Why do game companies with successful, groundbreaking IPs keep trying to branch out with new projects and wear themselves thin when it's time to work on their mainstays with millions of fans? Looking squarely at you, Bethesda.
Plenty of things you can critique Nintendo for, but managing their studios is one thing they do right. Farm out smaller titles and spinoffs, use spinoffs of mainline IP to train partner studios, use specific tasks for the larger games to bring partner studios even closer, and then use your internal studio and closest partners for the mainline IP and only the mainline IP. That way the internal and partner studios can focus, get stuff done, and produce quality stuff while everyone else turns out smaller games to fill the gaps in-between releases.
Oh, and let each studio/group focus in on what genres and style they are best at rather than forcing a "jack of all trades" approach.
With Microsoft owning so many of these studios they could have leveraged expertise for some amazing AAA titles. Instead we get long development times, unrealistic expectations, and inconsistent quality over and over
Might not be a popular opinion but it’s well known in the biz that BioWare was pretty successful early on because they benefitted hugely from the huge amount of engineers and software developers Alberta had in excess due to layoffs in the oil industry at various points.
But the demographics of the company changed over time quite a bit, and like a lot of game studios they eventually just become adult daycares.
With bioware it was already reported that they got lucky with a couple of their games going super nova so it made leadership believe in bioware magic. So they didn't feel the need to improve on any of the issues with production because in the end bioware always came through because of their bioware magic....until they didn't
"the bioware magic", "the blizzard magic", "the square magic", "the nintendo magic"
it's not magic, it's damn hard work and good project leadership. the idea of studios possessing some kind of amazing 'magic', like the very soul of artistry in video games is infused into the walls and corridors, is such a dumb concept and yet people still believe in it.
desperate young people fresh out of school join these studios because of their reputation of 'magic' and get pulled into a meat grinder that will spit them back out two years later after a crunch-driven mental breakdown.
executives who have never played a video game in their lives will vie to purchase successful studios because of their 'magic' and then meddle with them relentlessly on the assumption that the 'magic' will keep them making good video games because 'magic'.
there is no magic, there is talent, and once the talent leaves there is no more magic. it doesn't float around in the halls at the studio or stay attached to the developer's name like an enchantment effect from wow or skyrim. it's within the individual people who helped create those acclaimed games.
(btw, the ire behind this reply is not aimed at you, mister BS - just the idea of 'studio magic')
Because they get copy and self righteous and start working on things they want, pet projects, etc instead of what sells and what people want. This is one of the only industries where employees think they are at fun time and not at WORK.
Except they don't just make Souls games. They make Sekiro. They make Armored Core. They branch out into a multiplayer Souls game. They can make new things and still be good because they have talented people who know what they're doing.
For the last 15 years Fromsoft has released one of the best action RPGs you could ever play every 2-3 years, sometimes even less. Absolutely insane when you compare them to so many other studios that can't get anything out the door and what does come out just sucks.
You mean like the various sports games where they just update the year number and price? Baldur's Gate aside, they were very proficient at running every "groundbreaking IP" to the ground.
Billionaires who invest in videogames want a massive return on their invesment. Bioware is going out of business because of the same people that make our groceries more expensive, our housing unaffordable, and our future bleak.
Every shitty thing we're experiencing can all be traced back to the same small group of people demanding more and more of our money while giving less and less in return for it.
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u/AJ_Deadshow 7h ago
Why do game companies with successful, groundbreaking IPs keep trying to branch out with new projects and wear themselves thin when it's time to work on their mainstays with millions of fans? Looking squarely at you, Bethesda.