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In your opinion, what/who's ruining the gaming industry?

Fahdis

Member
I personally think its this desire to push GaaS down our throats. Then there's lootboxes and microtransactions. And finally, battlepasses.

I'm just generalizing for the industry, even though there are successful IP who manage all these aspects well.

I would consider Ubisoft, the worst company now, even though I love some of their older IP. Kotaku the worst journalistic piece on this front. And fucking "influencers" who just hype anything for money.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
I dont know and in all honestly don’t care, I mostly care about Japanese games and in my opinion they are still going strong….especially this year, most of the best games came out are Japanese games.

The issue is that Japan are also the ones still pushing lootboxes and gatcha mechanics when a majority of the west have been forced to move on over threat of regularity bodies having a much closer look if they don't self regulate.

Until those are essentially sealed shut never to be reopened people will always look at them as way to push an easy product or service. In many ways GaaS is a result of these things allowing to exist. Produce a little content and get people engaged but ramp up the maximum spend as much as possible per player, sure the tactics change, the idea behind it is the same.

It makes it more obvious split when a game is trying to be art vs trying to be a product.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
The issue is that Japan are also the ones still pushing lootboxes and gatcha mechanics when a majority of the west have been forced to move on over threat of regularity bodies having a much closer look if they don't self regulate.

Until those are essentially sealed shut never to be reopened people will always look at them as way to push an easy product or service. In many ways GaaS is a result of these things allowing to exist. Produce a little content and get people engaged but ramp up the maximum spend as much as possible per player, sure the tactics change, the idea behind it is the same.

It makes it more obvious split when a game is trying to be art vs trying to be a product.
Japan has GaaS and gatcha games but I’m mostly see from china more than Japan, in fact most popular one is Genshin impact and if I remember correctly it’s Chinese game.

Japan has it own share of those type of games as well but we are also getting bunch of quality SP game from Japan.

If wasn't for Japanese games I think I would have quit gaming by now.
 
Nothing is ruining as of now.

Though I would like execs to be careful and allow for a vibrant premium game development.

Don’t want rest of the world follow Japan and become mobile first.

I dont mind GAAS, battlepasses etc. when done right they are great.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I do feel like it's the young up and coming devs who have had their brainwashed into thinking that DEI and other strange political points are more important than awesome gameplay and game design.

Look at Helldivers 2, pure unadulterated FUN, no real bullshit just tongue in cheek bad ass gameplay and design!

FUN.

We are all probably seen as old fossils, but luckily we can pay with our wallets. I honestly feel we are either lining up for a major gaming crash....or something happens. I dunno. I can't see how these studio heads can go against the purple haired crazies. They are probably the majority of young up and coming devs in the west and the old guard have just either burnt out or thought fuck it and moved on.
 

PerfectWarrior

Neo Member
I don't see gaming industry "ruined" at all, there are plenty of games sailing everywhere. Indies and Japanese industry are still going strong and to me the AAA Ips (except FROM SOFT) means nothing.
Of course if you are only into the latter you have to expect from the companies to be ultra aware of social media, and what "you can and what you cannot" so their artistic freedom is gone, but they want money above all things.
 

Vlodril

Member
Most damage done to the hobby is gamers themselves. Accepting all these predatory monetization schemes (dlc that last 1 hour and is 20 bucks or it's just some comestic crap. whales in gaas. Paying for online on consoles and paying more and more for video games like the companies aren't registering record profits). Including myself to that of course we are all guilty for some of that shit.
 

near

Gold Member
I don’t agree with the idea that the gaming industry as a whole is in a bad place at the moment. GaaS has existed since the early 2000s and sure there are more service games available now then there have ever been but I don’t think they’re effectively bad for the industry and for the future of game design.

What is bad in terms of setting a standard are these huge cinematic blockbuster games that cost astronomical amounts to make, cost thousands of jobs when’s they fail to sell, and are incredibly safe and predictable in game design.
 

mansoor1980

Member
pspencer.jpg
 

winjer

Gold Member
Overbloated budgets
Focus on GaaS
Microtransactions, loot boxes and NFTs
Too many studios focused on including their political manifestos with their games
Games being released with a ton of bugs and issues
The most incompetent generation of gaming journalists ever
Too much focus on graphics and cinematic set pieces
Mediocre writing for stories and characters
Too many launchers on PC
Huge price increases for wafers and chips
 

Eimran

Member
1) Stakeholders. There were always stakeholders but in the 90's-2000's the major clients were the gamers. But that has shifted. Gamers want Quality, stakeholders just want to see revenue go up. If it's via an GAAS- game with online only elements and battle passes and seasonal events. So be it. They don't care if the game is fun or not. (As an investor myself I get that. I also don't invest in a company where revenues stay constant. I get that, but it sucks as a gamer)
The result is a often a stakeholder-selected CEO who knows nothing about gaming and just looks how he can increase revenue. A new IP which costs 400 million bucks and could flop or a generic battle royal game with the fortnite formula which can bring in money.

2) the gamers. No matter what happend in the recent years and flop after flop. People keep buying battle passes, pre ordering games....
Company greed keeps increasing prices of games and services but we keep buying them. I saw last week that the DbZ sparking zero complete edition costs over 120 bucks. 15 years ago this would be an outrage. One game with some DLC or only cosmetic items for the price of two. It should all have been the included at the standard price. But we still don't bat an eye and keep buying the product. As long we keep doing this, prices will increase and Quality will go down.
 
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Aion002

Gold Member
Idiot GIF by Gordon Ramsay


Idiots that say that every game has to be a 10 out of 10 or is trash, idiots that complain if a game has scantly clad waifus, idiots that complain if the graphics aren't perfect, idiots that buy early acces editions, idiots that only buy what is good according to influencers/youtubers without having their own opinion, idiots that get outraged by every little thing....

There are idiots complaining about games just because the character is attractive, while at the same time there are other idiots complaining because other game has a unattractive character. Both are dumb. Just play what you like and move on.
 
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Felessan

Member
I personally think its this desire to push GaaS down our throats. Then there's lootboxes and microtransactions. And finally, battlepasses.
Industry goes where people desires are
It's convinient to blame others, but no one stops you from playing indie only that live only on meager budget of "upfront fair 30-40$ per game" and don't go with some tricks that make game looks like it 70$ but TCO will be well over 100$, and only 100$+ will justify scale of such games
And GaaS is just too popular and brings in more and more people over time. Genshin MAU around the same as whole Xbox installbase and it's just one game. You may not like it because you are oldschool player, but you are in minority

Japan has GaaS and gatcha games but I’m mostly see from china more than Japan, in fact most popular one is Genshin impact and if I remember correctly it’s Chinese game.
Japan is 80-90% gaas, its just mostly on mobile and Asia focused
It's actually a big problem for Japanese company willing to create SP games because there are very few young talents who are willing and have experience to create them as industry heavily dominated by mobile
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Japan is 80-90% gaas, its just mostly on mobile and Asia focused
It's actually a big problem for Japanese company willing to create SP games because there are very few young talents who are willing and have experience to create them as industry heavily dominated by mobile
This year alone didn’t we get bunch of Japanese SP games? from Jan of this year we getting Japanese SP games back to back……Am I missing something here?
 
My biggest issues right now, is some developers and writers not having control over their creative process and on if their game will be left untouched on release.

I don't like what localization has turned into, I don't like how normalized xenophobia towards Japanese developers has become, and I certainly don't like censorship of any kind.

I don't care if a character made a mention of sexual abuse towards children, by the hands of a VILLAIN (Final Fantasy 16).
I don't want it to be censored.

I don't care if a character makes a joke about one of the characters being too fat to be raped (Yakuza 4).
I don't want it to be censored.

Because 1 - Regardless of how I feel about these things, art should never be censored. And if it is, the decision to censor or change it should come 100% from the developers of the game.

And 2 - Those things not being censored, creates discussions on these things.
Your voice still matters. Art is a two way street.

I brought this example before, the rape parts in the Berserk manga weren't censored.
And what led to that, were people criticizing the creator (R.I.P) for relying on rape too much, to the point where it felt fetishistic. Which is not a reach, if you read it, you know can understand how someone would feel that way.

Something he acknowledged, and genuinely apologized for.
And the decision to rely on it less, came from HIM.
And it would have been completely valid for him to continue to include rape as much as he wanted to.

You can still feel that way, and critique it. I could make a whole essay about shit that offends me in the Yakuza games. There's plenty. But at the end of the day, I'm not asking for it to change. If they want to change those things, great! If they don't, I will choose to keep playing or not.

Anyway.
You can call me nit picky baby if you want, but I find it disgusting that sexual abuse was censored in Final Fantasy 16.

Because 1 - I believe in the vision of the creators being completely intact.

And 2 - You don't think a character bringing up something she went through by the hands of a VILLAIN, doesn't have any cathartic nature to it, for PEOPLE THAT WENT THROUGH SEXUAL ABUSE AS CHILDREN?!

There's value to offensive or uncomfortable things sometimes.
 
Imitating other non-interactive forms of media
Trying to make a buck out of an unmatured product (Yes, games still have a long way till they fully mature)
The one size fits all model
 
I personally think its this desire to push GaaS down our throats. Then there's lootboxes and microtransactions. And finally, battlepasses.

I'm just generalizing for the industry, even though there are successful IP who manage all these aspects well.

I would consider Ubisoft, the worst company now, even though I love some of their older IP. Kotaku the worst journalistic piece on this front. And fucking "influencers" who just hype anything for money.
Consumers are killing the industry because they are no longer joining the console market in numbers that grow the total userbase so publishers only choice is to milk even more the same number of users in order to grow profit.
 

Quasicat

Member
The big three are guilty on pay walling online play; I also hate how I have to pay for cloud saving on Switch and PlayStation.
I have no problem with BattlePasses and tons of dlc, but do it only on free to play games. Paying $70 for a game and having the GaaS crap dumped down your throat sucks!
 
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Felessan

Member
This year alone didn’t we get bunch of Japanese SP games? from Jan of this year we getting Japanese SP games back to back……Am I missing something here?
Japan industry is big. Back in 00' probably half of games were Japanese
And many of old houses now focus their games on international market with Japanese flavor and not for local market as local almost dried up.
 
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