video games not in good shape

https://kotaku.com/the-video-game-industry-cant-go-on-like-this-1836606033 with so many games and there mostly all the same, then theres the stream only boxes coming out and that uses up a lot of energy. having pc, xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and android makes lots of garbage when people throw those boxes away. that's not good, so im like video games are not what they used to be. maybe im just tired but what do you think?

The trash aside, which is less of a problem than a lot of other hobbies, the work environment for game developers is unbelievably toxic as the article touches on. The manner in which they’re exploited is totally unethical, and unfortunately the same goes on with a lot of manga artists and animators. Obviously that’s part of having such rigorous deadlines, for all 3, but with video game studios in particular it’s more of a matter of cheaping out and over workering your employees than it is a matter of no other quality help being available or deadlines that are quite as rigorous as the other 2. That aside, in terms of the quality of the games, it’s partly a matter of it just being difficult to create anything new that isn’t reflective of past works now that games have been around for decades. It’s the same way with music, movies, etc. You can only have so many made without the same tropes being recycled, graphics plateauing, genres (platformers, shooters, RPGs, sports games, etc.) being established, etc. I definitely think that devs are starting to stick to a lot of the same conventions rather than being as inventive as they could be, but again, there’s just so many games out now that it’s hard to be totally original.

There a many reasons, one is because after several multi-million and even multi-billion dollar success, many studios have become too arrogant or egotistical thinking it is impossible for themselves to make a bad game. Case 1, Bethesda. While I don't think Fallout 3 was as bad as New Vegas fanboys made it out to be, there is no denying that Obsidian's take on Fallout in New Vegas resonated with fans a lot stronger than Bethesda's take. Did they then start to incorporate the elements of New Vegas that people liked in subsequent Fallout titles? No, they deviated even further in Fallout 4 to the point where the game feels more like a FPS-heavy Mass Effect game in a Fallout setting, (and don't get me started on 76). Due to Elder Scrolls Online being considered a failure, Fallout 4 taking several steps in the wrong direction, and 76 being an abject travesty, few should remain optimistic about TES VI. The other reason, because the gaming press is still too much in bed with the developers to give objectively shitty games the shitty reviews they deserve. Case 2, No Man's Sky. No Man's Sky was heavily hyped and promoted to be the hottest shit in gaming since the NES, but the end result was an average at-best Destiny clone that failed to deliver most if not everything that was promised. Despite this the gaming press still gave it mixed-positive reviews trying to spin an objectively bad game as good but flawed. Many gaming publications are afraid to give bad reviews because the developers often advertise in the publications or give special promotions to reviewers in exchange for good press. There's probably even more than these two reasons, but those are the things I've noticed...

Anyone can feel free to disagree with me. But honestly, I feel as though the heart and passion in the video game industry has been somewhat been going downhill since the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox era or around that point in time. I remember growing up with the Sega/Snes era back in the 90's and whenever my folks could afford to buy me a game for the holidays or my birthday, the box art looked really cool and the manual inside was much more detailed and colorful. Like I still remember getting "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" for Christmas. It was a special bundle that came with the game along with the console. Flipping through that game manual it looked so alive and adventurous. Also games back then never seemed to hold your hand either. Now, there's a choice between getting a digital version of the game or even a physical copy of the game but even if you do get a physical copy there's nothing or barely a manual to get the player excited anymore. DLC is also another gimmick that I personally don't not like. Companies seem to love to exploit the heck out of DLC to make money that the product is no longer important even though it should be. I mean, I guess if the game is still a good game and that shouldn't matter but still...

It really depends on the company. Falcom for example still puts a lot of heart and soul in their games, and they still even put nice manuals with the physical releases. Their Trails series is a super risky, but also really cool gamble, being a (currently) 9 game long interconnected narrative whose story is said to be 60% done atm. Then you have the slew of fantastic indies that we have gotten: Hollow Knight, Shantae, Shovel Knight, Undertale, Bloodstained, etc. I would say its mostly the big name and entrenched companies that are to blame for gaming's shortcomings nowadays (especially American companies). But even among them you have companies like Nintendo and their holdings (like Monolith Soft) that still put out lots of fantastic and loving work, while largely not subscribing to the "crunch" mentality plaguing other companies.

I don't think we're gonna see another video game crash along the lines of the North American console market in '83 because back then it was a very nascent industry. The current industry is now much more mature. That being said, I think some form of plateau or contraction/"recession" may happen at some point in the next decade or so, at least in the AAA portion of the industry. The big publishers seem to be chasing ever fleeting growth and the attempts to see that have been a mixed bag at best. You see Bethesda (for example) now chasing every dollar (to please share holders) and you wind up with disasters like Fallout 76 being hyped up to no end and then falling completely flat upon release because they're unfinished buggy messes trying to meet a deadline. Then even after that you see Todd Howard talking about millions of people still buying and playing their old games, but no way to still get money from them because of the one time purchase of the game and no further way to monetize the experience. That's one of the big problems. These companies don't learn a fucking thing even despite their most recent shit show for a release. Anthem is another perfect example of the main Bioware team, a core single-player experience developer, spending the last 5 years making Anthem and then having to shoehorn a monetization system in because "EA NEEDS MONEY" and it winds up being a mediocre at best tedious looter shooter with nigh an ounce of charm of something even above average like the Destiny series. "Live Service" gaming is going to be the bane of the industry over the next decade. I can understand certain freemium games like Fortnite and Apex at least don't charge an entry fee to get into them, so I get selling virtual items is needed to keep those games going. But when you're combing that model into games that have a $60 entry level fee and a $30 to $50 season pass for the rest of the game, it's just f'n overkill. EA is another perfect example putting so much time and energy into their ultimate team modes every year and then the core actual sports game suffers because of it. How can you blame them though when suckers buy into it and it earns them hundreds of millions in profit annually just from micro-transactions. I think that's why you see the indy market turning into a burgeoning subset of the industry it is now. Switch especially has become and indie game machine darling and when you can spend a fraction of the price on a quality experience that one guy or a small team poured their time and energy into, it actually makes you feel nice supporting them and not always giving your hard earned money to the big boys who can't seem to figure out why they get so much negative PR because of their practices while the upper management of each company having to be beholden to share holders and forcing shit down the chain that I'm sure many at the development team level would choose not to implement if they had a say in the matter.

the 4k and 8k thing is pretty crazy, computers are going to be so powerful until it becomes a joke. its like would you rather take a electric motorcycle and not pay for gas or regular motorcycle and have to pay a lot for gas?