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[samoilaaa]

so many people say that the industry is at its worst right now , some blame it on Unreal Engine 5 and how everyone uses it and makes all the games feel the same , some blame it on AI and how it makes the game feel soulless , some blame it on woke and how it ruins the writing of stories/characters

I agree with everything written above , those problems do exist and will continue to exist but there is so much to choose from right now that its impossible to not find something that satisfies you , for example 2025 looks like an amazing gaming year

Kingdom come deliverance 2 ( i wont play it because of multiple reasons but i will admit that the game is well designed and it has a mature well written story )
Ninja gaiden 2 black
Doom the dark ages
Clair Obscur
Ninja Gaiden 4
The midnight walk
MindsEye
Metal Gear Solid snake eater
Lies of P overture
Gta 6
The first berserker
Shinobi art of vengeance
Metal Eden
Ghost of yotei ( im not a fan of the game but i know alot of people are )
Mafia the old country
Atomfall
The stone of madness
Deaths Stranding 2
Blue Prince
Dying Light the beast
Slender Threads
Fable ( maybe )
Little Nightmares 3
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon
Crimson Desert
Cronos: The New Dawn

and many more , now dont tell me that out of all those games you cant find at least 4-5 games that you enjoy , i have been gaming since 1996 and i dont remember having so many options as now , like i said there are problems in the industry , some will be fixed some will continue like AI , i just hope that it wont be used in areas like writting and i hope that hand drawn environments wont go completly away

 

[Hookshot]

Problem is all those games cost a lot to make but only a few of them will sell millions. GTA6 is going to make more money than the rest of the list in 1 day. In 96 games were made quickly by small teams, now it's the opposite but the bubble hadn't burst yet. You might be having fun but the industry is about to collapse and no I don't mean "NO MORE GAMEZ!"!!!!12!" but I do mean thousands of western devs and smaller Japanese ones gone.

 

[samoilaaa]

Problem is all those games cost a lot to make but only a few of them will sell millions. GTA6 is going to make more money than the rest of the list in 1 day. In 96 games were made quickly by small teams, now it's the opposite but the bubble hadn't burst yet. You might be having fun but the industry is about to collapse and no I don't mean "NO MORE GAMEZ!"!!!!12!" but I do mean thousands of western devs and smaller Japanese ones gone.

sure but many of those game dont need to sell as much as GTA 6 because they dont have that big budget

look at how big KCD2 is and it only has a budget of 40 million

if an indie game reaches 1 million copies sold its already a huge success

for example little nightmares 1 and 2 reached 12 million copies sold and their budged is very small , if your game is good/fun the news will spread and it will sell

 

[ManaByte]

Most of the people who proclaim doom and gloom don't actually play games. It's a grift for engagement on Twitter and YouTube.

 

[RoboFu]

Because travel back to nearly any other generation and the quality and fun increases by magnitudes.
We have substituted truly great games with just okay ones.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Most doom and gloom comes from boomers who are seeing all the franchises, IPs and companies from their childhood melting into shitpiles. Sure theres a lot more beyond that but many are just incapable of seeing past them.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Most doom and gloom comes from boomers who are seeing all the franchises, IPs and companies from their childhood melting into shitpiles. Sure theres a lot more beyond that but many are just incapable of seeing past them.

It’s mainly those western AAA franchise that rose to prominence in the PS3/360 era that are going to shit.

Conversely, we’re seeing a comeback of franchises from before that time, this week’s State of Shit for example showed off new Onimusha and Shinobi games, Ninja Gaiden is also coming back and looks great. Arguably the best looking upcoming game is Virtua Fighter 6, it’s been 20 years since we had a new one of those.

In a way the best of this gen has its roots in the 90s and early 00s.

 

[HRK69]

The amount of quality games coming out is incredible

People saying "this is the worst gen by far" are completely out of touch and need to find a new hobby

Oh and don't let me get started on the hate xbox get, but that's a bit off topic.

 

[darrylgorn]

It's because, like every medium, people can't accept that there are diminishing returns over time.

I don't mean that strictly from an aesthetic point of view either.

We have a finite number of ideas and those ideas become exhausted over time.

 

[samoilaaa]

Because travel back to nearly any other generation and the quality and fun increases by magnitudes.
We have substituted great games with just okay ones. .

i went back and trust me the quality doesnt increases that much

We have games like Thief , Deus EX , Morrowind , Planescape torment , Fallout 1-2 etc.

Those games as good as they are have faults too , the only thing that those old game have that some of these new ones dont is the lack of handholding and better enemy AI but you can find games that have those even today especially in the indie space

most of the games that lack what old games dont are the AAA ones and thats because the majority of the gamers are used to instant gratification , they want that shiny new weapon as fast as possible so instead of hiding the weapon in a complex dungeon with hard enemies and a hard puzzle at the end you just put the weapon in a very linear dungeon with a couple of easy enemies and a big chest that you dont even have to lockpick

thats what the majority wants and when your game has a budget of over 100 million you have to design your game according to the majority or it will flop

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

If you ask me there are way too many games.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

The amount of quality games coming out is incredible

People saying "this is the worst gen by far" are completely out of touch and need to find a new hobby

They’re simply looking in the wrong places, expecting the likes of Bethesda, EA and Ubisoft to deliver great games.

It’s not 2009 anymore, look to Nintendo, Capcom, Sega and Atlus and indies for greatness now and you won’t be disappointed.

 

[Scrawnton]

it's really simple; people want modern versions of the games and franchises they fell in love with from the 1990s to the mid to late 2000s. If you are a Switch fan, you are eating good because that's exactly what you're getting. If you are a Sony / Microsoft / Third Party fan, you aren't getting that because they're either sticking to what served them well in the 2010s (by making sequels are just literally remastering that shit endlessly) or they are spinning tires with live service and failing. It's easy to see why people are dooming based upon this.

PlayStation is in a good spot for some, but outside of Ghosts of Tsushima and GT7, I don't really care for the games they have been pumping out in the PS4 gen and now for PS5. Because of this, I look at Sony as a company who lost their way and it makes me frustrated with them.

A lot of the games we are getting now seems like the "we have McDonald's at home" version of franchises and IP that people really want. As much as people complain about IPs being rehashed over and over, I bet if developers actually evolved those IPs with completely new gameplay styles then people ain't be jaded anymore.

 

[samoilaaa]

If you ask me there are way too many games.

yup , i barely finish one game and 3 more release

 

[Punished Miku]

Next time you see someone going on about that, just ask yourself when you last heard them talking about actually playing or enjoying a game. Your default position should be skepticism towards anything you read people saying online. Lot of lies and exaggeration or mindless repetition of opinions they see on youtube.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

it's really simple; people want modern versions of the games and franchises they fell in love with from the 1990s to the mid to late 2000s. If you are a Switch fan, you are eating good because that's exactly what you're getting. If you are a Sony / Microsoft / Third Party fan, you aren't getting that because they're either sticking to what served them well in the 2010s

Still plenty of that, even outside Nintendo

Delivering greatness

- Resident Evil 8 Village
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Gran Turismo 7
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Street Fighter 6
- Tekken 8
- Silent Hill 2

Looking great

- Virtua Fighter 6
- Doom Eternal
- Metal Gear Solid Delta
- Onimusha Way of the Sword
- Ninja Gaiden 4

If you developed your tastes on the Xbox 360 then prepare for disappointment

 

[Da1337Vinci]

I get the doom if your main games are from western AAA publisher ( EA, Ubi, Activ). Like compared their current output to 6th gen or 7th gen.

I mean of course mainly in their quality.

Like imagine you are the xbox360 era main market/demographic the dudebro. I can see why they feel left out.

 

[simpatico]

Still plenty of that, even outside Nintendo

Delivering greatness

- Resident Evil 8 Village
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Gran Turismo 7
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Street Fighter 6
- Tekken 8

Anything about this list jump out to anyone?

-desperate attempt to recapture RE4 magic
-ah fuck it we'll just remake RE4
-everything below this might as well be a remake or a NBA2k yearly entry.

 

[Wildebeest]

The basic top level reason for the gloom is that gaming was growing as an industry at a faster pace than other sectors for a long time and got a lot of investment interest. Now it is flat lining and the investments have dumped a lot of derivative content on the market which there is just not the demand for. Jobs are being lost and people who were paid a lot for work that frankly wasn't actually that amazing are facing a choice of taking less pay or leaving the industry.

 

[funking giblet]

PC Gaming will die because no-one can make new graphically intense games, when nobody can buy the hardware. Console level graphics for the foreseeable, so why not buy a readily available console that doesn't go on fire?

 

[Ailike]

Online bubbles gonna bubble

 

[Scrawnton]

Still plenty of that, even outside Nintendo

Delivering greatness

- Resident Evil 8 Village
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Gran Turismo 7
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Street Fighter 6
- Tekken 8

Looking great

- Virtua Fighter 6
- Doom Eternal
- Metal Gear Solid Delta
- Onimusha Way of the Sword
- Ninja Gaiden 4

If you developed your tastes on the Xbox 360 then prepare for disappointment

The problem isn't that we are getting some nostalgia plays. The problem is a vast majority of the games being announced or coming are things people don't want and people don't ask for. Yes it's possible some of this stuff turns out great and the next big thing, but when it comes to excitement and feeling good about the industry, people want what they already know they like.

 

[Topher]

PC Gaming will die because no-one can make new graphically intense games, when nobody can buy the hardware. Console level graphics for the foreseeable, so why not buy a readily available console that doesn't go on fire?

Wrong, but what does any of that have to do with the thread?

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Anything about this list jump out to anyone?

-desperate attempt to recapture RE4 magic
-ah fuck it we'll just remake RE4
-everything below this might as well be a remake or a NBA2k yearly entry.

Well duh!

That was the point, S Scrawnton was pointing out that people’s frustration was due to them wanting new versions of the games they grew up with and not receiving that.

My list was pointing out that Capcom, Square, Namco and Konami are delivering that.

 

[Da1337Vinci]

The basic top level reason for the gloom is that gaming was growing as an industry at a faster pace than other sectors for a long time and got a lot of investment interest. Now it is flat lining and the investments have dumped a lot of "me too" content on the market which there is just not the demand for. Jobs are being lost and people who were paid a lot for work that frankly wasn't actually that amazing are facing a choice of taking less pay or leaving the industry.

I agree looking at the current market.
There is to almost no growth and the only possible growth is in pc and that is also mainly in China.

Looking at things that were meant to increase the market.

- VR ( I see no strong growth here)
- Block chain Games ( LOL )
- Live Services ( Still possible for some genre imo )

Time to market for AAA game seems to steadily increase over the years with no end in sight.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

PC Gaming will die because no-one can make new graphically intense games, when nobody can buy the hardware. Console level graphics for the foreseeable, so why not buy a readily available console that doesn't go on fire?

We are getting to the point where most developers can’t push new hardware as it’s too expensive.

Nintendo saw this coming over a decade agao.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

They do it all the time, been this way forever now... Every year when in the greatest years the doom and gloom is always there. I am swimming in games and loving it, I have so much to play and so many good things coming... It's awesome.

 

[MagiusNecros]

2025 is looking to be a better year then 2024. Lots of great indie games, big name releases and large updates to other released games. Hmm and maybe the shutdown of big companies that make bad games. Not seeing much to hate here.

 

[samoilaaa]

PC Gaming will die because no-one can make new graphically intense games, when nobody can buy the hardware. Console level graphics for the foreseeable, so why not buy a readily available console that doesn't go on fire?

people can buy new hardware , nobody is forcing you to buy a 5090 , a 4070 ti will run the most intensive game out there

 

[XXL]

Fuck those people.....I think this generation has been great and 2025 is shaping up nicely as well.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

It's mostly a generational gap.

Old people unable to get with the times.

 

[Hohenheim]

2025 is shaping up to be amazing, and the industry in general too.
So many exciting games in the pipeline, and I have no clue how i'm gonna find time for all of them!

I'm having a blast with my 5090 rig atm, enjoying the hell out of Black Myth. And after that, I have a huge list of games I wanna get to.

And moving out of the PC room, I eagerly await Death Stranding 2 on my PS5 Pro, and Metroid Prime 4 on the new Switch.

Yeah, couldn't be happier with gaming in general atm.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

The problem isn't that we are getting some nostalgia plays. The problem is a vast majority of the games being announced or coming are things people don't want and people don't ask for.

Indeed

I keep watching these game reveal shows and keep seeing purple shit aimed at teens.

I’m just watching in hope of a Resident Evil 9 trailer.

If I’m playing the brand new Resident Evil 16 as an old man in the 2040s then I’ll be very happy

 

[Killjoy-NL]

The problem isn't that we are getting some nostalgia plays. The problem is a vast majority of the games being announced or coming are things people don't want and people don't ask for. Yes it's possible some of this stuff turns out great and the next big thing, but when it comes to excitement and feeling good about the industry, people want what they already know they like.

So, just like it has always been?

 

[Laptop1991]

Apart from the online stores, Micro transactions, shark cards and all the other monetary bait and switches of the last 10 to 15 years, which didn't affect the games being made in the past, the games are no where near as good as back then or as replayable, that's why they are not selling in the same numbers and companies are going to the wall, like Ubisoft or having failures like EA, which arn't gamepass games.

GTA will always sell loads, but TES and Fallout will always sell more than Starfield, and they know masses of gamers want them and it's been a really long time since we had new version's, but they don't want to give us those games, and release games that are inferior, so the doom is justified on certain levels, and a lot don't even work properly either.

 

[poppabk]

As a gamer I don't have any worries about having plenty of games to play. The industry is in good shape in terms of revenue etc, but at the top it has become much more corporate and bland, and less fun in the process.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

GTA will always sell loads, but TES and Fallout will always sell more than Starfield

The way Bethesda Game Studios have trashed their brand don’t count on it.

Many of the people behind the likes of Marrowind, Skyrim and Fallout 3 are gone, hence why Fallout 76 was trash and Starfield wasn’t much better.

 

[Laptop1991]

The way Bethesda Game Studios have trashed their brand don’t count on it.

Many of the people behind the likes of Marrowind, Skyrim and Fallout 3 are gone, hence why Fallout 76 was trash and Starfield wasn’t much better.

Yeah, that could be true, but doesn't change the fact that they are the games us Bethesda fans want to buy and play though, Bethesda still hasn't fixed their Fallout 4 update on PC after nearly a year, shows their attitude towards their fans.

 

[samoilaaa]

The way Bethesda Game Studios have trashed their brand don’t count on it.

Many of the people behind the likes of Marrowind, Skyrim and Fallout 3 are gone, hence why Fallout 76 was trash and Starfield wasn’t much better.

many people myself included lost hope for a good Elder scrolls 6 after starfield

i knew starfield was gonna be a fail since Todd was asked on reddit what are the features that will make Starfield a more hardcore rpg than Fallout 4 and his response " You will be able to customize your character way more , you will even be able to choose your pronouns "

in his opinion choosing pronouns is an hardcore rpg feature

 

[hemo memo]

Look, I get the excitement about all those upcoming titles. It's easy to get swept up in the hype. But you're missing the forest for the trees. Just because there's a lot coming doesn't mean the industry is healthy.

Think of it like this: a restaurant can have a massive menu, but if the ingredients are getting more expensive, the chefs are overworked, and the customers are getting bored with the same dishes, it's not going to last.

Those problems you mentioned are not just minor annoyances. They're symptoms of a deeper issue: the cost of making games is skyrocketing. Studios are cutting corners, relying on trends instead of innovation and they're playing it safe.

Yeah, some of those games will be great. But a lot of them will likely fail to recoup the insane development costs. That's not a sustainable model. And that's not even getting into the layoffs that are happening all over the industry.

So, while you're looking at a list of shiny new games, I'm looking at the underlying cracks. This isn't a golden age; it's more like a pressure cooker. And when that pressure gets too high, things tend to explode.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

The doom and gloom come from these things:

• Major lack of AAA quality titles being released compared to previous generations. There are no “big moments” in gaming anymore because innovation in the AAA space has been terrible this gen. Go on youtube and look at the reveal of Last of us, gears of war and God of war 2018 just to name a few. We aren’t getting those big defining games anymore.
• Quality is terrible – Most games require tons of patches, so this kills the excitement for buying games day one. Why spend full price on a broken game and have to wait months for it to get fixed.
• Live service games are king now and everything is catering to that audience but if you are not into live service games, you end up having to wait months/years for the next big single player game.
• Xbox has been a terrible competitor to Sony which has allow sony to get very lazy with first party releases.

 

[Hudo]

Doom and gloom is par for the online "discourse" these days. Just get off GAF, Twitter, Reddit and social media in general and suddenly there isn't much doom and gloom to be had, really. Hyperbolic dooming about everything is just what terminally online people do because it nets them the most interactions.

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Here, let me help you:

Because many on this forum have become cynical cunts who've lost their love of gaming and spend most of their time running their mouth talking shit instead of actually buying and playing the fantastic games being released, mystery solved

There is your answer, keep enjoying games and ignore the noise.

 

[Fbh]

Agreed. I think games are in a great spot right now.
The industry has some issues, as it has always had, and I think it's fun to discuss them. But overall there are consistently more good games coming out than I have the time to play. This gen I've often been 8-12 months behind on new releases because of it .

I'm still catching up with all the 2023-24 releases I want to play, and already there are 2 new 2025 games I've put on my buying list for later on (Kingdom Come 2 and Dynasty Warriors: Origins.... and maybe Eternal Strands).
EDIT: Aw, fuck. Forgot about Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, so make that 3 2025 releases I really want to play...and it's only February.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

While I agree that the previous gens were better, I still think there has been some positives but negativity gets more engagement online so that is also why you are seeing a lot of negatively related to gaming online more often.

 

[cormack12]

I feel the same OP, I look at my backlog and I'm like dayum, how am I gonna catch up on all these delicacies.

And I'm in a position now where I can play these with my top off. So blessed.

 

[Roberts]

Games are great and maybe better than ever. There is a generation that gets older and feels like the games are not made for them anymore. It is ok to feel like that - I think most of modern music is shit (but that is because i am lazy and stopped searching for music).

 

[samoilaaa]

Look, I get the excitement about all those upcoming titles. It's easy to get swept up in the hype. But you're missing the forest for the trees. Just because there's a lot coming doesn't mean the industry is healthy.

Think of it like this: a restaurant can have a massive menu, but if the ingredients are getting more expensive, the chefs are overworked, and the customers are getting bored with the same dishes, it's not going to last.

Those problems you mentioned are not just minor annoyances. They're symptoms of a deeper issue: the cost of making games is skyrocketing. Studios are cutting corners, relying on trends instead of innovation and they're playing it safe.

Yeah, some of those games will be great. But a lot of them will likely fail to recoup the insane development costs. That's not a sustainable model. And that's not even getting into the layoffs that are happening all over the industry.

So, while you're looking at a list of shiny new games, I'm looking at the underlying cracks. This isn't a golden age; it's more like a pressure cooker. And when that pressure gets too high, things tend to explode.

if you expect to only play games that have big budgets ( 200+ million ) then yeah you are gonna be disappointed because like i said in a previous post when you have such a big budget you have to follow trends and innovate less

i dont want to start a woke / non woke discussion here but as an example spiderman 2 right now sits at less copies sold than the 1st one even though it sold better in a smaller time frame and who knows if it will reach the milestone

but i guarantee you that if there wasnt so much talk about how woke the game was it would have been way more successful , the IP and success of the 1st game saved it a little bit and you will see the consequences with the wolverine game

 

[Bieren]

Part of the doom and gloom are the people going around yelling that you can't have fun. No real reason, just they don't like something because of some random unverified tweet and they have to project their opinion on everyone else. Their hobby isn't gaming, it's finding flaws in things to complaining about them very loudly. Therefore, you are forbidden to have fun or enjoy anything...ever.

 

[rabbity-thing]

Because travel back to nearly any other generation and the quality and fun increases by magnitudes.
We have substituted truly great games with just okay ones.

Nah. It's just nostalgia coupled with gaming-quality acting as a filter for what we selectively remember. Every generation has had its ups and downs.

Sure, we look at the Assassin's Creeds of the modern world and bemoan serialization and a lack of innovation, but in the past, we had things like Tomb Raider becoming so cut-and-paste that they had to be taken away from the original developers. Not to mention the sea of mediocre Doom clones that flooded the post-Doom PC landscape. Or the janky 2D platformers of the 16bit era where they just couldn't figure out walking speed or hit detection. And remember the dearth of color and horrible framerates in the PS360 generation? Or the shovelware apocalypse that was the Wii?

Say what you will about the glory of day's past, but nothing I ever played in the previous to this generation could even touch the kind of experience offered by a game like Stellar Blade or Astro Bot. That there are bad games too doesn't detract from some of the straight masterpieces we're seeing.