Poll: what is the greatist threat to the gaming industry?

[bushwhacker2k]

I'd say evil companies comes closest, as IMO the biggest threat is that all creativity will eventually be wiped off the face of the earth as generic games that are marketed as new and original take over the minds of the people and by then I'll be long dead...

In short: I find that most games these days are ripoffs and not very intuitive and people LOVE THEM. This scares me.

 

[DustyDrB]

I had a lengthy discussion with my friend and fellow Charlestonian, Stephen Colbert, on this topic. We both came to the same conclusion. The biggest threat to the gaming industry:

Spoiler: Bears

 

[Quantum Star]

The bland sludge of generic sandbox games, shooters, and brown graphics. I'm always happy to see a game like No More Heroes or Catherine made, but there are way too few of these nowadays.

 

[Professor James]

this is the biggest threat to gaming is (drum roll please) the public, the ones who make the games who are always taking the safe "sequel" route instead of releasing new IPs, the people who buy games spending millions of dollars gobbling the aforementioned sequels and passing by on original gems and do you know what really pisses me off I know not all people but some complain that they want Innovation but when Innovation comes along they immediately passes it off as a gimmick the hypocrites, and last but certainly not least the people who don't play games, the media for one who all portrays game as slightly better then drugs and the parents who are too lazy to be parents and rely on the government and technology to do their work for them

 

[Naheal]

Fanboys. Seriously, folks who constantly yell for a sequel to a game are part of the problem when it comes to innovation in this industry.

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

the goverments of the worlds because of the recent case in the supreme court
[edit] I was confused when it said"treat" not thread in the question

 

[the lapalminator]

a bald man in 2003 once told me that no one can stop us now cus were all made of stars and thats what im going with

 

[Thaius]

As a whole, I would say ignorant people (not just parents) are a huge threat. But as of now, the supreme court hearing coming up is the biggest threat. Once that passes, it will be over, so I'd say the one we should be most concerned about over time is ignorance of those in authority. But until this potential law is defeated, the supreme court hearing is the most dangerous thing for the industry for the moment.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I would say actual gamers. Unless gamers get their butts into gear, we may lose everything this year. It's as if Voldemort is saying ''You will lose everything, common gamer...everything.''. A lot is on the table now and it's time to fight or flight. :x

What do we do?
[HEADING=2]What do we do?![/HEADING]

The government in the United states seems well able to ignore any and all voices of reason anyway...

 

[Cynical skeptic]

You are the greatest threat to video games! You who bought so many copies of so many CoD and halo and MoH and splinter cell games that they've become the Madden of their respective genres! You who keep sucking this shit up like its something worth supporting!

The average person is always the biggest threat to any potentially artistic venture, for they always have the lowest standards and the most disposable income!

Anywho...

The publishers crossing every line to make more money.

- Destroying the used game market
- Using intrusive DRM
- DLC (with more intrusive DRM)
- Trend starting up to charge for multiplayer

These things will lead to another market crash.

The funniest thing about your post is gamestop having almost complete control over the used game market is whats causing publishers to do all that.

 

[DarkSoldier84]

I'm just going to throw a few ideas in here.

High Barriers to Entry: This is a major one. If you want to see a new movie, you just spend $12 or so for ninety minutes of entertainment. If you want to play a new video game, you have to spend $60 or more. Before you can play it, you need a $300 machine and a TV that can interpret the A/V signals, generally $100+. Granted, the system and TV are one-time expenditures, but you can see the huge difference in initial entry.

Risk Aversion: Modern games cost about $30 million to produce. The publisher fronts the money in exchange for a product at the end of the development cycle (generally two years). If that game doesn't sell a certain number of copies (it goes through so many markups before the final $60 that the developer is lucky to see $3 from each sale), then the publisher loses money and the suits are less likely to approve another $30+ million for a similar title. They do all sorts of market research to see what's hot, and more importantly, what's a guaranteed return on investment. Publishers don't care about cool games, they care about making more money than they invested in the development and distribution.

Lack of Mainstream Recognition: A hundred years ago, the moving picture was a strange new technology encroaching on theatre's niche. In the last fifty years, video games have become an entertainment juggernaut, outpacing film's money numbers year after year. Still, the mainstream media marginalizes video games, still seeing them as the toys Nintendo marketed in 1986. Nothing we have done has changed that, and in some cases makes our medium look reactionary and childish.

A Preponderance of Brown and Grey: Game engines can't do radiosity very well, and the level designers aren't much better, it seems. The human eye can tell when light isn't absorbing a colour when it reflects (that's radiosity in a nutshell). The devs fall back to grey and brown, which don't reflect much coloured light, since this is easier than tuning every illuminated surface in the game. This shortcut means new games can't achieve their own visual identity.

 

[SimuLord]

Right at the moment, it's the California game law pending Supreme Court review. That could kill the entire industry...or at least relegate it permanently to the Island of Misfit Content Restrictions. We might never see another Red Dead Redemption, Fallout, Bioshock, or any other game that maybe, just maybe might make a dent in Roger Ebert's argument. (Daniel Floyd and friends said this more eloquently than I could.)

Long-term? Assuming gaming survives this court battle, the bigger issue at hand is the potential continuing decline of niche genres as more and more studios chase the big hit at the expense of lower-margin game development. If it weren't for Kalypso Media inexplicably and thankfully reviving the Tropico and Patrician series, the city-builders and trade sim genres would be effectively perma-dead, left to old games at bargain prices on Steam, never to produce another new quality title.

 

[Ascarus]

i would go with the industries inevitable push into "3D".

 

[Mikeyfell]

I'll say the Evil Companies
all the evil companies that exclusively remake the same games over and over and over and over and over etc. Because that's where all the money goes
then new developers try to make games that look a lot like Gears of War or Modern Warfare or Grand theft Auto. but those games don't sell because they aren't the game they're ripping off. and the market is full of nothing but Gears of War, Modern Warfare and Grand theft Auto

I even have a solution to this

Let's use Infinity Ward for example
how about every year instead of making the next Call of Duty game. Infinity Ward puts out a completely original unheard of IP. that isn't a first person shooter or a third person action game or a fucking sandbox game. and for fuck's sake it's not gray or brown. oh, and they don't need the crazy top of the range graphics either. these are cheep trial releases. Xbox arcade games sort of. it will sell some copies just because it has Infinity Ward's name on it. and maybe it works maybe it doesn't. who cares Infinity Ward has billions of dollars form selling Call of Duty.
and if it does work YAY there's something new in the market to copy
then next year they make a completely different new thing
and the year after that
and the year after that, until they need some reliable cash and put out Call of Duty elevendy-billion.

if all the big evil companies did this the game market would be fucking awesome

 

[Amerikhan]

Biggest threat? Microsoft.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Gamers themselves!