Will the reception of Elden Ring and its DLC serve as a beacon for the industry, leading to further improvements?
It’s impossible to turn on the news and not feel like the entire gaming industry is collapsing before our very eyes. It seems like each week brings fresh waves of negative news: studio shutdowns, massively expensive games that fail spectacularly, and more layoffs. And it does not indicate well for what’s to come. There have been a lot of layoffs from Bungie, the studio where Destiny is developed. Additionally, there were apparently random layoffs of individuals who made substantial contributions to Destiny, and these weren’t simply small jobs.
The gaming business has undergone a significant paradigm change, in my opinion, and now players demand high-quality games. AAA publishers can’t afford to release subpar games anymore and rely only on brand recognition to sell them. If you take a glance at a few instances, such as the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which has well-known figures from popular culture who are then used to determine that live-action video games are fashionable. We may achieve great success by combining these two elements. Unfortunately, as you can see, the game is a complete financial disaster, leading to a 41% decline in income for Warner Bros. Games as a whole.
Another title that Ubisoft had high hopes for—to the point that they set aside $200 million—is Skull and Bones. Despite this, Skull and Bones allegedly failed to sell even a million copies worldwide. People just do not want to purchase subpar video games. Even if Elden Ring is very difficult or otherwise unplayable, it will still attract players since it really excels in every aspect. You can see how much money they gained with just one purchase; there are no microtransactions or extra purchases. Quite a little more than these gigantically expensive AAA games that are attempting to capitalize on their namesake status without really delivering an enjoyable gaming experience.
On the other hand, if we take a look at FromSoftware, we’ll see that they’re always searching for new employees, hosting events, publishing updates, and offering employment opportunities. So, what distinguishes FromSoftware from the competition? For what reason is their company as a whole in such disarray while they are experiencing unprecedented success? There are a lot of moving parts, including Bungie’s sale to Sony and the reorganization of the corporation by higher management, so there is no clear solution. However, Destiny’s financial situation has been worsening for some time now.
Similarly, if you look at Black Myth: Wukong which is scheduled to be released in a little more than a week, and as of right now, the game is dominating, according to the Steam charts. Even though Game Science hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary, people are rushing to the gameplay trailers to express their excitement. There aren’t any out-of-the-box, big-budget marketing initiatives, and they aren’t using celebrities or significant corporations to promote their game.
Gameplay trailers are the only source of all this excitement. People are eager to purchase it since it seems to be a fantastic game. Plus, Game Science isn’t exactly a megastudio; this will be their third game overall. However, Black Myth: Wukong has earned every single one of these praises entirely on its own alone. Nothing has been revealed about the game other than gameplay so far, thus I would be surprised if it falls short of expectations.
Whatever the case may be, this only goes to show that gamers aren’t completely ignorant. People are able to distinguish between good and bad. Unless major developers realize that making great games is most important, nothing else matters. Elden Ring and its downloadable content sales will remain anomalous till those changes.
But there is some good news: I believe the wake-up call is really taking place. Great games have been coming out of 2024, and even last year had several good ones. Games that are actually excellent are selling like hotcakes. I mean, Dragon’s Dogma 2 was amazing and the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree was fantastic, Tekken 8 was clearly a smashing success, Hades II was a major hit, and even Helldivers 2.
While things may seem dismal from an industry perspective, be assured that there will be no letup in the sheer volume of incredible games hitting the market in the near future. The bright side, however, is that gamers are always constantly seeking out those greater games. I believe that many companies will reflect on their own practices and come to the realization that regardless of market trends, the most important thing is to consistently produce high-quality games, driven by the incredible success of Elden Ring.
