A couple of words about video games and the video game industry in general.
I am into video games for about 30 years, and I have some experience and understanding of which factors can distinguish an exciting and interesting “gaming product” from a mediocre and boring one.
Video game development has evolved drastically, and it has become part of the everyday life of more than 3 000 000 000 (three billion !) people around the globe, which is a really huge number.
Modern videogame development includes many achievements from cinema and many achievements from IT science and technology.
However, the further, the more I hear and read opinions, topics, and reviews that modern videogames are just boring. And most of the authors are questioning whether it is due to the fact that they have grown up, or due to the fact, that it is actually the state of the modern game development approach has changed drastically (and not in an innovative way as it was before).
My personal answer: Yes, most modern games are just boring.
I have absolutely no fun playing modern “AAA trillion dollar blockbusters”, like Last of Us 2, Assassins Creed, God of War, Call of Duty, Horizon zero dawn, etcetera… I really tried (spent not less than ~5 hours on each of them to get into), but they’re just boring for me as games.
So instead I simply watched them in “game-movie” format on YouTube completely free. And also I am confused about the pricing, like, why the hell do I have to pay 100$ for a game (that’s the exact price for modern games in the EU on a console) which is basically an interactive series, not a real game? A Netflix subscription costs 15$ per month, cinema ticket is about 10$…
However I really do have fun playing games, which have more game than movie in their nature, most of them are quite old and retro, but modern ones too, like these: DOOM (2016 and Eternal), Wolfenstein The New Order/Colossus, Metro, Control, Halo, Gears of War, Elden Ring, Mortal Kombat and even remastered version of Quake 1…
The thing is that in the modern industry large investors, or so-called “shareholders”, do not want to take risks by investing money in innovative projects, but simply want to make a profit without unnecessary risks. Because, why do finance a risky game with innovative gameplay and mechanics, which could change the industry, make some cultural input or raise important philosophical questions when you can just release another Call of Duty or Assassins Creed which differs from the previous numbered part with just a little more than nothing.
So video games fell into the same trap that the film industry has fallen into, bogged down in endless remakes and self-repetitions.
All the innovations were migrated to so-called AA and indie sectors, and that’s the reason why so many well-known authors are opening their own studies to unbound their artistic nature from our “beloved” publishers and notorious shareholders standing above them.
o yes, I do think that the most modern AAA games are really boring, and the main reason for that is the fact that an innovative niche called “video game development” has turned into the “video game industry”.
It’s a well-known story, neither less I have to say that I personally know people who are currently working on AAA titles, and I sincerely respect the work of these developers and artists who are working on modern projects, while receiving meager pay for their work.
Therefore, I also sincerely despise modern game publishers with their financial policies, which make average clients overpay for nothing, and make their employees constantly overwork (which usually ends in burnout), replenishing not their own pockets, but the pockets of their CEOs, and CFOs, and other COs.
Except for CTOs, CTOs are usually not greedy guys, but passionate engineers 🙂
