In recent years, we’ve been hearing more and more about the major failures of AAA games — sometimes, even advanced graphics and popular licenses can’t help big releases. Why is this happening?
Experts from Midia Research believe that the situation is partly due to the lack of free time among modern gamers — competition in the entertainment sector is rapidly increasing, and AAA games often offer vast open worlds and “100 hours of gameplay.”
Analysts note that many users have no desire to spend weeks, or even months, of their lives on a single story-driven game just to find out how it ends — especially when friends and acquaintances are inviting them to have fun in popular and free services.
According to the statistics provided by experts, on average, gamers on consoles and PCs spend no more than 10 hours a week playing games. At the same time, 40% of PC gamers and 36% of console gamers dedicate less than 5 hours a week to their favorite pastime.
Researchers also point out that AAA games are competing for the attention of the modern audience with other popular media, such as TikTok and YouTube, not to mention online streaming platforms with a flow of new films and series. As a result, players’ attention is becoming increasingly scattered, especially with the growing number of large-scale projects.
Since AAA games often require more time and engagement from players, analysts predict that relatively shorter AA releases might become a more sustainable direction for the traditional gaming industry.
Earlier, PlayStation veteran Shawn Layden urged colleagues to stop trying to create overly long games and return to the standards of PlayStation and PlayStation 2. In his opinion, the audience will be more willing to complete shorter games, and developers will stop spending astronomical amounts on them and endlessly complaining about rising budgets.
