the bottom line is though, and i think this is a point neal was trying to make:
Simulations in general, and more specifically submarine simulations are a really niche market. With scores of people diving into massively multiplayer games, first person shooters and real time strategy games... its easy to develop success with a good product in those markets. So when you put a quality product into the FPS market like the call of duty franchise, lots of people buy it, and your budget for call of duty 2 gets bigger, call of duty 2 sells like hot cakes you get a massive budget for the 3rd edition... before you know it, the latest entry to the series has a budget, advertising campaign and all the hype and anticipation of a summer blockbuster hollywood action film.
Submarine sims, even a REALLY good one just does not generate the same kind of return. so while the hottest FPS game in development gets all the support it needs, the developer generally puts the dev team for
Silent Hunter 6 in the back storage closet and says "Deliver something playable before xxx deadline" and thats as good as it will get.
Subsimmers are a different breed. and im not telling you guys anything yuo dont know.
my stepson was watching me play SH3 and he is a hard core gamer. XBOX, Playstation and PC... he plays various types of games from first person shooters to sports games to real time strategy.
he watched me for a good 30 minutes with my little circle racing across the map screen. finally i spotted a convoy, lined up in ambush position, plotted out an attack plot on the map screen, entered the parameters into the TDC, took my final readings though the scope, tweaked a couple of TDC entries and let a spread of 2 torpedoes go. The fish found their mark with a spectacular series of explosions following. the ship split in half and slipped beneath the waves. the escorts gave chase and the pinging, depth charging, cat and mouse game ensued.
he watched in silence through the whole ordeal. I escaped the escorts and returned to base course, back to the map screen and the little circle heading across its blue expanse.
"This game is like watching paint dry... i really just dont know how you play it."
then it was off to Madden 15, with farcry 4 for dessert.
see... for every 1 of us patient, calculative types... there are 20 of him paying top dollar for constant, white knuckle, palm sweating action.
and if you want to know what games will get priority all you have to do is follow the money.
Its like the young man who quit his low paying job and struck off down the road..
"Where are you going?" people asked him
"I'm going where the money is." he said
well, ubisoft... has gone where the money is
and its nothing personal against subsimmers, its just good business. I mean lets be perfectly honest, if suddenly 95% of the worlds population ditched burgers and fries in favor of burritos and tacos as a fast food choice... McDonalds would jump through their own asses to bring you the McTaco and the McBurrito