Should the Gaming Industry Crash?

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,986]

It seems that monetization is becoming increasingly extractive while the quality and quantity of the content in games (particularly AAA games) are decreasing. The thought has come to mind whether it would be worth having the industry crashing as a great (but painful) correction mechanism for all of this -- start again from a clean slate. Personally, I would not be too troubled by this as I already have a large backlog of games that will last me for many years.

Is this view too pessimistic and excessive, or would you also welcome a crash in the industry if it meant that these problems can be wiped away?

[Jesse Terrence 2,968]

It's just the full circle now. Nothing new about it.

During the atari days, greed made the industry crash with ET. Low quality games made for a few bucks by underpaid developers with inhuman deadlines was the norm back then. DLCs are just an added to our modern days crash.

I won't be really welcoming of the crash, though. But I can understand why it might come we like it or not. Back in the atari days indie developers were also a thing, and while at the begnning it was good there was indies around, later on they became part of the problem (and we might be seeing the same phenomena soon enough).

Whatever the case, I myself have a long list of games to entertain myself for the next couple years as well, so a crash might go unnoticed by me.

[Misty Shadow 7,915]

I can't say yes or no either way. On one hand, modern gaming has not been doing a good job in general of producing stuff I find appealing and more companies than ever have been engaging in smarmy practices I don't want to support. On the other, I don't like rooting for video game companies to fail, and the new stuff that does catch my eye, I often like. 

[Guest]

I don't think it is a pessimistic view. I think the gaming industry needs a hard reset. I tried to play a lot of AAA games that came out over the past decade during the past year and these modern games took the fun of gaming away from me. Too many false promises from studios and issues with new games on launch day. Promises of bug fixes and new content, but they are not delivering on their promises.

Another concept that ruined gaming for me was paid DLC. AAA studios are way too focused on figuring out how to squeeze more money out of doing the bare minimum for games. As I'm learning more about business and examining business models, it becomes very apparent that these studios don't care about creating a gaming experience, but creating the narrative that you are buying an extraordinary experience when you buy their games. They are focusing on the psychology of justifying their expensive price tags, one of these instances was the latest Zelda game for $70 USD! I was told from a few hardcore players that it was like an upgraded DLC expansion from the previous game on the switch. Another example that I saw recently was with one of my nephews. My nephew who is 11 years old, has the "fear of missing out" or "fomo", when a game like Fortnite has new skins/battlepasses and he asks me for money to buy these things. I saw a Star Wars skin the other day for $29.99 USD!!! One skin with a 30 dollar price tag that changes nothing other than your character's appearance? Really? I can buy several games for that price and that's just one skin on their shop! These companies have become too blatantly comfortable in participating in these malpractices. It's truly horrendous and downright disappointing.

I think we need a lot more indie studios to rise up and show these AAA studios how to create complete and enjoyable games again. Thankfully there are some that have risen over the years that reignited that spark for me, however, I do not think this is enough. I think the industry needs something that can cancel out DLC or at least put higher quality games on an even playing field that can defeat the purpose of DLC. That or more regulation in the industry. However, that can have a negative effect on the quality of games as there are many groups that are trying to actively control the content that we see in games. Another thing to note is that as economies are rapidly changing, the gaming industry is soon going to see that what they are currently doing will not be viable long term.

Edited May 27, 2023 by thecoolerglimmer

[Espy Vibe 4,330]

27 minutes ago, thecoolerglimmer said:

I don't think it is a pessimistic view. I think the gaming industry needs a hard reset. I tried to play a lot of AAA games that came out over the past decade during the past year and these modern games took the fun of gaming away from me. Too many false promises from studios and issues with new games on launch day. Promises of bug fixes and new content, but they are not delivering on their promises.

Another concept that ruined gaming for me was paid DLC. AAA studios are way too focused on figuring out how to squeeze more money out of doing the bare minimum for games. As I'm learning more about business and examining business models, it becomes very apparent that these studios don't care about creating a gaming experience, but creating the narrative that you are buying an extraordinary experience when you buy their games. They are focusing on the psychology of justifying their expensive price tags, one of these instances was the latest Zelda game for $70 USD! I was told from a few hardcore players that it was like an upgraded DLC expansion from the previous game on the switch. Another example that I saw recently was with one of my nephews. My nephew who is 11 years old, has the "fear of missing out" or "fomo", when a game like Fortnite has new skins/battlepasses and he asks me for money to buy these things. I saw a Star Wars skin the other day for $29.99 USD!!! One skin with a 30 dollar price tag that changes nothing other than your character's appearance? Really? I can buy several games for that price and that's just one skin on their shop! These companies have become too blatantly comfortable in participating in these malpractices. It's truly horrendous and downright disappointing.

I think we need a lot more indie studios to rise up and show these AAA studios how to create complete and enjoyable games again. Thankfully there are some that have risen over the years that reignited that spark for me, however, I do not think this is enough. I think the industry needs something that can cancel out DLC or at least put higher quality games on an even playing field that can defeat the purpose of DLC. That or more regulation in the industry. However, that can have a negative effect on the quality of games as there are many groups that are trying to actively control the content that we see in games. Another thing to note is that as economies are rapidly changing, the gaming industry is soon going to see that what they are currently doing will not be viable long term.

 

I agree with all of this the most here so far. The only way to really "reset" the industry is to have better alternatives that aren't (or at least less) predatory to the consumer and are fun to play while being decently profitable. Right now what we need to do is let the large companies bleed money when they are trying to unnecessarily advertise and push a limited time cosmetic with a "best price" on a fake slashed price. That's upsetting and annoying, and I hope people will eventually realize that to play alternatives with more passion and less predatory practices behind them regardless if the alternative is from an indie studio or AAA studio.

Personally I don't mind DLC and microtransactions as long as it's not in my face all the time and are completely optional for progression or enjoying the game (they can even be completely unnecessary for actual progression unless you just want to buy it for whatever reason). And, subscriptions for those games where it locks out so many features that are useful or make the game more enjoyable are extremely stupid.

As the years go by, modders of literally any game seem to have more and more passion for these games over the companies that made them (I won't blame the actual devs too much, it's usually their bosses at the top who are squeezing them as well, crunching for time, so a lot of stuff will get overlooked especially when things are being changed last second). If a feature is inadequate/incomplete or missing (or just because they want to) modders will always find a way to fulfill that need/want and make it more enjoyable or at the very least, playable (especially older games where compatibility is an issue, they have always found a way around it!)

Smaller studios with games that have some sort of modding community seem to be more common these days as they are more lenient on, even encouraging, modding. I think that alone makes a game's community flourish without the need to snatch every cent out of people. At the very least make a decently playable base game and let the community really decide what they want from the game. If it isn't provided to them (or if it is provided, then it would be poor value or implemented feature here) then some dedicated fan somewhere will find some way to make it happen.

[Cash In 22,410]

I'm not going to say I want it to crash, but if that did happen, it could be good in the long run. The thing is, we don't know how that would turn out though. While starting fresh might kill some scummy practices, it could also allow leeway for different ones to flood the industry. I do agree that the modern gaming industry needs a massive overhaul, but a crash might not magically fix it like we all think.

 

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

I think it is a medium for many talented artists to colaborate and realize projects that may be beyond their financial scope on an individual basis. And to sometimes produce works of art that are worthy of consideration, beyond the entertainment value, that can offer the world a valuable message, and form of hope in and of itself.

Personally, this medium has allowed me to interact with the world from a safe space. And that means a lot. Almost everything. At the same time, nothing lasts forever. So, the real answer is that I don't know.

Edited May 27, 2023 by They call me Loyalty

[Megas 27,702]

It's worth noting that the Crash of 83 was purely an American thing, whereas the home computer market was picking up in the UK and Japan was beginning a gaming Renaissance of its own

As for a current crash, I think the industry's become too big for a crash of that magnitude. However, I can see something of a reform at some point for AAA games, between ballooning budgets for AAA games, excessive monetization, more GaaS types failing miserably, more apologies of major games releasing in an unacceptable state, I can see interest in AAA games plummeting if they keep this going. But even if the AAA market crashes, Mid tier and indie games I can see taking the public interest while companies of AAA games try to get their shit together

[Ganondorf8 11,322]

It crashed once forty years ago so it's possible that it can crash again.

2 hours ago, Megas said:

It's worth noting that the Crash of 83 was purely an American thing, whereas the home computer market was picking up in the UK and Japan was beginning a gaming Renaissance of its own

All because Atari didn't regulate anything and amateurs wanting to get in on the industry so that they could make money.

[Denim&Venöm 19,141]

I'm gonna go against the grain and say no. Only because the industry will learn the wrong lessons. 

Blame always gets deflected, scapegoats found and straws will always be grasped. Look at a lot of modern movies. Poor special effects, lazy writing and tone deaf morals.  But the excuses are never on the writers, producers, directors or studios. It's always the film concept itself. Or directly the audiences fault. If bad movies can keep making bank, and the ones that do fail having negligible effects on the industry, then it will keep happening. AAA games being of low quality is an opinion shared only by hardcore gamers. But casuals don't care as much. They aren't picky and are fine with average or sub par games. Like how a formulaic sitcom cartoon will be a ratings hit while more serious animations will remain obscure. 

So if there is a collapse, the wrong conclusions will be made. It's not the shoddy quality, overworked devs, lack of union oversight and regulation. No. The game concepts themselves failed. The tastes of the audience changed. It's even a conspiracy against studios. Smear campaigns and espionage. The only thing a collapse will do is put passionate people out of work, force companies into budget cuts and the studios that will remain will only play it even safer. The tried and true sellers like shooters, sports games and mobile flash games will be cranked out in even more utilitarian fashion, based on recognizable IPs only. 

A games crash will only make the industry less of an artistic endeavor and more of a service. The family restaurant or homely cafe turned into a McDonald's. You want games to be even more like Hollywood? Start that crash. 

[EpicEnergy 23,220]

Why should anyone hope for a crash in the gaming industry? Sure, games and gaming hardware are extremely expensive nowadays, including new AAA games which are costing at least $80 for the base game itself, but there are numerous games being released almost daily on both console and PC that are inexpensive. The Xbox Series S costs around $300 and I've seen multiple free games that are fun, so expenses are not really an issue when it comes to gaming unless you want to have the best hardware and the latest AAA games. There are problems with big triple-A games and the companies behind them, but to say that those problems have spread across the entire industry is unreasonable. I understand the frustration gamers have with triple-A games, but there are alternatives to such games. If the gaming industry crashed, small developers and companies would likely go out of business and all that would be left would be big companies; as such, what we should hope for is a significant change in the AAA game industry, which we may never see as long as gamers continue to spend their money on games in that industry.

I don't see any possibility of a crash in the gaming industry though because of the vast amount of consumers that are continuously feeding it. It can also be addicting in a sense, so it's like saying the soda industry could crash.

[Pentium100 2,136]

To make my post slightly shorter, whenever I mention "games" or "studios" I mean the "AAA" ones. If I want to mention indie games, I'll mention that.

I think that at least some of the large publishers need to go bust, not just merge with some other company, but actually become bankrupt.

There are a lot of bad practices with the games, the things that may, on their own, be OK, but the large companies have perverted them and made them into bad things.

For example - DLC. DLC is a great idea - a cheaper extension to the game you already have - not a full new game, but some new missions etc. It's a cool idea to bridge the time until a proper full sequel is released. However, in an effort to get more money, the large companies began to split what would have been a full game into parts and call those parts DLCs. The more egregious examples are day one DLC and on-disk "DLC". 

Games became somewhat like moves in that they are more and more expensive to create. $100M budget is considered normal nowadays. There are two bad outcomes from this.

One, the studios have became extremely risk-averse. Creating something new is a risk - what if it sucks? Losing $100 million is a big deal. Doing a remake or a sequel for a popular movie/game is less risky - you re pretty much guaranteed a lot of sales just from the fans of the previous releases, even if the new release sucks (as long as it does not suck too much). 

The other outcome is that the studios need more and more sales just to get even or they turn to other methods of monetization. A game that costs $60, even if the studio got all of that money, it would need to sell 1.7 million copies to just make back the $100M spent creating it. Obviously Steam takes a cut and then there are taxes, so the studio needs to sell even more copies. This makes studios create blander games in an effort to "appeal to a wider audience". Add to that the fact that studios do not just want to make money, they want to make all of the money (and have growing profits), you get the $10 "micro" transactions, games getting split in parts and sold as "DLCs" and all of the other bad things.

Indie gmes are better in this regard and if there is some kind of a crash (and there may be a crash if things keep going in the same direction), indie games should survive it.

[Brony Number 42 10,069]

Good points so far. Don't wait for the industry to change--make your own changes. Don't buy a game at launch. Better yet, don't buy a game newer than 4 years old. How many awesome Xbox 360 / PS3 games are there? Is your gaming experience really that different on a PS5? 

As someone who played NES and Atari as a kid, I think the experience has plateaued around Xbox 360 era. Those were some of my favorite games. The newer games aren't any better. If you need the latest and greatest, if you need 60 fps and ray tracing and 4k, photo realistic nonsense just for the sake of technology, then you will sacrifice quality for that. But if you just want some fun games then you have almost 50 years of games to pick from. If no new game was ever made, would we really notice?

I think a "crash" wouldn't help. Making AAA games is too expensive for companies to take risks. The reason DLCs and micro transactions make money is people buy them. I have no sympathy for someone who complains about a game being expensive as they hand over money to buy it. That's on you.

[Pentium100 2,136]

Oh yeah, I usually buy older games, my rule is "don't pay more than 10EUR for a game". There are some exceptions where I would pay more or even pre-order (or back a kickstarter project), but those are very rare.