[EA-3167]

In fact we have modern examples of a single person making a game that's not just much better from a technical standpoint, but actually sells more units, generates more buzz, and moves game design forward.

What those games, games like Stardew Valley, Undertale, or Animal Well can't do is create an endless income stream in the billions, and right now that's the goal of some big "AAA" publishers. They don't want to make good games, they don't want to make any sort of game really, they want to create an addictive platform for further transactions. They want GTA Online, F2P Gachas, and E-Sports.

They don't want to make Stardew Valley no matter how many units it sells, they want to make the next Fortnite. As a result they keep dumping absurd amounts of money into really sketchy projects (Concorde, Anthem, etc) and they can't seem to figure out why people aren't biting. When in doubt if you're an MBA and you see money flying out of the door and the expected return isn't being generated, it must be almost instinctive to raise prices and lay people off.

[johnnyanmac]

It's a real shame, and figuring out a solution to this is as simple as looking at the pioneers who are still top dog today. Ninteno does a mix of experiments and iteration on their titles. They make sure things are polished to a T. They focus on fostering IPs that show hope, even if they didn't make a billion dollars at launch. They focused on building a reputation for quality and not simply trying to make number go up. you don't get that kind of seal of quality overnight.

Capcom and Bandai Namco had their struggles, but overall had a similar trajectory. But many american companies don't want to think long-term portfolio anymore. They want pump and dumps. The only potential solace of such crashes is that those pump and dumps might stagnate as well.