Ubisoft is on the forefront for accessibility.
The problem with their games is in being such big tent trying to appeal to everyone (note I’m not talking about accessibility, which is a totally different axis), they feel too smoothed out and have very little interesting to say, and their games just aren’t that much fun.
It reminds me of that article posted on HN the other day saying that often our weaknesses and strengths are two sides of the same coin.
Simply because working on very tight budget likely 12/6 is how indie games are made. And to be honest in modern economy having any budget at all is kind a success already. So I'd belive most of small games are built on enthusiasm and founders own money.
Vast majority of "indie" games budgets are in range of $100,000 and $300,000 total. Over that amount there is gap where no one invest except few rich, successful and picky publishers. Getting more funding for a small-scale project is extremely hard so if your game needs more then it's must be AA project for at least $2,000,000+ budget. But AA+ means $40+ price tag, completely different production quality and large team so very few kind of games fit the math.
PS: I co-founder of a small gamedev studio and I know quite a few other people in this industry.
PSS: I'm happy to be wrong though. So if you know how to get game funded I have 4 cool playable prototypes to build into a game, team of 10+ devs and we track record for 3 released titles including one for consoles.
Also, like another poster mentioned, there already exists a host of creativity in these AAA companies, that’s not the problem. The problem is making something that will reliably keep the company in the black.
Because they don't have to. In most cases, to have a large successful game, developers need publishers. Publishers are who negotiate with Steam or Gog or EA. Publishers are who figure out in the in-game microtransaction economy. Publishers are who do all the promotional activities like getting famous streamers to play the game.
The gaming community never seems to understand this. Who they think of as "the devs" are often actually the publisher.
Video games are not meant do be productive, they are meant to be fun, and standardization is boring. It means that they can't completely rely on OS frameworks to make an appealing game, it means that accessibility needs first hand consideration.
AAA is going to regress toward slop as the number of cooks in the kitchen increases, not just counting people who work directly on the game but investors, members of the ESG committee from the bank issuing loans to the studio, etc.
The next bellwether: Bungie's Marathon (2025). Marathon (1994) was a neat game that expanded upon "Doom-likes" as they were called with new engine features, multiplayer modes, and (gasp!) lore that you could unlock. It was specific. It had a vision. Marathon (2025) is a multiplayer-only, generic characters, generic settings, generic objectives. Basically Sony is turning Bungie into a dumping ground for devs on the failed Concord.
"Slept" as the opposite of "woke", right? This is genius! Is something actually used by more people?
Just the first one that comes to mind.
Other than that we are sane, Hungary+Ireland is not that much
Abortion rights in Ireland are OK, I was living with old prejudices. The number of doctors that perform it is still low, but fair enough - I was all wrong.
(unfortunately I cannot update my comment)
Abortion rights in Ireland are OK, I was living with old prejudices. The number of doctors that perform it is still low, but fair enough - I was all wrong.
(unfortunately I cannot update my comment)
The whole concept of DEI / woke is not much of a thing outside the English-speaking world. Very small parts of it (gender parities, a bit more transgender awareness, the "transgender athletes in sports" kerfuffle) have leaked through, but that's it. Where I live (Poland), most people, even well-educated people, haven't ever heard of the concept of specifying your pronouns.
This is false. Accessibility in the form of ADA[1] is law and enforced by DOJ at both federal and state levels. This is wheelchair ramps, and also alt tags on websites (among many other things). ADA lawsuits are at an all-time high - none of this is stopping anytime soon.
DEI has nothing to do with accessibility other than having a name that is adjacent.
[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/29/2025-01...
Oh, that's right, you made that up.
How about Ubisoft work with Sony/Microsoft/Valve and get vision and hearing disability implemented at the device level rather than harassing abled users every new game which I'm sure through this frustration is contributing in some small way to these anti-intellectual movements against accessibility.