Support NeoGAF

[onQ123]

For instance if EA was to create a shared universe you would be able to go from The Sims into Need For Speed by pulling up next to someone & asking if they want to race or you can walk onto a basketball court & start a pick up game to start NBA Streets.

 

[Husky]

The issue there is that EA wouldn't sell those games as one package, they'd sell them separately. You could only connect the games you bought individually. However, these games also don't appeal to the same audiences. Most people who want to play an EA Sports game don't wanna send their players home for a session of The Sims. There might be someplace this feature can work, but in this case it'd probably just be an expensive feature that only a very limited set of players would ever utilize. Even in other games, players would be angry that rather than build a feature-rich game, a developer chose to separate their features into multiple games, which act as expansion packs of each other. I guess that's a lot like The Sims.

The minigames in the Yakuza series can be oddly feature-rich, and offer drastically different gameplay than the rest of the game. They're the sort of games where you really could just walk onto a basketball court and shoot hoops (do any of those games have this yet?). I think that's the best way to realize this idea, since all those features are built right into the game, and don't require owning another title.

 

[onQ123]

The issue there is that EA wouldn't sell those games as one package, they'd sell them separately. You could only connect the games you bought individually. However, these games also don't appeal to the same audiences. Most people who want to play an EA Sports game don't wanna send their players home for a session of The Sims. There might be someplace this feature can work, but in this case it'd probably just be an expensive feature that only a very limited set of players would ever utilize. Even in other games, players would be angry that rather than build a feature-rich game, a developer chose to separate their features into multiple games, which act as expansion packs of each other. I guess that's a lot like The Sims.

The minigames in the Yakuza series can be oddly feature-rich, and offer drastically different gameplay than the rest of the game. They're the sort of games where you really could just walk onto a basketball court and shoot hoops (do any of those games have this yet?). I think that's the best way to realize this idea, since all those features are built right into the game, and don't require owning another title.

It wouldn't be sold as one package because it will only be a demo for people who don't own the games.

But also you could watch your friend who actually has the game from your game. Like the NBA Street game could have Sims characters in the audience.

 

[FingerBang]

For instance if EA was to create a shared universe you would be able to go from The Sims into Need For Speed by pulling up next to someone & asking if they want to race or you can walk onto a basketball court & start a pick up game to start NBA Streets.

The thing is, it's not that simple. We've had several experiments like this in the past:

PlayStation Home was once supposed to be a place where you could meet people and then play games. Unfortunately, it never got to that point, I think, because integrating all of them would have required massive work.

Would it be an MMO that you can add sections where you can play games? That service would not be cheap. That is what most companies are trying to build with the idea of a metaverse. And they're all failing because no one wants to accept someone else's standard over which they have no control. To use your example, EA should maintain an extra service, an extra game, in which you have a character and jump around to meet people and play games. The dream is this seamless experience of a GTA in which I go to the races and race. Or I go to the courtyard and play? It sounds fantastic.

Except, no one wants to do that. If you want to play a game, you're probably launching the game or opening Steam and inviting/joining your friends. That is as seamless as it gets. That service above would cost a fuckton and would not be seamless since you'd still have to install and load every single game. It'd be costly padding between the fun.

The Metaverse, as a mainstream idea, is failing. Only crypto bros are interested in it. I'm not pulling this out of my ass, I worked for a company that does that for almost 2 years, and I've seen millions being burned into something no one wants.

I can see something like that working only if Fortnite and Roblox decide to create "live" lobbies where you can meet people and play different games. But it won't be a seamless, big game; it would be more like a small room where you can talk to people and have different experiences.

The best you can have right now is open-world games with a big number of nicely crafted mini-games.

TL;DR
Companies have no incentive to build an MMO that would work as padding between their real games.
Players might think they want the padding, but they don't

 

[Kataploom]

I can smell NFTs worshippers around your post, OP lol

 

[LazyParrot]

This isn't going to be practical until streaming and subscription-based gaming becomes the norm.

 

[onQ123]

The thing is, it's not that simple. We've had several experiments like this in the past:

PlayStation Home was once supposed to be a place where you could meet people and then play games. Unfortunately, it never got to that point, I think, because integrating all of them would have required massive work.

Would it be an MMO that you can add sections where you can play games? That service would not be cheap. That is what most companies are trying to build with the idea of a metaverse. And they're all failing because no one wants to accept someone else's standard over which they have no control. To use your example, EA should maintain an extra service, an extra game, in which you have a character and jump around to meet people and play games. The dream is this seamless experience of a GTA in which I go to the races and race. Or I go to the courtyard and play? It sounds fantastic.

Except, no one wants to do that. If you want to play a game, you're probably launching the game or opening Steam and inviting/joining your friends. That is as seamless as it gets. That service above would cost a fuckton and would not be seamless since you'd still have to install and load every single game. It'd be costly padding between the fun.

The Metaverse, as a mainstream idea, is failing. Only crypto bros are interested in it. I'm not pulling this out of my ass, I worked for a company that does that for almost 2 years, and I've seen millions being burned into something no one wants.

I can see something like that working only if Fortnite and Roblox decide to create "live" lobbies where you can meet people and play different games. But it won't be a seamless, big game; it would be more like a small room where you can talk to people and have different experiences.

The best you can have right now is open-world games with a big number of nicely crafted mini-games.

TL;DR
Companies have no incentive to build an MMO that would work as padding between their real games.
Players might think they want the padding, but they don't

Tech has advanced a lot since PlayStation Home , now we have SSDs , Cloud & A.I to make better transitions between the games .

Another example would be GTA 6 transitioning into a new Midnight Club in the same world .

 

[Hrk69]

We developers now GAF

 

[od-chan]

Isn't that precisely what Fortnite is doing? Or Roblox? I have no real idea because I never played either, but that's my understanding at least.

Personally, I think this kinda concept can only viably work for a couple of companies at the same time (like for Roblox and Fortnite). I.e, if Ubisoft, EA, Bamco, Sony, Xbox, Square and god knows who all came up with "universes" like this, I don't think it would catch on too well.

 

[IAmRei]

good idea, but could be led to over capitalism
and here people once critics that some games using same assets...

as a gamedev, i see it no problem, because my studio is small, but could be potentially backlash for bigger studio

unless done right like Yakuza series

 

[Trilobit]

I'd want a shared game between Red Dead Redemption and The Long Dark. You must survive up in the snowy mountains dealing with thugs and the climate as you hide away from the sheriff.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Fortnite, all games in the future will be Fortnite

 

[grvg]

It turns out that need for speed has been in the armored core universe the whole time

 

[The Cockatrice]

Keep that shit away from my singleplayer games.

 

[ByWatterson]

This kind of seamless need was a main selling point for Stadia, a product no one wanted.