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[German Shocks]

Strictly speaking for the state of industry since COVID.. I won't lie it's cooked!

These five-plus years we've seen some of the biggest shifts in the industry, in my opinion for the worse, with acquisitions being one, same for how AAA games are in a rough spot in terms of budget and efficiency.

This also doesn't account for the boogeyman that is the immense amount of layoffs we've seen and also some publishers shift to A.I… Like the latest Call of Duty is using terrible generative Ai and using the anime art style.

Overall, I feel like in terms of games releases we've never had it this good, but for the wider industry, it's been really rough and it will inexorably catch up to gamers toward the end of this decade. And let's not forget that rising costs are starting to price out the average gamer.

 

[Ceallach]

Ok bud

 

[asdasdasdbb]

Um, the 60s?

Video Games go far back but not that far.

 

[Dust-by-Monday]

I wish companies would just focus on making GOOD games instead of LONG games. I could deal with graphics that aren't ray traced with a really good story. Enough with these 100 hour games.

 

[SoloCamo]

Um, the 60s?

Video Games go far back but not that far.

I'm assuming that's the point.

 

[Ceallach]

Um, the 60s?

Video Games go far back but not that far.

They do. EDSAC had games in the 50s. Primarily stuff like OXO, checkers and basic text stuff but there were still games.

 

[Plague Doctor]

Um, the 60s?

Video Games go far back but not that far.

This was my reaction.

Is this a new Mandela Effect?

I am going to learn how pong happened in the 40s?

 

[MagiusNecros]

I wish companies would just focus on making GOOD games instead of LONG games. I could deal with graphics that aren't ray traced with a really good story. Enough with these 100 hour games.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I don't have enough perspective to say "since the 60s" but yeah it is definitely a shitty decade for gaming.

Practically the entire western game development industry committed suicide by chasing after live service trends, shitting on their audience with woke Modern Audience trash, and taking way too long/too much money to ship a game.

Plus it's the only generation where prices keep going up instead of down. Many gamers are priced out of the market.

 

[Ceallach]

This was my reaction.

Is this a new Mandela Effect?

I am going to learn how pong happened in the 40s?

TECHNICALLY. The first games on Oscilliscopes were in fact from the 40s lol. But they required on screen overlays and had no actual game logic. Turing's Chess game was also in the 40s but it couldn't play a full game.

Ahoy has an excellent retrospective on what the first game was.

 

[K' Dash]

wasted potential

 

[Sooner]

No. It's you seeing everything as shit, not reality.

 

[Hadoukens]

There's so many good games from just this decade that I don't even have the time to play. Do you only play 1 genre from 1 developer or something?

 

[DarkShadowXI]

I dunno, I keep adding new games to my backlog and am still enjoying gaming as much as I have in the past 30 years.

I noticed that if I go into a game or genre I'm interested in blindly, I end up enjoying it more.

If I read too much complaining about a game, I end up being tainted by it and end up not enjoying something I probably would've never noticed in the first place.

It's tough, because I enjoy contributing to the community, but sometimes it affects me negatively and that's the real bummer.

 

[SoloCamo]

I noticed that if I go into a game or genre I'm interested in blindly, I end up enjoying it more.

If I read too much complaining about a game, I end up being tainted by it and end up not enjoying something I probably would've never noticed in the first place.

I cannot stress this enough. Back in the day we had word of mouth of friends and some magazines, not the hundreds of click bait and copy cat opinion videos we have now. "So and so influencer' said it's bad so it must be bad!"

 

[Crew511A]

I played through Symphony of the Night for the first time back in 2024. I'm playing through KOTOR for the first time now. I can honestly say these games are head and shoulders above what is coming out today. Games should be light years ahead of where they were around 2000, but they've definitely regressed.

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Rose-tinted glasses much? I totally disagree; there are a lot of great games. The difference is that I'm not 6 years old anymore. I'm not saying that we are in a golden age, but I think we are in a good spot gaming-wise.

Now, if we speak about the market and game distribution, I'm with you, we live in dark times.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

I played through Symphony of the Night for the first time back in 2024. I'm playing through KOTOR for the first time now. I can honestly say these games are head and shoulders above what is coming out today. Games should be light years ahead of where they were around 2000, but they've definitely regressed.

The early part of KOTOR is pretty bad. TSL is a better game TBH.

 

[uncreativename]

I think we're doing pretty good, actually. My list of games on here that I'm looking forward to is ginormous
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/what...ng-forward-to-in-2026.1696490/#post-271533636

I forgot how many games are still coming out this year .

eBaseball PRO SPIRIT: Professional Baseball Spirits 2026
Witchbrook
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Beast of Reincarnation
Kena: Scars of Kosmora
Star Wars: Galactic Racer
Magical Craft: My Enchanted Dress Shop
Showa American Story
Professor Layton and the New World of Steam
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Stranger Than Heaven

Need to see more of these:
Brigandine Abyss
Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement
NIVALIS

Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan! english fan-patch almost definitely coming out this year, too.
HYPERFUNK apparently had a demo at TGS but no offficial release date for that yet. Also no official release dates for Tanuki: Pon's Summer or B-17 Flying Fortress The Bloody 100th but I'll be keeping an eye on those.
Kingdom Hearts 4 at some point, new Jet Set Radio, Medieval III Total War, Dragon Quest XII

Realstically no way I'm gonna be able to play all these games this year but between that and already released Death Stranding 2, Romeo is a Dead Man, Pokopia, Zero Parades, Magical Princess and eventually Resident Evil 9 and Pragmata this is gonna be a hell of a year for games :]

Plus we got Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Elden Ring, the FF7 remakes, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Lost Judgment and more from RGG, Total Warhammer 3, Uncharted 4 on PC. Death Stranding 1 on PC... I could keep going for way longer

You might have a point about AAA games and rising costs, but it could also lead to a new golden age of portable gaming :]

 

[existensmaximum]

I played through Symphony of the Night for the first time back in 2024. I'm playing through KOTOR for the first time now. I can honestly say these games are head and shoulders above what is coming out today. Games should be light years ahead of where they were around 2000, but they've definitely regressed.

Very, very, very true. But the same thing can even be said about many SNES and NES games as well.

 

[Trogdor1123]

There are more games than ever before. If you can't find loads of good games in them, the fault isn't with the games

 

[Luipadre]

Gaming never been better.

 

[rm082e]

I guess maybe if you have lots of time to surf the internet and complain about things, and very little time to play games, maybe there's something to this?

If you have even a little bit of money to buy a console and spend a few hundred dollars a year on the games, most of us can wind up with more great games than we have time to play. Between digital sales, subscription services, and Gamefly still being around, there's no excuse for not having your cup runneth over. No one is forcing anyone to buy new games at full price. Get over your FOMO if that's what's driving you.

Genuinely complaining about things you can avoid is lame. Spend less time online and more time gaming, reading, watching good.movies and TV, and spend time with real people in real life.

Posting great memes and sick burns about dumb shit is fun though.

 

[Raven77]

OP is 100% right, so far, but lots of time left this decade.

The 2020s so far have been horrendous for gaming. Endless remakes, remasters, cancelled projects, woke concepts, delays, inflated budgets leading to severe lack of risk taking in AAA games.

You can't argue with my points above. They're fact.

 

[analog_future]

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

It's the best it's ever been or going to be anyway with Dawn of War 4, GTA VI, FFVII Remake Part 3, Elder Scrolls VI, Fallout 5, and countless Resident Evil games.

 

[MrA]

TECHNICALLY. The first games on Oscilliscopes were in fact from the 40s lol. But they required on screen overlays and had no actual game logic. Turing's Chess game was also in the 40s but it couldn't play a full game.

Ahoy has an excellent retrospective on what the first game was.

Don't forget pinball and electromechanical games were very much a precursor to video games
First light gun games nearly a century old

 

[MiguelItUp]

There's so much to choose from, I mean, straight up something for everyone.

In the last 6 years I find myself playing/enjoying less AAA games than I did years ago, but that doesn't mean all hope is lost by any means. There still are some that I enjoy, and when I'm not, I'm enjoying indie and AA titles.

Have there been some duds in the 2020s? For me? Sure. But there have also been some very memorable ones IMO.

 

[reinking]

The biggest issue with gaming today is there is too much....

...too many game studios = too many games being made compared to previous generations
...too much access to games since everything is digital now
...too much time and money to create AAA games
...too much greed driving the big companies on both hardware and software
...too much access to "news" and "reviews" (and opinions in general)
...too much agenda being driven by too many sources (This goes for both sides of the woke/anti-woke bullshit and all that come with that)
...not enough people just having fun with the good stuff that is out there.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Hey if all else fails, you got enough games that already exist that could last you two lifetimes.

 

[German Shocks]

Hey if all else fails, you got enough games that already exist that could last you two lifetimes.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

I consider my self a pretty cynical person, but lol no.

 

[bender]

PM Topher

 

[March Climber]

Every couple of weeks

You just have to just get used to it like I did.

OP has a fair point about A.I. though so I'll say this: I think that generative AI will either cause a ton of chaos in the next decade or be seen as the boon that many here are looking for, but time will tell which direction we go and what people are willing to accept.

 

[Damigos]

SureJan.gif

 

[Meicyn]

Baldur's Gate 3. Elden Ring. Astrobot. Space Marine 2. Armored Core 6. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. Expedition 33. Cyberpunk 2077. Metaphor Refantazio. Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Returnal. Helldivers 2. Arc Raiders. Animal Well. Half Life: Alyx. Balatro. Blue Prince. Frostpunk 2. Sifu. Hifi Rush. Jedi: Survivor. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.

I mean, I'm just scratching the surface here. We've had incredible games this decade, with many more to come.

 

[kat_on_the_roof]

Strictly speaking for the state of industry since COVID.. I won't lie it's cooked!

These five-plus years we've seen some of the biggest shifts in the industry, in my opinion for the worse, with acquisitions being one, same for how AAA games are in a rough spot in terms of budget and efficiency.

This also doesn't account for the boogeyman that is the immense amount of layoffs we've seen and also some publishers shift to A.I… Like the latest Call of Duty is using terrible generative Ai and using the anime art style.

Overall, I feel like in terms of games releases we've never had it this good, but for the wider industry, it's been really rough and it will inexorably catch up to gamers toward the end of this decade. And let's not forget that rising costs are starting to price out the average gamer.

I'm not sure how gaming was in the 60s that was way before my time.

Gaming today (for me) is great. Lots of games, huge variety and I'm having fun.
Sales are always around the corner and the indie game scene is more than thriving.

Hardware wise, yeah it gets more pricey and bumpy, but to be honest I'm not buying hardware that often.

Not sure I see what the op is seeing, but I wish him well and hopefully he finds joy again with gaming.

 

[ToneyJ]

I don't think the 2020s come close to the 90s or 00s, because it's pretty much impossible to match that level of graphical advancement and explosion of new IP, new genres, and overall innovation.

Comparing 2010s vs 2020s, it really depends what you're looking at. If we're talking strictly Japan output, I think you can argue they might be about even. But if we're talking western output, yeah the 2020s are the worst. North America especially fell off, while Europe isn't that much better. Bioware, Bethesda, Bungie, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Ubisoft, DICE, Naughty Dog, Rocksteady, Netherrealm, Activision, Rockstar, Epic Games have all gone to shit or just barely make games anymore.

2020s also lose points for overall greed and rises in costs. It's not entirely the industry's fault, but you can't ignore the reality that everything's become expensive as shit on the hardware side, not to mention price gouging for online services like PS+.

That said, there are still good games coming out every year. Unicorn Overlord, Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, Returnal are some of my fave games ever. And I'm okay with spending time doing other things anyways, my identity isn't wrapped around playing videogames.

 

[IAmRei]

for western games yea, might be so
for asian games specifically japan, they stll have very fine years.

I find lot of new games is cool, fantasy life the girl stole time, metroid dread, MH stories, MH sunbreak, RE 9, Pragmata, ToTK,
Mario Wonder, Xenoblade X new release, Diofield, even FF tactics return, Like a Dragon, FFXVI

in the inovation side, might not much, but I find 2DHD trends such as DQ remake, Octos, and Eliiot is great for JRPG fans

Indies scene in japan also rose and they find steam as comfortable platform
the new trends there keep entertaining us in the future more easily rather than decade before which it's hard for japanese games to be in steam

yes i am bias, i only like japanese games, and western games kinda uninteresting for me right now. beside few relatively unknown games for masses.

 

[blacktout]

Um, the 60s?

Video Games go far back but not that far.

Technically video games go back to the late 50s. Tennis for Two was created in 1958.

Though commercially available arcade and home video games only really took off in the early 70s.

 

[Sohurmk833]

Easily. Western development is 90% dogshit these days. Japan is more of a mixed bag with some performing well (Capcom, Nintendo) and others not so much (Square, Konami, Namco).

Definitely don't remember a time where i had less hype and less general interest in new releases and i'm gaming since the early 90s.

 

[cortadew]

I played through Symphony of the Night for the first time back in 2024. I'm playing through KOTOR for the first time now. I can honestly say these games are head and shoulders above what is coming out today. Games should be light years ahead of where they were around 2000, but they've definitely regressed.

Hollow knight is better than sotn except for the OST

 

[Zathalus]

In terms of how badly publishers have fumbled the ball when it comes to overspending and chasing trends? Sure. I'd agree the impact of AI is also a net negative so far.

In terms of quality releases? Can't say I agree at all. Even western games have had a ton of great releases, despite the sentiment here being that they have not.

 

[Skifi28]

The 60s was indeed a dark time for video games after the boom of the 40s and 50s.

 

[Seomel]

Lol no

 

[uncreativename]

I think indie games are objectively in a better place than they've ever been, mostly thanks to Valve.

In 2013/14 Microsoft and Sony, in order to stay competitive with Steam (Nintendo also never charged submission or patch fees, but Nintendo's always been much more careful about what games they allow), got rid of patch and submission fees, so most of this also applies to the last decade, but also the engines have improved, game development tutorials online have improved, and I think eventually we'll see more indie games taking advantage of the fact that raytracing allows developers to do much less work with lighting and reflections.

Also no one's better positioned to make great portable games than indie devs are.

 

[Deerock71]

60's?

 

[Zathalus]

The 60s was indeed a dark time for video games after the boom of the 40s and 50s.

Call of Duty in the 40s was something else.

 

[ShirAhava]

Things are so bad/dead right now.

We are in the middle of a retro gaming golden age with FPGA and Neo Geo but other than old school stuff
Modern gaming is a fucking wasteland with the rare exception every once in a while (which gets overrated to hell and back...
7 out 10s are now "classic games" cause the bar of excellence is in UE5 hell)

I'm honestly praying for a another gaming crash this era can kick rocks

Its sad that there are people here who don't even know about "Spacewar!" (1962) learn the history of this wonderful hobby our ours kids!

 

[Sintoid]

Some gamers are even worse than this decade...