New TMNT Game for 2023?

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Filespit

This. Although it doesn't have to be limited to TLR as I'd like all four turtles to be playable. Here's what I want.

* A Batman Arkham/Spider-Man type of game
* Set in Manhattan, with at least lower Manhattan explorable
* Map should be parkour-able in a way that makes sense for the turtles
* Sewers should be used as quick travel points
* Lair always visitable for upgrading, learning new skills etc
* Combo based battle system
* All four turtles playable with their own unique movesets
* Main story involving Shredder/Foot Clan
* Side quests involvning other villains (Baxter, Rat King, Purple Dragons etc), some quests could also be specific for each turtle
* Territories for villain gangs/clans (as seen in Spider-Man)
* Loads of skins for all turtles

All of that would be great to see, but let's face it, the Very First Bullet Point is asking for WAY too much for a game based on this franchise, and in turn makes all the other points exponentially more unlikely as well.

There simply will not ever be a AAA TMNT game that comes anywhere near Arkham-level because no company will ever pay the development costs on that type of game. It simply is not going to happen, not in any of our lifetimes. I'd love to be wrong about this, by the way. I would LOVE to be wrong about this, but I am not going to be wrong about this.

Not to say there won't ever be a "AAA" TMNT game again; there might be. But it would likely be something a lot smaller in scope and scale. Maaaaybe something like the FIRST Arkham game, but I suggest people play that game again AFTER playing any of the sequels to relive just how f*cking tiny and barren that game really is. There's not even any reason at all for it to be an "open-world game", you could take out the Riddler Trophies and the hub and just make everything play out linearly in mission fashion and it would be the exact same game. The sequels did a great job of making "true" open-world Batman games, but the first one really isn't. At all. It's just a bunch of short mission rooms connected by a large, barren hub with no enemies to fight. The only purpose for the "open world" was to collect Riddler Trophies, and you can't get most of them until after you beat 90% of the main game anyway, so there's no reason to even explore the map. The "best" way to play the first Arkham game is simply to play the game exactly as the game tells you to, because going off the beaten path for even a second is literally a waste of time, there's no reason to.

So I mean, something like THAT, maybe, I could see a TMNT game being like? But I don't think people mean they want a TMNT game like Arkham Asylum, they want one like Arkham City. And yeah, no, you're not getting that. Not now, not ever. It'd cost too much to even develop it and there simply is no evidence they'd sell the numbers to make the money back.

The success of Shredder's Revenge and the Cowabunga Collection doesn't even factor in one bit to this, because all that proves is that old-school side-scrolling brawler TMNT games still sell a lot. There simply is no precedent that an Arkham-style TMNT game would, though. And without that precedent, no company would ever put up the money for development. They want PROOF of return-on-investment before the checkbook even opens, that's how the business works at that level. It's not as simple as "TMNT games are popular again!" It's apples and oranges.

So yeah, you've described what I'm sure is most people's Dream TMNT Game, and mine as well quite honestly, but it's not something I even waste a single second of hope or wishing on. It's never gonna happen, I don't think about it. Why give yourself blueballs for nothing, y'know?
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For whatever it's worth, and just to illustrate my lack of bias on this kind of thing, I have similar conversations with people on the He-Man board, as well, because they too spend WAY too much time hoping for a AAA video game that simply will never happen. In their case, it's even more unlikely, because TMNT at least does have a strong video game history behind it whereas He-Man has Zero good games and only a handful of games in existence, period. I love the franchise but I'm aware enough to realize that no developer would even touch a franchise like that with a 10-foot pole, given its lack of track record in the video game sphere.

And they go on and on about how the brand "Needs" a great big-budget video game, because it's like the one thing the franchise never had which is necessary for "credibility". They even hold TMNT up as an example of how popular games are integral to a franchise's lifespan; "Even when TMNT was dead people still loved the games and there were still games being made sometimes. That's what WE need for THIS franchise!" And it's like, in theory, yes, that would help. But again, without any evidence that a game would actually SELL, it simply won't get made. And on and on, they say "It MIGHT happen, though!" And I keep having to say, "No, it won't ever. Stop it. You're hurting yourself with this. Accept Reality."

In either case, it always falls upon me to be the one to say out loud what nobody wants to hear: "The big-budget Triple-A game your franchise 'needs and deserves' simply will never happen, because like it or not, this thing that you love with all your heart Is NOT Actually Popular Anymore, at least not enough for your wish to ever come true."

And boy do people love to shoot the messenger. Can't help it, though; I don't have it in me to lie to people and I have a compulsive need to force-feed people their medicine so that they can stop living in denial.