Poll: Is the gaming industry deterioating?

[Ragsnstitches]

Every media has an area devoted to mass market appeal.

Just at look at movies, TV, books, music, all these outlets have something that appeals to the mass market, despite being frowned upon by people who are more experienced with the intricacies of the media.


TV as reality TV, movies have the likes of the Transformers movies, books have Dan Brown (ugh, that guy sucks so much).

It's an inevitable consequence of popularity.

Thing is, movies also have their Black Swan and Children of Men. Books have their Tolstoy and Pratchett.

Games have... what exactly?

Forgetting the fact that the Film industry is 70 or so years older then the gaming industry (and Literature is, obviously, older than that), the game industry has had it's share of legendary titles in such a short space of time. From Humble 2D classics like Mario, to epic Modern games like The Elder Scrolls and back to humble indie titles like Minecraft. For every COD/FPS clone there are a plethora of innovative and masterfully executed games.

Granted, none of these games (especially Mario and TES) challenge the mind or attempt philosophical exploration like Books and Films can. But Games are a different beast to Movies and Literature from the start. This is where I think most of the problems with the industry and it's community has arisen.

Games need to be, first and foremost, fun... they are an interactive medium that put all it's emphasis on Skill, cognitive challenges and basic gratification, rather then deeper attributes like self-reflection, social/political exploration and philosophising.

Unfortunately for us, the Games industry is perceived by most people as a toy and who treat it as such rather then as an expressive medium. As a result games are made with more emphasis on Entertainment then any other aspect of an artistic medium... and most gamers seem content with that.

There are a few games that attempt to probe deeper into our minds, but those titles seem to squash those aspects in choppy narratives between mind numbing battles and hammy writing/voice acting.

Games as a Medium will shine when great minds finally marry interactivity with deeper brain function beyond knee-jerk responses and surface emotions.

Personally I don't think were too far away from that, but it's likely to start within the indie side of industry, not the AAA side. So don't expect this perfect marriage to have a AAA budget.

 

[lRookiel]

Nah.

In fact, I'd say it's getting better.

Slowly.

...

Veeeeeery slowly.

Yep, baby steps at the moment. Hopefully EA and Activision will make something DIFFERENT (And not just Activision using some Treyarch piece of shit as an excuse either) this year...

I however think this year will be a shit one for the industry (ME3). What we need right now is a Baldurs gate 3! :3

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

If you really think about it any way, there really aren't that many brown military shooters that came out last year year. ( Call of Duty, Battlefield, Operation Flashpoint, .....anything else.

Games are really only getting better.

 

[BlazeCruzer]

Oh quite the opposite my friend. The games industry has been doing nothing but improving itself over the last few years. Sure there's Call of Dudebro and Battlefrat and Madden Insert year here. But those in general are few and very far between. Quite honestly I liked the original Modern Warfare a lot. And to name a few game sthat verify my point. Skyrim, Oblivion, anything by valve, Fallout 3, Batman Arkham Asylum and City, also way too many hand-held and indie titles for me to name. So next person who says the industry is deteriorating just say the word Skyrim.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Its not dying, it's changing. The Indie market is exploding, and the AAA system, while still profitable, is nowhere near what it was a few years ago.

 

[wooty]

I read this post as "I dont like CoD and BF, gaming is deteriorating", unless I'm mistaken

But the sad truth is we need those game in order to survive, they make the money for the studios to produce other games of......varying quality.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know about that, but it sure isn't what it used to be that's for sure.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

I think too many studios are trying to appeal to everyone but there are enough good, well thought out games made every year to keep me coming back.

 

[scorptatious]

I always find it funny how people use the fact that shooters are popular right now as an argument for gaming going on a downward slope.

By that logic, gaming was on a downward slope during the 90's when platformers with colorful cartoon characters dominated the market. And yet I've seen no one complain about those times.

OT: No. I don't think gaming is deteriorating. In fact it only seems to be getting better from what I've seen. Indie games are on a rise, and there are still plenty of other games from various genres to play.

Now if the game market is composed of one genre and only one genre. (Whether it be shooter or RPG) Then you can start worrying.

 

[rob_simple]

Personally, I think things are really interesting in the industry at the moment, and that the only thing that has a chance of deteriorating (albeit at a very gradual pace) is the method of distribution which is outdated anyway.

Given the growing war regarding used game sales I can see distribution going completely digital within the next couple of generations, and it's definitely something I'd embrace if the system became slightly more streamlined and robust.

As far as the content of games goes it's same chapter; different verse. I mean, how many imitators did Mario and Sonic spawn on their respective consoles?

 

[ElPatron]

Gaming is on a downward slide thanks to Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc. What do you guys think?

Battlefield is what Battlefield used to be, but with more CoD in it.

This coming from someone who doesn't like BF3, I don't think that BF is what's wrong with the industry. At least, it's the prime example of why certain games shouldn't run supreme and have yearly releases.

inb4 "you are a hater because it's popular"

 

[D0WNT0WN]

I have come from the future and I have heard they dying words of the gaming industry.

"We want to appeal to a wider audience."

 

[GonzoGamer]

Yea, I think it's deteriorating but not because of Battlefield or MW3.
The problem is that the console market has been pretty crappy and hasn't been selling nearly as well as it was last generation when it should be selling a lot more. Because of that AAA games haven't been selling nearly as well, except for those old franchises that keep picking up more and more fans.
Console gaming used to be an easy alternative as PC gaming but in this generation it's become more of a pain in the ass. It used to be that you just had to worry about patching, punching in codes, and what hardware you have when you were a pc gamer but now console gamers are being asked to deal with it and there are a lot of ps2 owners who decided that they just can't be bothered. As someone who has tried to make the best out of being a ps3 owner, I can't blame them.
Even the kids in my family who used to want games for Christmas, now want other things.
Of course the industry would much rather put the blame on used game purchasers so I don't see an upturn coming any time soon.

 

[dehawaiiansupaman]

Personally I'd say yes but that doesn't mean the industry isn't moving towards a positive change. The gaming industry is going through a change much like what has happened with the movie industry in the US where the production of the medium and its style and techniques are shifting with the public interest. In my mind (an admittedly short term view of things) I'd say the changes are somewhat negative due to the focus on mass market appeal and good graphics rather than fun gameplay or good stories(there are exceptions to this)but that is just one viewpoint and this may not be a good analysis of the industry.

So yes, I'd say the industry is deteriorating but that's the viewpoint of someone accustomed to a different style. What we are experiencing isn't too different than what has happened in any other creative medium and where ever the industry does end up will show if it really has deteriorated or just developed into something new.

 

[boag]

I've seen it all over the place on just about every message board that has to do with gaming: Gaming is on a downward slide thanks to Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc. What do you guys think?

If we take the Videogame crash of the 70s as reference, there has been no similarities present that would indicate that the gaming industry is in any peril, in fact you might call this the best years the Gaming Industry has ever had.

There was no million dollar budgets in the games of the 80s and there was no millions in profits either, I continue to fail to see why people think the Gaming industry is in decline when most of the companies that headline the industry continue to get massive amounts of yearly profits.

 

[cpnichol]

I think it's been an interesting year for the gaming industry. While I certainly don't like some the trends, that will almost certainly continue due to the success of certain games, it's been a good year for quality games.

Most of the big games were sequels, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like to see a few more properly new games. But given how popular, and in most cases how good these sequels were it's going to mean more and more sequels. The fact that some of the more promising new titles like Brink or Rage were underwhelming is only going to reinforce that.

DLC, DRM and increased control over how games are played online is also a concern for me. Arkham City uses Steam, Securom, Games For Windows Live and online passes, that just seems like overkill and made it a pain to actually install and play. Battlefield 3 required Origin, which while not as horrible as I expected still seemed unnecessary.

Despite all that I think it's been a good year for gaming with lots of very good AAA games and particularly pleasing is how good a lot of the indie games have been. I really enjoyed The Binding Of Isaac, Terraria, Bastion and Atom Zombie Smasher and I haven't got round to games like Super Meat Boy and Frozen Synapse yet.