So, basically, the executives on AAA industries are only learning NOW what we gamers knew for decades: chasing trends does not make a good game, what makes a good game is making a game that is good.
Copying what's work don't make a "bad" game, but a stale one. a lots of the battle royales that failed were objectively better than the first one that started the trend, they were just drowned in a sea of their clones.
I'd say the sooner the games industry gets the idea of grindaphons and time sinks like battlepasses out of their games the better. I play at my own pace and for this thing called "Fun". Not for 20 more jobs to do
No, they always knew how to make good games. This was proven time and again over decades: any time for the last 20+ years, when whatever trend du jour was oversaturated and dying, they'd suddenly bankroll someone's new IP project, it would be hailed as a masterpiece, and then they and their competitors would yet again milk that new trend for however long. They simply didn't care about good games, they cared about making money, and they could milk these trends for longer back when time between new releases was measured in "Days" and not "Minutes." The AAA machine always defaults to the sure thing, the trend, because the flowchart decision-making algorithm tells it that's where the money is...until suddenly a New Thing appears and captures everyone's time, attention, and money. The main difference now, what Frost's point was, is that gaming is moving too quickly right now for the AAA machine to follow its default flowchart thinking. Too many good games are coming out too often, sparking too many new trends that live and die too quickly to chase. That's the sea change Frost is predicting: to compete with good games setting trends and stealing away marketshare, AAA has to return to making good games, instead of subsuming trends, because the trends are moving too quickly to chase and make money on.
They don't get paid to make good games, they never vowed to make good games, they hove no interest in good games or quality or innovation - their job is to generate the most profits for the shareholders.
I bet you started with that "Old Fashioned" line and then wrote the rest of the script backwards from there because it was such a dang good ending note.
That line really stood out to me too. It's how I feel about a lot capitalism-driven endeavors. The consumers only have so much money. What are the 1% gonna do once they've bled us dry?
@@kungfuskull We do them every two weeks to make sure Frost, Yahtzee, JM8 etc don't run out of ideas and burnout. As much as we'd love to do them weekly, ideas take time to develop!
I'm simply mesmerized by the writing and delivery of this series. It's not only extremely well presented, but it's incredibly insightful, poignant, and relevant. Bravo, Escapist. Bravo.
"what is unchecked growth, but a cancer of sorts." that phase is one of those creative ones that makes you wish you wrote cause it's so good! good enough to bare repeating, i think. plus that'll give me the opportunity to pretend that it was me that came up with it lol
"What is unchecked growth if not a cancer." Man I was not expecting that profound of a quote out of this video. The pizza night metaphor leading into Pizza Tower was a stroke of genius too
Man, this year kicked off for me to Pizza Tower and Hi Fi Rush and both games spell so much optimism for the industry. Actual-ass videogames with vibrant, imaginative art styles and excellent gameplay. Just like the old days. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds, Bayonetta got a cool game, Ryza got a cool game, Mickey Mouse has an interesting platformer on the horizon. Good times ahead.
I dont know who you are or how you got into this gig, but your thing is pure jazz. kultural kritique. a high ball of hip haute husky homily. i really enjoyed this video and find all of your content sort of sociology, psychology, beat poet commentary on video games position vis a vis art and capitalism. anyway, i find it very stimulating, like my brain has been zested. thanks!
In a way, it has come full circle. Back in the 80s it was easy for anyone, even teenagers, to make video games. Sure you had to know how to program, but what you programmed was simple and you didn't need any help.
I definitely think Pizza Tower could have been predicted. Vampire Survivor though? No way. I'm still amazed at how much staying power that formula has.
I only just discovered this cold take series today and I have to say this is some world class writing and I love every bit of it, please never stop you have a gift.
The problem is AAA doesn’t seem to know how to make new games at this point! All of their recent big wins have been remakes (prior to Hi-Fi Rush coming out, the top 6 games of the year according to metacritic were all remakes or re-releases).
Oh they do, they just don't because of rising costs and increasing length of game development. Think about it, protyping an idea to find the core gameplay mechanics of a new game is a long and costly process in the pre-production of a new game. With a remake that step is pretty much eliminated because the core gameplay loop already exists. Now it's time to rush ahead and just make the game. Then marketing pays for itself because as a remake it has a built in audience. The increasing number of remakes isn't because they're out of ideas, it's because it's cheaper and quicker than fully developing something new
I think they totally do. They just seem to want to make big games that tick too many boxes without having much focus. We're getting so many "AAA"-games now which are both big free-roaming open world games and story driven cinematic games and there's a bunch of RPG elements. It is impressive that these games are still so playable despite such a muddled goal but aiming so broad is probably the real problem.
When you're dealing with the humungous amounts of money at top level, it's all about guaranteeing a return, which means minimising risks, which means staying with a proven formula. Maximum milk with minimum moo.
Same reason why Disney keeps doing these dumb "live action" remakes despite audiences hating them. You will still go see them because of nostalgia and Disney will make a huge profit. Only 5 have been losses. (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Dumbo, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Mulan, and Cruella). The rest were huge box office hits.
Great piece. I get jokes whenever I get hyped over indie-games, but innovation is difficult to come by when there are too many stakeholders only focused on $$$ and chasing trends.
5:46 - HAH! I recently coined the term "Quadruple A" for myself to describe the huge megacorpotations like Disney's game publishing arm, churning out formulaic, microtransaction-riddled, Skinner Box grind-a-thons out of pure profit motive. A step up in terms of size and greed from even the likes of EA or Ubisoft. Hearing someone else also use the term really does feel like vindication.
My only criticism for this series is that they arent longer 😄. Honestly though i would love these to be at least 15min. Your perspective is great and your narration is top tier.
I think it might provide some useful insight to evaluate how other creative mediums have evolved as their tools for creation have similarly become cheaper and more accessible to the inexperienced layman. Looking at music for example, how easy/low the barrier to entry into production can be now, you technically don't need to know anything about music to become a breakout success. You can record an entire album on a cellphone and have it streamed by anyone on Spotify. Yet still there's a real struggle facing indie artists to find people willing to actually pay them enough to make a living, at the same time the amount of talent and drive to innovate that comes out of indie music scenes due to this highly competitive environment... it all seems so strange then that it's still also true that major labels still have a disproportional influence on the whole industry vs. the quality the produce given all the choices consumers theoretically have. I guess what I'm saying is do not underestimate how entrenched power can create its own self-legitimizing branding/knowledge. Things may get more complicated for the big bads like EA, but it's not unthinkable that they could use the market saturation to their favor... using their privileged position to help consumers weed out the "noise" of a complicated marketplace.
The writing in this video was leagues ahead of most videos on UA-cam. Concise, yet artistic. Articulate, but accessible. And above all, incredibly intelligent. One of the best videos I've seen in UA-cam in a while.
I appreciate the optimism, but I can't quite share it. As someone who has the chance to observe a lot of corporate decision-making in a big company, I can tell one thing: business people, the ones calling the shots, are absolutely terrified of risk-taking. You can submit the most fun, creative idea to them, and they will only come back with one question: what number-based evidence can you provide to suggest that this will be successful? I assume big game studios work in the same way. There is just too much of a gap between the creative mindset and the current business mindset, with the latter being constantly focused on finding "failproof" ideas, which means copying things that already work. This is largely due to how decision are taken in big companies: every new project needs to be presented to a bunch of stakeholders, who must be convinced that this will generate profit. And the best way to do this is to tell them "we're going to do the same things as this other thing that people liked, but better". This is why most of the really creative and groundbreaking ideas in gaming have come from small indie teams in the past few years. They don't have this same constraint on the decision-making process. And since it's a limitation that's inherent to big studios, I can't see it changing anytime soon - unless there is a massive change of paradigm in the ways of doing business. Small studios turning into big ones could be a factor of change I guess, assuming they manage to retain their creative and adventurous philosphy.
I'm still pissed at EA for setting up Titanfall 2 for failure then killing the franchise for not selling as well as Battlefield 1, which was released a week earlier. What sense is it to launch two of your games, both of which highly anticipated and share the same audience, a week apart from each other?
@@Secret_Takodachi And Respawn was in pre-production of a new Titalfall game too... leaks has it that it was going to be titled "Titanfall Legends" and will have you play as Blisk and a few Apex Legends characters, effectively making a new "Apex Predators" squad, similar to the one Blisk led in Titanfall 2... and EA canned it...
Excellent writing as usual! Love the opening, "The sun is dawning or the sun is setting - or something's on fire," hahaha. And yeah, I definitely hope this trend chasing pattern fizzles out soon. We need new ideas.
It's crazy how closely this resembles other forms of art outside of games. From the AI Revolution affecting photographers an independent artists to how movie executives look at the current social issues in the world and attempt to make a movie that doesn't accidentally start a war. Even at companies like Amazon and FedEx you can see the effects of this disconnected top-down management system and how communication breaks down even three levels deep in the corporate structure.
great script, great message, great voice this is something i've been a bit hopeful for for the last several years. as the ability for just anyone to create our kind of art increases and the tech/funding advantage of the big guys show increasing diminishing returns, I'm hoping that the leeches at the top will either get a clue or disappear.
Very well said. As much as I personally avoid most social media (it's just not for me) the fact is that big companies can't ignore the interconnected landscape that consumers have now, and they shouldn't expect everyone to simply accept what they're given when a product isn't cleanly produced upon release. I've been on an indie game kick this past week, coincidentally, and I've had far more enjoyment from those games than any big name productions that have come out in a while. The idea that we're potentially seeing a renaissance for game developers, not their corporate parents, is exciting! It's why I preordered a Playdate; it's why I look at most arena shooters and sigh at how rehashed everything feels; and it's why I look for content like this to watch. Thanks for the great video!
This video reminds me a lot of one of Yahtzee's recent Extra Punctuation videos. It's the same thing big film studios have been doing for years. Simply making a *good* movie or game unfortunately doesn't necessarily guarantee success, so the soulless corporate robots in the suits - who think only in terms of numbers and equations - have desperately tried for decades now to find some magical formula to guarantee a success. The problem for them is that there's no such thing. A good game might not be a guaranteed hit, but it's way more likely than the 10,000th minor variation on the Jiminy Cockthroat template. Cheaper too, since the fun, tightly crafted experiences that often end up being the biggest hits HAVEN'T spent over a decade now massively ballooning in size in their race to be the biggest, flashiest title on the playground with the most stuff. I hope as time goes forward, more of these big studios realize that making smaller, more interesting, and better-refined games will benefit them financially and benefit players by giving us better games.
The video felt pretty pessimistic throughout, until Frost said that the only way forward is to go back to the old days of marketing innovative ideas to discerning customers - but I don't see how the industry is going to pull away from the trend-chasing format that it's currently buried in.
Fresh blood with less shareholder oversight is gaining access to the tools and platforms to make their own games that take actual risks. It's possible that the biggest names will keep chasing whatever the fresh new hit is, but they'll always be a step behind, and they're not the only players on the court any more. Even if they don't give up their spot at the table, the big names will have to make room for the fresh innovators. They don't really have a choice.
Deadspace remake is predatory. Rehashing old games instead of making new installments or IP's is the next form of cash grab, it's only going to get worse from here.
Just to make sure I’m understanding the point, it's that trend chasing, “safe”, and games that sell on concepts only possible on modern hardware have been living in a bubble that is now bursting, putting the industry at a crossroad where it can either focus on making a one-and-done, polished on release game or making purely consumable products.
gawd your voice was so soothing like warm butter over wheat bread as you sip on some cider while the fireflies glow across a field of grain. You sir, get a subscribe.
Haven't even mentioned AI and how it will change content creation for indies. Big stories, branching storylines completely new concepts unthinkable prior to that!
Escapist, keeping in spirit with this video, I would love to point your attention towards a little community project called Operation: Harsh Doorstop. It's basically a UE4 milsim shooter core + a super extensive SDK. In fact, the modding SDK is more advanced than the game is. And the core game is free, and has no microtransactions, and is made by actually passionate people who aren't even looking to break even on it. You should keep this small game in mind and revisit it every few months, I promise it will impress you.
Man, the Escapist. I remember Zero Punctuation making a similar point once: The only thing resembling a guaranteed formula for success is a quality product, well-made. People are just starting to realise that more, despite it having been true the whole time.
Damn… I’ve only said this 3 or 4 other times since the inception of UA-cam, but that right there is why I spend more time watching UA-cam than any other streaming or TV service!
This was the first time I took a chance on this series and well, now I have to go stream all the rest of them 😂. I love the fresh take, gives me hope for the future.
I'm glad Storyteller got some love. The seeds of that game were planted over a decade ago in the Flash era. If he manages to get out a user friendly puzzle creator for it, it might really take off.
Speaking of Old Fashioneds, if you're ever in Seattle, head over to Arthur's in Delridge, ask for Craig. He is an excellent bartender and host, his take on the Old Fashioned is the best I've ever had, and the food at Arthur's is some of the best in the city. Get the chorizo breakfast, you won't regret it.
Also, this is coming from a guy who abused whiskey a little too hard in his 20s, as in I almost immediately start rejecting it, but Craig's Old Fashioned is so smooth, my brain and stomach thought it was a different drink.
Im glad you mentioned spellbreak, it was a thoroughly fun and unique battle royal that was hamstrung by epic games store exclusivity, and it died too soon. It did come to steam a year later but the hype train station was long empty by then.
this happened with music and access to cheaper DAW's a decade or so ago and its been nothing but good for finding exciting new music that is not backed by a big label trying to make it 'safe'.
So, basically, the executives on AAA industries are only learning NOW what we gamers knew for decades: chasing trends does not make a good game, what makes a good game is making a game that is good.
They made this same mistake in the 80s and it almost killed the industry. Tee-hee-hee.
Copying what's work don't make a "bad" game, but a stale one.
a lots of the battle royales that failed were objectively better than the first one that started the trend, they were just drowned in a sea of their clones.
I'd say the sooner the games industry gets the idea of grindaphons and time sinks like battlepasses out of their games the better.
I play at my own pace and for this thing called "Fun". Not for 20 more jobs to do
No, they always knew how to make good games. This was proven time and again over decades: any time for the last 20+ years, when whatever trend du jour was oversaturated and dying, they'd suddenly bankroll someone's new IP project, it would be hailed as a masterpiece, and then they and their competitors would yet again milk that new trend for however long.
They simply didn't care about good games, they cared about making money, and they could milk these trends for longer back when time between new releases was measured in "Days" and not "Minutes." The AAA machine always defaults to the sure thing, the trend, because the flowchart decision-making algorithm tells it that's where the money is...until suddenly a New Thing appears and captures everyone's time, attention, and money.
The main difference now, what Frost's point was, is that gaming is moving too quickly right now for the AAA machine to follow its default flowchart thinking. Too many good games are coming out too often, sparking too many new trends that live and die too quickly to chase. That's the sea change Frost is predicting: to compete with good games setting trends and stealing away marketshare, AAA has to return to making good games, instead of subsuming trends, because the trends are moving too quickly to chase and make money on.
They don't get paid to make good games, they never vowed to make good games, they hove no interest in good games or quality or innovation - their job is to generate the most profits for the shareholders.
I bet you started with that "Old Fashioned" line and then wrote the rest of the script backwards from there because it was such a dang good ending note.
That is most definitely what happened.
“Call me old fashioned, better yet pour me one…then you can call me whatever you like”
You did NOT have to go that hard on the outro 💀
chill out lmao
That sass at the end is why I subscribed lol 😂
Badass
But it was great
oh yea shit went hard as fuck
6:54 "After all, what is unchecked growth but a cancer of sorts?"
Truly wise
Yeah and it perfectly describes the issues with capitalism!
My favorite way to phrase it: Infinite growth is the ideology of the cancer cell
@@traviswilson36 But not wrong, and also pretty catchy
@@traviswilson36 You commented twice. Awfully invested for someone who wants to seem cool and detached
That line really stood out to me too. It's how I feel about a lot capitalism-driven endeavors. The consumers only have so much money. What are the 1% gonna do once they've bled us dry?
This guy is to smooth jazz as what Yahtzee is to punk rock.
And as an eclectic that appreciates quality we love 'em both!
Well if we are doing that kinda comparisons, i'd say Yahtzee is more breakcore than punk rock :)
this is quickly becoming my favorite escapist series
It's the perfect yang to Yahtzee's yodeling yin.
Yup. I like nuanced takes.
Hear hear! If at all possible I'd LOVE for these to become even more regular and common! Maybe give a related spinoff like zp and ep?
@@kungfuskull We do them every two weeks to make sure Frost, Yahtzee, JM8 etc don't run out of ideas and burnout. As much as we'd love to do them weekly, ideas take time to develop!
@@theescapist fair enough. But do keep these up: they're great! Always looking forward to the next one!
“The sun is dawning, or the sun is setting, or something’s on fire”
*chefs kiss* for this entire series
I'm simply mesmerized by the writing and delivery of this series. It's not only extremely well presented, but it's incredibly insightful, poignant, and relevant.
Bravo, Escapist. Bravo.
The last line is a masterpiece.
I concur 🤌
Sounds like a great way to end the day. I'll meet you there
I want it on an embroidered cushion
I read your comment before watching the video. Even then, i wasn't prepared for how good they line was
“What is unchecked growth if not a cancer of sorts” wow. Had to pause the video and think about that. Great writing, love this 🙏
Heard it before, it's not original writing...
True, but not original.
"what is unchecked growth, but a cancer of sorts."
that phase is one of those creative ones that makes you wish you wrote cause it's so good! good enough to bare repeating, i think. plus that'll give me the opportunity to pretend that it was me that came up with it lol
It's not creative, I've heard it before... elsewhere.
And not once, it's close to a popular saying these days.
Not even sure where it originated from.
I'm so glad The Escapist finally hit gold again (after Extra Punctuation) with Cold Take.
Don’t forget to watch Adventure is Nigh!
@The Escapist just because you asked I'll try it, because this vid banged
"What is unchecked growth if not a cancer." Man I was not expecting that profound of a quote out of this video. The pizza night metaphor leading into Pizza Tower was a stroke of genius too
Why did this 8 minute video feel like a half hour masterpiece??
Ikr?
Damn, feels great being one of the first people at the games journalism speakeasy
Man, this year kicked off for me to Pizza Tower and Hi Fi Rush and both games spell so much optimism for the industry. Actual-ass videogames with vibrant, imaginative art styles and excellent gameplay. Just like the old days. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds, Bayonetta got a cool game, Ryza got a cool game, Mickey Mouse has an interesting platformer on the horizon. Good times ahead.
and i thought the evil world known as heck would freeze over before anything potentially not unbearable was done with that plague-ridden rat
I dont know who you are or how you got into this gig, but your thing is pure jazz. kultural kritique. a high ball of hip haute husky homily. i really enjoyed this video and find all of your content sort of sociology, psychology, beat poet commentary on video games position vis a vis art and capitalism. anyway, i find it very stimulating, like my brain has been zested. thanks!
I just have to say. The text. The actually text of this essay is wonderful. The deep soothing voice of the narrator compliments it perfectly.
Wow. I haven't revisited The Escapist for a decade, but this is the best game essay I've heard in a LONG time! Thank you.
In a way, it has come full circle. Back in the 80s it was easy for anyone, even teenagers, to make video games. Sure you had to know how to program, but what you programmed was simple and you didn't need any help.
Back in 1970s, it was easy for everyone to make video game consoles. I don't think this time is going back soon.
I definitely think Pizza Tower could have been predicted. Vampire Survivor though? No way. I'm still amazed at how much staying power that formula has.
I used to only care about Yahtzee but these Cold Takes are a treat.
"Call me old fashioned, better yet, pour me one and you can call me whatever you like"
Now that's a bar!
I only just discovered this cold take series today and I have to say this is some world class writing and I love every bit of it, please never stop you have a gift.
I'm really pleased Terry Wogan is still getting work
This series is some of the best writing in the video game reporting scene and the delivery hits it out of the park. Hats off to ya.
Silky smooth and full of the sweet venom of honest distaste for corporate nonsense. Nice work Frost 🍻
The problem is AAA doesn’t seem to know how to make new games at this point! All of their recent big wins have been remakes (prior to Hi-Fi Rush coming out, the top 6 games of the year according to metacritic were all remakes or re-releases).
Oh they do, they just don't because of rising costs and increasing length of game development. Think about it, protyping an idea to find the core gameplay mechanics of a new game is a long and costly process in the pre-production of a new game. With a remake that step is pretty much eliminated because the core gameplay loop already exists. Now it's time to rush ahead and just make the game. Then marketing pays for itself because as a remake it has a built in audience.
The increasing number of remakes isn't because they're out of ideas, it's because it's cheaper and quicker than fully developing something new
I think they totally do.
They just seem to want to make big games that tick too many boxes without having much focus.
We're getting so many "AAA"-games now which are both big free-roaming open world games and story driven cinematic games and there's a bunch of RPG elements.
It is impressive that these games are still so playable despite such a muddled goal but aiming so broad is probably the real problem.
When you're dealing with the humungous amounts of money at top level, it's all about guaranteeing a return, which means minimising risks, which means staying with a proven formula. Maximum milk with minimum moo.
Same reason why Disney keeps doing these dumb "live action" remakes despite audiences hating them. You will still go see them because of nostalgia and Disney will make a huge profit. Only 5 have been losses. (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Dumbo, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Mulan, and Cruella). The rest were huge box office hits.
Spellbreak was honestly my favorite Battle Royale game I've ever played.
Great piece. I get jokes whenever I get hyped over indie-games, but innovation is difficult to come by when there are too many stakeholders only focused on $$$ and chasing trends.
I've remarked on most of the Cold Take videos with praise already. But, god damn, does Frost ever nail the aesthetic that appeals directly to me.
5:46 - HAH! I recently coined the term "Quadruple A" for myself to describe the huge megacorpotations like Disney's game publishing arm, churning out formulaic, microtransaction-riddled, Skinner Box grind-a-thons out of pure profit motive. A step up in terms of size and greed from even the likes of EA or Ubisoft. Hearing someone else also use the term really does feel like vindication.
Curiously, this video satisfied both my curiosity that was hooked by the title, and my love of noir film.
My only criticism for this series is that they arent longer 😄.
Honestly though i would love these to be at least 15min. Your perspective is great and your narration is top tier.
0:53 "There is a glow across the horizon. The sun is dawning. Or setting. Or something is on fire"
Brilliant :D
I would pay a lot of money to hear this man whisper sweet nothings to me all day.
@TheOtherFrost
"something is on fire" is prob y general feeling for the future.
kinds of checks out all thing considered.
"That made money, lets just do that." ~ Capitalist design theory.
I think it might provide some useful insight to evaluate how other creative mediums have evolved as their tools for creation have similarly become cheaper and more accessible to the inexperienced layman.
Looking at music for example, how easy/low the barrier to entry into production can be now, you technically don't need to know anything about music to become a breakout success. You can record an entire album on a cellphone and have it streamed by anyone on Spotify. Yet still there's a real struggle facing indie artists to find people willing to actually pay them enough to make a living, at the same time the amount of talent and drive to innovate that comes out of indie music scenes due to this highly competitive environment... it all seems so strange then that it's still also true that major labels still have a disproportional influence on the whole industry vs. the quality the produce given all the choices consumers theoretically have.
I guess what I'm saying is do not underestimate how entrenched power can create its own self-legitimizing branding/knowledge. Things may get more complicated for the big bads like EA, but it's not unthinkable that they could use the market saturation to their favor... using their privileged position to help consumers weed out the "noise" of a complicated marketplace.
Well written, well read. I love this channel.
Nothing really to say, but I enjoyed this video. Thanks for making and sharing it.
No it's "Whatever doesn't kill you usually succeeds in a second attempt"
Mr. Krabs?
@@pn2294 he's not wrong
The writing in this video was leagues ahead of most videos on UA-cam. Concise, yet artistic. Articulate, but accessible. And above all, incredibly intelligent. One of the best videos I've seen in UA-cam in a while.
I appreciate the optimism, but I can't quite share it. As someone who has the chance to observe a lot of corporate decision-making in a big company, I can tell one thing: business people, the ones calling the shots, are absolutely terrified of risk-taking. You can submit the most fun, creative idea to them, and they will only come back with one question: what number-based evidence can you provide to suggest that this will be successful?
I assume big game studios work in the same way. There is just too much of a gap between the creative mindset and the current business mindset, with the latter being constantly focused on finding "failproof" ideas, which means copying things that already work. This is largely due to how decision are taken in big companies: every new project needs to be presented to a bunch of stakeholders, who must be convinced that this will generate profit. And the best way to do this is to tell them "we're going to do the same things as this other thing that people liked, but better".
This is why most of the really creative and groundbreaking ideas in gaming have come from small indie teams in the past few years. They don't have this same constraint on the decision-making process. And since it's a limitation that's inherent to big studios, I can't see it changing anytime soon - unless there is a massive change of paradigm in the ways of doing business. Small studios turning into big ones could be a factor of change I guess, assuming they manage to retain their creative and adventurous philosphy.
Wow, its been a while since I have heard a person master the english language like you do. I enjoyed it
I'm still pissed at EA for setting up Titanfall 2 for failure then killing the franchise for not selling as well as Battlefield 1, which was released a week earlier.
What sense is it to launch two of your games, both of which highly anticipated and share the same audience, a week apart from each other?
@@Secret_Takodachi And Respawn was in pre-production of a new Titalfall game too... leaks has it that it was going to be titled "Titanfall Legends" and will have you play as Blisk and a few Apex Legends characters, effectively making a new "Apex Predators" squad, similar to the one Blisk led in Titanfall 2... and EA canned it...
This guy is now my inner monologue and I have the urge to solve mysteries
the dialogue and the execution is top notch but I was definitely not expecting altough I really liked it :D
This is… really really good! I did not expect this absolutely incredible quality! I only really watch zp but I’ve found my new other favorite!
"Call me old fashioned. Actually, pour me one then you can call me whatever you like"
*hot damn* that's steamy
Kinda refreshing to hear someone with a positive take for once.
Excellent writing as usual! Love the opening, "The sun is dawning or the sun is setting - or something's on fire," hahaha. And yeah, I definitely hope this trend chasing pattern fizzles out soon. We need new ideas.
Any reference to an Old Fashioned gets my upvote!
It's crazy how closely this resembles other forms of art outside of games.
From the AI Revolution affecting photographers an independent artists to how movie executives look at the current social issues in the world and attempt to make a movie that doesn't accidentally start a war.
Even at companies like Amazon and FedEx you can see the effects of this disconnected top-down management system and how communication breaks down even three levels deep in the corporate structure.
The narrator makes me feel like a faraway uncle who has visited my home and is narrating a fable by sitting in front of the fireside on a rainy day.
great script, great message, great voice
this is something i've been a bit hopeful for for the last several years. as the ability for just anyone to create our kind of art increases and the tech/funding advantage of the big guys show increasing diminishing returns, I'm hoping that the leeches at the top will either get a clue or disappear.
For a video titled “a new age of gaming is upon us” it sure feels like this video came out 10 years too late
Your silky smooth voice and choice of words are quite a delectable mix. Subbed.
I hope this brings us back to the PS2 era of gaming - "I have an idea for a game. Let's make it good and see if it's liked"
and then they're liked, but only like 10 people play it, but thankfully it becomes a cult classic in like 10 years
the take and sojiro sakura energy are both greatly appreciated
Man who IS this guy? He's smooth as hell and feels like a polar opposite to Yahtzee, and just as cool.
The Other Frost
Very well said.
As much as I personally avoid most social media (it's just not for me) the fact is that big companies can't ignore the interconnected landscape that consumers have now, and they shouldn't expect everyone to simply accept what they're given when a product isn't cleanly produced upon release. I've been on an indie game kick this past week, coincidentally, and I've had far more enjoyment from those games than any big name productions that have come out in a while. The idea that we're potentially seeing a renaissance for game developers, not their corporate parents, is exciting! It's why I preordered a Playdate; it's why I look at most arena shooters and sigh at how rehashed everything feels; and it's why I look for content like this to watch.
Thanks for the great video!
This video reminds me a lot of one of Yahtzee's recent Extra Punctuation videos. It's the same thing big film studios have been doing for years. Simply making a *good* movie or game unfortunately doesn't necessarily guarantee success, so the soulless corporate robots in the suits - who think only in terms of numbers and equations - have desperately tried for decades now to find some magical formula to guarantee a success. The problem for them is that there's no such thing. A good game might not be a guaranteed hit, but it's way more likely than the 10,000th minor variation on the Jiminy Cockthroat template. Cheaper too, since the fun, tightly crafted experiences that often end up being the biggest hits HAVEN'T spent over a decade now massively ballooning in size in their race to be the biggest, flashiest title on the playground with the most stuff. I hope as time goes forward, more of these big studios realize that making smaller, more interesting, and better-refined games will benefit them financially and benefit players by giving us better games.
This is a very optimistic viewpoint, but I would love it if it turned you were right about this!
Cold Take with No Punctuation 2023 contender here. Love the tone and insight!
Ì love the closing statement: Call me old fashioned, better yet pour me one and call me whatever you like!... Nice
The video felt pretty pessimistic throughout, until Frost said that the only way forward is to go back to the old days of marketing innovative ideas to discerning customers - but I don't see how the industry is going to pull away from the trend-chasing format that it's currently buried in.
Fresh blood with less shareholder oversight is gaining access to the tools and platforms to make their own games that take actual risks.
It's possible that the biggest names will keep chasing whatever the fresh new hit is, but they'll always be a step behind, and they're not the only players on the court any more.
Even if they don't give up their spot at the table, the big names will have to make room for the fresh innovators. They don't really have a choice.
Deadspace remake is predatory. Rehashing old games instead of making new installments or IP's is the next form of cash grab, it's only going to get worse from here.
I was nexting a bunch of games on my Steam Discovery queue. One game stood out: Trombone Hero. Everything else looked exactly the same.
Has Frost always been with Escapist? This is my first time seeing this series. If it is new, what an amazing addition!
He's been with us for a little over six months now. Check the channel page for the full playlist, you got a bunch of good stuff to watch.
@@theescapist Thank you, will definitely check out the playlist!
"Brilliant minds can take over again, instead of brilliant businessmen"
well put.
this series is sliding in to Noir style and I love it
Just to make sure I’m understanding the point, it's that trend chasing, “safe”, and games that sell on concepts only possible on modern hardware have been living in a bubble that is now bursting, putting the industry at a crossroad where it can either focus on making a one-and-done, polished on release game or making purely consumable products.
This is so well done.
gawd your voice was so soothing like warm butter over wheat bread as you sip on some cider while the fireflies glow across a field of grain. You sir, get a subscribe.
Haven't even mentioned AI and how it will change content creation for indies.
Big stories, branching storylines completely new concepts unthinkable prior to that!
you know a video is good when you don't check your second screen ever while it's playing
Man didn’t have to remind me about Spellbreak again. Loved that game. Lotta nights with my homie spent flying around clutching up duos games 🥲
I had no idea Frost did work for The Escapist! Happy to see him thriving :)
*Lifts glass of Writer's Tears whisky. Here's to better days.
Escapist, keeping in spirit with this video, I would love to point your attention towards a little community project called Operation: Harsh Doorstop. It's basically a UE4 milsim shooter core + a super extensive SDK. In fact, the modding SDK is more advanced than the game is. And the core game is free, and has no microtransactions, and is made by actually passionate people who aren't even looking to break even on it. You should keep this small game in mind and revisit it every few months, I promise it will impress you.
Man, the Escapist. I remember Zero Punctuation making a similar point once: The only thing resembling a guaranteed formula for success is a quality product, well-made. People are just starting to realise that more, despite it having been true the whole time.
The narrator should be a PI. If he's not sitting in a smoky room and wearing a fedora while recording this, I don't wanna know.
I need to postpone watching these until 10, 11 PM my local time. It seems only fitting to listen to these with a glass of whisky in hand.
I could have gotten this a week earlier? Whelp that was all the excuse I needed to sign up for escapist +
As a First time viewer, I must say this was very well written and thought out. 👍
Dude sounds like Ian McShane in Deadwood, but with fewer cuss words, I love it!
Damn… I’ve only said this 3 or 4 other times since the inception of UA-cam, but that right there is why I spend more time watching UA-cam than any other streaming or TV service!
"Call me old fashioned. Better yet, pour me one, and then you can call me whatever you like."
so good!
Excellent segment. Pure quality material. I've subbed. Kudos.
Nothing will change dawg, you'll see.
This was the first time I took a chance on this series and well, now I have to go stream all the rest of them 😂. I love the fresh take, gives me hope for the future.
I'm glad Storyteller got some love. The seeds of that game were planted over a decade ago in the Flash era. If he manages to get out a user friendly puzzle creator for it, it might really take off.
Thanks, I was looking for the title of the game!
This was a master piece monologue. Perfectly captures the wave function as its going back up.
Speaking of Old Fashioneds, if you're ever in Seattle, head over to Arthur's in Delridge, ask for Craig. He is an excellent bartender and host, his take on the Old Fashioned is the best I've ever had, and the food at Arthur's is some of the best in the city. Get the chorizo breakfast, you won't regret it.
Also, this is coming from a guy who abused whiskey a little too hard in his 20s, as in I almost immediately start rejecting it, but Craig's Old Fashioned is so smooth, my brain and stomach thought it was a different drink.
A voice to kill for love this series
Im glad you mentioned spellbreak, it was a thoroughly fun and unique battle royal that was hamstrung by epic games store exclusivity, and it died too soon. It did come to steam a year later but the hype train station was long empty by then.
this happened with music and access to cheaper DAW's a decade or so ago and its been nothing but good for finding exciting new music that is not backed by a big label trying to make it 'safe'.
I am in absolute awe at that outro.
Loving the contrast of this guy's mellow, yet just as poignant, tone to Yahtzee's (even with 'extra').. well, we'll call it established tone lol