Welcome back, my fellow gamers! I wish times were better in the gaming industry, but it’s a real mess with careless acquisitions, massive layoffs, disappointing content, toxic fandoms, sky high prices, and necessary changes in business models. Xbox closed four of their developers, which is a shame because some of those studios were quite popular. I’m sure more studios from other companies will close throughout the year. Perhaps, the gaming industry would have more stability if their products sold better. On that note, here are several trends that I believe are hurting video game sales.
$70 Price Tags Consumers tolerated $60 games for a number of years, but $70 is a deal breaker for many people. It’s absurd to spend that kind of money on a new game. Hardly any AAA title justifies $70. Today, it’s the norm for gamers to wait until new releases go on sale. Naturally, this hurts the bottom line for developers and publishers. You can thank Sony for this awful trend. PlayStation was the first brand to mainstream $70 for major games. Releasing Too Many Games in a Tight Schedule This one should be obvious, but I’m not seeing a change at all. Basically, video game studios are committing friendly fire, even within their own schedule. People are only going to spend a certain amount of money on video games per year. Furthermore, their time is also limited. The average person needs to maintain a household, work 40 hours a week, take care of their family, run errands, maintain a social life, etc. They don’t spend their entire week playing video games. Recent gaming schedules are oversaturated with tons of games and that means consumers are going to pick whatever appeals the most. Predatory Micro Transactions What a great way to ruin a game. I realize free to play games are going to rely on micro transactions because they have to make a profit. Unfortunately, micro transactions are becoming standard in many $70 releases. Pay to win models are becoming a common trend. Now you can pay real money to buy weapons, additional characters, health items, power ups, and more. In fact, you can’t finish the main campaign in some games without buying extra items. I truly despised the micro transactions in Diablo IV and Dragon’s Dogma II. Disappointing AAA Games If we’re going to spend $70 on a game, it needs to be good. Sadly, high prices don’t guarantee quality products. I’ve seen quite a few AAA games that were panned by fans and critics alike. This situation paints the video game industry in a negative light and it drives away customers. What’s the point of waiting years and spending a lot of money on new games if they’re going to be terrible? Mass Layoffs This phenomenon is both tragic and unavoidable. Most video game companies expanded their brands during the pandemic and hired a ton of employees. Bigger studios also acquired a bunch of smaller ones. Publishers thought video games would become a huge craze, potentially bigger than movies and streaming. After the pandemic eased, many casual players abandoned video games in favor of other activities. It costs a lot of money to churn out AAA games and the current landscape is simply unsustainable. That means people are losing their jobs in droves. Companies are closing entire studios, including developers that are quite popular. It highlights corporate greed and causes gamers to lose faith in these companies. After all, why should we support a publisher who’s not going to support the developers who make our games? Spending Many Years to Make a Single Game It’s always a good idea to spend enough time on game development. Rushing the development process creates too many broken games with a lot of issues. However, time has limitations. I would say five years is a pretty standard timeframe for many AAA games. Some titles take eight years, ten years, or even longer. At that point, audiences are going to lose interest in a game or potentially forget about it completely. Wonder Woman, Fable, The Outer World 2, and Marvel’s Wolverine were announced quite a while ago. Supposedly, Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines 2 is finally coming out later this year, but does anyone care about that game? Most likely, Bloodlines 2 will launch with little fanfare and become a commercial bomb. The “Git Gud” Culture Online bullying and toxic behavior ruins video games for many people. It drives away casual players and large groups of people who would ordinarily spend a decent amount of money on video games. That’s bad business for the gaming industry. The advent of multiplayer games, the soulsborne genre, competitive esports, and social media streamers is leading to an elitist subculture who believe real gamer enjoy hardcore, difficult challenges. Anyone else is just a loser who should quit. Many of these gamers who promote the Git Gud image also bully women, kids, and the LGBTQ community. Don’t listen to their lies. These trolls feel threatened by competition and try to make the landscape easier for themselves by driving away players. Console Exclusive Titles Everyone loves exclusive games on the PS5 or Switch. They play a major part in the value of having each type of console. With that said, games that are exclusive on specific consoles are limiting their sales options. Exclusive games cut out consumers who don’t use that particular console. Those numbers add up quickly. Exclusive AAA games are a big part PlayStation’s appeal, but it’s a significant part of their financial problems. You’re not going to see four or five AAA exclusives per year on the PS5 anymore. Square Enix has a similar issue. Most of the Final Fantasy games were made for the PlayStation market, which is causing financial problems for Square Enix now. I wish Xbox and other companies had more exclusive games, but it seems like diversity makes sense in terms of money. Empty Promises Let’s face it. Every video game company gives their audience a ton of empty promises. I don’t want to hear excuses. They’ll all guilty. They promise to make better games. Prices will go down. Those acquisitions will build jobs and make better content. AAA games will continue forever. They’re going to clean up open world environments. New games will come out more frequently. The next generation of consoles will be a true revolution. Blah, blah, blah. Gaming publishers will make a lot endless hallow promises to make you buy more games. It’s just a marketing ploy. Consumers are finally noticing this unsettling trend and they’re being more cautious about buying new games. It’s always a good idea to conduct a little research before dropping $70. Creating Games That Nobody Wants I’m a big fan of new content and creativity. Granted, it seems like the gaming industry is releasing quite a bit of junk and unappealing content. Gamers are tired of live service games and micro transactions, but publishers are doubling down on these products anyway. I hear a lot of complaints about bloated open world environments, yet studios continue to churn out humungous RPGs. Probably a third of last year’s releases were shameless shovelware, such as Lord of the Rings: Gollum, The Walking Dead: Destinies, and Skull Island: Rise of Kong. I thought Immortals of Aveum was a good effort, but nobody asked for that game. The new PlayStation VR system is a commercial failure. That’s because the majority of gamers don’t care about VR titles. It seems like publishers are somewhat tone deaf to their audience. Those are my two cents. Would you like to join my rant in the comment section? I’m sure most gamers are upset with the industry’s current state. It’s going to take a while for video game companies to figure out a more efficient business model. In the meantime, the people who create this content will suffer the consequences. Gamers will also suffer. On the bright side, we’re still getting a lot of positive content with high quality. I suppose it’s a double edged sword. Hopefully, you can all have a great Mother’s Day tomorrow. Take care of yourselves and come back again next week. Good night!
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Should I say happy Summer yet? I can’t tell. The weather is really weird over here in LA County. On that note, I’m giving you four more game reviews. Quite a few games are coming out within the next few weeks and I don’t want to fall super far behind. I will let you know if the following games are worth your time and money. Let’s check it out. Surprisingly, the critical reception for Rise of the Ronin was only middle of the road. I actually like this game a lot. Rise of the Ronin is an entertaining RPG with an open world environment, interesting characters, and a great combat system. It gives players a variety of missions, weapons, and upgrade options. The gameplay is fast, visceral, and challenging. However, it probably won’t scare away casual gamers. Rise of the Ronin is a nice history lesson with a number of historical figures, events, political issues, and battles. The story takes place in the 19th century, which marked the end of the sword era because they couldn’t fight against guns or cannons effectively. Some gamers are tired of huge environments with repetitive missions and fetch quests, but I found the overall experience quite enjoyable in this case. The game has endless customization options regrading your appearance and combat style. I will admit, the graphics are underwhelming, the runtime is excessive, and some components of the gameplay feel unpolished. It’s good, but not perfect. In the end, I definitely recommend this game. Rise of the Ronin is a fun adventure and the $70 price tag is far more justifiable than the average release. It’s your time and money, so the choice is ultimately yours. It’s really hard to explain A Space for the Unbound. The story takes place in 1990s Indonesia through the perspective of two high school students. I suppose this game is a blend of point and click adventure, narrative adventure, and various side scrolling genres. A Space for the Unbound is an exploration of mental health, adolescence, and personal happiness. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s an unusual game that tells the story in unique ways. You’ll encounter several conversations, places to explore, items to collect, and puzzles to solve. Sometimes the pacing slows down a bit in the middle and a few of the puzzles were unclear. Believe it or not, this game actually has combat. It’s a small part of the experience, but QTE events are part of the progression. The story may also induce tears. I cried in the third act. Overall, A Space for the Unbound is very good. I would say this game will appeal to specific audiences, such as cozy players and people who enjoy story driven adventures. If you’re curious, try it out. I think it’s worth your time and money. The physical version is $45 while the digital game is only $20 on Steam. Stellar Blade is taking the world by storm for all the wrong reasons. A lot of controversy is surrounding the protagonist regarding sex appeal. Guess what? Eve isn’t any more sexualized than most female characters in video games. If you want this game to be a perverse male fantasy, prepare to be disappointed. The actual gameplay is very exciting, but the mechanics feel imprecise with input lag. That’s a big problem in Stellar Blade because it demands precision. The game has a cool variety of monsters, excellent animation, and an innovative take on hack & slash combat. Unfortunately, this game is incredibly frustrating. I encountered several game breaking bugs that stopped a few side quests from launching. Stellar Blade has mandatory platforming sections and the jumping mechanics are truly awful. The game takes some influences from the soulsborne genre, but it’s not particularly hard. Nearly all of the game’s issues involve a lack of polish. Plus, the entire plot is juts a rehash of NieR: Automata and the characters are bland with uninspired dialogue. Considering the $70 cost, I would say wait for a sale. Stellar Blade is getting strong critical reception, but that surprises me because the game has many problems. Some players might enjoy the experience. Just don’t expect the gameplay to be very smooth and you’re going to die for absurd reasons on a regular basis. Keep that part in mind. Dave the Diver recently dropped on PlayStation+ and I wanted to check it out. After all, it was a huge hit last year. Honestly, I don’t understand the hype. Dave the Diver is allegedly a great experience for people who like action games or the cozy landscape. I just found the game dull and repetitive. It requires a lot of grinding to progress through the story and I dislike restaurant simulator. Maybe restaurant simulators aren’t my jam. Combat is infrequent, but it doesn’t feel very good to play. Sure, you can find new fish, recipes, characters, upgrades, and more. I found new elements along the way, but none of it felt satisfying. Who knows? I might have better luck with Endless Ocean Luminous. Granted, I will give the game some credit. The characters are very funny and the art style is cute.
I’m one of the few gamers who won’t recommend Dave the Diver. It’s quite popular, so you might want to check out the game anyway. Just try it on PlayStation+ if you’re curious. Then it won’t be disappointing if you don’t like the overall experience. All done! I enjoyed two out of four games. It’s worth mentioning, I disagree with the critical reception. You’re better off making your own judgement calls. Let your wallet and gut instinct guide the way. Are you planning to play any of these games? If you’re already played something on this post, what did you think? Leave a comment. Keep watching for more gaming news in the future. 2024 is a tumultuous year for the gaming sphere, so I’m sure we’ll see a combination of exciting and disappointing announcements soon. Take care of yourselves and game on! |
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May 2019
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