Are "triple A" games dead?

[Warmsignal]

Maybe a bit dramatic to say, but maybe not.

I'm still unwilling to jump on the bandwagon of those bashing the PS5 as having no purpose to exist. Some like myself, certainly appreciate the spec upgrade compared to the PS4... the problem is, and I'm sure you're aware, what are developers doing with it? Hardly anything. Because it's starting to feel like triple a game's are dead. They barely come out anymore, and when they do, they're broken and completely burn all enthusiasm on day one.

Even putting that issue aside, it's like the triple a scene never recovered from the pandemic. The attempts made are very few, and far between now. I guess the last $70 game to drop was Final Fantasy, fair enough it wasn't that long ago. But what came before that? I think there's been maybe two or three major releases this year that even caught my eye. Granted, it's difficult for me to recall any release that I just had zero interest in. But I think it was just Forespoken, that's about it for me this year. I don't think Atlas Fallen will be a $70 game. Indie games far, far outnumber larger project on PS5.

I dunno, it's weird. Last gen, it was like some major release was hitting shelves every month it seemed. 7th gen, the better part of retail games were all mostly consider major releases aside from the shovelware. Here we are ten years later, and major game releases are almost non-existent, and 9/10 of them bomb spectacularly.

[kamikazekeeg]

I think some of the output has been toned down abit, but there's plenty of AAA releases coming out on the regular.  Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Tears of the Kingdom (It's AAA, just not on the level of current gen releases) and Final Fantasy XVI are just ones I personally played this year.  God of War Ragnarok came out just the end of last year.  I know coming up we have Armored Core VI, Spider-Man 2, and Starfield (Which could very easily have a bad launch, we'll see) off the top of my head.  I think we have more flops or mishaps nowadays, but I have so many games to play from the biggest to smallest, I don't have the time for it all lol

[empovyle]

Whenever there's triple A games coming out, they always seem to drop in the same year/month all at once and then it feels like a drought of games until the next big releases. Ignoring remasters/remakes, this year has been pretty decent with Diablo, FF, Zelda and Street Fighter with more coming in the second half of the year like Starfield and Spider-Man. But... what's left for next year? Not looking like much so far. I wish these games were more evenly spread out throughout the year.

These obnoxiously long development cycles now seem to be the norm for the AAA industry. IMO, it's very hard to stay excited and interested in a game first announced 3-5+ years ago. Developers need to find a good balance between announcing their games too early in development and right before it comes out to hold interest. But I don't think the AAA industry is dying. I believe it's actually making more money and sales than ever before, but I haven't really researched that. That raises the question though, are the high sales because they're exceptionally good and fun, or just because there's nothing else to buy and play majority of the time?   

As far as the release day bugs go, yeah I agree, that is a huge annoying issue that keeps popping up over and over again. I don't know if it's apathy from the upper management, dev laziness, the project being severely rushed by the end stage, not enough budget, or a combination of all four at this point. The modern Pokemon games are the absolute worst example of this. Saints Row was pretty dreadful on release day too.   

[telekill]

They're not dead yet but the rate of their release has slowed to a crawl. Development times have increased dramatically with some games nearly missing the generation of systems they were originally announced for.

With few exceptions such as A Plague Tale 2, there is little to no reason to buy a PS5 for exclusive games. 95% of all PS5 releases, including the newer God of War are all on PS4. This makes PS5 the best PS4 Pro.

When it comes to AAA games on the way I'm interested in and that have been announced... Mass Effect 5, new Tomb Raider, Witcher 4, Final Fantasy 7 part 2, and Instinction. None of those games have solid release dates. Only FF7p2 has a window. Everything else may as well be vaporware. I'll be surprised if they even release on PS5 at this point.

Sony went from more than two decades as the place to game with an incredible lineup on and exclusive to each system to the PS5. A PS4 upgrade so near being irrelevant that the PS5 Pro is already rumored to be launching soon and we still don't have a justification for the original $500 purchase.

PS5 and the industry as a whole have taught me not to bother buying any game systems at launch ever again. The one saving grace of 2023 was Zelda. Everything else failed to earn my interest.

[Warmsignal]

I think some of the output has been toned down abit, but there's plenty of AAA releases coming out on the regular.  Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Tears of the Kingdom (It's AAA, just not on the level of current gen releases) and Final Fantasy XVI are just ones I personally played this year.  God of War Ragnarok came out just the end of last year.  I know coming up we have Armored Core VI, Spider-Man 2, and Starfield (Which could very easily have a bad launch, we'll see) off the top of my head.  I think we have more flops or mishaps nowadays, but I have so many games to play from the biggest to smallest, I don't have the time for it all lol

I forget about remakes, but I'm not a fan so I tend to overlook them. I guess the fall is usually the biggest time for games to drop, and it looks like there will be some stuff. I forgot about Immortals of Aveum which is coming soon, then there's The Crew Motorfest, Lords of the Fallen, etc, coming fairly soon.

[dhaabi]

No. Plenty of AAA games release. Whether they are in your circle of interests is another matter, though. I'm also not sure how you're defining what a AAA game is. From your original post, the attached price tag seems to be what determines that label. Pikmin 4 released a full month after Final Fantasy XVI but at $60 USD. Are Nintendo-published games not AAA anymore?

As far as the PlayStation 5, what have developers been doing to utilize that new hardware? I'm not sure. The only game I've played exclusive to the platform is Astro's Playroom which was developed to showcase the DualSense and did so effectively. Other games like Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart have released as exclusives and may also successfully utilize some new hardware capabilities, but I've not played them to know. I'm not one knowledgeable to comment on spec details, so perhaps other multi-generational games like God of War Ragnarök see significant improvement on PS5 more than PS4, but again, I'm not sure.

When it comes to AAA games on the way I'm interested in and that have been announced... Mass Effect 5, new Tomb Raider, Witcher 4, Final Fantasy 7 part 2, and Instinction.

You mention this often. Since many AAA games are announced years before day of release—and with some of the upcoming games you've listed to really have only been teased—it may be more worthwhile for you to just explore more of the previous generation's library, since you do own a PS4 and I believe you tend to add games as they're discounted considerably.

[telekill]

As far as the PlayStation 5, what have developers been doing to utilize that new hardware? I'm not sure.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here with developers. The systems may be capable of incredible graphics, but it's become clear that developers are not capable of creating games with those specs in a timely manner. If you look at traditional AAA devs, they announce a game and perhaps 3-5 years later, you'll see a release. Take Naughty Dog for example. Uncharted released in 2007, Uncharted 2 in 2009, Uncharted 3 in 2011, Last of Us in 2013, then Uncharted 4 in 2016, Lost Legacy was DLC which is 2017 and Last of Us 2 in 2020. I'm not going to bother with their practice runs of ports on PS5. Here's the thing... we have yet to even hear what Naughty Dog's next project is and it's been 3 years since their last release. An incredible AAA game released every other year... to crickets.

The industry likes to use the pandemic as an excuse to why there have been significant delays and to a point, it's acceptable, but frankly, that excuse is played out and looking more ridiculous as time moves on. Work from home required a decent, stable and secure internet connection. That's it. That's all it required and the large cities that a majority of these developers are headquartered have the infrastructure to support it with ease. Perhaps it boils down to work ethic as I know many were not geared to be self motivators in their work, but still. There seems to be a lack of something anymore.

You mention this often. Since many AAA games are announced years before day of release—and with some of the upcoming games you've listed to really have only been teased—it may be more worthwhile for you to just explore more of the previous generation's library, since you do own a PS4 and I believe you tend to add games as they're discounted considerably.

I've been doing that for the last three years. We went from, what I consider, the best generation of gaming, bringing nearly everything amazing to one generation, to the PS5, which has almost nothing to show for itself since it launched three years ago. Only one exclusive to the generation game has caught my attention in three years and like many here... I've been an avid gamer across all sorts of genres. There's something very wrong in the industry and I think maybe the days of expecting incredible games every year are gone.

[alligo]

The Redfall or BF2042 scandal...

There are games that are announced much too early, I also have the impression that part of this industry is breaking its neck.

Developers don't even bother to optimize games anymore, so you end up with some games that have huge fps drops or have lag even with a big config (the latest currently, 4090). It's quite shameful when you know that this kind of configuration can cost around 2000 / 3000 dollars (depending on the materials of course)

I'm talking about the PC but it's the same shit on console for some games, not to mention the bugs.

There is also the fact that for a few years, the games have been receiving updates even at launch day one so the developers tell themselves that it does not matter, and that they will fix the game by doing 200 more updates .

The games are also getting heavier and heavier when there is not necessarily a need for this to be the case... especially when you see the face of certain games. Not to mention the many DLCs galore, the deluxe, triple deluxe editions, the demos only if you pre-order a game...
I hate that time, I liked the days when you just had to put your disc in the console and to play to a finished game.

Edit : Besides, today's games aren't as impressive as they once were.

[telekill]

To amend my above statements, there are a couple AAA games releasing this year that have potential... such as Immortals of Aveum, Baulders Gate 3 and Mortal Kombat 1. The $70 asking prices and my lack of game time take their toll. The first two mentioned will wait for a price drop while MK1 will be waiting for a Komplete edition. As good as it looks, I learned with the MK series and many other fighters that patience is key to getting your money's worth and getting a complete game.

[aliensstudios]

I view modern "AAA" gaming like I do modern Hollywood films, there'e a few good ones once in a while, but for the most part, the best is far behind us.

[BinaryMessiah]

I can understand why you would think this. After the arrival of the HD consoles (PS3/Xbox 360) development time increased so much that most AAA games can take up to five years to complete. If you look back prior to that AAA games were released all year round some times dozens in a week. The PS2/Xbox era was probably the last generation of frequently released AAA games that would take two years or less to make. Some times we only get a single game in a franchise per generation now. I feel like indie titles over the last decade and a half have been keeping gaming in general alive. Without those smaller releases, many people would have lost interest.

[randomstranger]

Dead, no. They are more profitable than ever. Digital distritution made delivery to the end user cheaper for the publishers in the meantime the market (units sold) grew 10× if not more in the past 20 years, post launch monetization became the norm and even the base price was raised from $50 to $70.

As for my relationship with AAA games... it's mixed. Most of them don't interest me, if I get into them, most of the times I'm disappointed. AAA games are either bloated open world games with objective markers and hundreds of hours of worthless grindy side content or story oriented movie games with a lot of barely interactive in-engine cut scenes and in both cases oversimplified gameplay. Publishers are reluctant to take risks, most games are sequels, remasters and bastardized remakes often unrecognizable and disrespectful to the original games. Often half-finished and barely functioning. Yet every now and then there are some good AAA games.

[pzeke]

[...] I liked the days when you just had to put your disc in the console and to play to a finished game.

[...] As for my relationship with AAA games... it's mixed. Most of them don't interest me, if I get into them, most of the times I'm disappointed. [...]

This resonates with me, disappointment is my usual takeaway. Mind you, I often don't even play some AAA games, it's mostly during my research, reading about them and watching gameplay footage that whatever interest I may have disappears.