General Gaming Gamers Are Not Playing New Games...

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

19 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Again, that's the point these guys are making in the video. They are concerned that Video game companies are taking exactly the opposite lesson from this data and are looking to double down on Live service games in the hope that can stumble upon a Fortnite or Roblox type game. game devs don't want a Spiderman 2 or Jedi Survivor... great single player games that people play for a bit, then put down and never touch again. They want GTA V type games where they can monetize the fuck out it for a decade. 

some publishers seekingly still want a Destiny even though it has been widely common knowledge for a long time how expensive that model is to run to keep players interested, hooked or regularly coming back. PvP only us much easier, but PvE requires so much more. 

[crispy4000]

I'll buy 1-3 new games each year.  Basically, the stuff I couldn't wait to play that likely wouldn't drop relatively fast after release.

 

From there, it's a spiral of what I'm willing to pay vs what I have in my backlog.  If it's easy enough to wait for a price cut from $70 to $40, how much easier would it be waiting to $30, $20, $10?  $5 used to be my lower threshold, but few AAA games get there anymore outside of some crazy limited deals I look out for (ie: got Tales of Arise and Gears 5 for that).  Being in Humble Choice has become my lower barometer, since that’s $12 or less.

 

But there are some rare games I'd spring for at $20-30 around Black Friday.  Stuff like Returnal and Jedi Survivor.  I would say more Nintendo games, but they’re too stingy nowadays.

Indie games I buy more of, but almost exclusively within bundles or with acquired credit. 

[HardAct]

    Easily in the older game playing boat. I have such a large backlog of games and in the last few years now have been really great at not spending 2-3k a year on games and frankly it's been nice! I could, it's just such a waist at this point. I still have 6 of the biggest AAA games I bought for my PSS5 still unplayed and the damned slim is out with rumors of a PS5+ coming soon. Enough of this shit! I have Returnal, Deathloop, the latest Ratchet & Clank, Demon Souls remake, GOW Ragnarok, Dying Light 2, spiderman & SM Miles Morales, etc, etc. This is nearly the same with Series X but not quite as bad as Game pass has kept me rolling in plenty of games since launch. 

[Mercury33]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:53 AM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

The podcast hosts claim that there were no "water cooler conversation" games released in 2023 and that the last game to do so was Elden Ring in 2022.

 

This is a really odd claim to make for a year in which Baldur's Gate III released and permeated the overall cultural zeitgeist in a way that Elden Ring never even came remotely close to cracking.

Yeah that was bizarre as BG3 was everywhere. It didn’t last as long as the first one but I seem to remember a fairly good chunk of time where insane Zelda creation videos were all the rage as well. And we can already check the “cultural phenomenon” box in 2024 thanks to Helldivers 2

[skillzdadirecta]

3 hours ago, Mercury33 said:

And we can already check the “cultural phenomenon” box in 2024 thanks to Helldivers 2

They mention Helldivers 2 in the video.

[AbsolutSurgen]

I stopped watching the video when it became apparent they didn’t understand Roblox is a gaming platform, not a game. 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I stopped watching the video when it became apparent they didn’t understand Roblox is a gaming platform, not a game. 

Well that's just silly. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

10 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Well that's just silly. 

That’s why I stopped watching. 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

I stopped watching the video when it became apparent they didn’t understand Roblox is a gaming platform, not a game. 

 

I stopped reading your reply when it became apparent you didn't understand Roblox is a way of life, not a gaming platform.

[Dexterryu]

There are a bunch of reasons...

1. It's fairly rare that a new game (even a sequel) is really good. Many of them are knock-offs/copy cats of a game that was really good, but are a significant drop in quality.

2. Most new games release in a poor, buggy, unoptimized state.

 

3. Games loaded with micro-transactions quickly erode trust, or cause games to bomb on release.

 

The games on that people keep playing and coming back to and that have legs are ones that treat their fans as customers and the devs have a good pulse on what new features and QOL additions they should be adding. They earn trust rather than lose it.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I was sort of like these people. Destiny 2 being my most played game every year. 
 

I kind of broke free around June/July last year and haven’t played it since. Ive kind of just grown a little weary of developers increasing the grind in games to extend or boost engagement numbers, primarily so they can keep advertising their in game shop of micro transactions. Their community managers may make posts telling people to take breaks, but the way leadership is having the devs design the grinds and fomo they know they have a game that is screaming at players “it’s never ok to not play”. 
 

Getting a gaming PC really helped. Expensive, sure, but it has seemingly sparked in me an interest in playing other stuff. If for no other reason to be able to crank up the graphics and play at 60+fps and bask in the beauty and performance. But I have gotten into some smaller titles or playing with an occasional mod to make a game experience better that wouldn’t be possible if still on a console. I kind if feel more like I did in regards to gaming 20-25 years ago.