The future of games was MMORPGs and RPG-ization in general as other genres adopted progression systems. But the former two are simply too expensive and risky even today for AAA to develop. Which brings us to another point, the problem with Western AAA is more about high levels of risk aversion, which is what's really feeding the lack of imaginative. And that's more to do with the economics of opportunity cost to the S&P 500.
Anyways, crafting pretty looking worlds is one thing, but you still need to fill them in with something worth doing, and that's something we haven't really figured out. That's one of the reasons why the sandbox MMORPG was developed as opposed to "themeparks". The underlying systems, the backend is the real meat here. At most with the world models right now is that you're replacing 3d artists and animators, but I would not say that is a real bottleneck in relation to one's own limitations.
> Which brings us to another point, the problem with Western AAA is more about high levels of risk aversion, which is what's really feeding the lack of imaginative.
Maybe I’m misinterpreting what you’re saying here, but 2021 til present has been a glut of some of the best titles ever made, by pretty much any measure
Anyways, crafting pretty looking worlds is one thing, but you still need to fill them in with something worth doing, and that's something we haven't really figured out. That's one of the reasons why the sandbox MMORPG was developed as opposed to "themeparks". The underlying systems, the backend is the real meat here. At most with the world models right now is that you're replacing 3d artists and animators, but I would not say that is a real bottleneck in relation to one's own limitations.