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[MikeyB]

The thing is, even if gaming goes to utter garbage, we live in an age of plentiful entertainment opportunities. You could read novels (still a relatively new form of entertainment!!!), take up improv or an instrument, or even try table top gaming!

There are so many choices and if the industry goes a way that you hate, to hell with it.

But more to your question, yeah, I agree that microtransactions suck old musty balls, but there is a lot of choice put there. Pillars of Eternity, Divinity: Original Sin, lots of Indies, Bloodborne and the Souls games, and on and on to the break of dawn.

 

[jholmes]

Yes I do worry that, but the fact is I have enough to play and the hobby is increasingly affordable so I'm doing OK.

There's also the fact that 20 years ago I thought the glut of crappy tournament fighters was ruining the industry, and 15 years ago I thought the glut of crappy first-person shooters was ruining the industry, and 10 years ago I thought the glut of crappy sandbox games was ruining the industry, and five years ago I thought the glut of crappy QTE-based games was ruining the industry. But things often take care of themselves.

 

[Missile Defense]

In nature, all systems are breaking down. But new ones evolve and or are birthed as part of the downward spiral into oblivion. We have the anti-spirals to blame for that.

Upside is that at the apex of life is when your spirit burns most crimson, a time known as the climax of youth! LOL

All silliness aside, games are much more fun today then they were before. Try playing Rare Replay and just go from past to present in the games and you'll see what I mean.

 

[jabberwocker]

Just be smart learn before you buy. There are games for all tolerances. There some shady practices out there but it has never been a better time to be a gamer as far as options go.

 

[Placiibo]

With PS4 on track to be the best selling console of all time, with many of my favorite franchises getting made, I feel fine. Mobile will be there. Apple and Google will jump in deeper. but consoles are here to stay at least another decade. PS5 is guaranteed. NX is guaranteed. The fact that millions more people play simpler games than my tastes doesn't bother me.

 

[Elfforkusu]

Not at all?

We've already been through the worst. Crowdfunding and cheap/free middleware are bringing back B titles (and even some A fan favorites, e.g. shenmue and bloodstained). Talented devs (platinum, from) have figured out how to stay alive and productive, while not sacrificing their creativity. Nintendo is still doing nintendo things.

The publishers that are still "turning to shit" are doubling down on losing strategies. They're increasingly irrelevant.

 

[No_Style]

I like to focus on the positives and don't get hung up on stuff that doesn't appeal to me. So no, I don't feel helpless. If a series that I like decides to turn into a pachinko game or a poorly made mobile title, I remember the good titles and move on. Too many games out there to fuss over silly stuff.

 

[h#shdem0n]

Gamergate really bugs me. All those twisted world views coming out of the woodwork. IMO it is worse now because those people are even more polarized. They don't even hide the fact that they're ideological parasites preying on the vulnerable (young men, for the most part).

At least it looks like the momentum of the industry is changing, and not in their favor.

 

[Heyt]

I'm doing a successful job at voting with my wallet and so far it looks good. In 2012/13 I thought the industry was going to shit and even thought that it was crash bound but I am glad it bounced back, even if there are some shitty aspects of it.

If anything I see the indie scene in danger, it doesn't seem like a pool of small fish anymore.

 

[emb]

Yeah, kinda. Not that things are getting bad, more that most trends are just going in directions that aren't in line with my personal preferences. And that's fine. Gaming, more and more so, is not for me. And if I'm in the minority, then that actually makes the things I want less important.

As the industry moves away from me, I try to shift more of my focus to the wealth of existing games, most of which I will never get to play or even buy within my short lifetime. It's just a hobby, something for fun. Focus on the things you think are fun about it.

 

[theWB27]

Let me see...FOB micro transactions. If enough people preorder Deus Ex then it releases earlier..........yep.

This right here is a bigger problem. People using a few examples and try and blanket the entirety of gaming. Cynicism is at its worst...

I'll say this, I've been gaming since the og Nintendo. This is the first time...EVER...I feel like I have too much to play. I've barely spent any money this gen besides the actual systems. I feel overload between just the x1 and ps4.

The worst part is I've barely delved into indie games.

We have way too much value to complain about the few games that don't reach satisfaction.

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Nope, I'm as happy with the industry as I've ever been. Do I sometimes miss the "innocence" of the past? Sure, but the quality of the games makes up for it.

 

[Del Boca Vista]

The industry went down the shitter years ago. That doesn't bother me too much though, aside from losing my friends to brainless zombie killing simulators and Minecraft and other noncompetitive boring repetitious nonsense.

Metal Gear is one of my favorite franchises too but we always knew the story of what was going on there and when they wanted the series to stop so we had time to accept that was going to Hollywood.

The whole world is going down the toilet and gaming is just one part of it, you can see the world reflecting in the gaming industry, but like all things there are still good and bad games.

 

[Scientist Supreme!]

Nope. I think the industry is in the best place its ever been.
VR
Mobile gaming
Esports
Minecraft
Indie games
Kickstarter
Less barriers between developers and consumers
Streaming/YouTube videos
Most varied types of games ever.

All make gaming industry great. Of course there are terrible things but it's mostly small in comparison to how good it is.

 

[RipperGrim]

Nah. The positives massively outweigh the negatives you mentioned. Great time to be a gamer.

It's not like I'm miserable with gaming or anything, I can't wait to play MGS V tomorrow but at the same time knowing it has microtransactions in it just a bummer and something that I would rather not see in the game. I just wondered if anyone else thought that the whole vote with your wallet sentiment is kind of a bunch of bullshit.

In any case it's good to be a gamer that is true, games are coming out left right and center but there are others in the industry that are in terrible positions, devs like Zoe Quinn who have to deal with assholes doing their best to ruin their lives or other devs who have to deal with being fired/overworked. This is something I think would be more easier for everyone to help prevent if we actually had more clarity with what goes on behind closed doors but that rarely ever happens and when it does it's an article on Kotaku with anonymous devs months after what ever happened happened. These are things I have no clue how to even begin helping or preventing and I feel if they go on for more and more years could really cost the industry.

 

[The Albatross]

No, the industry is fine, it's just different than it was 10 years ago, which is different than 15, 20, and 25 years ago

 

[epmode]

The modern megabudget side of videogames is largely terrible but there's all sorts of great stuff happening elsewhere. This is the happiest I've been about the industry since since the PC golden age (late 90s/early 00s).

 

[cacildo]

We will always have fan translations of japanese games

 

[spliced]

Yup. So much fluff and cheap gimmicks cheered on by the hordes. Sure I'll buy your worthless SE of a crap game that I'll be done with forever in 2 weeks for $200.

Jump scares being passed off as games.

Touch screens as controllers for action games.

Gameplay being replaced by button prompts.

Hype culture. Spend 6 months before release building up a game then stop playing it shortly after getting it.

 

[Interficium]

You ever feel like gamers will never look at themselves in the mirror to realize that they are the cause of most of their own list of "problems with the games industry"?

 

[ShaoranWright]

Nah!, because the industry is so big that I have many options to enjoy great games. I'm done with all the force-to-pay-preorder-retail-exclusives bullshit that most AAA games come with on top of paying full price for the game to begin with just to have access to all the content so AA games or portable games are filling all my gaming needs and the variety of content available is staggering.

 

[theWB27]

You ever feel like gamers will never look at themselves in the mirror to realize that they are the cause of most of their own list of "problems with the games industry"?

Consumers usually don't.

 

[Gorillaz]

In terms of the way AAA titles are sort of following the same beat of the drum? yea it kinda sucks. However there are still some good choices few and far between. This is the best the industry has been in awhile in terms of having a little bit of everything out there. It might not be on equal footing as other genres but it's still out there

 

[daTRUballin]

Gamers are always cynical and complain about things in every generation. 10-15 years from now, gamers will look at the problems we have now in this generation and laugh at them because the problems they'll deal with will be even "worse". It's just the way it is.

 

[EGM1966]

I'm mostly positive about industry overall but yeah pre-order shit like getting Deus Ex early (I.ex delaying launch for those who haven't preordered) and micro transactions are two developments that I do not like at all.

But so long as others fall over to pay money to win faster or get feeling of being "privulaged" to get bonus content or early access they're going to stick around I guess.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

With PS4 on track to be the best selling console of all time, with many of my favorite franchises getting made, I feel fine. Mobile will be there. Apple and Google will jump in deeper. but consoles are here to stay at least another decade. PS5 is guaranteed. NX is guaranteed. The fact that millions more people play simpler games than my tastes doesn't bother me.

Lol it isn't outselling PS2, get that idea out of your head. But it'll probably do around 110-120 million over its lifetime (active and as secondary to PS5).

 

[correojon]

I feel like the industry and the main public are favouring style over substance: everything focuses on visuals and technical shenanigans while leaving gameplay as a second thought. The only one of the mayor 3 who goes against this is getting awful results (also due to some really bad decissions by themselves) and the trend seems to be stronger everyday. A company releases a monster console with no games, releases remasters instead of opting for more consumer friendly practices like backwards compatibility and gets tons of praise and a fuckload of sales.

At least indies are somehow filling the gap and we get some exceptions but everyday I find myself with less interest in the big releases everyone talks about.

Give me more Okami, FZero or Devil May Cry and less Generic Realistic Shooter #34 or GameThatTakesItselfTooSeriously#27

 

[The Technomancer]

Sort of yeah. But also I jumped ship to caring almost exclusively about the indie and PC scene a couple years ago, where even with the current garbage trends (jesus guys, there are only so many survival games people want) there's a high enough volume that there's always interesting stuff. I feel like I'm watching the AAA console industry turn inwards and eat itself

 

[ChouGoku]

Its probably the best time to be a gamer, so many different types of games being made. I am very excited for this generation, it will probably the be best one yet

 

[Fracas]

AAA gaming has almost universally disappointed me the last few years. It feels like I'm no longer the target demographic.

Smaller budget games are killing it though.

 

[Tunavi]

Gaming is better than ever

 

[Shaanyboi]

AAA can do whatever dumb shit they want, be as homogeneous as they want. They aren't the only game in town. There's alot of awesome shit coming out elsewhere.

 

[Mentok]

I dunno, the industry has always had some bad practices, and I don't think it's "just now" become money driven. Sometimes we really put on the rose-coloured glasses about how it used to be. But we simply forget that there was a LOT of shit pushed out the door with NO QA or accountability. Hell, there were some games that were simply unplayable out of the box on old consoles. At least now they can patch the games. As others have said, voting with your wallet can help make change.

 

[KevinCow]

The games are still good, so I don't think the entire industry is going to shit or anything. But I really wish I could do something about the shitty f2p games making bank, or the horrible season passes and DLC practices.

 

[Caronte]

The industry already turned to shit a few years ago as far as I'm concerned, at least on consoles.

 

[Scrooged]

There is more diversity today in the industry than ever before. Yes, AAA games tend to keep it safe, but just look at all the indie support on the consoles and all the games that come out on Steam every day. You just need to broaden your horizons.

Also, social media has allowed for all ideas to be amplified to the world. Good ideas and bad. There seems to be a lot of "the sky is falling" attitude recently, from games to society at large. It's not as bad as it looks. Seriously. It's just that things are being brought to the limelight bigger and more frequent than before because of how fast information is spread these days.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

I dont care, they could stop making games today and id still have enough to last multiple lifetimes

 

[Soltype]

There are still some games being made that I like, just less every generation.While I do feel the industry is turning to garbage, I understand that there aren't too many games being made for people like me anymore and I accept that.

 

[Usobuko]

I could probably feel that if mainstream entertainment, not just gaming, ever caters for my kind.

 

[lensoftruth]

But I really wish I could do something about the shitty f2p games

Why? Lots of these are great!

 

[Hunkasaurus Rex]

Yes and no. I feel bad for the developers because I highly doubt most of them want this shit shoehorned into their games either. Chances are they got into the industry because they're gamers themselves. It's corporate greed, the publishers, that are fucking everyone, which is the case in nearly every industry. Social media has given gamers a voice so that's why we tend to hear more bitching from everyone. I can guarantee a toxic community was around in the 80s in 90s. They didn't have a voice to be assholes through social media like they do now. I do think we have gotten entitled to an extent.

We're reaching a diminishing returns as far as tech. Oculus could change the game but it's getting increasingly harder and more expensive to bring ambitious ideas to life. As development gets harder, it's harder to squash bugs and release a polished product. Release a game too early and gamers are pissed it's a buggy piece of shit. Release it too late and gamers flip the fuck out there aren't any new games. There's no winning. As much as microtransactions are a shitty thing to do, I understand their purpose. Hearing how much MGSV development cost, I can't say I blame Konami for putting in microtranscations. I'm not sure where the line is drawn in needing to fund development via other means vs publishers being greedy assholes and trying to nickel and dime their consumers. I would personally prefer ports than gimp new AAA games with transactions if that's what it takes to fund games. Preorder exclusive content is absolute bullshit too but I don't care since 90% of it is superfluous crap I wouldn't notice otherwise. I do preorder at Best Buy because I get a $10 coupon but I usually wait until reviews roll in before I do it or worst case scenario, change my preorder if the game bombs.

We as gamers have also gotten older so we expect more from new games. Has there been some shitty recent trends in gaming? Sure, but I wouldn't go so far as to say the industry is turning to shit. Developers are in a tough spot. They're less willing to try new ideas because it costs so much money. I understand that. It's why we typically see the more imaginative ideas in indie games. They cost less and they're a personal project half the time. I'm not as wowed as I was as a kid but I'm not ready to give up on the industry. MGSV looks incredible. Fallout 4 will most likely be fantastic. Kingdom Hearts 3 is a childhood dream come true. All of the characters in Smash were unthinkable 15 years ago. Basically, there's a ton of cool shit I could never have even imagined growing up and a lot to be happy about.

That said, I have gotten sick of gaming journalism. Keep your clickbait, agenda based bullshit out of the news and reviews. Don't even get me started about the manchild YouTube personalities. Ugh.

 

[Netrunner2k2]

Heck no, gaming is as good as ever to me.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

The Gamergate stuff was problematic, but it's pretty much done now.

It isn't. Their primary targets are still targeted and the shitty mentality that allowed their movement to prosper still festers in the gamer community. You can be certain the next time a woman in the games industry says something they don't like, those fucktards will be back to make her life hell.

 

[stufte]

Nah. The positives massively outweigh the negatives you mentioned. Great time to be a gamer.

.

 

[RoboPlato]

There are amazing games coming out but also some scummy practices that are getting pushed forward. I just make a point of staying informed and not supporting those practices. Thankfully most of the shit is ancillary stuff and I can play the core games without missing out.

 

[Shenmue]

Hmmm I think it's actually a great time for gaming.

 

[Etnos]

as someone who has been gaming since the early 90s, I really feel video games have never been this good overall

shit business models always exited, wait for reviews, don't pre order, you should be fine

 

[llAuburnll]

Im really enjoying gaming right now. I've noticed Internet forums seem to be hyper critical and scream the sky is falling quite often. Not just gaf, but a lot of forums.

 

[PrimaNocta]

I consider myself an average gamer who just loves games and doesn't pay to much attention to the 'industry'. I think gaming is better than ever.

 

[lensoftruth]

The Gamergate stuff was problematic, but it's pretty much done now.

It was? Most people don't even know what it is still or care.