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Description
I did consider playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but ultimately cancelled the idea when I realized that the ‘offline mode’ for the game wouldn't be patched in for a good six months after the initial release. So, in their desperate bid to remodel their live service game into an actual single player one, they forgot to include the actual single player mode. And of course, it’s not really an offline mode, because the game still requires an internet connection regardless.

I’ve been replaying Batman: Arkham Knight as a form of non-hostile protest.

To get the big question out of the way first, I don't think AAA gaming is in any danger of going away anytime soon. What I think is happening is it desperately needs a new thing to latch on to, because gamers and audiences in general have grown tired of the constant repetition, and money grubbing tactics from certain publishers.
If you would like me to be specific, I think it boils down to the following points.

A lack of innovation.
Maybe I’m showing my age here, but gaming between the NES to the original Playstation were a wellspring of new and out-there ideas. Things like a blue hedgehog in tennis shoes who could run really fast, a chef flattening sentient burger ingredients, or playing as a criminal by stealing cars and killing people. The problem came when this creative wellspring went away and we saw the regurgitation of the same cookie cutter formulas. There was a brief period during the 2000s when gaming became oversaturated with endless Call of Duty clones and other military based shooters. After this, games like Destiny and Fortnite became the go-to ideas for developers to leech off of.
The problem with this approach is nobody is truly pioneering new ideas, but rather just waiting for the next big thing to copy. Indie gaming doesn’t really have this issue as it’s mostly new ideas from people who want to create things, rather than saying “I want to be like Resident Evil 4.”

We’ll come back to this train of thought in a minute.

Brand recognition no longer works.
Unless your parent company is Nintendo, it's very unlikely that people will buy your game based on a franchise anymore. We've seen colossal failures from franchises such as Mass Effect, Halo, Avengers, Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider and, most recently, the Arkham series. There are exceptions to the rule of course, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and DOOM (2016). 10 to 15 years ago, you could sell a game based on a brand and people would get hyped; These days however, saying your game is connected to a beloved superhero genre, or a continuation of a franchise that ended with the third entry, is likely to turn people off and avoid it.

Overpriced and lacking substance (until you buy the Ultimate Edition).
For this next point, I'd like to compare two games I recently reviewed. I picked up Tekken 8 for £64. The story mode, while entertaining, was over in a day and I haven't touched the games since the review. Meanwhile, I paid roughly £50 for RoboCop: Rogue City last year, and I have proceeded to replay that game over fifteen times (I recently platinumed it). It’s kind of amusing to me that a low budget shooter based on an 80’s action movie has more content and replay value than the latest entry in the Tekken series.

This has given rise to another irritation when it comes to video game pricing: The practice of releasing three versions of the same game at launch. This tends to come in the form of a Launch Edition (between £50 to £60), a Deluxe Edition (between £70 and £80) which just includes some extra costumes and story content. Finally, you have the Ultimate Edition (between £90 and £100) that features everything that should have been in the Launch Edition. Essentially, they've taken a complete and fully functional game, hacked it to pieces and want to sell the rest of it back to you. As a side note, I don’t consider physical releases of digital games or a ‘Game of the Year’ edition a part of this practice. They tend to be lower than the original asking price and come out a year or so later.

I’d say “wait for the bargain bin,” but certain retailers no longer accept preowned games. CEX and Ebay are going to make a fortune because of this.

They go on forever.
As I said earlier, I've recently been replaying Batman: Arkham Knight (as a form of tribute to the late Kevin Conroy). The game wants me to take down Scarecrow and the titular Arkham Knight, but they also throw all of this meaningless crap in my general direction. I don't mind dealing with the likes of Penguin, Two-Face or Professor Pig, it’s everything else that makes the game more a chore than a relaxing power fantasy. Rescuing firefighters, shutting down military checkpoints and lookout towers, disarming bombs, destroying tanks, and the endless fucking Riddler trophies are things I don't have the time or patience for.

Now to be fair, I can understand the developers point of view on that. You spend £80 on a brand new video game so you may as well get your money's worth. It's why I don't like Call of Duty, because I've taken longer shits than those story campaigns.

Here's a wild idea. If all these games have the graphical and memory space for all these towers, collectables, militia goons, gear drops etc etc. Maybe you could fill that space with content that people might actually want? Things like extra characters, more weapons, more boss fights, a longer story campaign and extra vehicles. You know, shit that actually matters.

"Make the thing into the thing that makes money!"
There's an old expression I heard when I was growing up. “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who create and those who follow.” What that means is when a new or popular idea comes along, everyone has to copy it. I like to summarise it with the phrase: “make the thing into the thing that makes money!” You'll have games like Resident Evil 4, Batman: Arkham Asylum or Fortnite and everyone remodels their game to be like them; so they can ride the coattails of their success. When they say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” I don't think that's what these copycats have in mind.

My favourite example was a little gem from 2005 called “Shadow the Hedgehog.” While it’s one of the internet's favourite punching bags -for being an absolutely garbage video game- it’s the best example of making the thing into the thing that makes money. Unless I’m mistaken, it was a blatant attempt by Sonic Team to capitalise on the popularity of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo and Devil May Cry. Having played all 3 of those games, I can tell you that “Shadow’s Trigger-Happy Adventure” didn't even reflect any of those and came across more as subpar Ratchet & Clank bollocks.

Someone needs to tell these developers to stop trying to be something they’re not or compare themselves to others, when their individuality and unique qualities is what people admire and adore about them.

Thankfully, we don't live in a world where Animal Crossing has become a Dark Souls clone... yet.

People with Agendas.
Some of you don't wanna hear this, but I think it's time we addressed it. Because of my current bet with Di’Aniss, I have to tiptoe around this very carefully.

A pretty jarring example was Injustice 2. I had slogged through hours of beating up every member of the Justice League, all for the privilege of a final encounter with Brainiac - and he gave me a lecture about climate change. I understand that a lot of these messages are important, but the way they are shoehorned into certain games comes across as tone deaf; as well as the developer using an established character to be their soapbox, while contradicting what said character stands for.

Let's use Suicide Squad as another example. We have the character of Lex Luthor: the greatest criminal mind of our time and an ego maniac who believes everyone is beneath him - yet gives us a little speech about toxic masculinity. That’s like the Green Goblin giving us all a speech about “infidelity is bad!”

To keep this nice and short: This kind of preachy nonsense would have been shocking and controversial about fifteen years ago. They have been repeated so often that I can't even begin to give a shit.

Please wait for the Ultimate Edition for the final 6 points.

Description
I did consider playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but ultimately cancelled the idea when I realized that the ‘offline mode’ for the game wouldn't be patched in for a good six months after the initial release. So, in their desperate bid to remodel their live service game into an actual single player one, they forgot to include the actual single player mode. And of course, it’s not really an offline mode, because the game still requires an internet connection regardless.

I’ve been replaying Batman: Arkham Knight as a form of non-hostile protest.

To get the big question out of the way first, I don't think AAA gaming is in any danger of going away anytime soon. What I think is happening is it desperately needs a new thing to latch on to, because gamers and audiences in general have grown tired of the constant repetition, and money grubbing tactics from certain publishers.
If you would like me to be specific, I think it boils down to the following points.

A lack of innovation.
Maybe I’m showing my age here, but gaming between the NES to the original Playstation were a wellspring of new and out-there ideas. Things like a blue hedgehog in tennis shoes who could run really fast, a chef flattening sentient burger ingredients, or playing as a criminal by stealing cars and killing people. The problem came when this creative wellspring went away and we saw the regurgitation of the same cookie cutter formulas. There was a brief period during the 2000s when gaming became oversaturated with endless Call of Duty clones and other military based shooters. After this, games like Destiny and Fortnite became the go-to ideas for developers to leech off of.
The problem with this approach is nobody is truly pioneering new ideas, but rather just waiting for the next big thing to copy. Indie gaming doesn’t really have this issue as it’s mostly new ideas from people who want to create things, rather than saying “I want to be like Resident Evil 4.”

We’ll come back to this train of thought in a minute.

Brand recognition no longer works.
Unless your parent company is Nintendo, it's very unlikely that people will buy your game based on a franchise anymore. We've seen colossal failures from franchises such as Mass Effect, Halo, Avengers, Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider and, most recently, the Arkham series. There are exceptions to the rule of course, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and DOOM (2016). 10 to 15 years ago, you could sell a game based on a brand and people would get hyped; These days however, saying your game is connected to a beloved superhero genre, or a continuation of a franchise that ended with the third entry, is likely to turn people off and avoid it.

Overpriced and lacking substance (until you buy the Ultimate Edition).
For this next point, I'd like to compare two games I recently reviewed. I picked up Tekken 8 for £64. The story mode, while entertaining, was over in a day and I haven't touched the games since the review. Meanwhile, I paid roughly £50 for RoboCop: Rogue City last year, and I have proceeded to replay that game over fifteen times (I recently platinumed it). It’s kind of amusing to me that a low budget shooter based on an 80’s action movie has more content and replay value than the latest entry in the Tekken series.

This has given rise to another irritation when it comes to video game pricing: The practice of releasing three versions of the same game at launch. This tends to come in the form of a Launch Edition (between £50 to £60), a Deluxe Edition (between £70 and £80) which just includes some extra costumes and story content. Finally, you have the Ultimate Edition (between £90 and £100) that features everything that should have been in the Launch Edition. Essentially, they've taken a complete and fully functional game, hacked it to pieces and want to sell the rest of it back to you. As a side note, I don’t consider physical releases of digital games or a ‘Game of the Year’ edition a part of this practice. They tend to be lower than the original asking price and come out a year or so later.

I’d say “wait for the bargain bin,” but certain retailers no longer accept preowned games. CEX and Ebay are going to make a fortune because of this.

They go on forever.
As I said earlier, I've recently been replaying Batman: Arkham Knight (as a form of tribute to the late Kevin Conroy). The game wants me to take down Scarecrow and the titular Arkham Knight, but they also throw all of this meaningless crap in my general direction. I don't mind dealing with the likes of Penguin, Two-Face or Professor Pig, it’s everything else that makes the game more a chore than a relaxing power fantasy. Rescuing firefighters, shutting down military checkpoints and lookout towers, disarming bombs, destroying tanks, and the endless fucking Riddler trophies are things I don't have the time or patience for.

Now to be fair, I can understand the developers point of view on that. You spend £80 on a brand new video game so you may as well get your money's worth. It's why I don't like Call of Duty, because I've taken longer shits than those story campaigns.

Here's a wild idea. If all these games have the graphical and memory space for all these towers, collectables, militia goons, gear drops etc etc. Maybe you could fill that space with content that people might actually want? Things like extra characters, more weapons, more boss fights, a longer story campaign and extra vehicles. You know, shit that actually matters.

"Make the thing into the thing that makes money!"
There's an old expression I heard when I was growing up. “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who create and those who follow.” What that means is when a new or popular idea comes along, everyone has to copy it. I like to summarise it with the phrase: “make the thing into the thing that makes money!” You'll have games like Resident Evil 4, Batman: Arkham Asylum or Fortnite and everyone remodels their game to be like them; so they can ride the coattails of their success. When they say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” I don't think that's what these copycats have in mind.

My favourite example was a little gem from 2005 called “Shadow the Hedgehog.” While it’s one of the internet's favourite punching bags -for being an absolutely garbage video game- it’s the best example of making the thing into the thing that makes money. Unless I’m mistaken, it was a blatant attempt by Sonic Team to capitalise on the popularity of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo and Devil May Cry. Having played all 3 of those games, I can tell you that “Shadow’s Trigger-Happy Adventure” didn't even reflect any of those and came across more as subpar Ratchet & Clank bollocks.

Someone needs to tell these developers to stop trying to be something they’re not or compare themselves to others, when their individuality and unique qualities is what people admire and adore about them.

Thankfully, we don't live in a world where Animal Crossing has become a Dark Souls clone... yet.

People with Agendas.
Some of you don't wanna hear this, but I think it's time we addressed it. Because of my current bet with Di’Aniss, I have to tiptoe around this very carefully.

A pretty jarring example was Injustice 2. I had slogged through hours of beating up every member of the Justice League, all for the privilege of a final encounter with Brainiac - and he gave me a lecture about climate change. I understand that a lot of these messages are important, but the way they are shoehorned into certain games comes across as tone deaf; as well as the developer using an established character to be their soapbox, while contradicting what said character stands for.

Let's use Suicide Squad as another example. We have the character of Lex Luthor: the greatest criminal mind of our time and an ego maniac who believes everyone is beneath him - yet gives us a little speech about toxic masculinity. That’s like the Green Goblin giving us all a speech about “infidelity is bad!”

To keep this nice and short: This kind of preachy nonsense would have been shocking and controversial about fifteen years ago. They have been repeated so often that I can't even begin to give a shit.

Please wait for the Ultimate Edition for the final 6 points.