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Nobody is buying new games anymore
- Thread starter Cyberpunkd
- Start date
- Business
The artful mincer
Member
Like obviously! The pool of games released over 6 years ago is huge and getting bigger all the time.
Games released in last 3 years will of course be a much smaller number. It will be the same books, films and every other form of media!
Games released in last 3 years will of course be a much smaller number. It will be the same books, films and every other form of media!
Rocco Schiavone
Member
I recently bought Astrobot.
Felessan
Member
And... sales are iirelevant to the topic, so releasing these games will change mostly nothing.
What is a problem with making games for women?
Genshin do it as many others - it's multiply you player base by 2 (and so is money) making it financially viable to add more and better content for both sides.
And it's not like girls and guys content is exclusive to certain side - girls like ~a bit~ of achievement and competition, guys like a bit of stories and even romance.
I have a long history of playing big MMO and MMO is a genre that try to cater to everyone, it's their lifeblood. The number of girls there disproportional to SP AAA games. mainly because it's a social environment, but other aspects also play a role.
And catering to many improves games greatly, it's much more interesting to have a good skill-based combat with good world-building, adventuring and various characters story, their deep relationships, some tragedy etc, than skill based game with story "me big, me kill-kill-kill" (typical male-only oriented story)
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all i play is old roms, skater xl and lately cod cause it came to game pass. looking forward to black ops 6 and assetto corsa 2 but that's about it for me and new games. when games come up on the list to be removed from gamepass i'll usually play some of those while i still can, last month i finally played through walking dead season 1 and 2 on pc.
Felessan
Member
They don't care. It's a different market.
Spiderman2 is 20 hour game. It takes around 600k players of Fortnite playing a hour a day to offset all sales to date of Spiderman2 in play hours in 1 year. But AAA games have much much higher conversion of playtime to money - Spiderman2 brings 50 times more money per hour spend in-game than Fortnite.
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april6e
Member
Games don't release complete on launch anymore. For example, a game like Diablo 4 or Remnant 2 is x2 better today than if you played it on launch. Also, if you just wait a month or two, you can get games almost half off on PC.
Release titles that are fully fleshed on launch like Space Marine 2 or Resident Evil 4 Remake and I'll pay full price.
Release titles that are fully fleshed on launch like Space Marine 2 or Resident Evil 4 Remake and I'll pay full price.
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Raven117
Member
of course they care. Hence why they are all trying to make a GaaS game.
What a silly comment.
YeulEmeralda
Linux User
I blame Steam sales.
Dorago
Member
The new games I've bought or played over the last few years: Elden Ring, Tears of the Kingdom, Unicorn Overlord, Lego Fortnite.
I purchased two dozen other catalog titles and re-releases that were all $20 or less.
It's a great time for older games because they're a known quantity, are in a fully playable state, and cost a fraction of what newer ones does.
I purchased two dozen other catalog titles and re-releases that were all $20 or less.
It's a great time for older games because they're a known quantity, are in a fully playable state, and cost a fraction of what newer ones does.
Shadowstar39
Member
You and me both. Games before the woke takeover or games i missed. I go to antique/retro stores and pick up ps2/wii/gc/ps1 games and try them out. I got the following games on my last haul (ps2 and gamecube):
Soul Calibur 2, Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Mortal Kombat Sholin monks, Xenosaga, Arc the lad spirts something, Rune Viking Warrior, Rygar, 007 From Russia With Love (gamecube), Ape Escape3, Prince of Persia Sands of time. All for the cost of 1 new $70 game.
I have made similar trips and came back with a stack of 360/xb games (well the ones that play on the series x as I don't have original equipment for those).
Also for wii, I got 2 Trama center games, Prime3, little kings story, skyward sword, twilight princess, Muramasa, dead space extraction, all from 2nd hand shops.
Still some games are out of reach due to price. My limit is usually 50-60 for an old game, last semi-expensive ones were Silent hill downpour $50 and windwaker $45. I know i will never get back my pawned copies of SH1-4 grrr., or Xenosaga ep3.
It's crazy but I am having more fun playing shaolin monks then most games today. Add on all the switch ports and there you have it.
Most new games I play are turnbased strategy /city builders games on pc as I can play them while at work with the volume off.
Gambit2483
Member
Pretty sure he's talking about Western games
Shadowstar39
Member
What sucks is this same thing happened to music. Especially rock. The dying of rock and roll co-insides with the death of good film, tv and now video games.
It never got passed on to the youth. What did was corporatized slop. Not creative visions. What will the next generation create when all their nostalgia will be fortnite, roblox, all multiplayer social games. Not Mario, Baldurs gate, fallout, might and magic, doom, etc..
My path forward is build the backlog (well already over 1000s long so I am there) where I can retire in 23 years or so and game then (if we don't blow each other up before that)
My concern is that some of the servers for old digital games will be gone where ms /sony doesn't let you re-download. Or original hardware is too expensive to buy as others are doing the same.
You can emulate up to a ps2 today on a phone/tablet. Here's to hoping emulation and preservation gets done properly.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Then I kinda agree escpially when it comes Bethesda and CPR games.
Felessan
Member
They don't. In a sense "[excessive play hours are] very concerning news to the companies that didn't make those hits".
Companies wants gaas success the same way they want to own ecosystem - they want a constant predictable stream of money. And they want a place in future gaming landscape.
It's a diffrent stream of business compared to classic games with different set of rules etc.
Gambit2483
Member
And Ubisoft and EA...
Raven117
Member
If you don't think that companies who didn't snag the GaaS trend are concerned about that...you have absolutely no sense of business.
Just look at all the companies trying to cash in on that. Almost all major publishers have tried.
Unrivaledx88
Member
I’m not buying new games atm for 2 yrs now bc no games interest me that’s my reason. Been on Warzone forever how boring
Karak
Member
IF, IF a day shows up, that I don't love games, technology, development, or coverage. I will quit instantly. I adore games even the shit ones that make me die inside. You won't ever even be able to think "hmm Karak doesn't sound like he likes playing bad games, or good games, or ANY games anymore" Cause the channel will be gone. That brings me a ton of energy. I guess a bit of proof of that is I don't do any sponsorships, I don't do any of all that shit. I love the medium.(not the game, the industry lol)
Though Gene Rain almost broke me.
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Felessan
Member
You are spilling layman bullshit.
You just dont understand current structure of market. SP games are becoming a niche thing, it's still a significant value market, but it can't allow you to compete for market dominance at whole.
Market dominance strategy all involve switching to gaas to some point, as those are a king of game market. And major player who wants to be a relevant (big) players in the future they have to expand into gaas market. Or they will be wargames or even rts kings that "important" in their niche, but in the grand scale of things simply irrelevant.
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Psychostar
Member
I dunno guys but £70 is too steep a price for a video game that doesn't come in a fancy box with a cool manual and some stickers or some shit. If you want to raise an argument against why certain games don't sell well, that's mine.
I've got my fair share of collectors edition physical items that I don't regret dumping the cash on but I feel like things have become ridiculous. When you pay £70 for a DIGITAL item (and digital always come with downsides), you're laughing at your fanbase.
I've got my fair share of collectors edition physical items that I don't regret dumping the cash on but I feel like things have become ridiculous. When you pay £70 for a DIGITAL item (and digital always come with downsides), you're laughing at your fanbase.
Psychostar
Member
Collecting video game cases used to be part of the fun for me. Game art books etc. Maybe I'm showing my age but these things matter. Nobody cares about your digital game library.
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Psychostar
Member
Nah man it has nothing to do with that. The music industry doesn't suffer from 'too many albums'. When we used to collect dvd's we didn't say 'Damn there's too many movies'. Companies are getting greedy. Quality is going out of the window and people are getting wiser about their spending.
I still bought every game that caught my interest this year, and that was a LOT. That being said, I know that historically I'd have splashed out more comfortably had I felt I wasn't being squeezed on each choice.
I had to decide between whether to get Black Myth Wukong, Astrobot or Visions of Mana this month. I settled on Wukong and I am dying to pick up Astrobot but that is just going to have to wait because I won't spend 70 on another digital title. I can't swap that title with my friend to try out what he got once I'm done with it and I don't get to stick it in on display in my mancave.
TheShocker
Member
I buy games still for sure. But now that I’ve moved to all digital I wait for reviews, tech comparisons, and mostly sales.
I’m tired of buying a full price game for a half baked experience.
I’m tired of buying a full price game for a half baked experience.
Psychostar
Member
This is exactly the point I'm trying to make. When I am buying digital I am more wary. I will see what my favorite content creators are discussing about it in their reviews, I will criticize the game myself and ensure I'm 100% on board with the experience I should expect from it when I go in and I sure as heck won't be buying 2 full priced games on the same day like I used to. Digital purchases lack humanity.
Psychostar
Member
I think the only game that did digital right, and I mean truly right, was 'It Takes two'.
Hollow Knight too. I felt like I was stealing from them , getting what I did for what I paid. Ended up buying it on multiple consoles.
The fact that you buy 1 copy of that co-op game and your friend from the other side of the planet that can't afford it gets to play it with you for free as if he's sitting on the couch beside you, that's a good example of digital done right. To top that off, the game was fairly priced on top.
Hollow Knight too. I felt like I was stealing from them , getting what I did for what I paid. Ended up buying it on multiple consoles.
The fact that you buy 1 copy of that co-op game and your friend from the other side of the planet that can't afford it gets to play it with you for free as if he's sitting on the couch beside you, that's a good example of digital done right. To top that off, the game was fairly priced on top.
Go_Ly_Dow
Member
Yeah funnily enough me and my friend were talking about the death of rock and roll a few days ago. It just never got passed onto newer generations as you say which is a big shame.
Totally, we were blessed in the 90s and 00s to have a generation of intelligent talent who had creative freedom in a infant industry to make some really cool art in their games. Arguably the tech constraints also really pushed innovation and art direction, as well as vgm music too.
I am really enjoying the output from certain studios this generation and think this will last just about into next gen/PS6, but expect it to fizzle out beyond that. (which is why I'm cool with remakes/remasters of my fav games as the old devs won't work forever, Kojima, Nomura, Miyazaki and many others) At some point I'll have a massive library of about 7 generations worth of games to revisit and play the ones I never got round to, so all is well. I'll be gaming well into the future.
But I doubt I'll be tuning into the industry and carry excitement for new games expect for maybe a handful of titles. The industry will cater to the new audience then and it'll be an online/engagement focused I think. Hope I'm wrong of course.
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Psychostar
Member
Sorry to hear that mate. I personally enjoyed it despite some of the silly RPG scalebacks they went for in the game design. Clive Rosfield was a good main character in my opinion. The story and music was good stuff but I'm not against Final Fantasy as a series moving away from the old turn based stuff. I feel like there is room for innovation in the combat and I especially liked what they did with FF7:Rebirth for example.
Raven117
Member
Lol. Dude. They aren’t spending the kind of money that they do on a niche market. As much as you want the two markets to be separate, they aren’t. Just look at the state of the market. Just use your eyeballs. Clearly all of this is having an effect. It’s also not an accident that single player games quality in the AAA space has gone down.
You have convinced me your opinion is worthless on this issue.
bender
What time is it?
It's not really surprising considering the rise of GaaS which is why we see a lot of devs/pubs dipping their toes in that water. GTA VI will skew the numbers once it releases and it will be fascinating to watch how GTA:Online players will migrate and if Rockstar will have the same success selling virtual currency.
ap_puff
Banned
Aren't these stats misleading considering the #1 game being played is Fortnite and it released in 2017, which coincidentally matches the 6+ year old category? This feels like one of those research papers where they game the parameters to find something that looks statistically significant but isn't actually.
We just had 3 years in a row with really strong-selling new games in Hogwarts, Elden Ring, the Sony first parties, Zelda, BG3, Helldivers, Palworld, Black Myth Wukong
We just had 3 years in a row with really strong-selling new games in Hogwarts, Elden Ring, the Sony first parties, Zelda, BG3, Helldivers, Palworld, Black Myth Wukong
It’s worse than that, not only are they launching broken, but they often aren’t fully feature and story complete until about 18 months after launch, once all the expansions are out and they’ve added all the quality of life updates and other additions…AND it’s cheaper
Mercador
Member
It's not bad per se but I see myself forcing me to play it, that's not normal. I like the visuals, the soundtrack is good, the story is intriguing but I feel I'm looking at a movie and sometimes, I do almost always the same combos on sponge enemy, waiting to get my max powers to be used. Side quests are also meaningless, it doesn't help. I don't know how much hours is left
(just got my chocobo)
Iced Arcade
Member
People are more cautious about entertainment dollars now. lower price tags people were more open to giving a new game a try and taking a chance.
YeulEmeralda
Linux User
Forget airliners. The fastest way for a billionaire to become a millionaire is to invest in the videogame industry.
BigBeauford
Member
I'm still buying plenty of games, they are all just $30 or less and happen to be indies and AA
Susurrus
Member
My backlog is enormous and so I can patiently wait for sales. I think the last full price I bought was Final Fantasy XVI. And before that Final Fantasy XV. And before that Kingdom Hearts III. Those are really the only series I do that with. There just isn't enough time for me to play what I have and want to play, so why get a bunch of brand new releases?
My current game I'm playing is Crackdown 3 which I bought on disc a few years ago.
My current game I'm playing is Crackdown 3 which I bought on disc a few years ago.
LavitzSlambert
Member
Man, there is so much to unpack.
1. The title of this post does NOT match the content. Sales vs time spent playing.
2. They are grouping games into periods of 3 years, 3 years, and 6+. Of course people playing older games is going to be significant when it includes all of history. Not only are there more games that exist, but they are often already well regarded, many have active communities, and are cheaper and more available than new games. They are also more available than ever before. In generations past, physical only games worked primarily on consoles and certain computers, with their availability decreasing as time went on - you needed to own a copy of the game and the hardware to play it, and aside from BC old games have never been more available than they are today.
3. They didn't even control for free to play games (most likely to be older games at this point).
4. Older games typically hit game subscription plans before brand new ones. If they are included, there is no additional cost for people to play these games.
5. Many of the biggest, most novel GAAS/F2P games are at least 6 years old. There have not been as many time sinks in recent years.
6. Dev cycles have become extremely long. Fans of a franchise will typically play other games in a franchise. When huge games take 5+ years to create, the most recent entry in your favorite franchise is going to be several years old. That will skew the numbers.
7. I don't know what the story is with this because I haven't bought access to the full report, but how are they accounting for remakes/remasters?
8. This seems like an advertisement for Arco or someone with a strange fixation, considering how explaining the game is half of the content of the article.
1. The title of this post does NOT match the content. Sales vs time spent playing.
2. They are grouping games into periods of 3 years, 3 years, and 6+. Of course people playing older games is going to be significant when it includes all of history. Not only are there more games that exist, but they are often already well regarded, many have active communities, and are cheaper and more available than new games. They are also more available than ever before. In generations past, physical only games worked primarily on consoles and certain computers, with their availability decreasing as time went on - you needed to own a copy of the game and the hardware to play it, and aside from BC old games have never been more available than they are today.
3. They didn't even control for free to play games (most likely to be older games at this point).
4. Older games typically hit game subscription plans before brand new ones. If they are included, there is no additional cost for people to play these games.
5. Many of the biggest, most novel GAAS/F2P games are at least 6 years old. There have not been as many time sinks in recent years.
6. Dev cycles have become extremely long. Fans of a franchise will typically play other games in a franchise. When huge games take 5+ years to create, the most recent entry in your favorite franchise is going to be several years old. That will skew the numbers.
7. I don't know what the story is with this because I haven't bought access to the full report, but how are they accounting for remakes/remasters?
8. This seems like an advertisement for Arco or someone with a strange fixation, considering how explaining the game is half of the content of the article.
Young gamers, the future generation of the industry. They are attached to their favourite Gaas games within their social circles. Doesn't matter if its Fortnte, Roblox, Apex, COD, Overwatch etc. Much like the old days of Everquest, WOW, FF and other MMO's. Gamers have less free time as they are basically in a relationship with their chosen game. Companies are constantly competing for those relationships. Makes me wonder if in 10-15 years, what the gaming indusry will look like, since these young gamers might still be on the Gaas train and single player games be in trouble.
