Gen 9 encapsulates everything wrong with the video game industry

A not all inclusive list of everything that has gone wrong in gaming since 2020:

• Curtailed hardware supply with rampant years long scalping (consoles were not readily available in stores until 2022)
• The advent of live service/GaaS concerned only with recurring revenue and addictive player engagement
• Loot boxes/DLC/MTX becoming multibillion dollar revenue streams inside of regular sales revenue
• High profile high budget game flops (Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad, Skull and Bones, Callisto Protocol, etc.)
• Widespread layoffs with no end in sight
• Studio closures with companies giving up on talent after one disappointing game
• Industry consolidation with more mergers on the horizon
• Longer development cycles where showcases promise games in 1-3 years instead of the next few months or occasionally announcing a game years prior with no definitive release date
• Tidal wave of rereleases/remakes/rehashes with few brand new games with new ideas developed with new technology
• Price hikes including a higher base price, more deluxe and collectors editions (an obvious tell that the industry really wants to charge even more than $70), and higher subscription prices
• Less games sold at retail, almost half are now digitally sold so video game retail is dying
• More ugliness and first world entitlement from gamers including death and rape threats

Other than a very few standout games, I really cannot think of one single positive thing that the video game industry has done since 2020.

Yeah, seems like the issues have become worse, but let's not kid ourselves: we've been watching the decline of the AAA gamescape occur for a long time now.

There are a lot of things in our modern world that need a top-to-bottom revamp, and AAA video game development (or, more specifically, AAA video game business practices) are one of them.

Speaking from a place of ignorance, though; I don't work in the industry. But I do play a lot of games and it's at the point now where I am suspicious at best (and avoiding at worst) of any and all AAA games.

I feel as if AAA gaming has become too open world, which makes them boring, or walking simulators, which means fewer player choices, or what’s left is souls like games. We need a new start. To make gaming as good as we remember it.

This makes me feel weird. There are clearly tons of people making all sorts of games.

If triple-A is unsustainable, then it will simply die. The new start is perpetual. Gaming is better than we remember it. Triple-A wasn't even a thing (in terms of comparative costs) if we look back far enough in our fond memories.

@GalvatronType_R: I think people say this during every cycle. Since the xbox360, play 3 era I have been hearing all of this nonsense.

I will give you my gaming experience compared to 20-25 years ago.

1. Almost every new computer or laptop can run most games.

2. There is more variety of games than ever before.

3. Lots of games are free, not just free to play but free entirely.

4. Paid games are more accessible than ever due to sales and regional pricing.

5. Development tools are much better, so even indie games look great.

6. Control options are greater than ever.

7. Franchises and even genres that 5 years ago were considered dead are experiencing a revival.

8. New options like VR have become much more accessible.

9. Compatibility and access to older games is the best it's been.

So yes, everything you said is great, but for me the state of gaming is better than ever.

I think a lot of that critique is kind of unfair to levy at the gaming industry specifically. Covid messed up a lot of things for everyone worldwide. Chip shortages and stuff contributed to for pretty much everything tech related and not just consoles. Doubt these companies didn’t want to have enough supply for the demand.

While it sucks that a lot of people are losing their jobs it’s kind of happening throughout most of the tech industry unfortunately. Gaming had a boom during Covid but now that things are going back to normal that boom has diminished so these companies need to adjust again.

Big consolidation acquisitions are definitely problematic.

Disappointing that some big games flop but this is just the nature of entertainment, not everything is successful. That’s really not anything new.

I don’t care for micro transaction ladened games either but there’s plenty of great games that come out that don’t rely on that. Plenty of stuff from Capcom, Nintendo, FromSoftware, SquareEnix, etc.

Yeah it sucks that games are taking so long to make these days. Hopefully AI can help speed things up.

I think remakes and remasters are great. Not only do they help fill in the gaps between new game releases but they’re also great for people who haven’t played those games to experience them as well. There’s always new gamers coming into the fold. Plus a lot of the ones I’ve played are very well done.

Disgusting and toxic behaviour isn’t exclusive to gamers. It’s a problem just all around in general and is just a symptom of a societal issue.

I first started noticing the decline in gen 7. Fortunately, in that same generation the indie and AA scene started booming. Thanks to XBLA and Steam primarily. Although I do believe the cracks forming in AAA development helped too.

All this focus on pretty graphics, no focus on what made games fun or exciting in the first place.

I feel like I'm watching B-tier tv shows in all the worst ways. Why is there is so much focus on story, writing and actors.

8th gen started with a whole bunch of 7th gen remasters. We had the Uncharted, God of War and Batman remasters... It was just a whole bunch of collections and no investments.

The reason for that being that the AAA industry had zero faith in consoles and thought gaming would go the way of the tablets and mobile phones.

They legit thought consoles were on a dead bed when PS4 and Xbox One launched and that everyone would be playing on mobile devices...

I read somewhere recently that retro gamers are now a majority.

Not hard to see why. The current state of the industry has never been less appealing. Been talking about it a lot on YouTube myself. Nintendo is the only platform holder that seems to get it, which is deeply ironic coming from me.

sadly a few yt people have pointed out some brands/ websites etc.

the only way they get views is hard echo chambers.

which even normal yt channels are seeing the issue .

hell reddit people. pretty much everyone now is seeing the issue of extreme echo chambers.

I don't get this kind of complains. Currently we have such a variety of games, that you can easily ignore the games as service garbage and other bad games.

The problem with gaming these days is that we expect more because we know what's possible. The bar keeps getting higher and so do the price tags for development. They just need to take it back to the past and make fun games with tight controls in the AA range and things will straighten out eventually. The days of a steady stream of AAA games releasing is going to slow to a crawl eventually.

@WitIsWisdom: AAA will eat itself. It's just taking too damn long. Once it happens, A LOT of things will improve.

What bothers me most about Gen 9 is there is practically no point in an Xbox console. I'm a little pissed off because the 1X is not going to be supported as long as it should be, mostly because it has an HDD where in 2017 it should have had an SSD to begin with. In other words, in kind of seems like a move by Xbox to stagger hardware iterations, which is complete BS.

@Sam3231: I've been saying for years, you don't play systems, you play games. Systems are nothing more than gateways to selections of games, and if there's nothing in that selection that can't be found elsewhere, why even release the system?

@R4gn4r0k: Agreed. I think the industry needs to get back to basics, stop this endless pursuit of realism and obsessing about graphical fidelity, and get back to what makes gaming what it is... Gameplay.

Nintendo still understands this. As does the Indie scene.

@hrt_rulz01: It'll get forced back to those basics because this ever-increasing escalation is frankly unsustainable.

Not owning games, GaaS, Price spikes, games take longer to release...etc.