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[Various Artists]

This does not strike me as great news at face value.

 

[KillLaCam]

welp

 

[PshycoNinja]

Yes. Lets go back to the days when they re-released games for players to get extra features. Those were the days. International Final Mix Edition let's go!

 

[Aters]

DO NOT WANT

I get the feeling they are doing multiplayer mainly to chase that micro transaction monkey in a big way.

Think of all the money they can make with costumes alone.

Idol Master has been printing money for Bandai Namco long before GaaS becomes a thing. If Japanese companies are selling costumes, they are just doing what they've been doing for a decade.

 

[Inuhanyou]

and the other shoe drops. Fuck.

I hope they get huge backlash for this

 

[Crossing Eden]

By SEs definition, Automata is a gaas game. People need to calm down.

It has dlc expansions?

Yeah, but people are freaking out because apparently the multiplayer mode in FFXV and Assassin's Creed are gonna ruin the game.

Yea it's a bit of an overreaction due to strange assumptions.

Ye infamous didnt exist...

Infamous felt more like a holdover of the jak and daxter era than the Ubisoft era in terms of design compared to Horizon which wears it's modern influences on it's sleeve.

 

[dr_rus]

All this means is:

More single DLC/Expansions/updates
More multiplayer components.

No, what this means is that they plan to substitute expensive single player world building with a headset and a network server which will allow you to talk to you friends and have fun. I feel like this is the key takeaway from the recent popularity of GAAS games -- you slap together some simple (but it must be good) gameplay loop and launch it. No need for anything like story, voices, whatever. People will be having fun from interacting with each other so this is essentially a paid telephone instead of a game.

 

[randomscribbles]

This is sadly near to medium term future for gaming. Single player games will get less and less AAA focus until the inevitable rise of netflix-style subscription models take over the industry. From there, single player games will become used as "free" filler products for subscribers to round out the MMO and games-as-a-service headliners.

The exceptions will be first parties, who already work on a similar model, just with licence fees in place of subscriptions, and indie devs.

 

[Shredderi]

Heh. I think around now is the turning point in the industry where I become an old man yelling at clouds because I haven't been able to jump in on this GAAS trend at all. There are still loads of games I want coming out, but I can see this time (approximately) being the turning point where devs whose input I've loved start rapidly going for the GAAS angle, leaving me in the dust. It's not gonna happen instantly, and I still have loads of great "traditional" gaming memories ahead of me, but I can definitely see it end more or less in the not so distant future. And that's why you don't let gaming be your only major hobby.

 

[Wolf Parade]

I actually don't have a problem with the DLC, post-game add-ons side of GAAS. Yeah it can get costly, but It's another way to get more mileage out of something I really like.

Multiplayer everything on the other hand... That's where I GTFO. Games are my solo unwind experience and I would like to keep it that way.

 

[Nirolak]

Sony's latest new IP is Horizon: Zero Dawn. What does that say about videogames?

First parties have different incentives than third parties. Third parties want to maximize profits and long term player retention and engagement. First parties want to offer content that third parties aren't providing to help sell hardware.

 

[capitalCORN]

Told ya'll.

 

[Auto-Reply]

It's been like that for a couple of years now industry wide, at least that's how I felt about it. It's one of the reasons why I play less and less games.

I think publishers/dev studios are going to choke each other out with service games until only a few remain.

 

[Death Penalty]

As long as the singleplayer experiences don't suffer, I'm totally okay with them introducing multiplayer elements into their key franchises. In particular, I'm hungry for co-op experiences in games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. If these games continue to deliver on the singleplayer component, multiplayer elements strike me as a welcome addition.

Of course, if franchises like FF continue to decline in quality, I'll probably just stop purchasing them altogether so the GAAS focus won't really affect me. Doing what they did with FFXV is the worst-case scenario in all this.

 

[Zyrox]

I, for one, am thrilled to see Taro's take on battle royale.

Spoiler

half joking

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

No, what this means is that they plan to substitute expensive single player world building with a headset and a network server which will allow you to talk to you friends and have fun. I feel like this is the key takeaway from the recent popularity of GAAS games -- you slap together some simple (but it must be good) gameplay loop and launch it. No need for anything like story, voices, whatever. People will be having fun from interacting with each other so this is essentially a paid telephone instead of a game.

No it doesnt. You're assuming the worst and not paying attention to what Square Enix has been doing, or what they've announced for the future.

What they just said is true, the company as a whole will make more money from multiplayer games than single player games, but they also make more money from mobile games than console games, that doesnt mean they stopped making console games, and it doesnt mean they'll stop making single player games. In fact, they just announced Left Alive and confirmed its single player only.

 

[Shredderi]

Maybe after a decade or two of GAAS era we'll see a "traditional game renaissance" like we see a retro style renaissance right now.

 

[15strong]

Gaf i going through a mid life crisis a the moment. Life is just passing us by with all the multiplayer and micro transactions.

 

[Ray Down]

Maybe after a decade or two of GAAS era we'll see a "traditional game renaissance" like we see a retro style renaissance right now.

What do you mean?

 

[Mathieran]

I knew this was coming. Hopefully there will still be enough quality single player games for me in the future. I just have zero interest in playing with others unless they're friends, and none of my friends really play games.

 

[Lothars]

Of course, if franchises like FF continue to decline in quality, I'll probably just stop purchasing them altogether so the GAAS focus won't really affect me. Doing what they did with FFXV is the worst-case scenario in all this.

You mean make a great game with continued support? Yeah that's not a worst case scenario. Worst Case Scenario is them not making anymore singleplayer games.

 

[Shredderi]

What do you mean?

There has been a massive resurgence of older style games that went away for a long time. Thank god for indies.

 

[Steroyd]

Fucking Square, plz did you not learn your lesson last gen when you went for broke chasing COD to the point you was shocked that Bravely Default sold well.

Square built their empire on SP RPG's or genre's that had RPG elements in them, stick to your expertise and you'll be rewarded like Nier Automata for example. Fucking hell.

 

[Thabass]

Why are people shocked by this, they said they were focusing on GaaS going forward before.

This. Not sure why this is surprising news.

 

[AmuroChan]

The other side to that coin is that AAA single player games cost la lot of money to develop. It's definitely a risk from the publisher's perspective. And they agree because we're seeing less and less AAA SP games from all the major players anyway. It's an issue many need to acknowledge if they're voicing concerns over this.

There has to be a saturation point though I would think. If every AAA game is becoming GAAS, there're only so many hours to go around for the average gamer. Plus these games are going to be dependent on the size of the community to keep the game going unlike a SP game where even if it fails commercially, you can still play and enjoy it. Games like Battleborn and Lawbreakers are basically going to be unplayable once the remaining userbase leaves.

 

[mortal]

Come oooon

 

[Kaako]

No, what this means is that they plan to substitute expensive single player world building with a headset and a network server which will allow you to talk to you friends and have fun. I feel like this is the key takeaway from the recent popularity of GAAS games -- you slap together some simple (but it must be good) gameplay loop and launch it. No need for anything like story, voices, whatever. People will be having fun from interacting with each other so this is essentially a paid telephone instead of a game.

Yeah this is how I see these popular social game trends these days. Basically create a sandbox and drop players in and have them create their own fun. While it might be enough for some, it leaves me desiring much much more. Hard pass.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Even Nintendo is in on this so why not SE? Nintendo's newest ips are multi-player focused games.

 

[Ray Down]

This. Not sure why this is surprising news.

Then again a lot on Gaf thought Ghost Recon would bomb but were shocked on how success it was.

Shows how out of touch gaf is.

 

[Renegade Frost]

No doubt future FF's have a stronger multiplayer component, including Tabata new IP.

maybe they can finance a The Last STory sequel soon

 

[Ray Down]

maybe they can finance a The Last STory sequel soon

That's on Nintendo.

Sakuguchi is fine making mobile games and comment on FF for the rest of his life.

 

[120v]

it's 2017... focusing on single player extravaganzas won't pay the water bill anymore. not for mega publishers anyway

though i'm not sure why they feel a need to claim this "bold new realm". sort of like saying loot boxes are the next big thing, can you expect them in FFXVI? well maybe, we're certainly dipping our toes in those waters

 

[jrcbandit]

Guess I'll be playing a lot less games in the future. I don't play a single GAAS currently and don't plan on starting any in the future other than dabbling in PC Destiny 2 ;p.

 

[Shadow Broker]

Uh... ok... Final Fantasy 15 was good enough to bring me back to the table but not good enough to deal with this. Part of me doesn't care as long as we still get games like OctoPath Traveler on the Switch.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Nirolak, if FFXVI is being developed by the FFXIV team, should we expect FFXVI to be heavily online focused?

 

[Asd202]

First parties have different incentives than third parties. Third parties want to maximize profits and long term player retention and engagement. First parties want to offer content that third parties aren't providing to help sell hardware.

MS didn't get the memo

 

[Renegade Frost]

Fucking Square, plz did you not learn your lesson last gen when you went for broke chasing COD to the point you was shocked that Bravely Default sold well.

Square built their empire on SP RPG's or genre's that had RPG elements in them, stick to your expertise and you'll be rewarded like Nier Automata for example. Fucking hell.

Actually RPGs could do with a much more robust multiplayer

 

[Necron]

Then I will not partake in it - very simple. I don't need your Destiny wannabe-clones, Square-Enix.

 

[Ray Down]

I hope multiplayer doesn't just mean online, but local to SE.

 

[blakep267]

RIP Tomb Raider 3 right?

Tomb raider 1 had a multiplayer team deathmatch mode. Wasn't half bad

 

[Renegade Frost]

That's on Nintendo.

Sakuguchi is fine making mobile games and comment on FF for the rest of his life.

Sakaguchi doesnt actually have a development team.

Thats where Square Enix would come into play

Hire Silicon Knights/Bravely Default team and get busy.

I hope multiplayer doesn't just mean online, but local to SE.

Only if its co-op.

 

[Boombloxer]

I thought we reached the point where we realized tacked on multiplayer does nobody any favours.

I feel like investing in a great New Game Plus mode is more cost effective. People aren't looking to play B or C tier multiplayer experiences.

This is actually wrong. Most players don't even finish, let alone twice.

I buy games on a individual case by case so if they sell games pandering to multiplayer than I will just skip it. Make a complete game and add whatever you want post. Ffxv was a incomplete game with decent post content but shouldn't be the business model.

Prioritize GAAS over SP and you are dead to me.
R.I.Pieces.

Cool. I no longer need to buy Square Enix games.

Man, all these developers saving me money by making shit, microtransaction riddled games I actively avoid...

I don't know whether to thank them or be sad...

Yep, seeing where this industry is heading with MP-only games, lootboxes, microtransactions, kids yelling on twitch and whatnot.. this sounds realistic.


The good thing is I'll finally be able to play my gargantuan backlog.

Sure, but this is the industry path. It's not rocket science.

 

[titiklabingapat]

I think we will still get sp games though. The industry is big enough and diverse enough to have both. Look at the movie industry. Every big studio has a big summer blockbuster but it hasn't stopped arthouse or low budget indie films from being created and having an audience.

 

[Shadow Broker]

it's 2017... focusing on single player extravaganzas won't pay the water bill anymore. not for mega publishers anyway

The Witcher 3 seems to have paid CDProject Red water bill quite well. This is just a case of a company who's made and are making Single player RPG looking at all the money they're not making by not releasing games that follows the GAAS model.

 

[GeoramA]

Yikes. Those are the words I never want to hear a game company say.

 

[Eusis]

That Square has been dead and buried for years, and it's not ever coming back.

Glimmers of that show up every so often, but at this point it's a fortunate event, not something to count on. That Square (and that Enix) largely began going away in the PS2 era.

Granted that also means we should still see some solid SP stuff from them, but they make make MP a higher focus, likely stuff like Deus Ex is largely gone for being too big of a thing to tackle (though there would probably be some merit to trying something like that that's MP and a team effort to utilize different skill sets, but that's one of those things that probably sounds great on paper, could work really well with a good team of other players, and would likely turn into typical Destiny strikes with randoms), and most likely someone like me would be serviced mainly with the random Bravely Defaults and Octopaths that come along.

Still, I hope they take a good long look at games like Divinity, especially as that's a good example for bringing back turn based FF (though it'd probably end up more like an MMO, or FFXII with players controlling other team members optionally.)

EDIT: And for that kind of blend of cynicism and hope: they COULD want to do this, TRY to do this, but have it largely dud outside of a few exceptions if that and fall back to either what they've been doing before or focusing more on that with a side of MP and Games as service. See: the western development push of the PS3/360 years, and how they were really wanting to push synergy between multimedia efforts that seem to have mostly been left behind and forgotten outside of the usual short run manga/anime and merchandise angles.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Hiroyuki Ito: Still in the basement

 

[PshycoNinja]

The Witcher 3 seems to have paid CDProject Red water bill quite well. This is just a case of a company who's made and are making Single player RPG looking at all the money they're not making by not releasing games that follows the GAAS model.

The Witcher 3 would fall under GAAS with Square. It has DLC and expansions, gets post-launch patches/support, and the devs are communicating with their base about the game. That's what Square is talking about here.

 

[Wagram]

Good thing Square-Enix developed single player games aren't good enough these days to care about this transition.

The best Square-Enix titles are made by outside companies like Silicon Studio and Platinum Games (though there are notable exceptions like DQ).

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

and the other shoe drops. Fuck.

I hope they get huge backlash for this

I mean, they're most successful FF is an MMO. They're doing a pretty good job their.