I’m curious how it is going to feel over the next few years, after so many projects were shutdown and mass layoffs plagued the game industry in 2024. I’m expecting either a void of decent content, or a lot of companies making X type of game that the business dept thought would be most profitable because someone else already made money making one.
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I think we are in short attention span theater mode and the gaming industry is tryna keep up.
People bounce from 1 game to the next trying to get that first time I ever played a video game buzz and it wont happen.
Also the woke era is kinda hurting the industry but eventually that will fade.
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Not a fan of the big publishers. Even my old favorites from my younger years have become tarnished, Blizzard included.
The best games I’ve played this year:
- Tunic (2 achievements left)
- Sea of Stars (100%)
- Super Mario Wonder
- Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom
I realize some were released but outside of this year but when I look back, nothing better comes to mind.
Big publishers are a large part of the problem. They’re trying to recreate indie magic but all they know is a balance sheet and a release date.
Studios are full of bright and talented people. I really want a golden age of gaming to happen again but it’s looking bleak out there.
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The kicker there is that a lot of studios don’t really hit their stride until they’ve worked together for two or three projects, so the process of getting a new studio/restructuring an old one → having one mediocre release → shuttering is kind of like that adage of a miner giving up with diamonds on the other side of the wall he was digging at.
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I am pretty positive about gaming right now. Lots of games I am looking forward to next year. FF7:Rebirth (PC), Monster Hunter: Wilds, Xenoblade X, Metroid Prime 4. Just to name a few. Then there is the Switch 2 and whatever that will launch with.
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I disagree. The Atari 2600 was not even around when I was 12 years old. I’m happy with what is available to play these days.
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I honestly think you’re onto something.
It’s not particularly the games that are the problem, but how gamers approach them.
Gamers basically “efficiencied” the fun out of gaming lol. Especially in multiplayer, which is like half of games these days.
Everyone tries to mimic the best of the best, and that information is plastered everywhere for everyone to copy.
That’s just the norm, and has been so for years now.
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If you think gaming is currently bad, you haven’t spent any time crawling through steam.
Lots of great indy games out there you will never hear about.
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Better than ever.
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Gaming is great. AA/AAA still has plenty of great games and indie fills in for basically everything else that you could ever want.
It’s not gonna be everybody but I feel like a lot of people don’t necessarily miss early 2000s gaming as much as they miss being a kid again and their world still being full of wonder.
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It’s not aided by the fact AAA publishers tried to quash single-player games for a good decade or so (WoW’s runaway success in the early years is what started it), pushing competitive multiplayer more into the limelight. That and they’ve structured games to better monetized by preying on that “competitive” aspect by adding paid shortcuts and advantages. This lead to players finding efficient ways to work around the “paid shortcuts”… or worse, effectively requiring them rather than nurturing organic growth.
But yeah, you’re starting to see things turn around there as games which very intentionally defy over-monetized models are the ones getting the accolades in recent years… along with more and more live services flopping HARD.
In the end, players want good games.
Not an endless chorelist of tasks to do and shinies to collect.
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There are various practices and trends that I really don’t care for, most live service models, a heavier focus on multiplayer, and most of all the general lack of true ownership inherited in digital distribution and commerce. I also have some misgivings about the rise of remakes and remasters, more so the former than the latter, but I digress.
There are also some pretty good things, however. It’s arguably easier for indie devs to get their games to the public, companies engage in crunch less last I heard, and some have been publicly called out on when they do, and patches when done well can utterly perfect a good game.
As someone who is a fan of racing games, the modern state that particular genre somewhat pains me. Street Racing as a theme is almost exclusively the domain of Need for Speed in the AAA sphere with the closest equivalent being Festival Racers like Forza Horizon and The Crew Motorfest. The variety of sub-genres in racing games in general seems far lesser than before; it often feels as though if it isn’t some form of kart racer or hardcore sim, it’s yet another FH clone; so it was for the aforementioned Motorfest, so it was with TDU, so it may be with Assetto Corsa Evo. I often find myself missing the joy of a well-crafted single player campaign. While most racing games still have one, many are very bare bones and, in several cases, can only be played once. They always feel like an afterthought, something they included more so out of some perceived obligation rather than any actual desire to include it.
While I don’t think gaming in general has gotten that much worse I do think it has gotten worse. The business/corporate side of it all has all but eclipsed the creative aspect. Companies spend more time and effort making games look pretty and figuring ways to nickel and dime consumers than they do just making a quality product. Games in general are more expensive and take up more space, so I consistently feel like I’m paying more for less than I would’ve gotten in the past, especially with the aforementioned fact of no true ownership anymore. Still there have been some genuinely good things coming out these past few years, and despite some games seeming inferior to their predecessors they’re still often fun to play to some extent. I suppose I take comfort in the idea that things could be far worse than they currently are.
On a slightly unrelated note, I wish normies would stop talking about video games like it’s still 1994.
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I miss when games were whole, they were delivered when ready, even if that meant cuts, that meant a lack of unfinished features. But, that’s the times, the bigger the gaming companies get, the faster they need money, the faster they need money, the more beta passes and preorders, and the faster and lesser the work from devs will be.
That’s why I love Larion Studios schooling everyone 2023. They were working on BG3 for years, and released it when it was ready. I may hate BG3, but Larion is a diamond in the rough.
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It’s in the turd flume.
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I’ve definitely become less enticed by games like I used to be. Which sucks, right? I used to love games, but I find myself moving further and further away from them.
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My GOTY is an indie title called Skald: The Black Priory.
Its an RPG designed to feel like and early 90s WRPG.
Its amazing and was designed by a super small indie team.
Its on sale for like 10 bucks on steam rn go check it out RPG fans.
Thats my take on the current state of gaming.
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Tbh the communities around Online gaming back than were pretty solid outside of like Halo 2 and COD.
Im actually extremely hopefuly for Pantheon Rise of the Fallen now after basically considering it a scam for a few years.
I bought it to support the devs and Brad McQuiads vision. Logged in and found a cool leveling group of dudes within 30 minutes of playing.
Its like a modern EQ1.
It’s a raging dumpster fire.
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My Grandson asked for a PS4 game from 2019 for Christmas to play on his PS5. What that means… I don’t know. There are games I want to try, but I have to stop procrastinating on my new computer to be able to get them working. I just seem to have lost all motivation. Maybe it’s the kidney stones.
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Nah man, Halo 2 was peak online gaming community. Not saying it was never toxic (it was) but the sheer activity and people playing for different reasons was crazy. People would make lobbies to just play music in. It was essentially a massive online chatroom because literally everyone on Xbox had the game.
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