Blog:A more in-depth look at why the "AAA" market is a joke.

Looking at the page about the "triple aye" gaming market, it only seems to scratch the surface on why it blows right now. So I'm going to look more in-depth at the other factors as to why this is the case. This is not a Top 10 blog or anything, and the factors I list below are not listed in any particular order, so make of it what you will. Also bear in mind that nothing in this artcile is revolutionary or mindblowing, I'm just sharing my observations on the subject. While the AAA market began its decline in the middle of the 7th generation of gaming, none of it truly got as bad as it is now until around 2014, which some will call the worst year in gaming. Here are some of the issue with the market:


 * 1) Hype: To start off nice and simple, hype can come in many forms, but it still has the capacity to destroy the anticipation of an upcoming game; whether it is via a barrage of advertising, using marketing buzzwords, using scripted CG trailers that aren't indicative of the final product, or selling unnecessary special editions and BETA access to convince you to pre-order the game (more on that later). There is nothing wrong with trying to sell your product to an audience, but when a game's budget is spent more on advertising rather than game development, it shows you where the publisher/developer's priorities lie. A prominent example I can think of is Destiny; that game apparently cost $500 million to make, yet only 40% of that went into actual game development, and... well, that game ended being quite polarising. The use of marketing buzzwords is something I also see a lot; I hear EA talk about "Innovation" a lot, Microsoft talking all sorts of techno-babble to sell their Xbox consoles, or Bethesda talking about how "ambitious" their next project is, it's all the same mumbo-jumbo to me; using fancy terms to try and persuade me that their next project is worth looking at. But what if it ends up not being as good as you (the publisher) hyped it up to be? You told me that your game will be the next coming of Moses, but it ended as something that couldn't be further from that if it tried, thanks publisher!
 * 2) Pre-Order Culture: This has its own page, so I won't dwell on this too much; pre-ordering a game is a concept that has become redundant in recent years thanks to the rise in digital distribution. Digital goods have exactly 0% chance of selling out, so why should we pre-order digitally? Of course, so the publishers can chop out pieces of the game, and sell it off as Pre-Order incentives, like when Square Enix tried to pull that crap with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, where they offered a staggered reward system that "allowed" you to choose what items you wanted, and unlock the next tier when an arbitrary number is reached. These aren't even "rewards" to begin with, they are fluff pieces stripped out of the game to entice customers into pre-ordering. And pre-ordering has also been abused a lot in the past 4 years, with multiple editions, collector's editions, pre-order bonuses, and even pre-order announcements before an iota of gameplay is even shown just shows a lack of regard for the average customer, especially if it's a new IP that has yet to establish or prove itself. I have always been a staunch believer that pre-orders should ideally be made for established franchises, physical games, or rare/limited run/niche titles, and only if the so-called "bonuses" are actually worth it.
 * 3) False advertising: This one should be illegal, and it probably is in most places, but it seems that Flase Advertising is running more rampant these days; it does matter what form it takes, whether it is promised features, fake gameplay trailers, doctored screenshots, whatever. I'm reminded of stuff like Aliens: Colonial Marines, Watch_Dogs, No Man's Sky, Fallout 76, and Anthem when the subject of false advertising comes up. Misrepresenting your product with misleading trailers, making promises not feasible in the final product, or showing me something completely inferior to what the final product will be, is flat out scummy. It's not the same as, say, assets for puddles being moved around in Marvel's Spider-Manor the material of Spidey's suit being altered...no! Telling me one thing, and giving me something inferior warrants a kick in the dick in my book.
 * 4) Recurrent Monetisation: Ugh, you know it's gotten bad when publishers have to provide us with a "No Microtransactions" disclaimer to generate good PR, but there we are. We all know that the industry is more obsessed with money than ever, and we can blame the mobile market for this. The fact that publishers think we're too stupid to see through their bullshit when they tell us that MTX's offer us "choice" is insulting enough, but when they prioritise how to leech off of gamers' impatience by slowing down game progression in order to nudge us towards such purchases (looking at YOU, Take-Two Interactive!), they also deserve a knee to the nuts. Then look at games like Dungeon Keeper Mobile, which not only had microtransactions, but also time gates to, again, push you to make MTX purchases. It was so egregious that the UK banned the game from being advertised as "Free-to-Play". The problem with MTX's is that they are abusable, and that they can be added into a game long after the game has been on shelves.
 * 5) Early Access: Like microtransactions, early access is a concept that is so easily abused. If you look at Steam's Green Light system (now called Steam Direct), you will see just how much low effort, low quality shit gets put on there thanks to Steam's lack of quality control. They are often times a barely functioning alpha build that charges money for the privilege of playing it. The next evolution of Early Access, is publishers selling BETA access as pre-order incentives; Bethesda did this with Fallout 76, and it was available only two week before the game itself launched. At that point, it isn't a "BETA"; it is a demo when it is released that close to launch day. Then there's EA staggering release dates for their games, like Anthem for instance, in such a way that those who pre-ordered through EA Origin Access get the game a week ahead of everyone else.
 * 6) Gaming Media: Gaming media is a big part of the reason why the AAA landscape is such a joke right now. We've all heard horror stories of journalists getting kickbacks from major publishers, bribery behind the scenes, personal relationships between the devs and the journalists, political activists masquerading as journalists, all that stuff. It's almost like journalists are too scared to piss off the publishers, lest they lose their ad revenue, or stop receiving the royal treatment from publishers. Journalists will also make rockstars out of small name indie devs, like Zoe Quinn for example; a "developer" who put together a half assed PowerPoint presentation, and called a "game" (you know the one, and I won't address it by name in case the Joker's apprentice himself sees this), and now everyone acts like she can do no wrong. Or when journalists give great games mediocre scores, and vice versa. Gaming media has become so dishonest that gamers are looking to independent sources for gaming news, including YouTubers like Yongyea and LegacyKillaHD for example, and have been doing so for years now.

There are probably a bunch of other factors I might have missed, but feel free to point it out, and I'll update it accordingly.

