Below are my thoughts -
It's not a knock on the games that are so wonderfully complex and long; it's an observation that can help developers optimize the best single player experience they can provide.
We've debated on this topic countless times on the Coli. I've been a vocal poster regarding my viewing most long single player "cinematic"(is that a bad word now?) experiences as a chore way before the end.
The fact that developers see that there is a pool of gamers who do want single player experiences but backed in a much more digestible package is promising.
Hopefully, brehs realize now that people who have this position aren't just trying to troll.
The thing is imo of course, it's not a problem of something being "cinematic", there's just the fact that there are:
- LOTS of other games out vying for our attention(every other week a big game drops for certain platforms)
- Other things people do outside of gaming(work, school, relationships, hobbies etc.)
- Filler in games that are there for purposes of padding the whole world thereby players getting bored halfway
- etc.(legitmately boring games)
When you say these "cinematic" games players aren't finishing, it's often in a thread about a specific PS4 exclusive implying that players are ONLY not finishing these games and that every other game outside of the
cinematic games label are being finished in due time so cinematic games are inherently flawed/badly designed because gamers don't like that...
What is a cinematic game? A game with good cutscenes? RDR 2 has cinematics as does Gears 5, Quantam Break or Halo 5. Just because a game blends gameplay/cinematics effortlessly and looks so good doesn't mean it's somehow losing players. That's a myopic way of seeing things imo. Plus the video doesn't even mention "cinematic" games"
It basically presupposes that people are finishing your Assassin's Creeds, your Red Dead Redemptions, your Resident Evils, your Destiny 2s, Witcher 3 and other big AAA games because they're not quote unquote
cinematic. That's somewhat untrue and there is data to back this up.
God of War for example, had over 50% of gamers finish it and it was a lengthy game. 50% of players finished Spider-Man(PS4). 34% of players finished Persona 5(A 100 hour JRPG).
More Than 50% of People Who Own God of War Have Completed the Game's Story
RDR2 and Assassin's Creed data reveals how few people complete games - GameRevolution
The biggest one is Detroit:Become Human which is what I'd call quite literally a CINEMATIC game had the BIGGEST completion rate(61%).
Detroit: Become Human | 61.7%
Quantic Dream’s latest PlayStation 4 title had one of the higher averages in recent years. While not a short game by any means, the French developer impressively managed to keep people invested due to its multiple characters and branching pathways. Also helping matters is that the studio has garnered a fan base that knows what to expect from their type of adventure games, so many likely walked into it with unrealistic expectations.
However,
Heavy Rain also boasted an over 55 percent completion rate, so clearly David Cage knows how to get people to stick around. Although this number from the trophy data is a little different from the percentage Cage
threw around back in 2011.
Looking at this list without context, it gives the impression that people just don’t finish games. But when looking at more games and trophy or achievement data, even something as “low” as a 50 percent completion rate is high for most titles. It’s a unique challenge for the medium because if only half of the people finished watching Avengers: Infinity War, it would be incredibly abnormal. But for a game like God of War, it’s a good number. Games face this challenge because they usually take more hours to finish and also require an active role in seeing that ending. With all of that work going into aspects most people won’t see, it makes all that work that goes into packing games with more content a little questionable.
Contrary to that, Crash Bandicoot N sane Trilogy(A simple platformer) which is not a cinematic game shows only
12% completion. RDR2 only
22%. The takeaway from this is that people have too much games/things to compete with for their time and therefore it's only natural some games don't get finished by a lot of players. Does this mean they will
never get finished? Do players not have backlogs? The main thing I'd disagree with from what I'm inferring from your posts(just from this post and past ones) is that somehow devs need to scrap/lessen single player "cinematic" experiences to cater towards multiplayer because that's something you may hang onto way longer. Or that cinematic games are a waste of dev time because players aren't finishing them. An argument can be made that players aren't reaching an arbitrary level in MP games and therefore don't even get to really see/experience weapons/skills as they only played for a few hours.
I don't think that's a smart option either as there's loads of games with MP that gets DROPPED heavy. Gears 5 active numbers DROPPED substantially compared to other shooters. Halo MCC numbers on Steam cratered after a week. At the end of the day, should devs not make a beautifully crafted experience because they can't get every single purchase to finish it? Does every book published gets read in full by each buyer?
That's just how things are going to be when it's consumable media for someone at the comfort of their home.
Plenty of shooters/MP games have big drops after a couple of weeks and someone could easily write up an article/make a video about how players don't stick to MP games and therefore what can be done about it. I don't agree with Amy Henning's proposal to make 6~8 hour games because it may be better for some players. It may be better for
someone but it will be worse for
another. Game too short? "wtf $60 for this!? Pass!" Game too long? "smh this game is padded to death" (looking at AC games).
I think if anything the big AAA open world games are the ones that are mostly not finished by gamers, not the God of Wars or TLOUs as you seem to want to imply(again from what I've seen you say on this before.)
I never finished GTA V, Witcher 3, most JRPGS I've started, a few short games like Wolfenstein all for different reasons. I did finish God of War, FFVIIR, Spider-Man, TLOU, UC4/UC LL, Persona 5, Detroit and a few others. I
didn't finish Bloodborne, Ratchet and Clank(got to the very end) and Horizon Zero Dawn. The three
least cinematic games. Didn't finish Forza Horizon 4 either.
That's my thoughts.
