CAntonyBaker

Absolutely, it’s probably the largest factor as to why these annual releases are still being made. People want them so they buy them. It’s a simple market of supply and demand; as long as we show demand, there will be a supply.

Thank you for taking the time to read and for the compliment. I very much have felt the same way recently. Sometimes still buying games because they’re on sale and not even playing them, it’s very strange. I wrote a piece on my own blog about how I’m wanting to turn this mindset around for my own benefit and learn to enjoy things for what they are. Learn to love something I held very dear for so long.

I think it’s a key point to be made that a lot of developers are trying to voice online that if a game is delayed it should be seen as a good thing! It means the experience needs refining, improving and making ready for a quality release without imposing crunch. I understand that it’s difficult sometimes depending on the company when funds are potentially low, publishers might impose strict deadlines in order to receive the next stage of funding or people are working on temporary contracts. It’s definitely not something that should continue but it does inform the reasoning behind these sorts of deadlines. Hopefully something to improve in the coming years as more understanding and awareness is generated through the consumers and audience.

Yes, I don’t think we “need” annual release games but there is a definite trend to be seen over the past decade at least so there must be a reason that they keep selling. I agree with you that the concern should be on employees but then again companies such as EA and Ubisoft have so many IPs at their disposal that there hopefully is fair opportunity to move laterally between teams (within reason) to keep from stagnating.

I think we need to stop classifying games as either AAA or Indie now as the line is so blurred in terms of the quality of experience that can be had in the wide variety of titles out there now. Hellblade for instance is made by a reasonably small studio, with lower budgets than most, sold for lower than most and still a very well regarded game play experience and narrative.

There’s definitely a need for more diversity within the industry in terms of mechanics, experiences and stories and that will hopefully come to fruition as developers hopefully encourage the hiring of more diverse professionals suitable for the roles in order to draw from various experiences across the world.
Whilst I understand what you’re saying regards the similarity between games released currently, I think it helps to breed competition and hopefully more creativity further down the line. If we take Call of Duty for example, if they were the only FPS around then they wouldn’t have to even try to implement new modes as there is no one competing with them. With Battlefield alone posing a credible threat to profits they need to think about what they’re producing. Monopoly on titles is a bad thing and means there is no reason for ingenuity. Equally, a lot of developers need to make the “standard” games as they sell well meaning they can generate funds to develop the titles they truly want to.

It’s tough to say that Sports games are the only games that won’t incur burnout and definitely not appropriate to say that they’re the only annual release we “deserve”. I think it would be interesting to see a sport game use the expansion or subscription model to see the success and application within the industry but people love all sorts of games and large portions of the audience genuinely love to see their favourite franchises regularly receive fresh instalments.

I don’t think anybody here thinks Blizzard are annually releasing games, they understand it’s a subscription service as both comments clarified. It was more framing the question if publishers are seeing a successful ongoing income and making their own potential version. With titles looking to move to subscription services it’s hard to say that MMOs won’t have influence as well as services such as Netflix and Spotify etc.