Thank you for keeping me sane, Sean.
I cannot wait for the end of the gaming industry. I cannot wait for the end of the hype, the tireless, endless, mind-numbing hype. I wait for the end of the videos where developers are talking in close-up shots in dark rooms. It’s a game, for fuck’s sake, show me the game, not your face! You can talk over the video of the game!!! I wait for the end of the “journalists”, who don’t anything, not a single goddamn thing about gaming, the history of gaming, about game mechanics, about *anything*. The “journalists” who ignore the flaws of the games they are reviewing, who act like little brats when someone calls them out, who tell me I’m rabid and unreasonable because I find some game to be terrible. I wait for the end of remakes (how long did it take the gaming industry to adopt this Hollywood act?), for the sequels that absolutely nothing to do with their predecessors, which are hailed as “innovative” for dumping well-crafted mechanics and settings and trying to squeeze what’s left into mold that’s not quite right. (much like a child trying to fit the cube in the circle hole). Now they’re going to remake X-Com! Hah! I bet the turn-based combat will be too “archaic”, crew members getting slaughtered too “punishing”. They’ll probably ditch base-building too. And they’ll be praised for it, hailed as geniuses, just as Bethesda was. I also wait for the end of developers who think they know better than me, their potential customer.
I’ve waited a long time. I did not think the time would come. But after reading your blog, I know not only that it can come, it will come. And when the fire starts I’ll be cackling. I’ll cry tears of joy. I’ll heat my weenies on the charred remains.
Greetings from Finland.
If you remember X-Com when it was new, you likely remember when there used to be a hunger to make the coolest, baddest, and most awesome game to amaze gamers and make new gamers. Now, that hunger is gone. It has been replaced with “What franchise can we exploit next?” type mentality.
I remember when game developers referred to themselves as gamers. It was gamers making games for gamers, not “developers”, who apparently live on some gaming Mount Olympus, make “products” for us underlings. If you had a problem with a game, they would listen with patience and understanding. They did not say, “You do not know the business of gaming!” This generation is revealing that the “business wizards” of gaming aren’t wizards at all, just dorks in pointy hats.
There used to be excitement over new games. Not drummed up hyped excitement, but genuine excitement. The progress of computer technology was better able to translate our imaginations. Gaming just got better and better.
Now, progress of technology is being used to trap and ensare us. We won’t be able to own our games. We have to be shuffled through their online market place to ram “downloadable content” down our throats. Special editions of games are made with cheap plastic items from China to jack up the price. The “Game Industry” applauds excitedly when Bobby Kotick says, “I wish I could have raised the price higher!”
Just as the Music Industry was not about music, the Game Industry is no longer about games. All they think about are new business models and new franchises to exploit to bring in new revenue. The spirit of gaming is dead in this industry. I think you and I are not alone and that there are many, many people who agree with this. More and more people are waking up that they are being seen as mere pawns (for example, the loss of dedicated servers from Modern Warfare 2 revealed to people what Activision’s true goal was).
The Music Industry got shattered from disruption. We’re currently witnessing this occur in television. The Game Industry is being eaten away by disruption, not just from Nintendo, but from other places as well.
The “Game Industry” will have a slow death. And they will be kicking and screaming all the way.
There is more anti-Game Industry sentiment out there than people know. You are not alone.