Next-gen gaming CAN do better (Let's end the video games decline)

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Chris the Gaming Enthusiast - Hidden Odd Box

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Published on October 12, 2020 12:00:01 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu-hkD8IqiU

Game:

Among Us (2018)

Duration: 9:36

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Let’s hope that the video games decline is over, because next-gen gaming can do better! Spiderman remastered for PS5, Among Us, Crash Bandicoot 4 and Fall Guys are also part of this topic in their own way, stay tuned through the entire video to understand how.

Most of the budget for a video game is spent in marketing and advertising. Developing a triple A game costs less than advertising it, and all that money has to be recovered somehow: re-releases, early access, games as a service, remasters, trend chasing and loot boxes are words that we’ve heard a lot this past generation, and they are the reason why the current gaming landscape feels as saturated as never before. Don’t get me wrong, there have been amazing games this gen too, but they were very few compared to the seventh generation, and even fewer were made by triple A studios.

The priority for most modern gaming companies isn’t anymore to make the most entertaining game, but to make the most money with the least effort.
Content is very thin in modern games, and what is in them is heavily monetized, prompting most of the population to leave the game as quick as within a week from release out of boredom. Adding content to a game every month, or even every week, can only work if the game launched as a complete content package day one.

Skyrim is great, but 7 years of Skyrim ports seem too much to me, and now that 2020 is coming to an end we’ve only seen the shadow of The Elder Scrolls VI. Of course Skyrim isn’t the only game guilty of re-releasing for these many years, do you remember how the PS5 May event started?
Not all re-releases can be considered cheap cash grabs, but I think the frequency of re-releases launches must be reduced for next-gen.

Remasters are not always done the right way: the difference between the original game and the remastered version must be huge!
If a game gets a remastered version just a few years after release it should come at no cost, or else we are talking about a straight up cash grab. Marvel’s Spiderman’s quote on quote “remastered” version is the kind of situation I’m referring to, the PS4 version is just 2 years old and didn’t age even a bit, it would be better to play it in backward compatibility plus raytracing on PS5, without that non-sense character face swap. Remasters, remakes and re-releases are not the only issue that causes redundancy in the gaming landscape, very often features are carried over games of the same genre just to accommodate a sense of familiarity to the player, and this ultimately results in having less games that really stand out among the crowd.

Features like sprint, slide and clamber can be found in almost every first person game these days. Developers got lazy and instead of re-inventing the wheel to create something new they just sell what is safe and keep making the same exact games every year. You don’t have to learn how to play a new game anymore, everything is predictable and blends together, plus, every few years a new trend is popular and everyone joins just to grab a piece of the cake. New games don’t have to necessarily create a new genre or trend, they can be part of any genre as long as they have something that makes them stand out from titles of the same genre! When you look at games like Among Us and Fall Guys there’s no question why these games are popular, it’s because they are actually fun to play. It’s a luck that small indie developer studios exist, you never know what will be trending tomorrow, but you can bet some great game is coming from the indie market. It’s also a luck that old beloved characters get resurrected! Since Crash has his very unique play style that no other game ever managed to replicate it’s amazing to get an official fourth entry in the franchise, and of course I think the same thing about most of Halo Infinite’s return to form, although not as much since some things don’t really make sense as a return to form.

As years passed games became very easy and developers stopped crafting more complex AIs for the antagonists as you set higher difficulties, instead they often raise health and damage of your opponents for high difficulties, without crafting compelling encounters and AIs to support the gameplay.
I mean, how is it possible that Super Mario Bros came out in the 80s and has many more interesting gameplay encounters thanks to its level design, opponents and hazards than many recent games? Developers should try to make us more curious and let us try to complete games our own way through a smart amalgamation of possibilities, just like in Zelda Breath of The Wild.

#Xbox #PS5 #NextGen

Better monetization models for the industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loeqVT-_4H0

Time stamps:
Intro (00:00)
The next generation of gaming can be better - the decline of gaming (00:36)
Most money, least effort (01:20)
Re-released games (02:35)
Remasters and remakes (03:51)
How to revive creativity (05:31)
Games difficulty (07:35)
Quick recap (08:38)

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