Modern Games Industry: How'd We Get Here?

[Exhuminator]

Games can be, and have been, removed from GOG due to copyright malarkey or business disagreements.

The difference is, if you archive your GOG installation files, you still have the game for as long as you want. As an example, even though the Fallout games were removed from GOG, I still have them archived to DVD, and can install the GOG versions of them whenever I want, no internet connection or DRM layer service required. If you buy a GOG game, download it, archive it offline, guess what folks it really is yours and you own it in perpetuity. That's the GOG difference.

Maybe I'm getting "old" (I'm 23, lol) and grumpy, but the general quality of video games seems to be dropping each year in my opinion.

Well I'm about to be 37 and I still love this medium even after all these years. I can point at certain sectors of gaming and be upset, but then other sectors have improved drastically. Take dedicated handheld gaming for example, I don't think it's ever been better than it is right now.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I don't have nearly as much gaming experience as most here, so I'm not sure how useful my insight is, but I'll give it a shot.

When it comes to AAA, I think we are doing alright-not great, not bad, but decent. I don't like yearly franchises personally, but on the other hand, they sell, they're big names, and the games aren't necessarily bad in all cases. (Assassin's Creed gets a nod- those games are actually pretty good at times, although not my cup of tea.) Now, the variety has been drowned a bit, but I think that it is just as much about gamers circling their wagons around certain styles as much as it is market pushes. The popularity of MOBAs, FPS, TPS, Survival Simulators, Rogue Lites, and all that are just as much pushed by the community as they are by developers.

Digital scares me because of the numerous ideas that you can think of. I don't know how things break down, but I imagine there's a pretty decent portion of the market that doesn't have good enough internet access or caps that don't allow the size of some of the game downloads now. My other big gripe is that I see absolutely no reason to go digital on the console end, other than some PSN or whatever games on occasion, seeing as the sales and such are never on the same level as PC games.

Indies, early access, all that. I'm blaming the PC gamers. They know why.

[marlowe221]

The difference is, if you archive your GOG installation files, you still have the game for as long as you want. As an example, even though the Fallout games were removed from GOG, I still have them archived to DVD, and can install the GOG versions of them whenever I want, no internet connection or DRM layer service required. If you buy a GOG game, download it, archive it offline, guess what folks it really is yours and you own it in perpetuity. That's the GOG difference.

Yep, that's exactly why I buy PC games on GoG if I have the choice.

Well I'm about to be 37 and I still love this medium even after all these years. I can point at certain sectors of gaming and be upset, but then other sectors have improved drastically. Take dedicated handheld gaming for example, I don't think it's ever been better than it is right now.

This is absolutely true. Nintendo has been killing it since the original Gameboy and has done nothing but improve right up through the 3DS. Sony hasn't done half bad either - say what you will about the Vita but it's a nice piece of hardware and has some really well made (if unique) games on it. The PSP was/is a great device as well.

Indies, early access, all that. I'm blaming the PC gamers. They know why.

I get what you're saying here and I agree with it in a sense. Early Access is (mostly) for the birds.

But indies (in their current form) are relatively new and it's probably too early to tell what their impact on the industry will be as a whole. Personally, I am hopeful that it will be positive but I do expect a bump or two along the way.

[Exhuminator]

say what you will about the Vita but it's a nice piece of hardware and has some really well made (if unique) games on it. The PSP was/is a great device as well.

I have nothing but mad love for both the PSP and Vita.

[Sarge]

I wish I could hack the Vita like I have the PSP, but I really like it so far after putting off getting one so long. Even though I've got the Slim model, the screen looks much better than the PSP-2000 I have.

[ElkinFencer10]

say what you will about the Vita but it's a nice piece of hardware and has some really well made (if unique) games on it. The PSP was/is a great device as well.

I have nothing but mad love for both the PSP and Vita.

I love the Vita. I like the PSP.

[Sarge]

I loved the PSP because I could rip all my UMDs to memory stick, and convert all my PSX games as well. Having all my RPGs on hand at any time, with no swapping, is amazing. I just wish the screen were as good as the Vita (either version). I'm thinking about poking at either a 3000 or Go at some point, but it's not high on my priority list.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I really love the PS3 and 360 and I think there are fantastic new games on the PS4 and Xbox One, I've yet to play anything that was really better or wasn't crossgen though. Not to mention the systems themselves seem to be even less developed.

I see the bullshit like Street Fighter V and Just Cause 3 are pulling and have to wonder what the hell is going on with this industry.

HD games are expensive to produce and we've known this for a good 10 years now. That's not really new anymore. Nor is solid network infrastructure. So why does it seem like games are coming out even more broken now? What changed in the 2 year transition?

[MrEco]

The difference is, if you archive your GOG installation files, you still have the game for as long as you want. As an example, even though the Fallout games were removed from GOG, I still have them archived to DVD, and can install the GOG versions of them whenever I want, no internet connection or DRM layer service required. If you buy a GOG game, download it, archive it offline, guess what folks it really is yours and you own it in perpetuity. That's the GOG difference.

Yup. That's the closest we have right now to a permanent solution to keeping our games. It's really unfortunate that more devs/publishers don't want to support GOG because it's DRM free. I wonder how long it'll take them to realize DRM doesn't work if someone really wants to play your game without paying for it. Have the last 20 or something years of DRM cracking and day one torrent releases not taught them that yet?

Well I'm about to be 37 and I still love this medium even after all these years. I can point at certain sectors of gaming and be upset, but then other sectors have improved drastically. Take dedicated handheld gaming for example, I don't think it's ever been better than it is right now.

Oh, I'm not saying that all games are bad right now. But in my opinion video games seemed to reach a peak between like, 1997 to 2005 or so. Just a rough estimate off the top of my head. Since then I'd say that in a very broad way video games have been slowly getting worse as they recycle ideas, become more streamlined, etc etc... I think that if they continue along that trend then two or three console generations latter I might just lose interest in modern games and spend my time enjoying my backlog of retro gold.

That's not to say there aren't exceptions. Every once in a while a Dark Souls or a Witcher 3 comes along that manages to be just as good as those older games I like. And of course I'll always own a PC, and therefor have access to any fun and imaginative indie games that come out, but I think the AAA's need a boot in the backside before too long.

This is all theoretical of course. I suppose "wait and see" is the only thing to do.

[Gunstar Green]

Games can be, and have been, removed from GOG due to copyright malarkey or business disagreements.

The difference is, if you archive your GOG installation files, you still have the game for as long as you want. As an example, even though the Fallout games were removed from GOG, I still have them archived to DVD, and can install the GOG versions of them whenever I want, no internet connection or DRM layer service required. If you buy a GOG game, download it, archive it offline, guess what folks it really is yours and you own it in perpetuity. That's the GOG difference.

I'd like to add the games removed due to copyrights changing hands are still available for download in your library. They're just no longer available for purchase.

Yup. That's the closest we have right now to a permanent solution to keeping our games. It's really unfortunate that more devs/publishers don't want to support GOG because it's DRM free. I wonder how long it'll take them to realize DRM doesn't work if someone really wants to play your game without paying for it. Have the last 20 or something years of DRM cracking and day one torrent releases not taught them that yet.

The thing is, DRM is currently working really well. Denuvo takes months for hackers to get through and has almost caused a few to throw in the towel. You can say, "well they still get through it," but the goal of Denuvo isn't to be uncrackable forever but to keep the game's initial sales period free from piracy. So far, so good.

Oh, I'm not saying that all games are bad right now. But in my opinion video games seemed to reach a peak between like, 1997 to 2005 or so. Just a rough estimate off the top of my head. Since then I'd say that in a very broad way video games have been slowly getting worse as they recycle ideas, become more streamlined, etc etc... I think that if they continue along that trend then two or three console generations latter I might just lose interest in modern games and spend my time enjoying my backlog of retro gold.

That's not to say there aren't exceptions. Every once in a while a Dark Souls or a Witcher 3 comes along that manages to be just as good as those older games I like. And of course I'll always own a PC, and therefor have access to any fun and imaginative indie games that come out, but I think the AAA's need a boot in the backside before too long.

This is all theoretical of course. I suppose "wait and see" is the only thing to do.

I think it's just a case of nothing will ever impress you as much as an adult as it did when you were young.