A new golden age for gaming?

[McMarbles]

We could have a golden age of gaming if it wasn't for the damned "gamers".

 

[DrownedAmmet]

We could have a golden age of gaming if it wasn't for the damned "gamers".

Hahaha I buy this. There are so many great games out now, there is a bit more diversity in games now, gaming is actually accepted in popular culture nowadays, the rise of streaming and YouTube and Patron means thousands of people are making a living talking about and playing games, Nintendo actually put out a good console, and the biggest game today is PUBG, a small little game that took one good idea and ran with it

So yeah, wine about politics all you want, I'll be over here playing these awesome games and I'll keep encouraging developers to make them more diverse and inclusive so people of all kinds can continue to enjoy this hobby

 

[Vanilla ISIS]

Mainstream gaming is in a bit of a crisis.
The production/marketing costs are through the roof and because of that, big titles are dumbed down and purposefully designed to make you pay again and again for stuff that used to be free. Often, big budget titles are released unfinished because of deadlines and release dates.
Successful studios with an excellent track record get shut down because of 1 flop.
Console gaming is dying since now, the lifespan of a console seems to be 3-4 years and gamers aren't willing to spend so much money on a piece of technology that essentially has only 1 use.

We do, however, live in a golden age of indie gaming.
There are literally hundreds of games coming out every week. Because of the advancements in technology, anyone can make a game these days. Furthermore, since indie games don't have to cater to the masses, they're as creative as video games have ever been.
I haven't played a mainstream game in ages, I've only played a current gen console maybe 3 times in my life and despite that, I have access to so many games it's really hard to choose what to spend money on.
Phones are so powerful nowadays that you can play tons of great games wherever you go.
Did I mention the thousands of free games I can play whenever I want? My mom became a gamer thanks to all the free games available online.

 

[Trunkage]

We will never see a renaissance in gaming until we return to the risk-taking bold game decisions that marked the 90s, attention to fleshing out existing ideas as much as they can be that marked... well, the 90s but also the first half of the noughties, and the abolition of microtransactions, DLCs, and preorder offers. That last one I can't see happening anytime in the next 15 years.

How many studios are still alive from back then? Because you either died or you became like EA. It's called Capitalism - finding the most 'profitable' path. The gaming industry cant afford huge losses like the 90s - they saw what happened to their competitors.

The increased frequency of microtransactions inherently ensures this isn't a golden age just yet.

But I do think we're seeing a big improvement over the later years of the last generation. Japanese developers(minus Konami) seem to have overcome their decline to some extend and are releasing quality titles once again. This increases the amount of great games.

Unfortunately, micro transactions is probably the only way we will get a golden age. Games don't come cheap

I think we're more likely headed for an '83-style Crash and Dark Age, myself. The big thing for me is all this political bullshit.

On one side, you've got the types that look at anything with attractive characters in it and demanding they be uglied up. Then you've got the people that suggest that the former types make their own games, and end up getting called Nazis just for disagreeing. You've got Western devs and gaming news outlets that actively despise the very people they expect to buy their products or read their websites. And worst of all, you've got social media, that gives the dumbest people voices far beyond anything they've ever had before; and the social media sites are all too eager to ruthlessly censor anyone that doesn't agree with a specific narrative.

All of this combines to make it where it's impossible to have an honest discussion about games and what they should be. I'm not going to suggest that games like Gone Home shouldn't exist; they have every right to. But claiming that just because a Gone Home or Depression Quest failed financially means that all gamers are Nazis cannot be tolerated.

Well isn't this ironic. First political post calling out all political posts

Anyway - I see the problem largely as people just want to prove others wrong so they can be right. For a non-political, example ME3 ending. Some people couldn't stand that some people enjoyed (or at least didn't hate) the ending. The people who liked it got triggered. Then everyone had to prove they were right

 

[Squilookle]

We will never see a renaissance in gaming until we return to the risk-taking bold game decisions that marked the 90s, attention to fleshing out existing ideas as much as they can be that marked... well, the 90s but also the first half of the noughties, and the abolition of microtransactions, DLCs, and preorder offers. That last one I can't see happening anytime in the next 15 years.

How many studios are still alive from back then? Because you either died or you became like EA. It's called Capitalism - finding the most 'profitable' path. The gaming industry cant afford huge losses like the 90s - they saw what happened to their competitors.

No, they were bought by their competitors. The larger companies ate up the smaller ones and then it was sayonara to creative game design after that.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

Mainstream gaming is in a bit of a crisis.
The production/marketing costs are through the roof and because of that, big titles are dumbed down and purposefully designed to make you pay again and again for stuff that used to be free. Often, big budget titles are released unfinished because of deadlines and release dates.
Successful studios with an excellent track record get shut down because of 1 flop.
Console gaming is dying since now, the lifespan of a console seems to be 3-4 years and gamers aren't willing to spend so much money on a piece of technology that essentially has only 1 use.

We do, however, live in a golden age of indie gaming.
There are literally hundreds of games coming out every week. Because of the advancements in technology, anyone can make a game these days. Furthermore, since indie games don't have to cater to the masses, they're as creative as video games have ever been.
I haven't played a mainstream game in ages, I've only played a current gen console maybe 3 times in my life and despite that, I have access to so many games it's really hard to choose what to spend money on.
Phones are so powerful nowadays that you can play tons of great games wherever you go.
Did I mention the thousands of free games I can play whenever I want? My mom became a gamer thanks to all the free games available online.

I think publishers are finally starting to learn you don't need huge budgets for successful games. Arkane Studios works with big publisher Bethesda and doesn't make games that need to sell 5+ million to turn a profit. The latest Hitman was very scaled back as far a budget goes. The Souls series is also in that category. There's several AAA games that came out just this year like Nier Automata, Persona 5, Nioh, Yakuza that have rather meager budgets compared to say a Destiny. AAA games don't have to be made in a mindset that they must appeal to everyone.

What are you talking about with regards to consoles lasting 3-4 years? Last-gen (PS3/360) was 7 years long. Current-gen is already on year 4.

Hundreds of indie games coming out each week is actually a big problem on Steam because at least 99% of those are complete crap. It's the mid-tier devs like Larian Studios with Divinity that are making great games that still look damn good that are pushing on the AAA market. Why deal with Bethesda when Divinity is at least 10x the RPG that Skyrim or Fallout 4 are?

The best phone games are digital board games as they actually make great transitions to mobile vs the standard video game that needs a controller or a KB/M to be functional.

 

[Erttheking]

Why can't we shoot Nazis and KKK members because it is fun and everyone hates those guys? I mean sure, it is a political statement... But the political statement behind killing Nazis is one probably 99% of the population can get behind. One that has been present in dozens and dozens of popular movies.

You know, I've been thinking about it, and I think I know what the problem is. America, when you get down to it, didn't suffer at the hands of the Nazis that much, compared to the other nations who fought them and particularly compared to the people they persecuted. And yet, Americans derive much of their entertainment from watching American (straight white male Americans) giving those no good Nazis what for. Often in fiction, the holocaust and any other Nazi war crimes pull an old cliche. "Have one person's pain inspire another person's heroism." You know how it is, straight white man finds a girl that has been raped and killed, gets mad, kills her rapist. He gets to feel powerful. The horrific implications of being a rape survivor are not explored, because that woman only existed to give that man a vehicle for his heroism.

It's only a theory, but I think that's why killing Nazis is controversial all of a sudden. It's not American actions heroes bursting in and hogging the spotlight all to themselves while the plights of those under Nazi thumbs only exist to make the American heroes angry. It's about the people the Nazis oppress avenging themselves. People of color, the physically and mentally handicapped, Jews, hell, BJ has Jewish ancestry in this new game. It's not a fun romp in killing "those guys Indiana Jones fought" anymore.

I mean seriously, have we ever had a game where the guy killing thousand upon thousands of Nazis had a Jewish mother? If we did, I certainly don't remember it. I mean...a Jewish hero getting a crack at the Nazi killing, you think we would have seen more of that, but we haven't.

 

[dscross]

I think it?s all a matter of perspective to be honest. It?s a golden age of gaming if they are making the types of games you like, or remaking your favourite games well. If they aren?t making your type of games, you?ll be upset, it?s not an objective white or black answer.

Personally, There?s a lot more games made in this generation that I like, so yes, it?s a good time for gaming for me.

 

[Ninjamurai]

Many things are better/getting better. Some things are worse to varying degrees. Whether or not today is golden is completely up to you (Because it's all about what you enjoy playing in the end). Some people over analyze, take things too far, or spend all their time focused on things they hate. I don't think these things are very helpful, especially when more objectively dumpy things are going on. (Like loot boxes. Remember when you *earned* costumes & weapons by playing the game & achieving them? Much more important topic than whatever the hell a fictional characters political opinion or whatever is. Though they do have benefits sometimes, not having obnoxious DLC packs is sometimes worth the trade off.)

snip

I don't know how much thinking like this holds up tbh. Not because it isn't an interesting point, but because it seems like this is just over analyzing a minority of people who also over analyze things themselves. The majority of everybody just consumes games, movies, etc., without putting much more thought into it other than "I want some entertainment in my free time." Some people will get pissy that some "political" thing was "shoehorned" into some game they already didn't care about. But most people will consume it & judge it based on its own merits, and not on the history of the world or the developers Twitter accounts. It's good to try & keep people in check when they go off the rails with their analysis of modern politics & games & whatnot, but it's also good to be careful not to go off the rails yourself. Either way, I always feel like politics are slightly pointless when it comes to game discussion, because the biggest factor in everything is money, and not just opinions.

 

[gorfias]

So far, gaming does seem progressive. We can still play SNES style games if we want to do so. But nothing like Zelda Breath of the Wild quite existed last generation.

We can have the older experiences and the new ones too now.

If anything, I worry about a glut killing the market. Hasn't happened yet as, inspite of myself, with a pile of shame that would kill the entire Catholic church with raw naked emotion across multiple continents, there's even more out there right now I'd love to own and more coming (Star Wars Battlefield was meh... but the graphics for part 2... cannot resist!).

Not sure how much better it can get than this.

 

[kilenem]

We are in a above average year in a generation of mediocrity. If SEGA and Atarti released classic consoles that weren't shit I don't think the SNES and Nes Mini would've done as well. Sony for some reason has let Nintendo take over the handheld market since the VITA is barely mentioned by sony at all. Microsoft doesn't ave a first party line up and has pretty much given the console market to PS4 since the few X1 exclusives are playable on PC.

 

[Kyrian007]

There are so many great games out now, there is a bit more diversity in games now, gaming is actually accepted in popular culture nowadays, the rise of streaming and YouTube and Patron means thousands of people are making a living talking about and playing games, Nintendo actually put out a good console, and the biggest game today is PUBG, a small little game that took one good idea and ran with it

So yeah, wine about politics all you want, I'll be over here playing these awesome games and I'll keep encouraging developers to make them more diverse and inclusive so people of all kinds can continue to enjoy this hobby

I may not believe this is a "golden age of gaming" (I'm old and my nostalgia won't let me believe anything but the video games of my generation are the best) but I can totally get behind this. What was a fringe group has now become legion. And even if the vocal minority of unsavory individuals within the culture grows... that majority of us who just love games will grow even faster.

 

[SoliterDan]

Everything's shit and it was shit before and it will be shit forever, until we're all unite into one mind.

 

[Hawki]

Looks at thread...

Y'know, it's funny, I keep hearing about these evil SJWs, but I see far more complaining ABOUT "SJWs" than complaining FROM "SJWs." I mean, look at Tracer. For all the outrage about a "forced agenda" being "pushed down our throats," the actual comic makes no mention of it. You could replace Emily with a male and retain every piece of dialogue and still have the exact same story. And as for those Wolfenstein links...what? I mean, I was aware of the DLC (and even made articles on the Wolfenstein wiki for them), then moved on. The idea of "diversity" never occurred to me. The only thing that did enter my mind was "huh, people other than BJ killing Nazis in pulpy scenarios. Sounds fun." Key word on PEOPLE.

Then again, the earliest 'political game' I can remember being exposed to was Metal Gear Solid in 1998, so I guess I'm just brainwashed or something.

But as for the OP, I'm dubious about the idea of "golden ages," because one can only really quantify a golden age in retrospect, and a lot of that has to do with nostalgia. I don't call myself a "gamer" (for a variety of reasons) anyway, and have far less time and more varied activities than I did when I was playing for hours straight.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

Seriously how can anyone feel anything but dismissive cynasism and dispassionate loathing for gaming these days?

Sounds like you should get another hobby, why you even bother visiting a gaming forum when you hate gaming so much is beyond me.

OT: This ''generation'', if you wanna call it that, has been rather stale. Last generation we got hit new series like Gears of War on 360 and Uncharted on PS3, I can't name a single new series this generation that made the same, huge splash like those two series did last gen.

Not to say we haven't been getting some great games the last 3-4 years because we have, but it feels like publishers/developers don't put their hearts and souls into something entirely new anymore.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I think it's all a matter of perspective to be honest. It's a golden age of gaming if they are making the types of games you like, or remaking your favourite games well. If they aren't making your type of games, you'll be upset, it's not an objective white or black answer.

Personally, There's a lot more games made in this generation that I like, so yes, it's a good time for gaming for me.

We are getting lots more variety in games very recently that we just weren't getting last-gen IMO. Genres considered niche weren't being made as they were deemed unprofitable because every game had to sell like 5 million (like EA with Dead Space). Games became so homogeneous whether it was a shooter (1st/3rd-person) or open world game. Just about every game with melee combat used Arkham combat. Even a series like Hitman tried to go all mainstream last-gen. There's been a great push from the mid-tier market successfully bringing back genres.

But as for the OP, I'm dubious about the idea of "golden ages," because one can only really quantify a golden age in retrospect, and a lot of that has to do with nostalgia. I don't call myself a "gamer" (for a variety of reasons) anyway, and have far less time and more varied activities than I did when I was playing for hours straight.

There's finally a freshness in gaming that was lost for at least 5 years IMO. Basically, what I said just above about games becoming so homogeneous.

OT: This ''generation'', if you wanna call it that, has been rather stale. Last generation we got hit new series like Gears of War on 360 and Uncharted on PS3, I can't name a single new series this generation that made the same, huge splash like those two series did last gen.

Not to say we haven't been getting some great games the last 3-4 years because we have, but it feels like publishers/developers don't put their hearts and souls into something entirely new anymore.

Gears and Uncharted were sorta like the game equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster; nice, fun distractions but far from anything exceptional. Hell, only one Uncharted is actually a good game IMO. We've gotten some great new franchises that might not be blockbuster hits but they are there. Divinity Original Sin is a legit RPG that we haven't seen in probably over a decade. I guess it's technically not a new series as it's world is established from the Divinity series but from a gameplay perspective, it's basically a new series. And Obsidian made a passion project as well with Pillars of Eternity. Shadow Tactics is an amazing stealth game, the best in a long long time. And for big blockbusters that are new franchises we got Horizon Zero Dawn, Watch Dogs, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor/War, Titanfall, Overwatch, Destiny. I personally only like one of those games but we got new IPs that are definitely hits. Then, you have stuff like Cities: Skylines, Nioh and Danganronpa that found an audience. There's just so much variety out there and the mid-tier games are offering better experiences than AAA counterparts. Divinity has even better voice acting than an Elder Scrolls game for example.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

Gears and Uncharted were sorta like the game equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster; nice, fun distractions but far from anything exceptional. Hell, only one Uncharted is actually a good game IMO. We've gotten some great new franchises that might not be blockbuster hits but they are there. Divinity Original Sin is a legit RPG that we haven't seen in probably over a decade. I guess it's technically not a new series as it's world is established from the Divinity series but from a gameplay perspective, it's basically a new series. And Obsidian made a passion project as well with Pillars of Eternity. Shadow Tactics is an amazing stealth game, the best in a long long time. And for big blockbusters that are new franchises we got Horizon Zero Dawn, Watch Dogs, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor/War, Titanfall, Overwatch, Destiny. I personally only like one of those games but we got new IPs that are definitely hits. Then, you have stuff like Cities: Skylines, Nioh and Danganronpa that found an audience. There's just so much variety out there and the mid-tier games are offering better experiences than AAA counterparts. Divinity has even better voice acting than an Elder Scrolls game for example.

I disagree, the Gears of War series was probably my favorite new IP from last gen. I also feel the other way about Uncharted, I found them to be rather lackluster but I can still appreciate it for what it was. The Gears of War series truly felt unique and like it had a very large budget compared to pretty much every game from the previous generation, then comes Gears of War 4 where it felt like they focused more on how to suck the most money out from your fans by adding tons of microtransactions than on making a worthy sequel for Gears 3. Same thing with Halo, Halo 5 really dropped the ball, 2 of my favorite series of all time disappointed me for the first time just 1 year apart from each other.

You don't have to tell me twice, I spent 60 hours in Divinity 2 in a week, turn-based games like XCOM and Divinity are really addictive. Still, they don't capture me the same way ex like Halo and Gears ever did, they were more than great in almost every way, the graphics, the story, the atmosphere, the gameplay, the music, the characters, the multiplayer...it was all so good. They were unique in what they did, almost every gen had games that defined that gen, in a positive way of course. Can't say the same about this gen to be honest.

Shadow of Mordor was a nice surprise but it wasn't amazing or anything, I've still pre-ordered the sequel despite all the controversy.

Titanfall definitely didn't start off on a high note, it was a multiplayer only game that really lacked content, a sure flop. Titanfall 2 was an improvement in every way, I actually just finished it the other day and it was good, though all characters were pretty generic and I can't remember the name of anyone. It was also incredibly short, took me about 5-6 hours to beat on Hard.

Overwatch was great but it's an online-only competitive focused game, just like CSGO. They create almost as many frustrating moments as they create good. CSGO is one of my most played games of all time, I got around 1600 hours of game-time but I still wouldn't put in my top 10 games of all time.

Destiny, a game that lacked content and left so many people disappointed, me included. I bought a PS4 for it, for god's sake. My favorite developer have fallen and it hurts me. I'm only giving Destiny 2 a shot because it's coming for PC.

Watch Dogs, another game that disappointed many, the biggest PR blunder this gen some might say, a game that completely tarnished Ubisofts reputation. Watch Dogs 2 was even worse, as a game that is.

Can't really comment on Horizon Zero Dawn but it seems like just another great game in a sea of great games. I don't see it becoming a multi-billion dollar franchise with millions of super dedicated fans, I rarely see anyone even talk about it.

Don't like Japanese games (with a couple exceptions like MGS and RE). There is without a doubt a larger net of games these days but with smaller fish. I'd rather want 1 amazing game than 5 great ones.

I know I'm kissing Gears ass a bunch but this scene for an example. The music and the voice acting is just, woah!


I don't care what any of yall say! This is one of the saddest moments in gaming for me, a game that can cause genuine sadness is a game I will hold dear.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Seriously how can anyone feel anything but dismissive cynasism and dispassionate loathing for gaming these days?

Sounds like you should get another hobby, why you even bother visiting a gaming forum when you hate gaming so much is beyond me.

Because gaming is worth defending. The AAA is in shambles right now, and no one should feel content. Everyone should be up in arms over microtransactions, stale IPs, remakes, marketing lies. Rolling over and just getting out of the hobby because some suits decided to ruin it makes me question how much someone was ever truly committed to the hobby.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

Seriously how can anyone feel anything but dismissive cynasism and dispassionate loathing for gaming these days?

Sounds like you should get another hobby, why you even bother visiting a gaming forum when you hate gaming so much is beyond me.

Because gaming is worth defending. The AAA is in shambles right now, and no one should feel content. Everyone should be up in arms over microtransactions, stale IPs, remakes, marketing lies. Rolling over and just getting out of the hobby because some suits decided to ruin it makes me question how much someone was ever truly committed to the hobby.

How can something you loathe be worth defending? Don't be so melodramatic, there are plenty of great games, even if you exclude all the things you listed.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I disagree, the Gears of War series was probably my favorite new IP from last gen. I also feel the other way about Uncharted, I found them to be rather lackluster but I can still appreciate it for what it was. The Gears of War series truly felt unique and like it had a very large budget compared to pretty much every game from the previous generation, then comes Gears of War 4 where it felt like they focused more on how to suck the most money out from your fans by adding tons of microtransactions than on making a worthy sequel for Gears 3. Same thing with Halo, Halo 5 really dropped the ball, 2 of my favorite series of all time disappointed me for the first time just 1 year apart from each other.

You don't have to tell me twice, I spent 60 hours in Divinity 2 in a week, turn-based games like XCOM and Divinity are really addictive. Still, they don't capture me the same way ex like Halo and Gears ever did, they were more than great in almost every way, the graphics, the story, the atmosphere, the gameplay, the music, the characters, the multiplayer...it was all so good. They were unique in what they did, almost every gen had games that defined that gen, in a positive way of course. Can't say the same about this gen to be honest.

Shadow of Mordor was a nice surprise but it wasn't amazing or anything, I've still pre-ordered the sequel despite all the controversy.

Titanfall definitely didn't start off on a high note, it was a multiplayer only game that really lacked content, a sure flop. Titanfall 2 was an improvement in every way, I actually just finished it the other day and it was good, though all characters were pretty generic and I can't remember the name of anyone. It was also incredibly short, took me about 5-6 hours to beat on Hard.

Overwatch was great but it's an online-only competitive focused game, just like CSGO. They create almost as many frustrating moments as they create good. CSGO is one of my most played games of all time, I got around 1600 hours of game-time but I still wouldn't put in my top 10 games of all time.

Destiny, a game that lacked content and left so many people disappointed, me included. I bought a PS4 for it, for god's sake. My favorite developer have fallen and it hurts me. I'm only giving Destiny 2 a shot because it's coming for PC.

Watch Dogs, another game that disappointed many, the biggest PR blunder this gen some might say, a game that completely tarnished Ubisofts reputation. Watch Dogs 2 was even worse, as a game that is.

Can't really comment on Horizon Zero Dawn but it seems like just another great game in a sea of great games. I don't see it becoming a multi-billion dollar franchise with millions of super dedicated fans, I rarely see anyone even talk about it.

Don't like Japanese games (with a couple exceptions like MGS and RE). There is without a doubt a larger net of games these days but with smaller fish. I'd rather want 1 amazing game than 5 great ones.

I only played Gears for like a half-hour at a friends once so I can't really hate or praise it really. I do know the gameplay isn't going to be what I feel is a top-tier TPS. Uncharted is nowhere near great TPS gameplay either, it really takes all elements firing on all cylinders (Uncharted 2) for Uncharted to be good. In a sense, Gears/Uncharted to me is like God of War where God of War is nowhere close to a DMC/Bayo in gameplay so everything has to be top-notch because the gameplay alone can't carry the game. I'd take Vanquish any day over Gears/Uncharted.

I don't really have a fondness for any of the big new franchises outside of Horizon. There was like no negative talk about Horizon on its Reddit or anything, you wouldn't believe the percentage of people posting that they were sad to have finished the game because they wanted to keep playing. It was really quite amazing for this day and age. The sequel to Horizon will be very anticipated. You really don't need people to constantly talk about a game, lots of games you play over the course of a week to a month and it was just a great experience, you don't keep talking or posting about it (even if it's your GOAT). Very few games have that ability to stay in discussion and those are mostly online games, which leads me to what has defined this gen for the most part...

And that is developers purposefully trying to make those type of games that stay relevant for years. The whole MMO-looter shooter is basically the MMS of this gen with Destiny, The Division, and Anthem coming. Of course, Overwatch is geared that way to but not nearly as Skinner box-y as the other shooters. You had lots of other games try and fail for the most part at that as well like Battleborn (better than Overwatch IMO), Evolve, and Titanfall to an extent (as EA really thought it would be the next COD). I'd take this gen of shooters focused on more skill-based gameplay with return of fast movement to the genre after that dreadful MMS dominated last-gen.

To me, last-gen was the peak of exploiting the shit out of anything that became popular. You had everyone copying off COD4 for example. Then, it really felt like every game that had melee combat had to have Arkham combat from now 4 Arkham games themselves to Sleeping Dogs and even freaking Uncharted. I don't even know honestly what I'd rate Shadow of Mordor just due to becoming totally done with Arkham combat. I remember looking at that skill tree for the first time and already knowing what everything did and what skills were best because like 90% of the moves were straight out of Batman. Then, of course, last-gen started the whole Open World: The Game that's still very much a thing. Nothing felt fresh or new, it felt like every new game you had already played before it came out. Gears obviously got copied ad nauseam too.

What has changed this gen for me is the mid-tier developers becoming a thing again with aforementioned Divinity and Shadow Tactics. Even the AAAs seem to be learning that you can make more so niche games on a budget without needing mass appeal with 5+ million sales. The Souls series seems somewhat responsible for that. The new Hitman (that came with its own bullshit) was at least budgeted for the Hitman fanbase vs trying to make the series appeal to the masses resulting in Absolution, a game no one really wanted. Arkane Studios is allowed to make their games on rather small budgets as well. Lastly, if you feel AAA is fucking everything up, you can go to that mid-tier for arguably better experiences that don't have the latest and greatest graphics but are very polished games with solid graphics and presentation. Whereas just last-gen that drop-off from AAA to indie was much farther.

Seriously how can anyone feel anything but dismissive cynasism and dispassionate loathing for gaming these days?

Sounds like you should get another hobby, why you even bother visiting a gaming forum when you hate gaming so much is beyond me.

Because gaming is worth defending. The AAA is in shambles right now, and no one should feel content. Everyone should be up in arms over microtransactions, stale IPs, remakes, marketing lies. Rolling over and just getting out of the hobby because some suits decided to ruin it makes me question how much someone was ever truly committed to the hobby.

I fully admit there's a lot of bullshit in AAA. However, there's still quite a lot of AAA games devoid of that bullshit. I played Dishonored 2, The Last Guardian, Horizon, and Prey since last November and none of those games had any bullshit attached. Just looking at 2017 releases, and correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't played these games), it seems like there's several AAA games you can play without any bullshit like RE7, Nioh, Yakuza 0, Nier Automata, Persona 5, Gravity Rush 2. I'm guessing the new Zelda is fine too outside of the Amiibo BS. I think new Wolfenstein will be fine as well. Every medium has stale IPs and remakes, you can just not play them. Outside of the infamous Aliens Colonial Marines when did marketing straight-up lie? You had that Watch Dogs graphics thing but open world games always have graphics in flux during development unlike a linear game. Plus, Ubisoft literally showed exact missions from the game, the gameplay perfectly matched the final product. If you don't like the AAA market, there's that mid-tier that is pumping out just as good if not better games than AAA. Don't like Bethesda's paid mod bullshit, Divinity OS2 just came out and it's better than Skyrim anyway. Hob just came out, give that a try. There's Pillars of Eternity, a passion project by Obsidian. There's Shadow Tactics, probably the best stealth game in over a decade. There's Cities Skylines, you don't need EA to make Sim City anymore. Then, there's stuff like Danganronpa. There's niches being filled that haven't been filled in a long time, there's literally something for everyone if you just look past the AAA publishers.