Gaming Is the Gaming Industry in a Rut?

[mariachi-19]

Gaming industry in a nutshell.

Every year:

1-3 awesome open world games. Usually some form of shooter. These are good but the great ones are usually 3-6 years between drinks.

Sports games: Fifa, Pes, 2k etc. same shit different year. Last meaningful development in this genre was 2011 with 2k Michael Jordan edition (arguably greatest sporting game of all time).

3000 Nazi zombie/post apocalyptic generic shit games that have been done to death for the last 10 years and really need to stop.

Shooters such as COD, MOH, Battlefield etc.

But to be honest, the vast majority of games make up the bold and they're mostly rehashed rubbish. Im fecking massively over this zombie post apocalyptic bullshit.

It just feels like there's no longer any variety or ground breaking games. Even Red Dead 2 for how great it was, didn't really introduce anything technically new. It was simply everything to date done really really well.

I want to see more games like Uncharted or Heavy Rain. Its like video gamers have become so spoiled that we expect every game to last 30+ hours and therefore quality gets left for quantity.

Pretty much the gaming industry is in the same place as the film industry with super hero films. Just want bankers instead of doing something that pushes boundaries.

 

[hobbers]

Largely the fault of the Cod developers and, of course, the worst of them all: EA. Everything they do now is absolute garbage, and they rely on mindless fanboy drones to keep on buying their crap generic product year after year. Games like BF and Fifa they stopped bothering trying to improve 3-4 years ago. They don't even release these games in finished states any more. Because they can just milk exploitative kid-targeted gambling on UT and whatever lootboxes, expansions and add ons they can sneak onto Battlefield and Battlefront.

If you want good recently-released shooters you can only find them on Steam. Games like Rising Storm, Insurgency, Battalion 1944. You could include some of the BR games in there but that's already a messy over saturated genre. As you see with Fortnite/Apex, trying to dumb everything down to appeal to preteens, much like Cod did when it ruined console shooters.

If you want decent sports games, tough luck there aren't any.

 

[caid]

Indie games are better than ever though tbf. Just finished playing Pyre which is like a weird fantasy basketball / rugby mix with laser death. That was weird and brilliant. The triple A end of the industry is a souless, lootbox ridden bore mostly but ... meh, theres enough quality elsewhere.

 

[SilentWitness]

I think the overall quality of them across the board has gone down, sure. But the level of the top games are of a very high standard.

Fifa/COD know they can churn out the same shite every year as the people that moan about it still but it because it funds their lifestyle. I saw plenty of Fifa content creators moan about how at the Fortnite WC the top 32 players were all paid 50k. That's more than someone could get for being top 4 in Fifa which is fecking ridiculous by EA but people still buy it/play it. They won't boycott it though because although it is low they can still generate an income from it and the content it creates on YouTube.

 

[Siorac]

No, it's not. Stop focusing on AAA games only - and even among those there are always absolutely wonderful games.

For real innovation, look for the indies. They are the ones bringing new ideas to the industry - AAA is all about polish and accessibility.

 

[André Dominguez]

PC gaming market still releases some interesting titles from time to time (I guess consoles market is a bit more restrict on this). Textorcist is quite fun to at least try, Islanders becomes easily addictive, Ooblets is quite decent, but the indie game I was amazed lately was Cuphead: creative, out of the box and the graphics just transport you into the game world.

 

[Vidyoyo]

No, but I get what you mean. It doesn't feel like everybody's on the same page anymore. Multiplayer in particular has been ruined, as expressed in that recent thread about it.

As for the games, indies are kinda saving games as the top-end continues to mirror the movie industry in focusing on tent-poles and not much more. Nintendo is doing its thing and that's cool if you like Nintendo games (not everyone does). PC gaming lost its luster a few years ago - it's no longer the 'alternative' to console gaming that it used to be.

Personally, I just play retro games with the odd new indie thrown in these days.

 

[The Cat]

I don't need any new games for ages. Still got Witcher, GTA V and many more to get through when I can find the time.

 

[Mourinhonista]

It could be an age thing, but when i started playing computer games there were fun LAN games such as Age of Empires 2, games where the community had the option to design its own maps e.g. Trackmania, brilliant story telling games such as Max Payne 2 or later on F.e.a.r or just spectacular graphics like Far Cry and Crysis. I enjoyed good racing games, i fondly remember NFS Most Wanted, Flatout or the arcade running game Mirrors Edge. Games which had an overall flair in them.

I barely play these days but when i do i have problems finding a good one, IMO. Multiplayer is online and match making, single player wise i enjoyed Shadow of the Tomb Raider a few months back, but overall there's been a major dip in the aforementioned quality of computer games, IMO.

Big Series with no freedom of modding whatsoever and huge DLCs are dominating the industry. People decided to spend their money in-game and overall like playing on their phone. In the current climate i buy max one game a year and after a weekend i've already seen enough of it.

 

[syrian_scholes]

No

 

[Ainu]

I play a shit tonne of games and I feel like I've never been this spoilt for choice and quality, even while avoiding pretty much every EA, Activision and Ubisoft title out there. For me there's plenty of quality out there at every level, be it AAA, indie or stuff in between, on a variety of systems (in my case it's between PS4, Switch and PC). So from where I am standing, I disagree completely and feel like the gaming industry is in as good a place as ever before. I look back at the SNES through to PS2 era with a lot of fondness but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying today's offerings at all.

I think if you feel the gaming industry is in a rut, it may just be that the cause is not with the gaming industry, but with yourself. Perhaps your interests in life have just shifted. Or perhaps you aren't looking hard enough for good games.

 

[Bojan11]

Hang on you can’t say it’s in a rut and then say you want to see more games like Uncharted and Heavy Rain. Both games not really known for their gameplay and more so for their story. We got enough story games.

 

[Maxii]

You’re getting old. I’ve gradually been losing interest in gaming over the last 5 years

 

[DoomSlayer]

It definitely isn't. You can probably tell by my nickname that I'm looking forward to Doom Eternal coming out like a madman. There is also Borderlands 3, one of my favourite franchises ever, though the whole Epic Games thing has really left a sour taste in my mouth.

There are many incredible games out there, the e-sports community is getting stronger and stronger. Dota 2 is having its' annual "The International" event which is like the World cup basically - the prize pool currently sits at $31 million+, which is the biggest from all e-sports event in history, and the increase from last year has been nothing short of sensational (there is still time for it to grow even further). The winning team will get more than $15 million, which is insane.

 

[ArmandTamzarian]

Nah it's just that the biggest publishers out there have put greed before innovation and quality, those games in bold in the OP generally make the publishers a lot of money so they push them out each year all with more new and scummy ways to manipulate people into paying them even more money after you've bought it.

 

[DoomSlayer]

Nah it's just that the biggest publishers out there have put greed before innovation and quality, those games in bold in the OP generally make the publishers a lot of money so they push them out each year all with more new and scummy ways to manipulate people into paying them even more money after you've bought it.

That's true but customers are already voting with their wallets and a lot of those greedy corporations are paying the price, including all the bad publicity they are getting currently.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I've played some great single player games this year. Resident Evil 2, Plague Tale, Metro Exodus and I'm still happily plugging away at Kingdom Come Deliverance from last year. I feel with indie games thrown in and PC games mostly now coming to console I have good enough options that I can ignore a lot of AAA games that I'd maybe have wasted money on in the past.

It's things like FIFA and the games as a service games that are the problem. They don't give a flying feck about quality in some of them and others can start great then one bad update can feck the whole thing up. Look at The Division 2, me and my mates were loving it gettng ready for the raid until it releases and it turns out you can't play it without 8 players and there's no matchmaking, despite them promising theres matchmaking in every mode. Ruined the game for us really as we didn't have 8 players, we would have been happy to matchmake, but didn't want to be going on reddit or somewhere looking for players. Now they've added matchmaking but you can't play on anything but easy so you can't get the exotic drops. One stupid decision and now we can't be arsed playing any more. Then you get shit like Anthem just trying to jump on the cash cow bandwagon.

Can we stop this claim that RDR2 did everything really well. It didn't. It did some things brilliantly, but vast swathes of it were a chore to play and the controls were bollocks. It kept getting excused as being immersive, but having to constantly re-equip my guns is just annoying. The controls were awkward and the wanted system did not function well. It made The Witcher 3 feel buttery smooth.

 

[Grylte]

Sports games: Fifa, Pes, 2k etc. same shit different year. Last meaningful development in this genre was 2011 with 2k Michael Jordan edition (arguably greatest sporting game of all time).

I have been a gamer since the 80s, online since quake 1, i have never heard a person say they played NBA
Might be a good game, but not really popular in Northern Europe. - guess i'm thinking mainly online, and there's a difference.


Personally i think the battle royale games a re fun. I also look forward to the remake of classic WoW.

Had high hopes for Quake Champions, being an old Q3 legend myself (atleast on NATIONAL LEVEL), but seems like the devs don't really care about the game. Community is complaining at everything, and is very small, guess the quakers are in the 30s now, and don't have the time for it anymore.

When looking at E-sports on youtube, it's only Mobas and CS... the most boring of them all.
Moba: walk forward, shoot an opponent, RUUUUUN away, go back and shoot one more time, then hide in the trees.
Cs: sit behind a box or in a corner and wait for opponents to walk into your crosshair. Zzzz

 

[DoomSlayer]

I also look forward to the remake of classic WoW.

I think you mean classic Warcraft. Or is there something else coming out?

I know it might not be highly related, but are you a Doom fan? (since you said you've been playing Quake for a long time)

 

[balaks]

As others have said - indie PC gaming has never been better with some really great games being made. Your AAA games are churned out with yearly updates not much different from the year before that make an absolute fortune - whilst those companies (EA I'm looking at you) continue to make cash they will continue to do it.

I'm an open world RPG fan so I have been spolit over the last few years with the Witcher games and more recently Assassins Creed Odyssey has been great fun. So I'm looking forward to Cyberpunk and Baldurs Gate 3 in particular - maybe I'm just getting old but I usually only buy 1 or 2 games per year now.

I wish there were some really great MMORPG's being developed but that entire genre appears to have totally died which is a huge shame.

 

[BluesJr]

Games like Fortnite and Apex are also changing the landscape. The model that Fortnite has built is absolutely genius but will be extremely hard to copy.

 

[Irwin99]

Seem to be way too may generic shooters or open world games with annoying fetch quests....

....he complains and yet knows he'll buy Borderlands 3 as soon as it comes out. To be fair, B3 isn't really what i mean but there's so many games with massive beautiful looking worlds that don't actually have much content in them or are lacking in real story. A lot of games that i've seen trying to copy the Witcher 3 model seem to have misunderstood why that open world and it's side quests were so special.

 

[Code-CX]

I don’t know about you, but some of the single player games released over the past 5 years have been the best I’ve ever played. Despite the fact that the gaming market has been over-flooded with multiplayer games that focus on micro-transactions and P2W aspects rather than actually quality, there’s still a good and steady stream of really well done single player games being put out every year. I just ignore any multiplayer game that’s put out since they’re either incredibly grindy/repetitive, have an insufferable user base that I no longer have the patience to deal with, not very good games to begin with or a combination of all of those things.

 

[Dante]

Ask a 12 year old that question.

People naturally overrate music, movies, games, etc. from their prime.

 

[rcoobc]

Gaming is better than it's ever been.

Free to play: Fortnight. DOTA 2. CS GO. TF2. APEX. Some of the best games ever there and they don't cost a penny.

Sony exclusives: Dreams, God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted

Nintendo exclusives: Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart, Smash

Third-Party Blockbusters: Red Dead Redemption 2, Assasins Creed Origins, DOOM, Borderlands 3,

HD Remakes: Crash and Crash Team Racing, Spyro, Zelda Links Awakening, RES 2, Medi-Evil

Indie Darlings: Minecraft (before it was bought), Kerbal Space Program (before it was bought), Factorio, Rocket League (before it was bought), Cities Skylines (not technically indie but it's going on the list)

Emulation: Wii (very good), Gamecube (very good), PS2 (good), PS1 (very good), Xbox (terrible, but there is hope), N64 (okay - but the important ones work)

 

[Snow]

It's probably the best it's ever been.

Sports games are the same they've always been in terms of development. That's just EA making games and other companies following their model. You could argue that FIFA in particular is the worst it's been because of loot boxes but that's about it.

Nintendo are hitting it out of the park with their games.

Magic the Gathering: Arena is finally a good magic product in game form which we haven't had before. Shits on Hearthstone and all its other clones.

We've got plenty of battle royale games to choose from, something which wasn't available a few years ago as it didn't exist except as a mod.

There's plenty of bad in the gaming industry. Gamers are vocal on social media and toxic as a community, something that was largely absent 20 years ago because there wasn't the same platform. Lootboxes are big problem imo and should be dealt with in more countries than Belgium and Germany. The reviewers are all bought and paid for and therefor unreliable so you can't trust them. But despite all of that if you want to play a game in a genre you like you'll find one.

 

[Grylte]

I think you mean classic Warcraft. Or is there something else coming out?

I know it might not be highly related, but are you a Doom fan? (since you said you've been playing Quake for a long time)

There is a classic WoW coming August 27. You might make a pun i don't get because i don't know all the lore

Played a little bit doom, but not really much. There's a character in the new Quake Champions called Doom Slayer, by the way

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Theres plenty of good games if you look hard enough.

 

[evil_geko]

Gaming industry not so much, but Survival Horror is for a long time, after Amnesia, everyone started doing same walking simulator shit over and over again, Resident Evil 2 Remake now and previously The Evil Within gave it a bit of life, but it has been same shit for years made so streamers can scream to jump scares.

 

[Ainu]

Gaming industry not so much, but Survival Horror is for a long time, after Amnesia, everyone started doing same walking simulator shit over and over again, Resident Evil 2 Remake now and previously The Evil Within gave it a bit of life, but it has been same shit for years made so streamers can scream to jump scares.

Perhaps Resi Evil 2 Remake can kickstart the genre again. Resident Evil 7 was very good in my opinion. Capcom have been doing well. Shame Silent Hills never happened though, that could've been something.

 

[DoomSlayer]

There is a classic WoW coming August 27. You might make a pun i don't get because i don't know all the lore

Played a little bit doom, but not really much. There's a character in the new Quake Champions called Doom Slayer, by the way

My mistake actually, I had no idea about classic WoW coming out and thought you were talking about Warcraft 3: Reforged (basically a remastered version of the original game, with better cut scenes and quality of audio), because it is also supposed to be released at some time this year.

The Doom lore and Quake are supposed to be linked in some way, Doom Slayer is the new protagonist of the modern iteration of the game, starting with the 2016 one, although there is heavy speculation whether he is the same as the Doom Guy from the original 90s games. Apparently, all that will be answered in the upcoming Doom Eternal sequel, which is forming to be absolutely insane. Actually, the annual QuakeCon event took place a few days ago and a lot of new stuff about the game were revealed.

 

[Grylte]

My mistake actually, I had no idea about classic WoW coming out and thought you were talking about Warcraft 3: Reforged (basically a remastered version of the original game, with better cut scenes and quality of audio), because it is also supposed to be released at some time this year.

The Doom lore and Quake are supposed to be linked in some way, Doom Slayer is the new protagonist of the modern iteration of the game, starting with the 2016 one, although there is heavy speculation whether he is the same as the Doom Guy from the original 90s games. Apparently, all that will be answered in the upcoming Doom Eternal sequel, which is forming to be absolutely insane. Actually, the annual QuakeCon event took place a few days ago and a lot of new stuff about the game were revealed.

Might check it out. I remember they tried to make an E-sport Doom a few years back, think it was a little bit popular for about 3 weeks.
Never really tried it myself.

 

[SalfordRed18]

Dunno, but I'm currently playing Spiderman and it's got me hooked

 

[hobbers]

Cs: sit behind a box or in a corner and wait for opponents to walk into your crosshair. Zzzz

How fecking dare you.

 

[evil_geko]

Perhaps Resi Evil 2 Remake can kickstart the genre again. Resident Evil 7 was very good in my opinion. Capcom have been doing well. Shame Silent Hills never happened though, that could've been something.

Yeah, forgot RE7, was really good. Don't mention Silent Hills, SH is my favorite game series, I was looking forward to that game like crazy.

 

[Redlambs]

How fecking dare you.

It's funny because competitive BR's are like that too.

Well, fortnite is panic at the end and who had best rng, but the first 20mins is literally sitting in a box hiding hoping to not even get kills just hit someone once or twice.

 

[EvilChuck]

I went past Game earlier and popped in, nothing of interest on PS4/Xbox. But at the Nintendo Switch section it was another story.

Pokemon
Luigis Mansion
Astral Chain
Animal Crossing
Dragon Quest 11
Zelda

All coming this year.

Add to that Smash Bros, Mario Maker 2, Odyssey, BOTW, all games out already that its easy to lose a lot of hours to, and great indie games like Hollow Knight, Cuphead etc

I havent been this hyped about a console for years. Switch is the best thing I have done for myself in gaming terms, got me away from the rut of games with a million types of grey

 

[DoomSlayer]

Might check it out. I remember they tried to make an E-sport Doom a few years back, think it was a little bit popular for about 3 weeks.
Never really tried it myself.

Bear in mind that the game is created to be very complex and difficult at start (compared to Doom 2016), in the sense of having to master the full capabilities of the main character - in the words of the main developers, it kind of sucks playing a game that you become unkillable at after playing for 10-15 minutes, so they have really created a more intensified experience and the AI of the demons you are fighting is so much more sophisticated, which means they have actual strategies in game in how to kill you.

If you like heavy metal music, over the top demonic fantasy lore and Mortal Kombat-style of glory kills, this game will blow your mind.

 

[Grylte]

How fecking dare you.

I even know one of the best CS players in the world

 

[VorZakone]

Man, Halo 1 was soo much fun.