Comment on Tim Sweeney says Epic Games Store is open to devs using generative AI
Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year agoI never meant small in terms of profits, I only ever meant in terms of development resources, that’s what generative AI will impact. The most humble games can become huge hits, see: Stardew Valley. With a better cost proposition, we might just see those psychological surreal point-and-click adventure games. Also do mind that Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition isn’t a gacha, it’s a scaled down port of the game of the same name that’s divided into ten chapters; the first one’s free, but the other nine will cost you. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, a free-to-play port of Final Fantasy VII too will be episodic, but it will have a gacha for weapons and costumes.
TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Well I did mean small in terms of profits, because that’s what directs the investment of big companies. So, yeah, I don’t think so. Farming Sims weren’t even seen as a money maker until Stardew Valley became a hit. Sure they can chase trends, but even if it was cheaper it’s pretty unlikely that they’d bother investing in genres they can’t see big returns in. Even with AI, it’s not like they can put “psychological surreal point-and-click adventure game” on a prompt and get a finished product that easy, they will still need to invest in developers for it, nevermind all the marketing that big companies do for their releases. It’s more likely they’d release yet another gacha.
Even your examples of it being done different are still the highest profile releases from that company, not some quirky novel idea. They were betting big on FFXV when they released that, and they are doing this for FFVII these times.
The AAA companies are too risk-averse to take out the indie scene, they would rather insist on trends until they stagnate.
Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I was never arguing that it would be effortless, but easier. I also feel like the marketing budgets are kind of beside the point here of development costs, but hey, generative AI might help with that too.
I don’t know, they also released Diofield Chronicle, Triangle Tactics, and Octopath Traveler were smaller budget games with no pre-existing IP that were also pretty experimental. What they make may not be your “psychological surreal point-and-click adventure game”, but it might be something just as adventurous.
TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Eh, a couple new RPG IPs from a company known for making RPGs is hardly such daring venture. If anything, they used to make more of those around the PS1 era. AI may make game development easier, but it won’t make such a drastic branching out likely.
Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Some people consider releasing new RPG IPs pitching your money right in the trash. That’s pretty adventurous to me. Even if it doesn’t cause a drastic branching out, more companies dipping their toes might make quite the ripple.