Is the gaming industry dying?

[Patelitojoe]

There has been a sharp decrease in quality games over the past few years. Now I know this has been discussed before countless times. It has come to my attention however, that even the games we expect to be enjoyable, are lacking in the sense. Compare a few games from the past with games we play now. Most of the games out now are pretty short and just revamped versions of their prequels with no really definite improvement. It seems that most developers are interested in graphics and sales and forget about the development. Let's look at Zelda OoT and compare it to Zelda TP. Which one is the better game? It's not even a hard decision. Look at the release listing for most of these games. Most of the games we're expecting just look like ports of the older ones we actually enjoyed, void of the fun. I know some of you will debate that I have barely any info and that you find most of the games that are out now are great, but compared to the plots and development of older games, they just don't cut it. So does anyone else think that the gaming industry is dying?

 

[Bob Evil]

It's not dying ...

I remember the first time the games industry all but collapsed, and that was when gamers = nerds, geeks & freaks ... now, it's acceptable to game, so poorer quality titles get launched out into the marketplace, where they will usually sell enough to make a few quid ...

Plus, as for the length of games, many gamers know want short games that they can bust out in a weekend or less ... many of them care nothing about storyline, just action ...

Read through the GTA IV threads, and see how many admit to skipping through the story, and just driving around causing mayhem ...

As games become more and more mainstream, and more and more titles get shovelled out every week, you will see the number of quality titles drop ... anything aimed at the masses has to be aimed at the lowest common denominators ...

 

[Twiffles]

It seems that most developers are interested in graphics and sales and forget about the development. Let's look at Zelda OoT and compare it to Zelda TP. Which one is the better game? It's not even a hard decision.

Now that wasn't unbiased at all. It's on preference, and now a days companies are trying to get into the "casual" market, while still trying to keep with the hardcore gamers. I dunno really, I can't really grip since I haven't played much "console" games lately.

 

[Captain Crotchsp]

I don't post here much, so I'm probably stating stuff that's been said before, buuuut....

Games are more expensive to make now. The teams required to make a single game have gotten much bigger, and the budgets needed have exploded to Hollywood levels in many cases. On top of that, the economy kind of blows right now. It's dangerous to go out on a limb and try new things that may not work. This has always been true to an extent, but I think it's especially hard in the present day.

This is why I'm interested in seeing if small budget downloadable games hit it off in a bigger way. They're less of a financial risk (it cuts out costs like packaging) and could be a great way to try out new concepts that may not necessarily make it into bigger budget games.

All that said, it seems there's always something out there that I look forward to trying out and then end up enjoying genuinely, so I'm not terribly worried. The industry will continue to have rough patches creatively, but the industry as a whole is popular enough to be sustained. There's still a big enough backlog of old games I haven't played and games I want to replay to hold me over during the worst of times.

 

[Moots]

Dying, absolutely not. Sure the market is heavily shifting towards the casual market but it will all even out.


Considering the size of launches like COD4, Halo3, GTA4, Mario Galaxy, Brawl etc. I think its fine. Christ the movie industry was worried about GTA being launched so close to certain movies.

I think the industry is fine its just shifting and changing/

 

[Bob Evil]

Christ the movie industry was worried about GTA being launched so close to certain movies.

The games industry is a bigger money maker than the movie industry, now ...

 

[PBC]

Silicon Valley > Hollywood. I haven't bought a movie probably ever. I've bought plenty of games.

 

[podunk1269]

I have to agree the industry is reaching it's peak

 

[ojsinnerz.]

No, not yet. However, the anime industry is.....

 

[Bob Evil]

I have to agree the industry is reaching it's peak

Any industry that produces entertainment goes through this, every X number of years ... the gaming industry has been through some bad times in the past, and then recovered with the boom of casual gaming, now that's petering out ... but something else will come along and rejuvenate it ...

The comic book industry all but dies 11 years ago, and then slowly recovered ...

Film, music & television all go through these times ...

 

[The Teej]

The industry isn't reaching it's peak, it will not do that for quite sometime. It can only truly peak when no more possible control schemes are achievable (this is why the Wiimote came around, to bring back the idea of new input methods).

People who think it's peaking aren't thinking outside the box. There are so many new ideas to be explored, from all sorts of different areas of gaming (i.e. software development, like new algorithms for compression, or gameplay styles), if the industry dies now that's a lot of lost potential. Sure it will stagnate in a sense that it will be hard to revolutionise, but it can always evolve or simply just carry on. Just because new movie styles haven't come out in a while, does that mean that industry is dying too?

No.

The games industry is too used to being revolutionary and yes we might see an industry-wide "depression" when we find it harder to do so, but we'll adapt and survive, simply because revolutions aren't a requirement for living.

 

[Ace Gunman]

Is the game industry dying? No, not at all. 2007 has been called the greatest year for games ever, with 2008 quickly picking up a similar title. Quality is at an all-time high, in my opinion. The A-list titles that we all look forward to are, for the most part, delivering. We're in an era of games where games are actually living up to the hype a great deal of the time. Take Grand Theft Auto IV for example; while I haven't played it, many are calling it the first game to finally win the games as art debate. A game with movie quality production values and story.

Are casual games on the uprise? Yes, but it's a fad (fad really isn't the right word for this, but eh). You see, video games, much like comic books have a "hardcore" fanbase. These fans are generally adults, and generally very passionate about their games and/or comics. Because of video games (and comics) usually tailoring to this fanbase they alienate younger gamer/readers. Basically, what you're left with with a market that doesn't bring in new buyers. Sure the older fans are happy, but without future generations no market can survive.

Anywho, what Nintendo is doing is actually quite clever. They're streamlining their video games such as Super Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime 3 to appeal to both the casual and the hardcore. New people are turned into gaming fans allowing the market to continue on in the distant future. You see, while the games may seem too casual now, it's all a ploy to draw in new people. Once they're fans, Nintendo will slowly up the level non-casual-ness (so it's not a word, big deal lol) game by game. And thus the market continues forward.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

Hehehehe

No it isn't.

Wargaming arrives, then rolegaming arrives. Wargamers lament that rolegaming is killing wargaming. It didn't.

Magic The Gathering arrives, rolegamers lament Magic is killing rolegaming. It didn't, but wargamers got to laugh at rolegamers.

Then the rise of computer gaming. It didn't kill wargaming either (you realize I am referring to wargames played on a table).

Computer rolegaming didn't kill paper n pencil rolegaming either.

Console gaming has not killed PC gaming by the way.

And comically ironic, recently computer wargaming has been complaining that board game wargaming is impacting PC gaming sales.

The truth is, things change, and those that don't go with the flow aren't around long.

PC gaming is increasingly not as easy to sell in brick and mortar. So what. The smart PC gaming companies are learning how to sell online, the dumb ones can die if they don't want to evolve.

Consoles are evolving, the hand held is increasingly able to do anything the larger format consoles can do. They can increasingly do things a PC can do as well. And even things like cell phones can handle plenty.
Consoles are also rapidly learning to do PC things.
It would therefore be wise for PC gaming to stop thinking they absolutely have to be on a PC.

The smart survive, the stupid, who cares about the stupid.

 

[Akoji]

Well just to suport Ace, Mario Kart is one of those game that ''level up'' the non-casual-ness of their games, yes it's quite avaible to a lot of people, but less than Wii Sports or Wii Play.

And yeah the gaming industry is FAR from being dead, it's just uprising and majorly being transformed.

 

[GizmoDuck]

Even when people are worrying about the inevitable recession, video games are still selling like hotcakes in the U.S. Last time I read, the gaming industry is practically immune to the U.S. financial slowdown. It is far from dying.

 

[Neko]

In the past couple of years , alot of very great games have been released but the Game Industry is suffering from this Casual Crap. That's the reason I hate nintendo. They make games for Casual gamers and get too much money out of it. Yeah. And the other Companys are following Nintendo because they want Money too. It's bleeding and it will only stop when Hardcore Games are getting buyed better , but that is not possible because of all these shitty Parents and little children who buy all the crap with their infinite source of Money. ARGH.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

In the past couple of years , alot of very great games have been released but the Game Industry is suffering from this Casual Crap. That's the reason I hate nintendo. They make games for Casual gamers and get too much money out of it. Yeah. And the other Companys are following Nintendo because they want Money too. It's bleeding and it will only stop when Hardcore Games are getting buyed better , but that is not possible because of all these shitty Parents and little children who buy all the crap with their infinite source of Money. ARGH.

I'm voting that as the oddest comment I have yet seen anywhere on the topic of gaming in decline

Elitist games rarely sell numbers worth mention. Only matter to a very small number too.

There's a reason more people have Monopoly, than my beloved Advanced Squad Leader.

If I had a choice of a successful casual mainstream game's profits, or the money from a niche mega game, I'm picking the former, because I already know the latter will be made anyway, but it will never make any decent money.

I can't stand Nintendo pet games, but I'd love to have the cash.

 

[PlooBloo]

I don't think it's dying. The Wii just got a bunch of casual gamers into gaming, but we're gonna be flooded by Ponyz, Bratz, and IQ tests.

 

[SleepingDragon]

That's exactly right, Panzer Tacticer. It is exactly the same in the movie industry. Hollywood needs the crappy, big-budget sci-fi blockbusters, in order to be able to make the money-losing, oscar-winning dramatic masterpieces.

The good stuff wins the awards, the bad stuff makes the money. Without the bad (mass appeal) stuff, there's no good stuff. But it is a fragile balance.

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

The most annoying part of the "industry is dying" debate, is I can't escape this debate regardless of where I go in the world of gaming.

It appears no amount of intellect prevents a person from this dumb conclusion.