Given all that, you can understand that my excitement about the upcoming November release of Grand Theft Auto VI is limited. Netflix doing an exclusive preview of the game baffles me, as I can't remember them having done that for other games. But what puzzles me the most is the general feeling of absolute certainty: Everybody is sure that Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch in November without the slightest technical problem, it will be the greatest game ever, it will immediately sell millions of copies, it will suck all money out of the video game market for weeks, so nobody else can have a successful game launch in November, and shortly after GTA 6 will switch on a live service multiplayer online part of the game that will not have any server problems and somehow not cannibalize GTA 5 Online either.
Personally, I am not so certain that all this will be true. In this day and age, who would believe that a major game studio like Blizzard Activision, EA, Bioware, or Ubisoft could be able to launch a multi-million player, multi-platform game without a hitch? Why would we automatically dismiss this possibility for most game studios, but be absolutely certain that Rockstar will do it? Why are we so certain that GTA 6 will be considered the best part of the series, when we have lots of examples of game series where the latest incarnation is considered less good than previous parts? And why would all our criticism of live service games and all our experience with them failing not apply to GTA 6 Online?
I don't doubt at all that GTA 6 will make truckloads of money. But I am open to the possibility that things could go wrong during launch, or that ultimately GTA 6 will not be considered the best game ever of the series. If parent company Take-Two Interactive would know the recipe of the secret sauce that makes any sequel better than the previous games, why didn't they use that sauce on Civilization VII or Borderlands 4? My general impression of the state of the video game industry is that there is no way to guarantee a surefire success, even for a $1 billion game.
I think the why is a good reason. Because they have been consistent over decades. I get that the industry as a whole hasn't built that reputation, but Rockstar has. I think when a person or company earns your trust you don't start to distrust them because another person or another company loses it. That to me is like incels hating women because one women one time did something negative to them - doesn't make any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean things can't go wrong, no. However, I think it means that people aren't being delusional by thinking that Rockstar will improve on GTAV, which was an absolute masterpiece of these types of games. I watched the recent trailer and it looks iterative, meaning it should be another masterpiece as long as something core wasn't hidden.
I haven't heard anyone making declarative statements that the game will launch without any issues. It will absolutely sell and break records for the same reasons Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden, etc are always among the top selling games each year.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of people who play video games are casuals who don't engage with online communities and just play their 1 or 2 video games they buy each year. GTA is a once in a decade event for those gamers and they will buy it just like they bought the other ones.