In this market, high budget AAA games cannot afford to be mediocre or even good, let alone how bad they've been lately.
Alternatively, they can have a fanbase. Actual fans who will turn out for even their meh titles simply because they enjoy the product enough that its rough edges don't bother them.
Which is a problem for most AAA game studios, as they've spent almost the last 20 years telling their fanbase to go fuck off so they could court the nebulous and unpleasable "wider markets." Which requires them to release either FOMO addicting slop or "THE GREATEST GAME EVER" just to have a chance of standing out.
From Soft, for example, just dropped a new title in one of their dead series in an ever deader genre completely different than what most people want from them. But because they have a fanbase, it was still able to sell immensely and become a hit.
honestly, I feel like the "dead" genre was actually an ingenious move. in an era where so many video games controlled so differently, it's easy to see how games like Armored Core and other mech games would gain a niche audience.
fast forward to today, and everything controls exactly the same. everything has the same safe plot points, and everything has predictable gameplay mechanics. There's no variety unless you go to the indie world, so From decides to make a safe-ish gamble and pour their resources into reviving a genre that had a dedicated fan base. the recent successes of both project wingman and Ace Combat 7 also probably factored into that decision, given how those games have a similar pace and style.
As a result, people are loving it. they love it because it's fun, and the genre does work, but they also love it because it is so different from open world collectathon with a mildly neat gimmick number 483. Similar to what happened to the souls games, we are probably going to see a bunch of core-likes in the near future until THAT genre starts to get stale like the souls-like genre did.
I've already 100%'d it and loved it myself, as someone who had been waiting on a new one forever. Each of the 3 endings are now up near the top of my favorite endings of all time, even. But very few Dark Souls fans had ever played an AC before this.
However, its because they have those fans that most people even tried it to find out they loved it and the genre. If they hadn't had that pre-built trust, it would have been fractionally successful regardless of its quality.
And probably most of them would have quit on the Noob Filter Copter on the Tutorial Mission if not for the extreme FOMO push by it being such a big thing.
For a comparison, Daemon X Machina* attempted to do the literal same thing not a few years ago. It released to complete silence and barely any played it despite it being functionally identical to AC6 in most ways. It did fine enough, but not much of a ripple was made off it. A lot of which, because nobody who wasn't already into the genre even heard about it compared to anyone who knows From Soft knowing about AC6.
*It also does one thing almost in a parody opposite fashion of From Soft, which is introduce a shit ton of characters with overly long dialogue heavy cutscenes at the starting hours of the game. Its the game's biggest flaw that keeps anyone from getting into it deeper, simply because you get more than a dozen (with more to come) names introduced in the first hour with distinctive personalities you need to remember in long drawn out text only cutscenes to establish them.
Alternatively, they can have a fanbase. Actual fans who will turn out for even their meh titles simply because they enjoy the product enough that its rough edges don't bother them.
Which is a problem for most AAA game studios, as they've spent almost the last 20 years telling their fanbase to go fuck off so they could court the nebulous and unpleasable "wider markets." Which requires them to release either FOMO addicting slop or "THE GREATEST GAME EVER" just to have a chance of standing out.
From Soft, for example, just dropped a new title in one of their dead series in an ever deader genre completely different than what most people want from them. But because they have a fanbase, it was still able to sell immensely and become a hit.
Full disclosure: I'm heavily enjoying AC6.
honestly, I feel like the "dead" genre was actually an ingenious move. in an era where so many video games controlled so differently, it's easy to see how games like Armored Core and other mech games would gain a niche audience.
fast forward to today, and everything controls exactly the same. everything has the same safe plot points, and everything has predictable gameplay mechanics. There's no variety unless you go to the indie world, so From decides to make a safe-ish gamble and pour their resources into reviving a genre that had a dedicated fan base. the recent successes of both project wingman and Ace Combat 7 also probably factored into that decision, given how those games have a similar pace and style.
As a result, people are loving it. they love it because it's fun, and the genre does work, but they also love it because it is so different from open world collectathon with a mildly neat gimmick number 483. Similar to what happened to the souls games, we are probably going to see a bunch of core-likes in the near future until THAT genre starts to get stale like the souls-like genre did.
I've already 100%'d it and loved it myself, as someone who had been waiting on a new one forever. Each of the 3 endings are now up near the top of my favorite endings of all time, even. But very few Dark Souls fans had ever played an AC before this.
However, its because they have those fans that most people even tried it to find out they loved it and the genre. If they hadn't had that pre-built trust, it would have been fractionally successful regardless of its quality.
And probably most of them would have quit on the Noob Filter Copter on the Tutorial Mission if not for the extreme FOMO push by it being such a big thing.
For a comparison, Daemon X Machina* attempted to do the literal same thing not a few years ago. It released to complete silence and barely any played it despite it being functionally identical to AC6 in most ways. It did fine enough, but not much of a ripple was made off it. A lot of which, because nobody who wasn't already into the genre even heard about it compared to anyone who knows From Soft knowing about AC6.
*It also does one thing almost in a parody opposite fashion of From Soft, which is introduce a shit ton of characters with overly long dialogue heavy cutscenes at the starting hours of the game. Its the game's biggest flaw that keeps anyone from getting into it deeper, simply because you get more than a dozen (with more to come) names introduced in the first hour with distinctive personalities you need to remember in long drawn out text only cutscenes to establish them.