Is the Gaming Industry Crashing - in-depth look

I think this is something every gamer should watch (be they casual, hardcore or whatever), a fantastic video about the current state of the video game industry and how things possibly resemble 1983.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XZxXEidtxHk

Give it a watch, it lasts 33 minutes but it's well worth it even if you might disagree with it.
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If a mod see this, this is well worth posting on the Frontpage IMO.

 

Yes, YES IT IS!
After seeing the fiasco called sim city, it definitely is!
Games are dumbed down for a dumb audience!

 

God, you and your SimCity. seems like you take time out of your life to bash it in every thread on this forum.

gaming industry has changed, yes. so has the movie industry and every other industry. live with it.

 

fun vid, and is so true...
i've preordered bf:bc2 - I enjoyed it(had few flaws)...then i preord...BF3...and i regret it. ATM only my 7(soon 8)y.o. son playin it, I just hate it....unnatural colors, dumb and unreal playability...lots of to talk about...
Dragons Age, then DA2 same, 1st fun, sec like crap...only battles was fun, but same same environments!
Never ever preorders....and...never EA crap again on launch, 2 months later, when users feedback is good, then i can try anything...
And EAs origin soft is crap, u buy game, then u dl basic from release, then all the patches...why the f they dont have accurate version to dl?

 

It's quite true .. there's just so little to look forward to these days. Only 2k, SE, Valve and Blizzard come out with games that interest me and manage to hold it.

 

same on Steam, it's not just origin.

 

Been crashing for years.

 

Doesn't matter to me anymore really. I only play a select few titles after you guys get them and I read the feedback. Just the stand out games only. The rest I wait until they are on steam for 10 bucks. I no longer reserve or preorder anything.

I cashed out of the call of duty thing too. Didn't feel like buying the same game with a few extras mods of play. I got Modern warfare 2 and Black ops 1 and that was enough for me.

With EA trying to push Battlefield 4 to us already sounds like BF3 will be the last great game in the BF series.

I run racing simulations most of the time which is like an entirely different kingdom anyway, lol.

 

just watched the whole video. most of it is EA bashing and there's a lot of other nonsense in it too. he's talking about the gaming industry crashing. yeah, right. it's a massive business and it's not going anywhere!

He is telling us not to buy crap games, how about he tells the professional journalist to stop rating every piece of horse sh1t that gets released with 9/10 marks? The guy is pretty clueless. blabber. Of course the games are not as good as they could be, but the guy is talking crap 90% of the time in that video. He's actually infuriating. Clearly looking for twitter/youtube hits.

 

Completely disagree. If you go out to the real world and just interact with "casual" gaming consumers, all the critical analysis that are so convincing online just shatters because you can see the picture forming--that there are substantial number of people that are loving these iterative, cheap-quick-money-making-scheme-"bad" games.

On the web the market may appear to fits the 1983 crash... but let's not forget, internet is full of angry people wanting to vent, and most of the stuff we type aren't worth much more than one of the farts we let out.

Not to mention the quality of games are just worlds apart... bad games from 1983 weren't even arguably games... more like random ****s flying across your screen. Nowdays online critics want to slam games because it didn't break new grounds. There is another term for that, it's called being average and yes there are lot of average games on the market.

 

i liked the video, was interesting to see publishers share prices tank after 2008 and not recover since.

He has a point though although i dont completely agree, EA have fu**ed up every single excellent franchise they own by forcing yearly/bi yearly releases.
I dont aggree with him in that there are too many crap games, theres too many bloody good games, the market is completely saturated, at this stage theres 2 big releases per month, who can afford that?( not just in terms of cash but time also ).

I find myself buying far too many games and not having time to complete them before the next must have is released, im cutting down on games spending but i have so much wasted cash on games ive never played and probably will never play.

Some publishers are doing a good job( more PC focused this ), Square Enix, RockSteady, Capcom( before they outsourced most of the games ), etc.

I do think there will be a crash of sorts, theres a lull at the moment due to the consoles being so old, but i dont think new consoles will revive the industry to 2005 levels, the next gen of consoles will only become what the PC is in terms of advantage over current console versions, i.e. higher resolution, higher framerate, DX11 features etc. but the games are going to be the same old crap, BF4 will be BF3 + extra maps, a few tweaks and "All new on next gen of consoles", same with Ass Creed next gen and most of the other franchises.

The only thing that can possibly balance the system is kickstarter games, and people investing in games they decide should be made rather than yearly churned out crap.

 

about tanking. he showed what, 5-6 publishers... there's hundreds out there. A lot of them haven't tanked. quite the opposite.

 

i cant follow every single one but most share prices have tanked since 2008 regardless of whether they are publishers or not, i agree that doesnt reflect the gaming industry, but it does create a situation of desperately trying to appease shareholders and results in more games more regularly.

Other than those stated name several major publishers which have shown a vastly increased share price value since 2008?

 

I don't have that kind of information on tap right now, but surely there will be a few that kept their value at least. not saying they're big publishers/developers, but there must be a few. either way, what I was trying to get at was that this clevernoob dude is trying to make out as if the gaming industry is about to die. if he really thinks that, he should not be publishing his nonsense anywhere. not even on the internet.

 

I certainly hope so, game budgets are so out of control that it's severely limiting developers.

 

Imo it just feels like the meaning of the word (and even the word itself) 'genre' got turfed out an now all games seem to be aimed at the casule market, no more specfic target audiences anymore. Quick, easy to play and easier to forget as that way, just announcing a sequel and its title will pull a hell of alot of pre-orders.

 

With the current trend of..Pooling in big $,$$$,$$$'s to make a game:
1. Which is dumb'ed down a lot with respect to gameplay <- Major contribution
2. Has in-game purchases for cheats <- EA's new path
3. Requirement that the game will only run with publishers only online platform
4. Has ridiculous DRM (connected to the above point)
5. Purchasing individual box/digital edition of games costing a minimum of $60 a piece
6. No 2nd hand usage/sale of the game

Yes...the industry is heading to a big ****ing crash down the line.

 

I don't agree with 100% of everything this guy is saying, but its not a surprise the gaming industry is somewhat ailing as a whole. I wrote this short article about a year ago for a blog and saw this coming a mile away. Oh the tangled web the money hungry industry weaves...

" The new gaming industry - friend or foe?
by Doppelganger

I've been an avid gamer since I was young and enjoy them just as much today. Unfortunately, just like many other things in this day and age, the gaming industry seems to be undergoing some massive changes and most aren't for the better. Lately, game developers seem more likely to charge you a monthly fee than include a t-shirt with a pre-order. Big business seems intent on absorbing the little guy and more than ever, corporate giants like EA and Blizzard are taking over. They want to know more about you, take more of your hard earned dollar and give you, the consumer, less in return. There are many examples of this disturbing trend which include (but are not limited to) the following:

Downloadable content - A newer way to increase revenue, while including less in the original retail game we already paid top dollar for. Were not talking about a full fledged expansion pack here, were talking about little add ons and things left out of the retail version just so it can be sold to you later.
Hosting programs like Steam and Origin - Recently a requirement to play many of your favorite games, a method of controlling sales and DRM (digital rights management)
Online auction houses and "purchasable in game items" - Yet another way for big business to squeeze cash out of you, post game purchase

These are just a few examples of how the corporate gaming industry is on the rise and intent on hitting you in the pocketbook. Something else you may not have heard is that consumer electronic giant Sony is throwing around the idea of banishing used game sales. Sony's next gen console may be designed to lock games to single PSN account, featuring an anti-used game system unique licensing code. This would be a direct attack on free enterprise and hurt both small business and the consumer. If these companies continue to treat the industry and their customers as such, it is a business model doomed to fail. We need to make a stand gamers! Do we want a gaming industry that is intent on taking away our rights, nickle and diming us and controlling how and when we buy games? Its time to post a blog, record a YouTube video, write the FTC, post on Facebook and boycott those who are out to exploit the industry all of us gamers have contributed to for years."

 

did you saw the video? even in that video they mention simcity as a bad game by maxis because of EA's greed!

 

Yes,its changing. But for the worse when the consumers realize that they are being F'ked up by the publishers...

Until then I pity the ones who get fooled into their traps, made shiny by some fools gold.