The Video Game Industry is an Ouroboros
OPINION – Trends are cyclical in nature, but what’s happening in the video game industry is closer to a self-perpetuating loop of creatively-bankrupt cannibalism. Every new game expo reveals more sequels, more live service games, and more titles based on hot topic genres made with multi-million dollar budgets. And you eat it up.
Even worse is the amount of puff pieces that always pop up after expos decrying the lack of originality. Obviously there is some gold hidden among the garbage, but when a AAA studio releases yet another Soulslike/ARPG set in a beautifully-rendered yet sterile world filled with shiny trickets/icons to collect, it’s a little difficult to decide which one is worth spending your time (and $80) on.
Dopamine is a wonderful thing, and it’s easy for video games to give players a quick hit of the good stuff, but for one to keep that buzz going takes real skill. Shadow of The Colossus’ director Fumito Ueda recently said “The age of gameplay mechanics has already passed,” in a chat with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi for Denfaminicogamer, and he may well be right.
Jump to:
Nothing New Under The Sun
Every time a new game comes out, whether it’s a AAA title or from an indie dev/studio, if it’s promoted as featuring a “unique” mechanic my eyes roll so much they tunnel out the back of my head. It’s not impossible, to be clear, just really difficult to pull off considering the chances that another game probably already pulled the same trick years ago.
That’s not to say that all new games should try to do something different. I’m a sucker for 7/10 games; these are the ones that don’t really do anything you haven’t seen before, but they do it really well. It could be a modern take on 90s survival horror, an update of an old dungeon crawler, or even yes, an action RPG.
Plus, who can blame studios for taking the safe bet and making another Metroidvania, when these never seem to go out of fashion? What’s harder to understand is the insistence on shoveling yet another live service/Soulslike/roguelike game down our throats when supply is outstripping demand.
However, rather than this leading to innovation it’s just cutting games off at the knees and swapping it out for something similar. It’s like going clothes shopping and having the assistant offer you two identical hats, except one is a slightly darker shade of red. “People will notice the difference,” they tell you. “I swear, people will want the same thing once they see it.”
Make FPS Great Again
Just as the industry is piling up with the same types of games, it’s piling up with casualties of creative bankruptcy. Splitgate 2 is one of the latest to fail, although 1047 Games would have players believe its being set up for a strategic relaunch. Every week brings news of either a new live service game being launched, one being sunsetted, or studio layoffs/closure.
And it will not stop because the industry thinks there is an appetite for it, because it keeps telling us there is, and we keep binging on the same junk food. If you’re the sort of person who can’t get enough of multiplayer/live service/Soulslike games, then good for you.
Steam alone has 3,380 MMO games to choose from, with a good chunk being shooters, ARPGs, and battle royales. There are 1,319 Soulslikes listed, too, although a great many similar games have different tags.
Video Games Are Bad And You Should Feel Bad For Liking Them
There are people out there that would have you believe playing certain types of games is stupid, and that you’re an idiot for liking those games. 1047 Games’ CEO Ian Proulx famously shit on Call of Duty during his ill-fated stint on stage at Summer Games Fest in June, but look where that got him.
Everyone is free to like and play whatever they want. But if you’re tired of seeing the same kind of games all the time, you can vote with your wallet to an extent, and you can also make a point of championing indie devs. X might be something of a cesspit in some areas but there are a lot of decent indies on there showcasing their work, and of course there’s Itch.
There’s trash among the treasure in these places too; no one is immune to this, but when was the last time you saw a AAA company bust out something weird and interesting like Mouthwashing or Inscryption? It’s no surprise that it’s up to publishers like Devolver to take a chance on odd games, even if they might fundamentally be a platformer or CCG, when bigger publishers are more focused on Online Sci-Fi Gun Arena 12.
Give indies a look. Hell, even give 7/10 games another go, because they might surprise you. Just don’t buy or load up Lunar: Dragon Song 2 and then complain that it’s balls, because you’re part of the reason it was made.
