If the publisher owns rights to a property (a sports league, character, film franchise or similar) that people will pay to play games about in itself, they’d be leaving money on the table if they invested any more in the games’ quality than to make it passable. As such, we can expect a tier of gaming to be basically AI slop filler with logos attached, developed by skeleton crews of developers in permacrunch, the deadlines giving them just enough time to make something that’s not completely awful. Public expectations will adjust to it, and soon the latest superhero/sports/sci-fi franchise game will be judged on a similar curve to fast food.
If the publisher owns rights to a property (a sports league, character, film franchise or similar) that people will pay to play games about in itself, they’d be leaving money on the table if they invested any more in the games’ quality than to make it passable. As such, we can expect a tier of gaming to be basically AI slop filler with logos attached, developed by skeleton crews of developers in permacrunch, the deadlines giving them just enough time to make something that’s not completely awful. Public expectations will adjust to it, and soon the latest superhero/sports/sci-fi franchise game will be judged on a similar curve to fast food.