me think that something is deficient in the game's marketing
To me, this definition is the essence of what "AA" used to mean.It's an indie AAA title, a rare and charming thing. Even though roguelikes aren't really appealing to me, I can definitely appreciate the combination of AAA production values and indie adherence to a non-conventional vision that make the game such a breath of fresh air in this industry. After all, what has come to define AAA as much as the budget for me is that the games are invariably safe in the concept. Sure, something like TLoU2 took a lot of narrative risks but the gameplay is refinement on an established, successful set of mechanics. So I look to independent developers to give me something a little less conventional, a little more experimental, or to revive genres the mainstream seems to have moved past.
Oh it's absolutely an attempt to justify the price, at least partially.I'm not saying it categorically isn't a AAA game (however you classify that) but this can't be overstated. If your publisher is pricing it at €80. As a dev you're either telling people it's AAA or saying it's overpriced. It's PR.
It's an indie AAA title, a rare and charming thing. Even though roguelikes aren't really appealing to me, I can definitely appreciate the combination of AAA production values and indie adherence to a non-conventional vision that make the game such a breath of fresh air in this industry. After all, what has come to define AAA as much as the budget for me is that the games are invariably safe in the concept. Sure, something like TLoU2 took a lot of narrative risks but the gameplay is refinement on an established, successful set of mechanics. So I look to independent developers to give me something a little less conventional, a little more experimental, or to revive genres the mainstream seems to have moved past.
This was never a question for me, i empathize with that 100% I also understand we are in a global pandemic so if people choose to be more frugal and decide ot hold off on buying new these days I completely get it.
What I don't get is someone saying the game should be 30-40 because it's a roguelike or it doesn't look as pretty as GoT,GoW,TLOU. Like it's not really up for you to determine that (not you).
I find that "should be a certain price," is almost always a more basic way of saying "I think this would sell better if it were a certain price." In the case of Returnal, I think that's probably true; the game really does feel like it's not going to end up making the big splash it really needs to. It's unfortunate, really just for the developers but, well, that's on Sony's back if it does happen.
Supergiant Games has like 20 people.
Housemarque had more than 70 when they were starting the project, plus help from Sony (like XDev).
Not even remotely the same.
What? Control is definitely a AAA, it looked great when it released and especially on PC it was one of the first titles showing RTX, it's also deeper than Returnal gameplay wise. And i'm confident it was a full price game when it released 2 years ago, of course the new version with PS5 box is not full price being an older game
This never stopped piles of shit $60 games from 50-100 man teams from releasing over the past 2-3 console generations. I'm sure we can go back to the PS360, Wii era, PS4, XBO, Wii U era and find more than a handful.