Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto VI, and the fate of AAA games
By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
Video games run the world. They just do. The release of Call of Duty is an economic and cultural event every year, some of the biggest movies and TV shows are based on beloved games, and everybody’s best vacation this year was the hours they spent in Hyrule. Even news of a possible release date for a trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI was huge news! Gaming continues to become more popular across nearly every demographic and every type of game, even as the rest of the entertainment industry looks a little wobbly. Everybody’s a gamer, and games are winning.
And yet, in some ways, the biggest and most important games in the industry seem somewhat in peril. Even the people running the game industry, like Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, think so. AAA games are now so big, so complicated, and so expensive to produce that it can be hard to get everything right — and it feels like, all too often, they don’t.
Meanwhile, the traditional AAA model in which you release a $60 or $70 game every year or two and players will always upgrade is in peril. Live service games like Roblox and Fortnite are changing what a “game” even is, while bundles like Game Pass and Apple Arcade are changing how people pay for games. Gaming is bigger than ever, but it seems we might be in the midst of an industry-wide shift in how people play them — and what they play.
On this episode of The Vergecast, the third and last in our miniseries on the future of gaming, we’re joined by Polygon’s Chris Plante and Russ Frushtick to talk about what’s next for the biggest titles in gaming. We look into
Read more on theverge.com
