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No one gives a damn now

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
But that stuff doesn't fit the needs of the current audience or times we are in.
I don't really care about the pomp and circumstance either, in itself. But as I said, the issue is that they clearly take that reduced pressure to mean that there's also reduced pressure to perform when it comes to the games themselves.

What kind of deranged take is this even? Nintendo released a fucking teaser showing off the console, giving media dates for more info, and THIS is the conclusion you come to? First people are going feral because there was no info except for leaked spec lists and accessory manufacturers.
I think your reaction to my take is the only thing that's deranged here. I'm not going feral because of a lack of specific info about the console, it'll be what it'll be. All I'm pointing out is that they've gone about the announcement of this thing as if it's an accessory. It feels rushed despite the Switch having come out 8 years ago and the biggest selling point so far is backwards compatibility. You might even mistake the new Mario Kart they showed as visually inferior to MK8 - which is an 11 year old Wii U game by origin.

If the reveal of the next gen is so unremarkable, I cannot help but wonder how it will play out. The console already has the problem of being at least 1.5 gens behind in tech; they're not going to have a new Zelda ready before 2030 if TOTK's dev cycle is any indication; Metroid Prime 4 will probably be one of the flagship titles they push, but that game looks almost exactly like the MP1 remaster and is cross gen.

Even the way people talk about it feels so managed decline-ish. Kinda like the PS5 as compared to the PS4. It's just accepted that this thing will not be as successful as the first Switch. Why shouldn't it be? Are people not tired of an 8 year old machine that was anemic in tech when it first launched? Or is there a lack of incentive with the games they're pushing and how they're pushing them?
 

samoilaaa

Member
im very excited about the future

Id Software Demon GIF by Xbox


Bandai Namco Eyes GIF by Xbox


Video Game Spin GIF by CAPCOM



GIF by Crimson Desert


Marcus Fenix Attack GIF by Gears Of War


Fire Gasp GIF by Xbox


and these are just a few , not to mention there are alot of great upcoming indies
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Because we don't have regular conference dates, we're left for 5 or more years without having a clue what premiere studios are doing. We didn't know what Monolith Productions was doing for more than 4 years before they revealed Wonder Woman - and it's clear the lack of pressure got to them, as they'd barely started before the reveal which is why we haven't seen shit since.

Well, Sony canceling upcoming games from Bend and BluePoint is exactly why we have no idea anymore what premiere studios are doing. Just imagine Neogaf's response if Sony had actually announced both of those games with either cinematic and/or gameplay trailers and then canceled them months later...
 

Parazels

Member
A new game is not what's been released recently, but what you haven't played yet.

Now I'm enjoying my first walk through Resident Evil Code Veronica X and don't give a shit about the current state of the game industry!
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I really don't think it's the games so much as the culture around it. Yes, the AAAs, particularly in the West, have done nothing but fart out hot garbage for the last decade+. But it's not like there's any shortage of good games, and I appreciate that genres that there are genres that went ignored for a long time that are suddenly seeing something of a resurgence.

The messaging has gotten bad, though - a lot of the fun of new system reveals, big games, etc. has largely evaporated in favor of a safe corporate approach. This was always what was going to happen as gaming got more popular. It's not just nerds making nerdy shit for other nerds anymore, and that particular brand of enthusiasm people had for gaming through the mid-2000s died with that. I do find that unfortunate.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
This year is guaranteed success for me:

-Death stranding 2
-MGS3 Remake

Everything else is cherry on top. Kojima makes 0 bad games. All shades of amazing to incredible.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Well, Sony canceling upcoming games from Bend and BluePoint is exactly why we have no idea anymore what premiere studios are doing. Just imagine Neogaf's response if Sony had actually announced both of those games with either cinematic and/or gameplay trailers and then canceled them months later...
Games will get canceled, but the sheer number of them is staggering.

  1. Last of Us Factions
  2. Spider-Man Multiplayer (ick - cannot believe this was even up for discussion after Avengers)
  3. God of War Live Service (fucking ick)
  4. Bend live service project after trashing Days Gone 2 concept (I don't even care about DG, but this is pathetic)
  5. Twisted Metal live service
  6. London Studios live service
  7. Bungie's Payback
This is time studios like ND, Insomniac, probably Guerilla, and definitely Bend and Bluepoint will never get back. Again, it's fucking devil may care mismanagement. Anyone with two braincells and a degree of perspective would've said "Hmm, it's not going to go over well for us if our marquee single player teams waste a generation of resources throwing shit at the wall for a live service rush".

It's even dumber than Remedy trying to enter that space with the Control IP.
 
Backlog years with slightly better hardware since 2024 started. 2023 was the last year anything of note to the mainstream audience released. Maybe 2026 will have some surprises.
 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
Nintendo do doesn't matter. They know the sizzle reel is going to through the roof. Xbox and PlayStation's showcase of actual game were so anti hype it was saddening.
 
This apathy is a product of their own making. AAA has gleefully neglected and left the core audience behind for the most part.

Meanwhile, there are nimble, inventive and authentic games that still stimulate genuine excitement which can very much be found elsewhere.
 
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I don't really care about the pomp and circumstance either, in itself. But as I said, the issue is that they clearly take that reduced pressure to mean that there's also reduced pressure to perform when it comes to the games themselves.


I think your reaction to my take is the only thing that's deranged here. I'm not going feral because of a lack of specific info about the console, it'll be what it'll be. All I'm pointing out is that they've gone about the announcement of this thing as if it's an accessory. It feels rushed despite the Switch having come out 8 years ago and the biggest selling point so far is backwards compatibility. You might even mistake the new Mario Kart they showed as visually inferior to MK8 - which is an 11 year old Wii U game by origin.

If the reveal of the next gen is so unremarkable, I cannot help but wonder how it will play out. The console already has the problem of being at least 1.5 gens behind in tech; they're not going to have a new Zelda ready before 2030 if TOTK's dev cycle is any indication; Metroid Prime 4 will probably be one of the flagship titles they push, but that game looks almost exactly like the MP1 remaster and is cross gen.

Even the way people talk about it feels so managed decline-ish. Kinda like the PS5 as compared to the PS4. It's just accepted that this thing will not be as successful as the first Switch. Why shouldn't it be? Are people not tired of an 8 year old machine that was anemic in tech when it first launched? Or is there a lack of incentive with the games they're pushing and how they're pushing them?
Sounds like a "you" problem, not the console itself, which is going to be where it needs to be in order to be successful. If tech advancement and graphics are what is most important to you, I suggest exclusively gaming on a high end PC.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Sounds like a "you" problem, not the console itself, which is going to be where it needs to be in order to be successful.
It is not a "me" problem, because I'm talking about what other people are saying, even ardent Nintendo fans.

If tech advancement and graphics are what is most important to you, I suggest exclusively gaming on a high end PC.
No fucking shit. That's besides the point. The point is that there needs to be something on offer to actually incentivize the console if it isn't going to have contemporary tech. These things need to be games worthy of interest.

Backwards compatibility and inferior ports of old games ain't gonna cut it.
 
I’m hoping it’s just age. Even though the consol generations are not that big of leaps anymore my kids are still excited about new stuff. That being said we had it the best
 

Monkfish877

Member
Enthusiasm in core gaming is down, and the companies don't seem to realize it or don't care.

The reveal for the Switch 2 was the lowest effort a generational hardware reveal has ever been. One of of the top yt comments says the following:



It would be something if this Wendy's Twitter account attitude was coming from Nintendo, but fans are just projecting that image onto them. To me, it comes off more like they're taking the Switch 2's success for granted.
"Here's some muddy ass footage of Mario Kart Not8, now piss off and get ready to preorder for maybe 3 new games of consequence and an avalanche of inferior ports"

Nintendo isn't alone here: Sony hasn't had a showcase in over 18 months, and their last was abysmal. State of Plays are contractual obligations on video. No one brings their A game to the content or the presentation. Third parties think that dripfeeding on Twitter and showing a 90 second trailer at one of Geoff Keighley's shill auctions does the trick.
Microsoft is able to put on a convincing effort for NotE3 because they've bought out half of the industry and dedicate most of their energy trying making things look better than they actually are.

And to that point, you might be thinking:
The presentations don't matter. It's about the games.
But this devil may care attitude to selling people on buying their games has also bled into the games themselves, and it's hard not to notice that this started as trade shows, expos and press conference became less of a concern.

Because we don't have regular conference dates, we're left for 5 or more years without having a clue what premiere studios are doing. We didn't know what Monolith Productions was doing for more than 4 years before they revealed Wonder Woman - and it's clear the lack of pressure got to them, as they'd barely started before the reveal which is why we haven't seen shit since.

It just seems like everyone is running on cruise control. Sequels are becoming lesser rehashes even when they take 4+ years to make with heavy asset reuse; new IP of significance is rare, and is either a pale imitation of old IP or looks fucking stupid; major publishers have swathes of their schedules filled by remasters and remakes, and dragging out old IP that was probably let go of for a reason; none of the platform holders are curating their stores; trailers are not as well put together as they were 10 years ago; top developers are more than happy going 5-8 years without releasing a game while collecting six figure salaries; and they increasingly don't give a festering fuck about making a game that sells if it isn't a Stockholm syndrome designed live service they can use to climb the corporate ranks.
And before any of you indie yahoos come in here telling us all about your "hidden gems", most of this stuff applies to that space too.

Who solves it, if anyone? Do we lay all our hopes on GTA6? Do we wait for Hermen Hulst to be dismissed, a major publisher like Ubisoft or Microsoft to crumble, Andrew Wilson to leave for Disney, and the half-century old guard of Nintendo to bow out? I think it's a mixture of all of this and more. This generation looks to be a total wipeout.
Yup, but they still have an army of fanboys cheerleading everything they do, as long as their favourite company is making record profits all is well for these guys. Just take a look at some of the threads on this forum becrying a lot of the things you mentioned in the op. the zealots will have you be convinced that the gaming landscape is as healthy as it's ever been, these guys suck.
 
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Humdinger

Gold Member
The Switch reveal was boring because everything had already been leaked. There were no surprises. I agree about the main leaders in the console space, Sony and Microsoft, though. Both have lost their way. They seem ever-more corporatized and soulless.

That doesn't mean there aren't still games to be enjoyed, but I do find that the overall climate is less interesting, fun, and stimulating than it was, say, 10 or 20 years ago.

Some of that is me, though. I was new to gaming back then and easily wowwed. Now I have a kind of "seen it all" feeling. Even when it's something I like, it still feels like an iteration on something I liked more, earlier.
 

ToneyJ

Member
I’m hoping it’s just age. Even though the consol generations are not that big of leaps anymore my kids are still excited about new stuff. That being said we had it the best
I think for people engaging with only AA/AAA games, it's not an age thing. The quantity and quality of output is objectively lower than it was in the PS2/360 days. Especially when it comes to new IP, graphical advancements and innovation.

Indie games might be great now but I personally only have an interest in games made by midsize to large size studios.
 
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Neff

Member
The only officially announced games for 2025 that I'm interested in are Metroid Prime 4, Death Stranding 2 and Mario Kart 9. That's it. Obviously there will be more and I expect Switch 2's April Direct to heat things up a bit, but as gamers we really do have to wait a lot these days.
 

bitbydeath

Gold Member
Games will get canceled, but the sheer number of them is staggering.

  1. Last of Us Factions
  2. Spider-Man Multiplayer (ick - cannot believe this was even up for discussion after Avengers)
  3. God of War Live Service (fucking ick)
  4. Bend live service project after trashing Days Gone 2 concept (I don't even care about DG, but this is pathetic)
  5. Twisted Metal live service
  6. London Studios live service
  7. Bungie's Payback
This is time studios like ND, Insomniac, probably Guerilla, and definitely Bend and Bluepoint will never get back. Again, it's fucking devil may care mismanagement. Anyone with two braincells and a degree of perspective would've said "Hmm, it's not going to go over well for us if our marquee single player teams waste a generation of resources throwing shit at the wall for a live service rush".

It's even dumber than Remedy trying to enter that space with the Control IP.
1. Those are games we on GAF have been vocal they shouldn’t exist and Sony finally have started correcting course, this is a good thing.

2. It’s not like the old days where studios developed only one game at a time.

Most of those studios you had listed are also developing at least one single player game in conjunction with the MP game.
 
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I actually played and beat more games last year than I have in ages, thanks to my Legion Go( before that I had the Deck). It's been the perfect marriage of accessibility, portability with just enough performance for like 80% of the stuff I play. Speaking as an 'Indies yahoo', that's pretty much my happy space along with older AAA and recent AA( stuff like A Plague Tale, Terminator Resistance and Robocop Rogue city are fantastic).

Which is not to say I'm like the meme where the dog is sipping tea in a burning house thinking 'this is fine'. But I compartmentalize my enjoyment of just playing games from the inherent industry issues that I have no control over. That's on the stakeholders to resolve if they want their bread to continue getting buttered. In the meantime there are niches and pockets of the industry to enjoy if you look past the usual suspects.
 
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StereoVsn

Gold Member
Lol, that’s some drama. I have thousands of hours of games in my backlog library.

Last year was one of the best JRPG years in a while with many great games. We even got a great Indiana Jones game out of nowhere it feels (expected it to suck).

We have more games to look forward to this year with KCD2, MH, new Like a Dragon, Doom and many more.

Yeah, there are issues as always when humans are involved , but there are many more awesome games than I can possibly play in my lifetime.
 

RoboCain

Member
If I had to guess, they know consoles are dead. The whole Activision deal for MS was about this, to become the mayor publisher because owning IPs is the next big market for these companies.

They know that sooner than later they'll become (in the best case scenario) in another OS that you can upload in your hardware of choice, so they focus on pushing their IPs through multimedia rather pursuing hardware.
 
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Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
Do you really want to know 18 months into 4.5 year development what the game is? Nothing you see at that point is going to be "real". That's how we ended up with Crackdown 3 and Killzone 2 reveals.

I agree that we need more regular updates, but imagine if Sony had shown off their God of War or Bend(Probably Syphon Filter) GaaS games only to cancel them 2 years later. That would be even worse than never having seen them.

Everyone wanted Nintendo to unveil the Switch 2. An improvement to the Switch. That's exactly what they did. Anyone bemoaning the lack of excitement around it or the 'lack of innovation' is missing the point in a big way. Also, Nintendo has more or less been making the same console since 2012 now, and before that the Wii was the only time they really went out of left field on a home console, if we're being honest with ourselves.
 
I think Nintendo will come good but yes they're taking a lot of time to release new hardware.

Nintendo have to rely on the tech advancing while being power efficient and priced well. Last 5 years has seen things get worse for hardware performance per watt and price. They'll have great stuff to show but everything is long and drawn out now.

You touch on a good point about the industry events. It's a real issue in how you keep most of your customers engaged and on the same page, it's become too fragmented and difficult to gauge. You also have newer gen gamers that stick to those few service games and this big problem of making games that appeal to an older bracket that have high expectations but it's becoming too costly and time consuming.
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
I guess that you need a chill pill

Yeah, it's not good for the entire of the companies for different reasons, still, the great stuff is higher

We always got bad stuff, for games as design, direction of company, or just tech stuff - who remember "wall man" for the 360? But for some reason it's more common to talk about like is the worst or is the best thing ever. Astrobot got Game of the Year and the Nintendo Switch 2 got a bad reveal. People more and more are to criticize than to enjoy stuff just for what it is. It's weird

I guess that I miss the 90s. We saw at a magazine something and then we bought, maybe we change later. Some things are supposed to be simple fun
 

Neolombax

Member
My impression of the switch 2 reveal was because of those leaks. Its just to confirm its coming. I'd wait until the nintendo direct before i start giving impressions. I still personally am still excited for gaming in general, lots of titles to look forward to, but gta6 is not one of them.
 

ChuckeRearmed

Gold Member
Gaming has become mainstream and big enough so that you don't have tightly coupled communities anymore - people are excited over their specific area and that's it. Plus the games are big enough so people are playing a single game and care only about the updates to them.

It is basically like movies - certain movies (or games like GTA6) will generate the enormous excitement, others - even if they do well, it is not that exciting anymore.
 

Bernardougf

Member
Enthusiasm in core gaming is down, and the companies don't seem to realize it or don't care.

The reveal for the Switch 2 was the lowest effort a generational hardware reveal has ever been. One of of the top yt comments says the following:



It would be something if this Wendy's Twitter account attitude was coming from Nintendo, but fans are just projecting that image onto them. To me, it comes off more like they're taking the Switch 2's success for granted.
"Here's some muddy ass footage of Mario Kart Not8, now piss off and get ready to preorder for maybe 3 new games of consequence and an avalanche of inferior ports"

Nintendo isn't alone here: Sony hasn't had a showcase in over 18 months, and their last was abysmal. State of Plays are contractual obligations on video. No one brings their A game to the content or the presentation. Third parties think that dripfeeding on Twitter and showing a 90 second trailer at one of Geoff Keighley's shill auctions does the trick.
Microsoft is able to put on a convincing effort for NotE3 because they've bought out half of the industry and dedicate most of their energy trying making things look better than they actually are.

And to that point, you might be thinking:
The presentations don't matter. It's about the games.
But this devil may care attitude to selling people on buying their games has also bled into the games themselves, and it's hard not to notice that this started as trade shows, expos and press conference became less of a concern.

Because we don't have regular conference dates, we're left for 5 or more years without having a clue what premiere studios are doing. We didn't know what Monolith Productions was doing for more than 4 years before they revealed Wonder Woman - and it's clear the lack of pressure got to them, as they'd barely started before the reveal which is why we haven't seen shit since.

It just seems like everyone is running on cruise control. Sequels are becoming lesser rehashes even when they take 4+ years to make with heavy asset reuse; new IP of significance is rare, and is either a pale imitation of old IP or looks fucking stupid; major publishers have swathes of their schedules filled by remasters and remakes, and dragging out old IP that was probably let go of for a reason; none of the platform holders are curating their stores; trailers are not as well put together as they were 10 years ago; top developers are more than happy going 5-8 years without releasing a game while collecting six figure salaries; and they increasingly don't give a festering fuck about making a game that sells if it isn't a Stockholm syndrome designed live service they can use to climb the corporate ranks.
And before any of you indie yahoos come in here telling us all about your "hidden gems", most of this stuff applies to that space too.

Who solves it, if anyone? Do we lay all our hopes on GTA6? Do we wait for Hermen Hulst to be dismissed, a major publisher like Ubisoft or Microsoft to crumble, Andrew Wilson to leave for Disney, and the half-century old guard of Nintendo to bow out? I think it's a mixture of all of this and more. This generation looks to be a total wipeout.
Nicely put ... worst gen ever.. never have I played so many old games. Western development is fucked.. if not for the asia resurgence it would be trully bad.
 
100% this! I’m enjoying games more than ever I especially hype for most upcoming games coming out this year.

All I can say I’m sorry you are having miserable time with gaming.🤷‍♂️
games are worse now, the topic creator is right nobody really cared about the swtich 2 reveal. nothing stands out, it has been seen already.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
games are worse now, the topic creator is right nobody really cared about the swtich 2 reveal. nothing stands out, it has been seen already.
Maybe for you but I’m enjoying crap of games.

Trust me if you see most of my posts you would know I actually have very limited taste but even someone like me with limited taste can find plenty of games to play.

If you really can’t find nothing to play then I’m sorry you better off finding different hobby.
 
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I agree with some of this, though I think most of it is just what we expected a long time ago. I remember an animated video someone had put together during the ps360 gen, that joked about the future being mostly remakes/rehashes/sequels with a lot less excitement overall. If you take out the indie games, we have a lot less content coming out now with most of the major studios settling into a pattern of focusing on a couple franchises.

Losing E3 hurt the spectacle of gaming quite a bit, it made some of the hype mundane. Though MS does a decent enough job at it.

With that said, I have a bunch of games that I want to play but haven't gotten to yet, haha. I haven't even gotten to Indiana Jones yet.
 
Ten+ years after Anita Sarkeesian and Gamergate, the whole thing is finally dying, just like we warned people that that sudden wave of political correctness would have a "cooling" effect on creativity in gaming, we were right, the push for more "diversity" in game development has crowded out loads of talent and replaced them with talentless diversity hires, we also warned about that and... we were right.

Shouted down and called names at every turn we were right when we said that shit was going to kill gaming.

Now the chickens are coming home to roost for an industry that fundamentally let it be said "gamers are dead" and never really properly disavowed was that attitude, if anything that became the dominant mindset of western game development, the core audience was abandoned in favor of a phantom audience of people who never really showed up.

Now it's a slow march to irrelevance as everything gets replaced with Asian developers.
 

DonF

Member
Yeah I kinda feel the same. But I also feel that I've changed, I've grown old and things used to excite me way more. I need more serotonin.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Nobody gives a shit about the Switch 2 reveal
If the games on April 2nd blow people away. And you can be sure preorders will be strong.
I do not have any confidence that the games will blow anyone away. Preorders may indeed still be strong, but that says a lot about consumers doesn't it? No surprise, as we still have fanboys rushing to play busted games if they come from the right developer/franchise. The only question after that is, will it have momentum? The PS5 is losing it. Xbox is on the verge of bowing out of hardware all together. People who are excited for the Switch 2 don't believe it can be just as or more successful from the first.

100% this! I’m enjoying games more than ever I especially hype for most upcoming games coming out this year.

All I can say I’m sorry you are having miserable time with gaming.🤷‍♂️
I can smell the salt that you retain for me being right about FF16. Let it go Danjin, patronizing doesn't suit you.

ah yes because the indie scene is known for rehashing old IP over and over again just like AAA. Indies only make live service slop meant to get your money, totally. LMAO
The indie scene is absolutely making a bunch of "spiritual successors" and glorified ripoffs. Let's not forget the Kickstarter craze that really gave the scene the spotlight. Right now, my most anticipated indie games include Fallen Aces (Noir 1900s Deus Ex), Selaco (Doom with a chick), and 3 different Disco Elysium pseudo sequels from that splintered studio. As far as the wider market is concerned, none of these are likely to move the needle.

The leaders are taking forever to get those games out or pull them from early access. Like, wtf is going on with Hollow Knight? Hyper Light Breaker was supposed to be in early access in 2023. Why is Hades 2 an early access title after the success of the first game?

Other than that, you get a bunch of short visual novels that are a dime an dozen at best, and a selection of isometrics, farming simulators, and asset flip slop, many of which never actually get finished.

or like I said before, just quit the hobby and find something more fun for you.
You and everyone else tut-tutting the thread are so happy with gaming that you're coming onto a neogaf thread tone policing critiques about the wider industry during the weekend. Maybe you should quit the hobby.

Or maybe, we can be adults and discuss the issue at hand. Because I'm clearly speaking to something that many people agree with. If they all take your advice and leave gaming behind, it won't be good for the industry.
 
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Corporate suits and DEI zealots are the main cause for the vast majority of this. That and the death of live events like E3.

You also have Xbox pretty much giving up on their console which is going to have ripples across the industry.

The fetish for games being as huge as possible with armies of devs and colossal budgets (and thus ridiculously long dev times) are also a massive problem.

It's almost like the industry needs to crash and restart or something.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Corporate suits and DEI zealots are the main cause for the vast majority of this.
I think it's easy to leave gamers out of the equation. We over rewarded Fortnite and a half dozen other live services. We made too many excuses for devs when they underperformed, and let them get away with that flip flopping about whether or not WFH was more productive while they were also delaying everything. Too many of us virtue signalled with that disgusting "I want shorter games with worse graphics" shit after journalists took us for a ride trying to play union on behalf of their friends in the industry.

The fetish for games being as huge as possible with armies of devs and colossal budgets (and thus ridiculously long dev times) are also a massive problem.
I really wouldn't even say most games are as huge as possible. 90% of AAA are not AC or Starfield. Reasonable scale is important, but you look at something like Hellblade 2, and realise that the problem isn't over ambition, but bloated organization.
 

Trilobit

Member
I'm going to say it. I really miss E3. It was a wonderful injection into the gaming industry and many days of wild news and I felt like it brought gaming communities and companies together. That passion is gone and the Dorito King's Summer thingy doesn't do it for me.
 
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