What happened to gaming? No game is true fun anymore..

[szatanica]

I was scrolling through the immense list of games I managed to gathered over the years and for some reason (and I've been observing this for many years now) nothing really looks attractive and exciting anymore. Sure, there are so many "amazing" games out there, a lot of indie productions into which developers pulled their hearts and souls but somehow games don't give this "THING" that they used to. These oldies, with really bad graphics had something in them, something which makes me want to go back to them over and over (like first and second Fallout or Discworld Noir from the 90s , Fahrenheit, or first Neverwinter Nights, the list goes on). Like they lost something inherently special.Sure, there are some exquisit exceptions like Papers Please or Papetura or Mass Effect but it's a tiny percentage. The rest is just...meh...

Is it the games or is it us/me?

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by Valkyria:

I Don't think video games changed, just that people simply changed.

I've seen discussions taking place online lately, about how video games got worse etc.

I find that a lot these discussions come from people who are a bit older, that enjoyed playing video games during their childhood, teenage and into their earlier adult years.

Correct, because people are clinging to their nostalgic feelings and the like. Industries and target demographics change as do people and sometimes those changes mean that a hobby/interest doesn't match as much anymore. It sadly happens.

Plus that some people never really learn that they don't *have* to play every game.

I disagree with this nostalgic stance BS. The only thing which changed for me over time is that I expect game and gaming quality to steadily rise, or at the very least stay constant, over time. Which is not currently the case at all, as I perceive it.

As for this "not all games have to be played"... Well duh. Not every game is even worth my attention to begin with.

[Blitzwing]

Well look around how bad the financial situation is right now
by Ubisoft, PlayStation and SEGA. Its very bad.

If that was just people loose interest we would have fewer people play games.
But despite having 10 times more the customers, they do make less money.

There are enough people out there to buy games, but no actual games to buy.
And the AAA publishers seem not to understand it at all.

[TGC> The Games Collector]

Originally posted by Blitzwing:

There are enough people out there to buy games, but no actual games to buy.
And the AAA publishers seem not to understand it at all.

It's also still a mystery to them why "a cruddy little game" like Minecraft got so much more popular than their carefully crafted cinematic experiences.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by TGC> The Games Collector:

It's also still a mystery to them why "a cruddy little game" like Minecraft got so much more popular than their carefully crafted cinematic experiences.

For one minecraft to be successful there needs to be a thousand minecrafts that went nowhere.

AAA Studios don't want to invest money on things that MAY not give money back.

[TGC> The Games Collector]

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

Originally posted by TGC> The Games Collector:

It's also still a mystery to them why "a cruddy little game" like Minecraft got so much more popular than their carefully crafted cinematic experiences.

For one minecraft to be successful there needs to be a thousand minecrafts that went nowhere.

AAA Studios don't want to invest money on things that MAY not give money back.

That doesn't quite explain why they put money on Concord...

Also there aren't a thousand other minecrafts. Just a single Infiniminer.

The only AAA Studio I've seen capitalize on the general idea in time was Sqare Enix.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by TGC> The Games Collector:

That doesn't quite explain why they put money on Concord...

Sony Didn't put money on Concord. They put it on a development Studio that happened to be making a game in the meantime.
In fact the game was so tangential to it it almost got no marketing budget and was canned even after starting.

No one at sony gave a damn about concord. It was the people at the studio what they were paying for.

[JC]

Tastes change for many people. I certainly like different games now than i did many years ago. I used to enjoy platformer's for example. Mario, donkey kong, megaman, Now i suck at them, (i can never do the jumps) and the rest just isn't all that fun. maybe a couple exceptions, Contrast, but i still sucked and i couldn't barely make it a few hours in before i got stuck and gave up. Alice is another that i like, but can't play. The point here is, now i see a platformer and it doesn't excite me at all, outside of Ohh that art is nice, next!


You can FIND SOMETHING NEW!, This is one big myth that bugs the hell out of me that no one is making new games. There are tons of extremely unique games but they are just hard to find with so many being out there.

Over the last bunch of years i'll name some games that were really unique. FTL (keep your ship alive good luck with that btw), Life is Strange (A cinematic adventure with time travel! a very unique way of story telling) , Slay the Spire (a very unique card game) , Dead in vinland (A Visual novel+ Survival+ line combat game? Who knew that would be fun!) Midnight sun's (card game that plays out in positional 2D combat with a whole Side friendship builder sim) But a list of unique games isn't complete with out adding the 25 years old, Freedom force, it is unfortunate nothing like it has been found since.

You can top this off with tons of game genre's that have been really refined and there are true gems in the older styles. Sunless Sea, Pillars of Eternity, wasteland 2+3, Galactic CIv IV, Flight simulator 20, Frostpunk, Stardew valley, Diablo IV, Baldur's gate 3, Battletech ect. There are so many great games that are being made in so many genera's just because some don't live up or get old fast, doesn't mean there are not true gems all over. Let's be serious, How many hours can you play Beserker, Mr Do, Qbert, Frogger, pacman ect before you had enough? Even back then i couldn't play Qbert 5 hours a day every weekend.. Akari warriors and Dragons lair (still never beat it and the one stand up manchine i still want to own but that's another story.




Another big myth is games are not selling like they used to. Games sell more and make more money than ever. 20-30 years ago selling a few million copies was a huge number, now 20 million or more is. Some games are closer to 100 million, though the best selling game of all time is really old, tetris at nearly 500m, but back in the day it was a huge seller and was only a few mill. that game has staying power. A new game like the witcher III is around 70m i think? The new spider man was over 50m. There are tons of indy games that break a mill all the time, but a minecraft or stardew and that sort of thing are rare. Or dwarf fortress that is an over night success that took 20+ years to do.

The point is, there are tons of styles of games, genera's, MMO's, F2p, P2P, buy once, add DLC, player built games, mods, sandboxes, builders, ect.. There has never been more kinds of games that there is now, and all others really do exist still in many ways you just need to find them. there are 100's of new games a week, it's hard to sort through but there are gems out there if you look. Also, you have to remember there are tons of new generations, and the console gamer's that never seen anything but a couple of games in their life, so everything is new to them even if others are tired of them and they have differently likes/dislikes than someone that's been playing 40 years.


In the end, Don't be jaded, take a step back and try something new. Use the next steam sale and pick up something you never thought you would like and who knows you might find joy again. Feel free to take a look at my reviewed games list, i play a ton of very off the beaten path games. Maybe something i played will strike you as interesting and bring back some joy.

Good luck, Happy gaming!

[Blitzwing]

I think the best explanation did come up,
as Blizzard did reveal a Diablo game for phones,
in front of a hardcore PC audience.

Sooner or later in big corporations the Vision and know-how people,
get replaced with yes-men and sale/cost optimization people.

[Scott, President of Dominos]

I recommend turning off the pc, going outside and getting some exercise, probably should start a healthy diet too.

[veracsthane]

games went from being made by gamers for gamers to democrats and corporate ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on a plate.

[veracsthane]

Originally posted by 454350327:

I recommend turning off the pc, going outside and getting some exercise, probably should start a healthy diet too.

behold ubisoft news. no one has time for this anymore.

[veracsthane]

Originally posted by TGC> The Games Collector:

Originally posted by Tito Shivan:

For one minecraft to be successful there needs to be a thousand minecrafts that went nowhere.

AAA Studios don't want to invest money on things that MAY not give money back.

That doesn't quite explain why they put money on Concord...

Also there aren't a thousand other minecrafts. Just a single Infiniminer.

The only AAA Studio I've seen capitalize on the general idea in time was Sqare Enix.

if you a gamer who worked for them as was making concord went to the ceo and told them concord was ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gurnated to fail the ceo would have fired you. it was dei tax right off compliant and when they started working on it investor dollars where paying them more then gamers where and now thats dried up.

they wouldnt care for a second any of the reasons you gave them.

edit in for the slow people they wasted at least 400 million on concord and you could have spared them that or saved the game from being a flop and they wouldnt care because you are a racist sexist bigot for being captian obvious.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by veracsthane:

.

edit in for the slow people they wasted at least 400 million on concord and you could have spared them that or saved the game from being a flop and they wouldnt care because you are a racist sexist bigot for being captian obvious.

Warner literally burned a 90 million dollar movie, completely made, for a tax write off.

Besides the 400 million number is a heavily contested number that has been parroted a lot just because it fits one narrative.

[Blitzwing]

I think he has quite a point that developers are out of touché
with the customers and the products.

Imagine if coca-cola would work like ubisoft. In each third can of cola is just water with no sugar. Sure I still would buy cola in cans for a while, but sooner or later give up, especially if as response its told thats for healthy reasons, not because they mess up at factory,

[crunchyfrog]

Originally posted by Blitzwing:

I think he has quite a point that developers are out of touché
with the customers and the products.

Imagine if coca-cola would work like ubisoft. In each third can of cola is just water with no sugar. Sure I still would buy cola in cans for a while, but sooner or later give up, especially if as response its told thats for healthy reasons, not because they mess up at factory,

While it is true that the triple A space is utterly out of touch and managed terribly, that does not mean that there are no good games.

I've often banged on about this on here, but I'm old and have been around since the very start of gaming. I used to fiddle with electronics as a kid, and in the mid 1970s these new fangled computers were shown off as kits. I had no real idea what they were, but I was intrigued. Thanks to friends, I got to try one out and was instantly hooked. From that moment I got computers and games as much as I could afford.

Not only that but I've continued since then to do the same - and I still play them all. Even the old tapes and floppies still work. Many of the old computers and consoles need repair work from time time, but this is easily done.

And though there were slight dips where I wasn't quite so interested in games, like when Sega came to the fore in the late 1980s and beat em up s became the hot thing. I didn't care for them.

But I still kept with it as there was plenty else around.

But today is a pretty awful time if you focus on triple A alone. It's why for the first time in gaming's history I haven't bought the latest platforms, simply because there's no games I want on them yet.

I have a Switch and a PC, purely because Nintendo still do their own thing, and there's tons of indies out there that DO offer great games.

And I buy LOADS of games. The thing one needs to do whenever you think you're running out of ideas is widen your net. Research is easy these days. Whenever I've collected records I might find that I've got the whole catalogue by an artist, but simple research will point you in a new direction.