Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 a danger to other games if it’s too successful?

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Shadow of the colossus
With no new information since the first trailer, everything’s been quiet on the GTA 6 front lately, but it could be out by this time next year and that act leaves me kind of worried? Why? Well, GTA 5 is about to break the 200 million sales mark and that is so far above any other comparable game it’s essentially in its own league. So, what happens to all the other games next year?

GTA 6 is going to suck the life out of them before they even get a chance. It’ll be like one of those giant lily pads on the David Attenborough programme, where it kills everything else around it in order to have as much space and light for itself. GTA 6 is a danger and menace to every other video game.

I’m not saying this is Rockstar’s fault at all, but I pity any game, big or small, coming out within three months (at least) of that game. It’s not just that people are going to play that, they’re going to be spending their spare money on microtransactions for GTA Online 2 and just generally playing that all the time instead of anything else.

It actually makes me glad that the Switch 2 has been delayed until next year, as at least that will offer some competition and respite. It’ll probably do very well as counter-programming but as far anything else goes…
Ratcatcher

Is Doom doomed?
I’m not particularly interested in mods, which I imagine will only be for PC anyway, but what has happened to the next Doom? I thought Doom Eternal did better than the first one and yet we’ve not heard even a whisper of it, beyond that Microsoft leak. Considering how much everything else leaks out I don’t think we’ve heard a regular source say anything about it.

That’s not a good sign and may mean it doesn’t exist at all, which would be a real shame. Speaking optimistically though, you would hope that bothering to add mod support after all this time is an attempt to reignite interest and get ready for a new announcement.

I hope so, not only because I liked the last two games but because I remember the days when id Software were the coolest developer around and I’d like to get back to that.
Garnett

Star Wars online
I love that the best way to date the Star Wars: Battlefront games is by what films were out at the time of release. I have to admit, in my head, they’re not even that old, but at 20-odd years it’s fascinating how ancient they feel now. The idea that the PlayStation 2 was mostly offline and yet three generations on and we’re pretty much always-only is crazy, especially as that was already set in stone last gen.

I do remember playing and enjoying Battlefront 2, but I never got into the EA ones. They just seemed too empty to me, with not enough content and maps. And, like GC says, the gunplay is just never that good in these Star Wars games. You want it to be satisfying but very different to firing a bullet, but it never really is.
Gordo

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Superior Fantasy
One of the problems with not knowing how well games sell is that I have no idea how well Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is doing and how it’s stacking up compared to Final Fantasy 16. It seems to be doing okay but maybe not blowing the doors off anything? I hope it’s successful though, as I am absolutely loving it.

For me, Rebirth is everything I want from a Final Fantasy game: characters I like, fun combat, and lots of weird asides. Final Fantasy 16 was a total chore as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t like anyone, I had trouble keeping track of what was going on, and the combat was boring and shallow.

So what is Final Fantasy 17 going to be? Something in a similar vein or something that borrows more from Rebirth? I’ve heard hints that it might actually be Final Fantasy 16-2 but that would be the absolute worst choice for me. Rebirth is how I like my Final Fantasy and I’m going to be very upset when the third game comes out and it’s the last one.
Dieder999

Simply the best
I’d just like to thank the guy who recommended Arise: A Simple Story on Nintendo Switch. Just finished it and I can honestly say it’s one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of game art I’ve played in a long time. This is how you tell a story. Completely without words, through exceptional music and gentle, endearing cut scenes. Subtly dealing with themes of love and death in such a profound way is no mean feat.

I’ve no idea how this game fared critically, but when all you read lately is industry gloom and doom, it’s important to play titles like this a remember that, at their very best, games are absolutely the equal art form to film and literature and inspired creations like Arise enrich us.
Paul

The sound of gaming
I 100% agree with Mr Uematsu about the current state of video game music. In most cases it’s completely indistinguishable from movie music, which might be impressive on a technical level but is very boring and uninspired to me, personally.

Video game music use to be a genre all to itself, using its own sounds and designed as something that can repeat constantly if necessary. Nowadays, it’s all just short loops, just like movies, and there’s no attempt to make anything unique that recognises you’re playing an interactive game.

Just as bad, there’s nothing memorable anymore. I couldn’t hum you a tune from any non-Japanese game in the last decade or more and that’s a real shame. It’s not that these tracks are bad, they’re just too generic.

It will be a sad day when Mr Uematsu retires completely, as there are very people that still know how to make a video game soundtrack, rather than just a movie soundtrack for games.
Solidus

Would you like to know more?
I’m really enjoying Helldivers 2 and I like how they’re slowly introduced new features, so that they become an urban legend at first, but is it just me that gets a bad feeling from them blatantly ripping off Starship Troopers?

All this Super Earth stuff isn’t funny and it completely ignores the fact that Starship Troopers is satire. I don’t see anything satirical about Starship Troopers, it’s just like it’s copying something on a surface level, without understanding it. I’m sure the developers are smart people, they don’t need to stoop to that.
Sieben

Opening time
Interesting letter from Cranston on open world games, however I don’t think open world games are disappearing.

Last year’s top selling game worldwide was Hogwarts Legacy. Also, in the top 10 were Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and Spider-Man 2.

So, the best-selling game last year was an open world game, and three of the top 10 were open world games. On top of that the most anticipated and talked about video games trailer from last year was, of course, GTA 6.

One thing that the GTA games most definitely are is open world.

Not gonna lie, I absolutely love a well-crafted open world game. From the historical landscapes and cities of Assassin’s Creed to the varied fantasy landscapes of The Witcher 3, from the recreation of the Old West in Red Dead Redemption 2 to the barren post nuclear wastelands of the Fallout series. And The Old House in Control was just brilliant! Even Far Cry 5 was great fun… until the end ruined the whole experience.

To me at least they are video games showcase. They genuinely do something no other form of art or entertainment can do. In a film or TV series or a book the narrative is 100% fixed (one Black Mirror episode and choose your own adventure books excepted).

I enjoy linear games – I recently played A Plague Tale: Requiem – but I never get lost in them the same way I do an open world game. I was ready for A Plague Tale to end after 20 hours or so. 20 hours on The Witcher 3, for example, I was just getting going. I think I could have spent even longer just exploring Touissant from Blood And Wine.

I think I spent about 90 hours on Assassin’s Creed Origins and not only did I enjoy every minute, I learnt more about the Ptolemaic dynasty and Caeser’s rise/Pompey’s fall than I ever did in the rest of my life.

Maybe Cranston in right, after all Need For Speed used to be the best-selling game series. But I think there is something about open world that may just keep going.

Anyway, have fun gaming y’all!
The Dude Abides

Inbox also-rans
Is there a review embargo for Dragon’s Dogma 2?
LoRd SiNn

GC: There’s a review embargo for everything, but we’re rarely allowed to say what it is.

Got to say the hype for Balatro is not a lie. Amazingly addictive game, in a good way, and I have never played a hand of poker in my life.
Columbo

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