Yeah, and they often launch with loads of systems where future content could be plugged in, but the actual content itself is typically bad or at the very least incomplete. The publishers try too hard to build a platform rather than a good game…
Yeah, theoretically the exact model for monetization isn’t as important, but many publishers are hoping to get players to pay subscriptions indefinitely.
And here I would argue that the Rust library is strictly better, specifically because it will come with an automated or precompiled build of the C library. Compiling C is such a pain.
Fucking hell, man, with how many very publicly visible security problems they had last year, you’d think the stakeholders would be on board with doing security for a bit.
Decency or even legality. If Zuck knowingly hosts hate speech, you don’t want that federated onto your platform or you can be sued, too.
There used to be the genre of collect-'em-ups, where the thinly-veiled end goal was to just collect various items.
For example, to complete a level in Banjo-Kazooie, you had to collect 10 puzzle pieces and 100 musical notes, and you likely gathered lots more bonus collectibles along the way.
These were essentially just numbers going up. But we do all have that gatherer instinct in us, so if you can get past the meaninglessness, it’s just one of the easiest sources of endorphins.
And I feel like modern crafting systems evolved out of that. While you still can’t think too hard about it, they are providing meaning, in that you’re now collecting 100 wood planks, because you want to craft a house.
The unfortunate side effect is that they are now part of the soup which is pretty much mandatory to include in big budget games.
Indies are perfectly capable of fleshing out individual endorphin sources these days, so AAA games need to outdo them by having multiple. And the whole collect+craft loop is an endorphin source that can be added relatively easily to many game concepts, especially if you’re also buying into the mandatory open world.
So, I guess, the moral of the story is: AAA bad, indies good.
But like, for real. AAA won’t stop using the collect+craft loop, unless we have another massive technology jump where their big budget becomes useful again (like with 2D -> 3D, back in the days).
So, if you’re tired of it, you do want to look into smaller budget games or, I guess, some of the few remaining niche AAA titles…
It would certainly be weird, after their recent games were so story-driven. You can’t tell a good story, if you need to always keep the end open for possible expansions.