Asset flipped games, are they going to get more sophisticated?

[Kane99]

Asset flip games seem to happen more often these days as new engines come out making the process of making games a lot easier. But a lot of asset flips are essentially developers throwing stuff into a game expecting to trick people into buying it. An asset flip is basically a game made with assets purchased from specific game engines. They purchase or even use free assets to then make their game, but don't usually do any coding or any work to the controls. They slap it on, and usually call it a day. 

Now we got Unreal Engine 5, which is making it easier to put an asset flip game out. Look at The Day Before as an example, it's said to have been a complete asset flip without any coding or work done to make it their own. Remember that fake God of War game that came out on Xbox a while back? That was likely an asset flip, but instead they illegally used a character skin from another game. And we also can't forget about that game that tried to be like the Last of Us on Switch, called the Last Hope. 

With Unreal Engine 5 providing good quality assets, do you think we might see more, shall I say, prettier fakes popping up? 

Now, I'm not saying asset flipping is always bad. It can work out great, but I think it comes down to if there is any work being done on the gameplay side, because a lot of these quickly made asset flips play like hot garbage. Controls are often bad, or not optimized in any way. 

Expect more of these bad asset flips with these game engines getting better and better. Whether it be Unity or Unreal Engine 5, or some other engine out there. 

[Scorpion]

Yeah, sadly Unreal Engine 5 will definitely lead to more "pretty" asset flips. Effortless graphics, but terrible gameplay.

[Bilita]

Dataminers allege that Escape Factory, the new game from the developer behind The Day Before, Fntastic, is making some of the same mistakes as its predecessor, including asset flipping. This follows Fntastic's attempt to convince gamers that it and Escape Factory deserve a second chance after the disastrous launch and subsequent removal of The Day Before.

The Day Before launched less than a year ago, but its age is practically irrelevant, as the game was pulled from sale within four days and its servers shut down within a month. Initially, it was believed that Fntastic was completely shut down following the disastrous launch, but it seems that the studio has been working on a new title in Escape Factory. However, the developer's hope for winning back gamers may not be going as planned.

Escape Factory was revealed on September 27 with a brief trailer, demo, and a crowdfunding campaign. Data miners have since dug into the demo, and aren't happy with what they've found. Twitter user bsimser shared a lengthy thread on the official Steam forums revealing their findings of asset flipping and free code being implemented in the demo. According to bsimser, the code used for the game's networking, lobby, and matchmaking is taken from a free Unity demo code that can be downloaded from Github and is intended to be used for learning to create multiplayer games, not actual launch products.

[killamch89]

You're right about the trend of asset flips, and it's frustrating for players when developers don’t put in the effort to make something unique or at least functional. But I think the key issue here isn't just the availability of these assets. It's more about the intention behind the games. Some developers treat these engines as shortcuts to a quick profit without regard for quality. The bigger question might be, how can platforms and players spot and avoid these low-effort games before getting burned?