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Unfortunately this is a universal software dev problem and not just games. :(

And that also translates to wasted money too, which gets troublesome. Feel like things changed in 2010s. Btw, unrelated but you have a cute pfp...

There’s some that’s going to deny this even though the skull and crossbones development being a large issue due to mismanagement is so well known at this point

Do people think everyone builds their graphics engines from scratch.

Even worse are those blame Sweet Baby Inc or DEI initiatives when this week has made it quite clear that they're disposable scapegoats...

📌

That isn't clear to just anyone with a brain. The layman wouldn't even consider management. Don't be so condescending.

What do managers even do? Like everyone has a story of a manager calling them in on short notice, or having to find their own replacements if they can't go to work. And that's basic manager shit, if they aren't doing that they aren't doing the other stuff.

Yeah, I’m still gonna be supportive as fuck regarding stylized games akin to Hi-Fi Rush, Marvel Rivals, Antonblast and Mouthwashing but to be fair I am also quite fond of Crime Boss Rockay City which is slightly more realistic looking than most non AAA games. youtu.be/x8pSziKBTco?...

Some companies have, for example the Unreal engine had to sprout up from somewhere, but i agree with your point. Also indie games like Balatro, Hollow Knight and Undertale are really showing up the big studios for what they are

Now There's Mismanagement for you! The stories I've heard...

DLSS, FSR, XeSS, Frame gen, all of that stuff? That's pretty much on auto-pilot. Game devs don't code that stuff either. Those are plugins and tools provided by Nvidia, Intel and AMD. You slap those into the game, tweak them and they clean up graphics all on their own. No big budget increase there.

Modern character work isn't just textures. It's a thousandfold increase in polygon count from 20 years ago, complex layered HD textures (normal, specular, etc), and potentially hundreds of animations/sounds/etc. Modern AAA budgets aren't just "better graphics", but this oversimplifies too far.

That is BARELY not a lie on their part. Yes, technically it's more work for the artist. But in a lot of cases thats a 4th multires subsurf layer/texture layer so you can sculpt/paint more detail with a pre-textured brush. We're talking 1 click to add the layer and an hour or two more sculpting.

Hopefully :'D

For another example, Eriksholm is by an even smaller team and the cutscenes look like prestige TV. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5sW...

And it isn't like they are paying a premium to keep any of the talented artists/coders that made the game. It is an open secret that almost everyone outside the C-suite gets axed after the game is done, and the next end of year financial report is due.

Seriously unless is studio is building out their own custom engine (& fewer & fewer of them are doing that) you're just having developers build/modify custom rigs & routines within a development environment.

Mismanagement, obscene amounts of marketing, and padding out executive bonuses that no one who actually made the game gets.

So you're telling me that games being in development hell for 5+ years with repeated restarts and shifting directions is going to make something expensive? Nah it must be pronouns or a trans NPC or something.

I mean I still kinda think chasing the dragon of photo-realism sucks too, but it's not the reason THIS issue sucks.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like AAA games have been looking worse lately. The fidelity is there, but environments and characters look really plasticky and unnatural compared to games from the ps3/ps4 era. It's... Pretty clear why, haha.

The videogame industry 100% bought into the 'rockstar developer' myth and this is how useless bellends like Todd Howard end up in significant positions of power. They're now in a desperate race to avoid consequences of this by mass layoffs. Its unsustainable.