Why the games industry is destined for collapse.

I have been a gamer since just about the day I was born. Being nearly thirty now I was raised with a Nintendo controller in my hand and a hatred of turtles in my heart. I did my best growing up to follow all of the gaming news that I could, it used to be be difficult and costly due to magazines being the only reliable source of information, the internet has now made it incredibly easy. In the past couple of years I have noticed some awful trends with what is now becoming the worlds greatest hobby and source of entertainment. I feel as though we are watching a bubble expand to the point of collapse.

Lack of diversity:

Almost every game at E3 this year had a similar makeup. White male hero suiting up to take on the world. I counted two or three games where there was and kind of diversity. These tended to focus on female characters. Where are our gay heroes? Where are our black heroes? Why do we feel the need as a culture to rest in this homogenous state? Speaking on that, why does a game need violence to be enjoyable? Most of us played Portal. There was little to no violence in that game (depends on if you count turret destruction as violence) Have we really not grown from the adolescent power fantasies of Doom or Call of Duty? I know from personal experience that this need for violence is getting boring, I also feel that it's holding this art form back.

Huge Budgets:

GTA V had a budget of 500 million dollars. 500 MILLION dollars. That budget is higher than any game, or movie ever made. Game devs are creating a sinkhole for themselves. As production costs go up, devs are trying to one up each other. This is a bottomless pit that will end with the consumer paying more for content that is sub par. Let's dispatch an illusion that this money is going anywhere but to the visual side of the projects. In cases such as that, you know what suffers? The story. The part of the game that keeps you enthralled enough to spend 20 hours plus on a title. Look at Watchdogs. Visually the game was decent (minus a few issues) the story though? The story was a far cry from a masterpiece. It also (as mentioned in the previous paragraph) relied too heavily on the cover, gunfight system and ultimately felt bogged down due to that.

Micro transactions:

Listen, I know game devs and production houses need to make money. I do. I also don't want to harp on this for too long. It's been done to death, but there is nothing worse than playing a game that you paid sixty bucks for, walking up to an upgrade station and being asked if you would like to buy your upgrade for real money. It kills the immersion and it screams desperation. I like my games to feel like games and a nasty cash grab is a great way to pull me out of that and force the real world to come crashing in, with it's bills, and jobs, and it's need for sleep. This will inherently turn gamers away from an IP. I personally refuse to buy games from a specific company. No names but it sounds like Anamatronic Carts.

Release Dates:

This is the point where I think you will turn on me dear reader. One of the issues that AAA development is facing. One of the issues that if continued along the path it currently is on, will crush the industry is the problem of release dates being pushed back. We have seen in the past two months more of the highly anticipated releases being pushed back than we have ever seen. I know some of you if not most will say “But, that just means the game will be better upon release” First off, I wish that were true. Diablo 3 and Duke Nukem are prime examples of why Delays don't necessarily make for a better product, but that isn't really the point. The games industry is one of the only industries where people look at deadlines being missed and go “Meh, no problem” In any other industry a missed deadline is a huge, project crushing issue that people get very angry about. The good graces of gamers will not hold out for very long if every anticipated game is behind schedule. On the flip side, gamers will be equally angry if these games are rushed out unfinished. My solution? Give yourselves realistic deadlines and release dates. Don't push for major events like E3. Let your games come out when they are ready.

So these are just a couple of the issues that I have seen, I will probably add more in the future. I didn't want to make this a four page manifesto of spite towards the industry.

Reddie