Finns det någon anledning att vara bekymrad över hur ett genomsnittligt AAA-spel säljer i förhållande till utvecklingskostnaderna? Ja, det verkar faktiskt så. I den senaste upplagan av GI Microcast berättar analytikern Chris Dring att hans data visar en europeisk försäljningsminskning av nya spel i Europa med hela 29% under 2024. Detta beror åtminstone delvis på att 2023 var ett väldigt fint spelår, men det finns tyvärr även större problem.
"Sales of new games in 2024 versus new games in 2023, and let's remember 2023 was a big year for new games, were down 29%, almost a third, year-on-year. Next year's the return of big blockbuster new games, even from February when you've got that sort of triple threat of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Avowed (I know Avowed isn't that big) and Monster Hunter Wilds all in the same window. And there's all the games that were announced during The Game Awards, there's an Elden Ring coming out, and there's a Grand Theft Auto, which obviously is the big thing."
Han verkar relativt övertygad av sina uppgifter, och pekar specifikt på Dragon Age: The Veilguard som en fallstudie i hur utmanande AAA-marknaden är just nu:
"There's a new Nintendo console, and there's gonna be loads and loads and loads of games next year, but I'm alarmed by this data because, despite the fact that there weren't a lot of major titles, the big Star Wars game of the year only got to number 45 in a year where there wasn't a lot of games coming out. In terms of the traditional big blockbuster Christmas games, you had Call of Duty, which did well, and you had Dragon Age, which did not. That is disappointing, though, that position. That was it. Dragon Age had the market to itself and it couldn't find an audience, and that really is scary as we move into the following year."
Vad tror du själv, är tiden ute för så kallade AAA-spel?
