Phil Spencer Wishes for Innovative Next-gen Xbox Hardware, Current Consoles Too Similar

[TechBuyingHavoc]

I mean, 90% of attention/money is focused on 10% of games out there which are mostly (politically charged) copy-paste AAA crap or online shooters with no personality. If you want something unique, you have to dig into the other 90% of games that no one talks about. Saying that "modern games are shit" like some people like to do is unfair if you only look at the "top" 10% of games out there.

So if you are going by what normal people experience (the 10% of games that sell 90% of the copies), modern gaming is pretty shit. If you are going by all titles released, gaming is incredibly diverse and wide-ranging.

That just tells me that gamers need to stretch and get ok with exploring new genres and types of games instead of reverting back to their three or four comfort food games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. There are so many games out there that are undiscovered gems.

Now excuse me while I go play Helldivers 2 for the 300th day in a row.

 

[Vayra86]

The Witcher games, much like other types of media, was good because they had a source to work from: the books. And much like those other medias, once the source runs out the quality rots out.

There are no more books. Witcher 4 is "original". Get ready for that steep downward trajectory. We're already seeing it, Geralt is being replaced with Ciri, who has had all her characterization and past from the older games sandblasted off and replaced with a generic "girl power" persona, and a huge increase in power with seemingly no explanation, like we have seen in countless games, TV shows, and movies the last decade.

Yep... I just hope you're wrong lol
It does come back to the fact you need good writers, good writing, good storytelling indeed.

Also that milennial writing video is so spot on, damn. It puts words on what I've been feeling in so many recent games and what turns me off from them so instantly and so hard and definitively. To use milennial slang: the cringe... I can't handle this much cringe. But then you realize they're not even doing it on purpose, this is just what they have to offer to the world. Sickening.

 

[AusWolf]

So if you are going by what normal people experience (the 10% of games that sell 90% of the copies), modern gaming is pretty shit. If you are going by all titles released, gaming is incredibly diverse and wide-ranging.

That just tells me that gamers need to stretch and get ok with exploring new genres and types of games instead of reverting back to their three or four comfort food games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. There are so many games out there that are undiscovered gems.

That is exactly what I implied.

Judging a whole industry based only on a select few mass-marketed games is dumb.

 

[TechLurker]

That just tells me that gamers need to stretch and get ok with exploring new genres and types of games instead of reverting back to their three or four comfort food games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. There are so many games out there that are undiscovered gems.

Now excuse me while I go play Helldivers 2 for the 300th day in a row.

And therein lies part of the problem. Back in the PS1-PS3 days, plenty of games were advertised, no matter how large or small or niche they were (all those silly or stupid ads for games in the 90s and early 00s, whether it was no-budget movie tie-ins or the next Tomb Raider). It especially helped in Sony's case that they were also supporting some indies too for the PS3 and early PS4 gen (and Xbox for a time with some indie or niche games on 360), before shifting to only advertising big-name and big-budget games. It also doesn't help that the costs of games in general also went up, further discouraging impulse buying some interesting novelty game. Nowadays, they're just thrown onto the wishlist and forgotten until someone revisits their wishlist or they get notifications about sales on said games.

It's nice that demo/trial offerings are starting to become more common again to at least let players see if they'll like a game (like the old demo-discs for PS1, PS2, and PC), but it's not available for all games unfortunately.

Also, there's no option to really rent a game in the modern era, which also encouraged impulse gaming on a niche or novelty title one saw on the rental shelf, leading to some choosing to buy the game later on. I've seen some discussion about making games "rent-to-buy" in the sense one could pay a low cost to basically play half the game, then be offered to buy the game in full at the midway point for the difference, as a means of letting someone get invested enough to then be tempted to buy the rest of the game to finish it, either immediately, or later on when it goes on sale.

 

[AusWolf]

Nowadays, they're just thrown onto the wishlist and forgotten until someone revisits their wishlist or they get notifications about sales on said games.

That is actually my conscious strategy for buying games, and what I advise others to do as well.

 

[TechBuyingHavoc]

And therein lies part of the problem. Back in the PS1-PS3 days, plenty of games were advertised, no matter how large or small or niche they were (all those silly or stupid ads for games in the 90s and early 00s, whether it was no-budget movie tie-ins or the next Tomb Raider). It especially helped in Sony's case that they were also supporting some indies too for the PS3 and early PS4 gen (and Xbox for a time with some indie or niche games on 360), before shifting to only advertising big-name and big-budget games. It also doesn't help that the costs of games in general also went up, further discouraging impulse buying some interesting novelty game. Nowadays, they're just thrown onto the wishlist and forgotten until someone revisits their wishlist or they get notifications about sales on said games.

It's nice that demo/trial offerings are starting to become more common again to at least let players see if they'll like a game (like the old demo-discs for PS1, PS2, and PC), but it's not available for all games unfortunately.

Also, there's no option to really rent a game in the modern era, which also encouraged impulse gaming on a niche or novelty title one saw on the rental shelf, leading to some choosing to buy the game later on. I've seen some discussion about making games "rent-to-buy" in the sense one could pay a low cost to basically play half the game, then be offered to buy the game in full at the midway point for the difference, as a means of letting someone get invested enough to then be tempted to buy the rest of the game to finish it, either immediately, or later on when it goes on sale.

I agree with all of this to some degree on paper. It is frustrating that demos have been gone for a good decade+ and only recently have some demos been coming back. Kudos to the developers that are brave enough to expose their game with a demo.

A counterpoint vs the good old days is that now we have Youtube and other social media. It was not like in the 90s, gamers were aware of even a fraction of the games that they are now. You can look up most games with gameplay and commentary on YouTube. Discoverability should be easier, not harder. Also, the high seas have never been easier than right now.

Also, except for certain years on Steam in the early 2010s when Steam sales were especially generous, game prices (on the PC) are lower than they were in the 90s. You don't need to buy a expensive CD box from the store, you can just wait for a Steam seasonal sale (which GoG also competes with their own sale). Or you can buy a bundle from Humble Bundle which is a very cheap way to get games.

I don't buy it that the older era was better for discovering niche games.