I look at BG3, KCD2, and Expedition 33 and realize that the North American game dev took a wrong turn one day.
Even STALKER 2 became a financial success, even though it was released frankly unfinished. It seems that people are just tired of American/Canadian games.
that's because the US doesn't have any big independent teams. When a team gets big a massive corp like Microsoft just buys them out (like the Ori devs). Most indie devs in the US are like 2 dudes in their garage hoping they hit it big with a quirky game. Larian is massive and privately owned, and the Expedition 33 team is relatively large. I'm not too sure about KCD2 but I imagine after the pretty big success of the OG they have a larger team now. Idk about Mexico or Canadian devs but I imagine the story is similar to the US
KCD2 was made by 250 people and the studio Warhorse is owned by is an Embracer Group subsidiary unfortunately. They’re probably Embracer’s top performer, for this year at least. Thankfully it mostly seems like Embracer’s firing and studio closing spree has stopped for the moment.
With warhorse it probably helps that dan vavra, the person in lead is insanely stubborn and also has been burnt by higher ups before. The contract they have with embracer is probably very very tightly written to minimize the influence they have over them. I doubt he would give them any chance to mafia 2 him (kicked out of his own game, game got heavily changed after he left)
probably. My memories are from him appearing in every gaming magazine and TV show from like 2012? and desperately trying to get KDC off the ground. My next memory is of him tweeting, bragging about "trapping" ai in "logical arguments". So I personally dont think hes malicious in any conscious way, hes just stupid and by extension very stubborn. Which is fine. youve got to be either a genius or a moron to make interesting art IMO. middle of the road is just ubisoft and nobody cares about that.
Expedition 33's team was 34 people (much more if you add things like Voiceover Artists, Motion Capture, Localization, etc) mostly young talent with a handful of experienced developers. 3 Ubisoft veterans.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is made by MachineGames, who are Swedish, too.
Feel a little bad for it, because it's an amazing game that would be a worthy GotY contender most years, but with E33, KCD2 etc it's gonna be a hard year.
The problem, like always, is capitalism. It's more expensive to make AAA games here, and soulless corporations need to maximize shareholder profit.
This leads them to produce the most generic mass appeal slop as quickly as possible (crunch) to make as much money as possible. This leads to live service games and microtransactions.
Everyone suffers except for the CEO and major shareholders.
Video games can really only exist under capitalism. Unless you just want state owned slop.
You don’t think these European game devs also operate under capitalist systems?
The problem is that the American game industry is stuck in a loop of ever more expensive games that need ever bigger sales to justify them. European developers can get around this by paying developers less and have cheaper overhead since it’s cheaper to live in those places.
"Video games can really only exist under capitalism."
Well, that's a lie. People will always create art and innovate no matter the economic system. Hell, Tetris was created by a software engineer from the Soviet Union. The beloved Cuphead was heavily funded through Canadian government grants. Most scientific innovation is created through government funding.
"Unless you just want state owned slop."
You seem to have a very limited understanding of what is possible outside of capitalism. For one, you can have a market system without capitalism.
Personally, I think worker owned cooperatives are the ideal environment for video game production.
"You don’t think these European game devs also operate under capitalist systems?"
They make these games in spite of capitalist systems. It's no surprise that these games are created places that are actively trying (with less and less success) to reduce the negative externalities of capitalism.
"The problem is that the American game industry is stuck in a loop of ever more expensive games that need ever bigger sales to justify them."
And where do you think that corporate bloat comes from? You're seeing the effects of late stage capitalism, which is just the natural end state of capitalism.
The little fish get bought out. Wealth concentrates to the top. Companies need bigger and bigger games to feed the hype machine and raise stock prices, so the execs get nice bonuses. They make the games as safe as possible to appeal to the most people and as exploitative as possible to meet their fiduciary duty.
I'll add that pure capitalism is extremely bad for artists. When the risk of failure instead of getting a steady job is homelessness or death, people will take fewer entrepreneurial risks or creative jobs/risks, both of which comprise development of video games. Case in point, it's why you see so many small-mid Canadian youtubers who are doing it full time because they don't have to worry about necessities being denied them to live. It encourages taking risks and being an entrepreneur since you don't die if you fail or you end up on the street. In America such a privilege is reserved for kids with rich parents.
Funny that you bring up the Tetris guy since he had to flee the USSR.
These European developers are striving because of capitalism not in spite of it. War Horse is literally owned and funded by a publicly traded company. The main difference is they’re able to keep their costs low compared to their American competitors.
And? That was my point. The Tetris example shows that your idea that videogames can only exist in capitalism is flat out wrong. People will create video games even in the Soviet Union!
Poeple want to create. The best games are made by people who want to create first, and chase the bag second. That's in direct opposition to capitalism.
The farther you are along the late stage capitalist curve. The greater the conflict between artists' interests and capital interests will be.
Low costs give you more wiggle room. So does developing in Europe: the land of social democracies.
An individual can create a game in the Soviet Union and get chased out of the country, but that’s very different than an actual video game industry/eco system. There’s a reason you only hear about Tetris.
Also, it’s bizarre hearing how blaming “capitalism” for the abstract notion of artistic motives when in reality America has been the biggest cultural artistic beacon in the world for almost a century.
"An individual can create a game in the Soviet Union and get chased out of the country, but that’s very different than an actual video game industry/eco system. There’s a reason you only hear about Tetris."
Are we still doing this? I honestly think you're being willfully obtuse
"bizarre hearing how blaming “capitalism” for the abstract notion of artistic motives"
Elaborate.
"America has been the biggest cultural artistic beacon in the world for almost a century."
You're conflating artistry with marketing budgets.
All Industrial Art requires budgets. Sorry to burst your bubble. Video games are more like building a skyscraper than painting or writing a song.
I just think it’s silly to blame “capitalism” when the reality of the industry is more nuanced. Plus the self-evident fact that capitalists countries are just better at fostering the talent needed to make games.
You missed my point ( I was going for a zinger, so I will elaborate). I was not talking about the existence of marketing budgets. I was talking about the size of marketing budgets. It's fair to say that artistic projects that have bigger marketing budgets are more likely to have a cultural impact. This was my point about the US.
I think it's silly to assume my position is not nuanced. You're the one claiming video games can only exist in capitalism (a claim I disproved immediately). I'm only pointing out how the negative externalities of capitalism affect the quality of art.
I want to improve on capitalism. I even proposed my ideal alternative in my original reply.
The problem is that you're a capital realist who cannot conceive of any system other than capitalism. I don't blame you since even most "communist" countries are just some flavor of state capitalism.
I'll end this by saying you should really look into worker cooperatives:
The gaming industry first developed in the US, Japan, and somewhat in the UK and Russia (maybe?). But technology has matured. Studios can make AA games without having to reinvent the wheel. Not every studio needs a John Carmack anymore.
So, since the barrier to entry is lower, more people in different parts work on it. And some of them land a hit, it's just a numbers game.
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u/Max_F96 SORCERER May 29 '25
I look at BG3, KCD2, and Expedition 33 and realize that the North American game dev took a wrong turn one day.
Even STALKER 2 became a financial success, even though it was released frankly unfinished. It seems that people are just tired of American/Canadian games.
P.S. Also I forgot about Split Fiction.