The Current State of Gaming (as I see it)

Video gaming nowadays can be seen as all the same. Call of Duty now reduced to the same game every single year with very few changes, old franchises being renewed as shooters instead of their old genres, with XCOM and Front Mission both being great examples of this. One could ask why there is no innovation any more.

It’s true that for the most part, the companies are guilty of just laziness on their part, realizing that the least of effort will still sell, with very few trying to even change up and innovate in their game franchises, and with most games coming out having a number on the end of the title. However, is all the blame with the developers? I think not

The fans are partially to blame as well. The fans scream and shout about what they want, and that they want new things and innovation, but when they get them they complain it’s not right. Fans wanted a new 2D sonic game, and so Sega delivered. What did the fan’s say? for reasons only known to them and their collective mothers, they hated it. It was what they asked them for, and yet they still bashed it and accused Sega of once again failing.

So then, you might ask, why dont they try doing something new and innovative that hasn’t been done before? Well, even that doesnt work. Ico, Shadow of the Collosus, Bioshock, Okami, Mirror’s edge, and games like it were all new ideas performed differently to games before them, be them in styles, storytelling, graphics, or even gameplay, and while they are all brilliant gems and some might say even count as works of art, the gamers hated them en mass because they were new and scary and must be killed with fire.

At the end of the day, many gamers don’t know what they want, and they scream and shout about something being different and “omg ill never touch this! is different lol”, even though if they ever tried, they may find it good. I give an example of the Phantasy Star series. Phantasy star started of as a 2d top down dragon quest clone set in a sci-fi setting. it lasted like this for a good few games, but when the dreamcast was released, sega announced Phantasy Star Online, a Phantasy Star game that was … a 3D real time RPG? it was hated on sight, and many fans raised their voices against it. It was released, however, and it was widely considered the greatest Phantasy Star game to date, some may even say the best game on the Dreamcast, and one of the most fun rpgs, still being played today. You’d think that would have tought them but no. When the gamecube came around, after the rerelease of Phantasy Star Online episodes 1 and 2, they announced a new game again, Phantasy Star Online 3, but this time it was a turn based card strategy rpg. Once again, the fans raged that it wasnt what they were used to and wanted the old stuff back. It was released and, suprise, it became a hit.

So yeah, the game developers are let off easy, and they do make lazy choices when making new games, but at some level can you really blame them when every time they try and make a new unique experience, they’re flamed for it because its not like anything they’ve seen before? It’s hard for the game devs to be innovative when the gamers don’t know what they want either.