The Gaming ecosystem is so broken.

[kapone32]

I am drunk and it is a holiday. My Creative Stage V2 is pumping 70s and 80s Reggae into my body. A thought came into my head about the current state of Gaming on PC. I combined Beer and Wine (Rum actually) so let's jump down the rabbit hole.

There are two Gaming services that are the exact same in terms of cost but the exact opposite in function. I am talking about Game Pass and Humble Choice. One service gives you 8 to 10 keys for Games and one Game gives you access to Games without the key enabled. One has the newest Games available to play, one has Games that you may not have heard of that those that have played them will enjoy. One is super popular as it can be tempted with every install of Windows 10 or 11. One is painless to get or not get.

Now let's get into the nitty gritty we are seeing many Game houses shedding workers, after MS bought up most Game houses, The Walmart effect has been applied to PC Gaming. That sucks because they have even more reach than Steam to get a youngster into PC Gaming. Now there will be a generation that thinks that being able to play the Game without having access to the files will be ok. The Walmart is on the other side as well. If Joe consumer only plays on Game Pass it will remove money from Developers that are not in that ecosystem.

it would be worse if we did not have the distraction of handhelds. The Steam Deck has started a revolution that will have a handheld being available for under $300 when the next 2 gens of APUs are released. That has people exploring their Steam Libraries with greater expansion. It does not change the truth though. Most new Games are so broken on PC that BG3, a Game that was in Early Access for years was celebrated for not having bugs at release. It is so bad that one of my not so Hidden Gems Homeworld seems to have given up controls for the sake of Graphic fidelity. Part of the reason though is the shedding of jobs.

What we should be doing is telling as many Gamers as we can about Humble Choice. Even if the Game is 3 years old the developer still is getting something for their Game. The secret of the Arcade was not the Games that you knew but you still had to try them to know if you would like them. Asteroids was fing hard, Wizard of Wor was challenging, Outrun was refreshing and Super Sprint was a quarter muncher but they were all fun. Just like Defender. Now we have a focus on FPS and have allowed Japan to totally blow Away Western society in Game quality. There is a reason that Sony has always outsold Xbox 3-5 to 1.

Konami, Namco, Capcom, Square, Taito and others brought the fun of the Arcade to us and we were addicted. The PS was the one that set the tone. I still remember that Mission in Ace Combat 2 that had your radar going wonky. What those companies showed us was the potential that Gaming had. There are some classics like Colony Wars, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball (when EA was cool) and Twisted Metal or Midnight Club to remind you of how much fun Nigel Mansell was on the SNES but once you tried TOCA you were hooked.

What reminds me of those days is Humble Choice. The Games are so crazy from that service that most of us Gamers on TPU should be salivating at the offering. I still have Games from 2017 that I have not redeemed. You will always find something to play and the fact that I have a 7 year old means that those Spongebob or Alba Games are fun to play with her. She also loves the Indie platformers of which there is at least 1 every month. Of course it is not all roses but the month that I skipped had Outer Worlds a Game that I got for free on Epic that freezes everytime I try to enjoy it. Of course their are new Games that no one on TPU talks about like Miasma Chronicles or Iron Harvest. Then there is the Arcade trip that is Redout 2.

Part of it is the narrative. We are conditioned to lament Starfield without realizing that there is a Game called Spacebourne2 that is what we are looking for in that and Star Citizen. The other is that we don't have time to enjoy most of our Games and are only reminded of them when the sequel is announced.

In the end more of us need to promote Humble Choice and lament the effect Game Pass is having on the financial effects of workers in the space. Just for some reference look at March. Most people will post about the newest AAA being available on Game Pass on Day one.

 

[Sithaer]

Well I can't completely relate with the retro part of the post cause I'm younger than that '34' and I've started gaming in my elementary school years on a PC and a Nintendo knock off thingy and never owned a console in my life and since I'm from a small town going to arcade places wasn't a thing either.

Till Half Life 2 I wasn't even aware that games need to be bought in a legitimate way, everyone just copied CDs and whatnot so I either played my games like that or got them from a game magazine's disks like demos and 1 full game/month.

Nowadays I just play/buy my games where its the cheapest to get/also buy games from a key site which is I know that not really a-okay with some ppl but personally I don't care.
I'm familiar with Humble but whenever I've checked it mostly had games boundled that I wasn't interested in, I much prefer to buy the games I'm actually interested in playing. '90+% of my EPIC free games were never installed either'

I'm also on my second year of Game pass actually tho I've got it for free as a gift but when it runs out I think I will buy monthly codes for cheap cause I do find Game pass useful for my use case.
It has bunch of games that I'm interested in playing/finishing once. 'Finished Far Cry 6 on it recently and I will be playing Hellblade 2 on day 1 there'

 

[Dr. Dro]

The Eastern video game industry has always been ahead of the West's, not necessarily just the Japanese industry - it's been a thing way longer for them and there are fewer topics considered to be taboo that Western game developers simply refuse to touch due to the political climate and potential backlash. It's quite visible in games such as Genshin Impact.

About the Deck... not sure. It's a nice device, but it has exceptionally limited regional availability. If you want one in Brazil, for example, you need to smuggle it in from Paraguay or get it through some other proxy. Valve won't sell you one. Some of its competitors such as the ROG Ally are available, but there's little appeal in third world markets as the machine costs more than a budget gaming laptop that will handily outperform it - and thus last longer. Handheld market also has to contain with one of the most popular video game systems in history, which is the Nintendo Switch. It's a massive market, but also the most competitive slice. Useful statistics from Nintendo Japan:

IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales Units

www.nintendo.co.jp

Putting your game on Game Pass is going to be like having your movie on Netflix, it'll be a necessity from there on out. Few will be the studios who will opt not to. On the subject of Humble - it's seen way, way better days. I can't recall the last Humble Choice that was a must-get, that must have been before or at around the time IGN bought them out.

I've heard of progress on Star Citizen, but... I remain skeptical. Nothing in history suggests they will meet the deadline of releasing stable this year like the rumors have been on about.

 

[kapone32]

Well I can't completely relate with the retro part of the post cause I'm younger than that '34' and I've started gaming in my elementary school years on a PC and a Nintendo knock off thingy and never owned a console in my life and since I'm from a small town going to arcade places wasn't a thing either.

Till Half Life 2 I wasn't even aware that games need to be bought in a legitimate way, everyone just copied CDs and whatnot so I either played my games like that or got them from a game magazine's disks like demos and 1 full game/month.

Nowadays I just play/buy my games where its the cheapest to get/also buy games from a key site which is I know that not really a-okay with some ppl but personally I don't care.
I'm familiar with Humble but whenever I've checked it mostly had games boundled that I wasn't interested in, I much prefer to buy the games I'm actually interested in playing. '90+% of my EPIC free games were never installed either'

I'm also on my second year of Game pass actually tho I've got it for free as a gift but when it runs out I think I will buy monthly codes for cheap cause I do find Game pass useful for my use case.
It has bunch of games that I'm interested in playing/finishing once. 'Finished Far Cry 6 on it recently and I will be playing Hellblade 2 on day 1 there'

PC is the personal that means in the acronym. I know that Game Pass has some compelling reasons to use it. I am not saying that Far Cry is a bad Game ( I have 3 but never got into them) but while Game Pass is a known library the secret to enjoyable Gaming for me is Games that I have never heard of taking me in. I will use Orcs Must Die as an example of a Game that is not really talked about that is unabashed fun.

 

[Veseleil]

I still remember that Mission in Ace Combat 2 that had your radar going wonky.

Me too... Nostalgia sequence triggered. It might be that I was much younger then, but enjoyed the Playstation games so much. The games were very innovative back then.

 

[Sithaer]

PC is the personal that means in the acronym. I know that Game Pass has some compelling reasons to use it. I am not saying that Far Cry is a bad Game ( I have 3 but never got into them) but while Game Pass is a known library the secret to enjoyable Gaming for me is Games that I have never heard of taking me in. I will use Orcs Must Die as an example of a Game that is not really talked about that is unabashed fun.

Last time I've browsed through the entire Game Pass library I've found like 10-15 games that I would be interested in playing at some point and also some older ones that I would like to re play like the Battlefield games story mode. 'yeah I actually like those but not interested in the multiplayer'

The thing is, I game a lot less than I've used to so now I'm rather decisive on what I play cause it takes me a long time to finish games + don't really like to play multiple games maybe switch my gaming time between 2 at most.
If I was trying out everything that comes at my way then I would never finish anything even if that means missing out on some hidden gems. 'One reason why I follow the what are you playing topic here on TPU cause I did find some cool stuff posted there'

My backlog is already at hopeless point anyway, like I'm still yet to play some of the bigger games from years ago even tho I'm interested in some of them but theres always something else to play.. 'I'm yet to play Last of Us/Hogwarts/Jedi Survivor/Cyber Phantom Liberty which is gonna be an entire new playthrough for me and also only played like 2 hours of Starfield'

O right, I've tried the free version of Outer worlds on EPIC and it works with no issues on my end, even modded DLSS into the game via Nexusmod and it works. Thats also a game I would like to finish once but yet again a time consuming one so idk when I will get to it.

 

[kapone32]

The Eastern video game industry has always been ahead of the West's, not necessarily just the Japanese industry - it's been a thing way longer for them and there are fewer topics considered to be taboo that Western game developers simply refuse to touch due to the political climate and potential backlash. It's quite visible in games such as Genshin Impact.

About the Deck... not sure. It's a nice device, but it has exceptionally limited regional availability. If you want one in Brazil, for example, you need to smuggle it in from Paraguay or get it through some other proxy. Valve won't sell you one. Some of its competitors such as the ROG Ally are available, but there's little appeal in third world markets as the machine costs more than a budget gaming laptop that will handily outperform it - and thus last longer. Handheld market also has to contain with one of the most popular video game systems in history, which is the Nintendo Switch. It's a massive market, but also the most competitive slice. Useful statistics from Nintendo Japan:

IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales Units

www.nintendo.co.jp

Putting your game on Game Pass is going to be like having your movie on Netflix, it'll be a necessity from there on out. Few will be the studios who will opt not to. On the subject of Humble - it's seen way, way better days. I can't recall the last Humble Choice that was a must-get, that must have been before or at around the time IGN bought them out.

I've heard of progress on Star Citizen, but... I remain skeptical. Nothing in history suggests they will meet the deadline of releasing stable this year like the rumors have been on about.

That is not true Pitfall, Skiing and all Activision Games were fun on Atari. Sierra was more than Japanese ports. We also had some nice Gems on C64.

I can guarantee that if you tried most Games on Humble Choice you would enjoy them. Just because you have never heard of a Game does not mean
it will not be good, I would use Hell Let Loose as an example of a Game that is better than you would think or my favourite platformer Raji. I remember watching a video on Shadow Tactics on Steam and almost buying it until I checked my Humble and there it was. The fact that all of the Games that they curate are user reviewed 0% positive that you might be pleasantly surprised with a Game that you will like more than you expected. I grew up in arcades and the variety on Choice is nostalgic.

The Steam Deck is only one of at least 12+ Handhelds that you can buy. Even Newegg now has handhelds for sale. They have been so so successfull that it is even in the Steam Charts Even if most of them are sold in other markets the penetration has been real. The Steam Deck has been in the top 10 in Global Sales for months now.

I understand the Netflix comparison but the Game industry was created on the premise that the user would pay for the content not as a subcriber. For a long time Game Pass was $1 world wide and there are scripts that can make it free. Even if you pay the fee the fact that Game Pass competes with Games at full price is not good for the industry in my opinion. Few Games hold their launch value.

Epic did set the tone though, when I got the newest TW Game for free on Epic it felt funny. TW was a Game that I used to base GPU upgrades on to get it for free means that it is the least played TW Game.

Last time I've browsed through the entire Game Pass library I've found like 10-15 games that I would be interested in playing at some point and also some older ones that I would like to re play like the Battlefield games story mode. 'yeah I actually like those but not interested in the multiplayer'

The thing is, I game a lot less than I've used to so now I'm rather decisive on what I play cause it takes me a long time to finish games + don't really like to play multiple games maybe switch my gaming time between 2 at most.
If I was trying out everything that comes at my way then I would never finish anything even if that means missing out on some hidden gems. 'One reason why I follow the what are you playing topic here on TPU cause I did find some cool stuff posted there'

My backlog is already at hopeless point anyway, like I'm still yet to play some of the bigger games from years ago even tho I'm interested in some of them but theres always something else to play.. 'I'm yet to play Last of Us/Hogwarts/Jedi Survivor/Cyber Phantom Liberty which is gonna be an entire new playthrough for me and also only played like 2 hours of Starfield'

Exactly, we need Games to back to Arcade style. Give me some Redout 2. I only focus now on Games that are fun like racing the AI in AMS2 Most of us Gamers on TPU have a crazy library. It actually has me looking forward to retriement.

 

[Sithaer]

Exactly, we need Games to back to Arcade style. Give me some Redout 2. I only focus now on Games that are fun like racing the AI in AMS2 Most of us Gamers on TPU have a crazy library. It actually has me looking forward to retriement.

Well to be fair when I was a kid and new to gaming I've mainly played games like Carmageddon 2/Mortal Kombat 4 and later on got into ARPGs with Diablo 2 when I was like 11-12 years old I think and also stuff like Unreal Tournament mainly vs bots.
So back then I wasn't really focused on trying to finish games cause those games did not really have an end so to say, more like pick them up whenever and just have fun for a hour or two.
Like I've started playing Forbiden West on day 1 and I barely have like 10+ hours in it after 1+ week, not becuase I don't like it or anything but playing 1-3 hours/day is enough for me in general even if I have the free time which I do have btw. 'part time job from home and I'm single'

Also something what I've noticed even tho its not a popular opinion especially here but in the past years I've started to enjoy certain mobile games more and more and sometimes thats all I play. 'idk maybe its how I'm aging,lol..'

Redout 2 was fun but a bit too fast for me, recently I've also installed Burnout Paradise on Game Pass since I had a blast playing that game when it was new and I thought I would check out the remastered version. Next thing I know is that I've spent hours playing the game late night. 'still as fun as ever and it doesn't even look bad to me on a higher res via DSR'

 

[Dr. Dro]

That is not true Pitfall, Skiing and all Activision Games were fun on Atari. Sierra was more than Japanese ports. We also had some nice Gems on C64.

I can guarantee that if you tried most Games on Humble Choice you would enjoy them. Just because you have never heard of a Game does not mean
it will not be good, I would use Hell Let Loose as an example of a Game that is better than you would think or my favourite platformer Raji. I remember watching a video on Shadow Tactics on Steam and almost buying it until I checked my Humble and there it was. The fact that all of the Games that they curate are user reviewed 0% positive that you might be pleasantly surprised with a Game that you will like more than you expected. I grew up in arcades and the variety on Choice is nostalgic.

The Steam Deck is only one of at least 12+ Handhelds that you can buy. Even Newegg now has handhelds for sale. They have been so so successfull that it is even in the Steam Charts Even if most of them are sold in other markets the penetration has been real. The Steam Deck has been in the top 10 in Global Sales for months now.

I understand the Netflix comparison but the Game industry was created on the premise that the user would pay for the content not as a subcriber. For a long time Game Pass was $1 world wide and there are scripts that can make it free. Even if you pay the fee the fact that Game Pass competes with Games at full price is not good for the industry in my opinion. Few Games hold their launch value.

Epic did set the tone though, when I got the newest TW Game for free on Epic it felt funny. TW was a Game that I used to base GPU upgrades on to get it for free means that it is the least played TW Game.

Exactly, we need Games to back to Arcade style. Give me some Redout 2. I only focus now on Games that are fun like racing the AI in AMS2 Most of us Gamers on TPU have a crazy library. It actually has me looking forward to retriement.

I never said there were no good Western games, though. Pitfall and Skiing may have been Atari classics, but then again, Nintendo had more than a few classics on the NES, SNES and subsequent consoles. There's a reason there's only one of them left today.

As for the games on Humble... I either own most of them by now or they're B-grade games I wouldn't really show any meaningful interest in, I have a backlog actually that's enough to keep me from buying games for years at this point. Yet... I still play mostly the same games anyway.

For the arcade fever... bring me Sega back. I just want Sega to return.

 

[kapone32]

I never said there were no good Western games, though. Pitfall and Skiing may have been Atari classics, but then again, Nintendo had more than a few classics on the NES, SNES and subsequent consoles. There's a reason there's only one of them left today.

As for the games on Humble... I either own most of them by now or they're B-grade games I wouldn't really show any meaningful interest in, I have a backlog actually that's enough to keep me from buying games for years at this point. Yet... I still play mostly the same games anyway.

For the arcade fever... bring me Sega back. I just want Sega to return.

I hear you on the NES generation and beyond but even the SNES had some nice Western Games. I know that as the platform aged Japan dominated but we had some. As far as B Grade Games go for me it is all about marketing. An example of a B grade vs A would be Torchlight 2 vs Diablo 4. I can almost bet that you will have more fun playing Torchlight 2 than Diablo 4. What about Victor Vran. The thing though is that Humble also has plenty of A Games. I am pretty sure that Nioh 2 is an example of that.

 

[chrcoluk]

The Eastern video game industry has always been ahead of the West's, not necessarily just the Japanese industry - it's been a thing way longer for them and there are fewer topics considered to be taboo that Western game developers simply refuse to touch due to the political climate and potential backlash. It's quite visible in games such as Genshin Impact.

About the Deck... not sure. It's a nice device, but it has exceptionally limited regional availability. If you want one in Brazil, for example, you need to smuggle it in from Paraguay or get it through some other proxy. Valve won't sell you one. Some of its competitors such as the ROG Ally are available, but there's little appeal in third world markets as the machine costs more than a budget gaming laptop that will handily outperform it - and thus last longer. Handheld market also has to contain with one of the most popular video game systems in history, which is the Nintendo Switch. It's a massive market, but also the most competitive slice. Useful statistics from Nintendo Japan:

IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales Units

www.nintendo.co.jp

Putting your game on Game Pass is going to be like having your movie on Netflix, it'll be a necessity from there on out. Few will be the studios who will opt not to. On the subject of Humble - it's seen way, way better days. I can't recall the last Humble Choice that was a must-get, that must have been before or at around the time IGN bought them out.

I've heard of progress on Star Citizen, but... I remain skeptical. Nothing in history suggests they will meet the deadline of releasing stable this year like the rumors have been on about.

I think I agree on the Eastern market although sadly a lot of the games seem to be trying to emulate dark souls or DMC mechanics now, dodge and precision mechanics. I am leaning towards replaying older games and remakes now. They know their games are too hard now as they implementing built in cheats like the focus ring in FF16 and the built in easy mode in stellar blade.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I think I agree on the Eastern market although sadly a lot of the games seem to be trying to emulate dark souls or DMC mechanics now, dodge and precision mechanics. I am leaning towards replaying older games and remakes now. They know their games are too hard now as they implementing built in cheats like the focus ring in FF16 and the built in easy mode in stellar blade.

Console gamers have serious favoritism and overhype issues. Soulslike games aren't even fun. Easy modes are mostly to appease to game "journos". They repeatedly complain of games' difficulty and how it makes them "inaccessible".

 

[Noci]

I probably still live in the past, still playing MS Solitaire like a madman . But that evolved too since Windows 3.1, you have to be online and get pestered with commercials untill you spend some dinero's

 

[kapone32]

Console gamers have serious favoritism and overhype issues. Soulslike games aren't even fun. Easy modes are mostly to appease to game "journos". They repeatedly complain of games' difficulty and how it makes them "inaccessible".

After I discovered TW consoles were no thank you. I have to say though that I am keen to get the PS5 Games from the Japanese Gaming Companies. I totally enjoyed Outriders. I am not sure what side of the Ocean Helldivers2 is from but that Game is as good as Defiance was and better in a lot of ways. Space Marine 2 also looks like it will be insane. Thank goodness Sony and MS adopted PC parts to allow for almost seamless ports. Of course in a strange juxtaposition Console Games on PC are due to the Game I never play GTA5 (I play Just Cause though) being the only Game on Steam that never dropped in price for years.

Well to be fair when I was a kid and new to gaming I've mainly played games like Carmageddon 2/Mortal Kombat 4 and later on got into ARPGs with Diablo 2 when I was like 11-12 years old I think and also stuff like Unreal Tournament mainly vs bots.
So back then I wasn't really focused on trying to finish games cause those games did not really have an end so to say, more like pick them up whenever and just have fun for a hour or two.
Like I've started playing Forbiden West on day 1 and I barely have like 10+ hours in it after 1+ week, not becuase I don't like it or anything but playing 1-3 hours/day is enough for me in general even if I have the free time which I do have btw. 'part time job from home and I'm single'

Also something what I've noticed even tho its not a popular opinion especially here but in the past years I've started to enjoy certain mobile games more and more and sometimes thats all I play. 'idk maybe its how I'm aging,lol..'

Redout 2 was fun but a bit too fast for me, recently I've also installed Burnout Paradise on Game Pass since I had a blast playing that game when it was new and I thought I would check out the remastered version. Next thing I know is that I've spent hours playing the game late night. 'still as fun as ever and it doesn't even look bad to me on a higher res via DSR'

There you go this is exactly what I mean. If you want to really go down the rabbit hole get one of those retro drives from Amazon and see why people spent real money on trying to beat Defender in the Arcade. Mindless Games that I play are Bejewled 3 and Orcs Must Die 3. I also work from home and have lots of time to play,

 

[mechtech]

Hmmmm. Current state of PC gaming and gaming services.

well married with kids so time is random and rare. Sometimes can go 2-4 weeks with 0 hours gaming. And occasionally can play 10 hours in a weekend.

I do not subscribe or do any gaming services.

I was about 10 when the NES came out and had more time, however games didn’t take that long to finish and I liked that. Example first time through FF6 (3 North America) was about 40 hours and maybe 55hrs to get all players to max level. 2nd time through almost half that. Whereas Borderlands 2 I think I have over 100 hours logged and not 1 character at max level. This is too long and exhausting for me. The original BL and GOTY EE I still play cause can make decent in game progression without having to drop out of life. Also the learning curve for just figuring out how to play some of these new pc gamescan take so much effort. Unlike the old nes/snes that also came with a game manual in the box helped.

Last console I played was N64/PS2 so I’m not sure how they compare now. Some workmates say the new Zelda’s are good and fun. Not sure how many hours are required to beat them?

my back and pc chair are not conducive to playing long hours. Another bonus for console usually on a tv so comfy chair/couch. Having said that all my gaming is on pc now. Only time I usually play is with some buddies that live out of town or my son. I just don’t have the interest or motivation now to fire up a game to play solo unless I’m really bored or have a good chunk of time. Nothing worse that starting a game and being 10 minutes in and wife or kids calling.

wow this is longer than I thought.
Also about nes,snes,n64 I remember paying big bucks for them back in the day (Zelda, chrono trigger, final fantasy etc) but it was worth it. Good story and great soundtrack and some character background it really made the game.

So TLDR
I miss old shorter games like nes,snes,n64

not a big fan of ridiculously long games or long progression times (got lots to do in RL) or sitting on a pc chair with poor ergonomics keyboard and mouse

also like games that look like a game like Terraria and not like a movie or too lifelike with some exceptions like witcher3.