MMC
Global Moderator
Not sure where to really post this but I just can't help but have an incredibly pessimistic view of where the industry's at right now. Sure a lot of good advancements have been made and some genuinely great games have come out recently, but it feels like for all of the good, there's double the bad. There's just a myriad of issues and decisions that have completely turned me away from being nearly as into video games as I used to be. All of this seems to have especially gotten bad over the last 10 years or so. It constantly feels like all of the major studios behind every hyped release just releases their games unfinished (Cyberpunk, No Man's Sky, Fallout 76, any new Battlefield really), or what feels like an empty game until you purchase what is becoming an insane amount of DLC, or waiting out updates from the developer. Microtransactions are also flooding pretty much every genre at this point and while not all are egregiously pay-to-win, they are nonetheless incredibly annoying and just makes the entire game reek of corporate greed.
There also just seems to be an overall complacency from developers to release anything new, when they can milk current IPs with updates, or just make shitty remakes to resell something they already worked on. The amount of crappy remakes that have come out lately that do little to enhance the experience of the original game is unbelievable. And it just feels incredibly rare now when a major developer comes out with any big new game. From 2001-2006, Rockstar released:
GTA III
GTA Vice City
GTA San Andreas
Red Dead Revolver
Manhunt
Bully
Max Payne
Max Payne 2
Midnight Club 2
Midnight Club 3
From 2013-2018? Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V, good games nonetheless but considerably less output and nothing original. And does it look like they'll be releasing ANYTHING from 2019-2024 outside of the crappy GTA remasters? Skyrim is 11 years old and has also been released multiple times with no indication of when we can expect ES6, though Bethesda at least finally has a new IP coming for the first time this century with Starfield.
And then there's just the tendency to hop on trends which also just really grinds my gears. Every franchise suddenly felt the need to have a battle royale mode in their games once Fortnite and PUBG took off, even if it was at the expense of other shit that made their games what they were (no story in BO4).
I dunno man, I just worry about where this industry is at right now. There's very little I get excited for nowadays and it's a miracle when what I do get excited about is actually a playable game to start off. I used to also not think Nintendo was innocent of this, but nope, they recently ruined their image with me and my faith in them not practicing these greedy business practices with the disaster that was AC New Horizons.
Just want to know what you guys think, if you guys agree with my pessimistic view or if I'm just being too cynical.
There also just seems to be an overall complacency from developers to release anything new, when they can milk current IPs with updates, or just make shitty remakes to resell something they already worked on. The amount of crappy remakes that have come out lately that do little to enhance the experience of the original game is unbelievable. And it just feels incredibly rare now when a major developer comes out with any big new game. From 2001-2006, Rockstar released:
GTA III
GTA Vice City
GTA San Andreas
Red Dead Revolver
Manhunt
Bully
Max Payne
Max Payne 2
Midnight Club 2
Midnight Club 3
From 2013-2018? Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V, good games nonetheless but considerably less output and nothing original. And does it look like they'll be releasing ANYTHING from 2019-2024 outside of the crappy GTA remasters? Skyrim is 11 years old and has also been released multiple times with no indication of when we can expect ES6, though Bethesda at least finally has a new IP coming for the first time this century with Starfield.
And then there's just the tendency to hop on trends which also just really grinds my gears. Every franchise suddenly felt the need to have a battle royale mode in their games once Fortnite and PUBG took off, even if it was at the expense of other shit that made their games what they were (no story in BO4).
I dunno man, I just worry about where this industry is at right now. There's very little I get excited for nowadays and it's a miracle when what I do get excited about is actually a playable game to start off. I used to also not think Nintendo was innocent of this, but nope, they recently ruined their image with me and my faith in them not practicing these greedy business practices with the disaster that was AC New Horizons.
Just want to know what you guys think, if you guys agree with my pessimistic view or if I'm just being too cynical.