2012: Gaming Apocolypse

[RUINER ACTUAL]

World of Warcraft comes out in 2004 and the seeds of destruction are sewn. Several years later, its developer Blizzard is acquired by Activision and its money-hungry CEO Bobby Kotick. WoW makes tons of money by forcing players to pay constantly to play and get add-ons. More money is made with expansions for WoW and other Activision acquired developers' titles such as Call of Duty, another highly popular and addictive game. Then someone(Kotick) has an idea: lets charge monthly for games like CoD online. Or even better- lets make a game hybrid of WoW and CoD! In 2009, the last great CoD game comes out in the form of MW2. A few months into 2010, the creative minds at Infinity Ward are ousted for their refusal to make a Bobby Kotick game. Sledgehammer Games is brought in to make the new monstrosity dated for 2011. By then, Activision has made more money on CoD Cold War online then WoW that year. 2012 comes, and no game from Infinity Ward comes out, with the Modern Warfare brand trapped in red tape by Activision and its lawyers. By this time, other publishers start charging for online play on top of previous subscription fees and the game itself. People stop buying games, and their price skyrocket because of it. The 2012 holiday season comes- few games come out, even fewer good ones are released, simply because making game isn't suppose to be fun. Gaming has died because of the greed of the elite publishing companies.

(Not all current facts. Pure speculation and opinion.)

What do you think? Is this scenario plausible given the current situation and the wasy things like DRM are going? Or is this a bunch of fluff and I should be sent to a mental ward because I obviously don't have an idea of whats going on around me?

 

[Space Spoons]

I doubt gamers will ever stop buying games, even in the face of nonsensical fees. They'll ***** about it, sure, but I don't think they have the self-control to quit altogether. The end result of pretty much every gaming related petition ever has shown us that.

 

[Dixon55]

There will always be companies that don't jump on the subscription fee game band wagon. There is still a lot of hope for gaming, you just covered the fps, their is a lot of other game genres that are very popular. =)

 

[Veylon]

This is nonsense. If the prices of a few titles skyrocket, people will simply buy fewer games, or else cheaper ones. If companies charge for online play, customers can either pay up or switch games. There's no way that every single company is suddenly going to jump on the subscription boat, in fact there are many who will see this as an opportunity to toot their own horn of wonderfulness and attract those fearful of your scenario.

And the notion that few games will come out at Christmas? Madness! There are many, many developers waiting in the wings to seize control of the market should the big boys falter. They will happily absorb every available photon of the limelight that is missed by their larger brethren.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

I choose the latter option, get mental ward-ing.

On a much more serious note, infinity ward is unnervingly similar to mental ward. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

 

[UPRC]

Yes. Call of Duty and World of Warcraft will destroy gaming. And Activision is a money hungry titan that will obliterate the world.

Surely.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

First off, Activision did not buy Blizzard. Blizzard's owner, media giant Vivendi, bought Activision.

They have already added some RPG features like experience grinding to shooters. That is old news and is not liked by many of the most competitive and active shooter players.

The subscription MMO model is also not seen as the future any more. A lot of really expensive to make MMOs have come out with a subscription model and failed in the market place. Free to play is seen as more profitable in the future for many games.

Gaming apocalypse might be on the cards anyway. Games get more expensive to make, too many are made and the audience isn't expanding enough. If things go on as they are then attrition might wear down the developers one by one until only a handful are left. If there is a next generation soon then the process will be accelerated and there might be absolute carnage.

Big publishers trying to charge more and more for less and less or as it is also known "trying to get blood out of a stone" is a trend that will carry on. I think the general direction you are thinking is right but I don't see it as subscription charges but in ways that are far more inventive and insidious.

 

[syndicated44]

So your saying you want to sleep with Bobby Kotick? I jest!

Honestly though if he thinks he could get away with something like that he is in for a rude awakening. You cant possibly make me pay a subscription fee for a dozen maps and a bunch of assholes yelling at eachother. Sure you might seperate the curds from the whey but what you have then is a paying community demanding that every issue be fixed. True you would have much less glitches and hacks but then you have game that has no right taking your money beyond that one time purchase.

MMOs are huge expansive worlds that are constantly being fixed and tweaked and played with. Servers holding thousands of people at once while they run around like ants in a world that is just giant. You expect to pay for them to sit there and make sure the game doesnt break. CoD you cant possibly expect anyone to pay a subscription for. There isnt enough there and there isnt enough support as is.

On the subject of Activision taking over the world. EA was going to take over the world and they didnt. Microsoft before them. There is bourgeoisie and the proletariat and there will always be those two groups. One milking one and the other fighting against it. When the little becomes large the cycle starts all over again. Its those golden years before the large become a lumbering overweight giant that things look pretty good.

 

[CheckD3]

You're a few years too early. When Natal comes out and tries to be "hardcore", it'll fuck with our minds and cause the end of gaming as we know it, because why make an epic, 44 mil. game like God of War when we can make a bunch of mini-games that parents will re-buy over and over and over until we're all like Nintendo?

I literally think that Nintendo is our last chance to keep gaming hardcore, if they go into the next gen with a system that's got the power of Sony, the online support of MS, and the titles they've had plus a bunch of new companies under they're belt creating new franchises, they'll probably be set for at least 10 generations of gaming.

Is it just me or does motion control and Natal symbolize that evolutionary step that takes something just too far? In this case, ends gaming on counsels as we know it

As for MMOs, they don't consern me because I'm not a PC nerd that much and prefer a nice cool controller held just so right in my hands, and while the computer is nice, it doesn't feel as gamely as controllers you just hold and push buttons on, with game companies trying to please more and more younger children (that didn't come our weird at all) they'll leave me out of the mix. MMOs for the PC hardcores and home systems will be all kiddie and casual hardies like myself and others will be stuck having to dumb down to kiddie systems or upgrade to learn the PC games and they're trillion combos of buttons/controls (you can tell I'm a system addict I'm sure ^^;;; )

 

[Flying-Emu]

Yes. Call of Duty and World of Warcraft will destroy gaming. And Activision is a money hungry titan that will obliterate the world.

Surely.

I think it's more likely that the medium will fall to the general mediocrity that pervades almost every genre these days.

 

[jtr477]

First off, Activision did not buy Blizzard. Blizzard's owner, media giant Vivendi, bought Activision.

They have already added some RPG features like experience grinding to shooters. That is old news and is not liked by many of the most competitive and active shooter players.

The subscription MMO model is also not seen as the future any more. A lot of really expensive to make MMOs have come out with a subscription model and failed in the market place. Free to play is seen as more profitable in the future for many games.

Gaming apocalypse might be on the cards anyway. Games get more expensive to make, too many are made and the audience isn't expanding enough. If things go on as they are then attrition might wear down the developers one by one until only a handful are left. If there is a next generation soon then the process will be accelerated and there might be absolute carnage.

Big publishers trying to charge more and more for less and less or as it is also known "trying to get blood out of a stone" is a trend that will carry on. I think the general direction you are thinking is right but I don't see it as subscription charges but in ways that are far more inventive and insidious.

However,

If only a handful of developer's remain it's that much better for the quality of the games that ARE released. I remember a time where there were not many developers around and the best pearls in gaming history were released.

Just saying.

By the way, i do think nintendo is CAPABLE of saving gaming. But probably doesn't have the will.

As right now they are too busy sucking the balls of the gimmick crowd.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

If only a handful of developer's remain it's that much better for the quality of the games that ARE released. I remember a time where there were not many developers around and the best pearls in gaming history were released.

Just saying.

By the way, i do think nintendo is CAPABLE of saving gaming. But probably doesn't have the will.

As right now they are too busy sucking the balls of the gimmick crowd.

Nintendo has already saved gaming for itself and for a lot of people who like traditional Nintendo games. Expecting them to save the whole of the games industry from its own hubris and excesses would not be sensible. Not enough room in the bunker buddy, sorry about that. How about people start ranting at people like EA and Microsoft for failing to save their own part of the industry instead of complaining about Nintendo's successes.

I wouldn't want to say that quantity is more important than quality but from a consumer perspective the most important thing is which sort of developers fail and what selection of games we have left. Traditionally the shrinking profit margins and survival of games with larger budgets and larger markets has not been pretty in terms of seeing who fails. To be honest though the mega publishers that we have are so bad at developing games that I want myself that I would not be too sad if they failed. But history tells me that they will survive and the people I like will go out of business.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

This article should clear that up:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177648

I think that your major mistake here is assuming that 1up.com is a reliable guide to the world of business. You have more chance of finding people who understand that world better on a WoW forum. Fanboys or not.

Vivendi owned Blizzard. They bought a controlling interest in Activision then decided to merge the businesses but they are still run as separate businesses. Blizzard do not report to Bobby Kotick. Bobby Kotick does not report to Mike Morhaime.

Vivendi are a big deal. Much bigger of a deal than Activision or Blizzard.

 

[Miew]

The publishers wouldn't be properly greedy if they threw stones that big in their own way. It's not like everyone would be playing CoD or WoW online, or is it?
But I think it's unavoidable at some point, that games will be dependent on a permanent internet connection even if they're not (primarily) multiplayer games.
With the direction the internet and everything is going right now, it's just a matter of time. There are even ideas of having the game installed on a server somewhere and just streaming the entire thing to your monitor at home. While that would give the publisher total control, it would eliminate the need to have a powerful PC at home to play the games.

 

[Odd Water]

Just remember two rules that always apply, if there is porn of it someone will find it hot, no exceptions. No matter the game that is made, someone will buy it and find it good, no exceptions.