When we talk about big budget, full priced games, we call them AAA. But not all AAA games are created equal. Blockbusters truly break the bank and leave others in the dust. Games like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed have a much wider reach than most other games. They, and other titles like them, are the tent poles the whole industry stands on. But what makes a good blockbuster game? And do titles like Horizon Zero Dawn make the cut?
For a long time, first-person shooters were the natural go-to genre for the biggest set-pieces, the greatest thrills, and the rollercoaster ride that defines a blockbuster. But as technology improves, open-world games are stepping more into the lime-light. To understand the transition, what better place to start than with Guerrilla Games? Reinventing itself after the FPS Killzone series, Guerrilla threw out everything they knew about making games and started fresh on a third-person, action, open-world game. On the tenth episode of The Game Cafe, we look at why.
The weekly podcast here at Gamespresso, The Game Cafe tackles a different topic every week, digging into the trends, history, and idiosyncrasies that define the game’s industry. For this episode, we also talk about Nintendo’s decision to not have the Virtual Console available on the Switch at launch, Steam’s decision to replace Greenlight, and Blizzard’s cryptic teasing of a new Overwatch character. You can find it all on iTunes, Google Play Music, Stitcher, or right here:
What do you think makes a good blockbuster game? And are blockbuster games even a good thing to begin with? Let us know in the comments. If you like the show, be sure to check out some of our previous episodes. In episode nine, we looked at mobile games and how games you play while waiting in line for coffee became the single most profitable segment of the industry. As always, thanks for listening.