Have Video Games been on a Downward Spiral?

4/10, Great Graphics!

Special thanks to:

[SapShoes]

17:21 Oh boy! Back in the early 2010's you couldn't set foot in a game lobby without hearing a litany of AVGN and Zero Punctuation quotes. Those guys never meant to kickstart a wave of gamer cynicism, but they certainly unknowingly poured kerosene on the fire.

[puppachino]

“Competition breeds innovation”
When you buy out the competition, there’s no need to change and as such the industry stagnates until it eventually dies.

[anthonyemerson]

"The death of local multi-player" felt that one, my little sister decided she wanted to play a game with me, I went searching my collection for something we could play together. I first went for the PS4, because it was the newest, there was nothing to play together, I had to pull out my ps3, a console as old as she is, so we could play a game.

[TaRAAASHBAGS]

The 00s were the perfect blend of the 80s and 90s "nerd devs" who were experimental and devoted and the modern publishers with their reach, focus, and budget. It helped that video games in general were niche enough to be for the fans first and foremost but popular enough to get some money behind them.

Now, anything AAA is corporate all the way through, and video games are so mainstream the average consumer is easily placated by garbage that hits a few check boxes.

[MisterN]

"I don't care how deep a texture is, so long as the game is fun."
-John Romero (Co-Creator of Doom)

[rainbow_vader]

It's so weird hearing his voice coming out of his actual face and not a static image of admiral ackbar

[jonfro-mez]

Your "Everyone's a critic" section can easily be applied to movies.

[Iamthestig]

Local multiplayer was sick. Counterstrike LAN parties were a pain to setup but totally worth it

[Slenderquil]

"Then somewhere along the way, companies figured out how to make players purchase the same game multiple times."
Laughs in pokemon

[ninjaswordtothehead]

Many of these games were made by companies founded and ran by people who had real passion for video games. Now the companies making games are ran by people who's only passion is maximizing quarterly earnings. Focus matters.

[batesjernigan]

I love the subtlety of Emp playing an 8-bit remix of Toxic by Britney spears at 8:25 when talking about playing online.

[DaTLMusic]

My main gripe against modern games is the fact that a lot of times they are just not designed to end. You play it until you can't force yourself anymore and then looking back at the game there is no real satisfaction or nostalgia. My favorite games of all time have been games that I can look back on and think "wow I loved that game so much". Chrono Trigger, earthbound, mother 3, escape from monkey Island, etc. Its better to be sad that a game has reached its end then to be happy that you finally left the game.

[thejfj]

As I dont disagree that local is more or less fun than online, local multiplayer had always had drawbacks as there are people, myself included, whos living conditions used to limit their access to other people with local multiplayer.

Online has granted access to many people to connect to others.

[kennylauderdale_en]

I'm not paying $70 for a video game.

[GustavoSuperSonic]

I remember the first time I spotted Sonic and the black Knight in a store, and man I really miss spotting games with no expectations and having opinions with my friends because we tought it was the coolest thing ever made.

Since that day, and entering a part of the industry and internet, mann is difficult enjoy something

[CalistheNick]

Why modern AAA games suck:

People keep buying them

[BlackBigCrow]

"The harsh reality of online multiplayer is that it is very impersonal." This isn't necessarily the case for online multiplayer, and more about matchmaking. Dedicated servers used to build communities, so even if people in there were strangers at first, they quickly became people who knew. Nowadays with matchmaking, anyone you play with is a person you will likely never meet again.

[KiraSlith]

"Barely Promoted"
>Fortnite
Nope. That game was HEAVILY promoted, it's just the "Battle Royal" mode that's famous, that didn't get promoted. I was actually excited for Fortnite Save the World and that too, was a total disappointment.

[henriqueaugustus]

When you say simple games, I always remember THQ. They always released 7 out of 10 games that I loved. I didn’t need the best games, just a simple fun and they always released one of these.

[BasilWald]

As someone who is in AAA production rn, the major thing compared to the past is that everything is researched and target audience focus groupped to hell and back, because that’s what investors like. Game dev used to be cheaper but due to games like GTAV getting massive revenue streams games suddenly mr business is really interested in making games but they need charts and research that shows games will be profitable. Basically risks can cost you money and people are not as likely to take risks with how much it costs to make an Aaa game