Can AAA gaming be saved or should we just let it implode?
Over the years we have spoilt by having great games on a regular basis often pushing the boundaries of what the latest hardware can handle, but in recent years we are seeing more and more discourse gamers divided into groups the woke and the anti-woke, (what ever all that is about is beyond me). What I want to talk about is what I believe has contributed to the apparent decline in AAA gaming.
I remember a time when you bought a game you got the full game and that was it, now not so much you are expected to pay £70 for a game a further £20 for a season pass and then some more for all the microtransactions for cosmetics and battle passes, loot boxes that contains stuff that should be in the game from the beginning, and yes I know you have the option to not buy any of these.
I will use the FIFA games as an example you pay £100 for the Ultimate edition because the main mode you are playing is ultimate team you get some Fifa money or what ever its called and some packs to get some players and hopefully they aren’t rubbish ones, you then if you want to get better players pretty much have to buy the packs to be able to win. This to me promotes gambling to younger players as FIFA is marketed as an all-ages game.
For this I will us Diablo 4 as an example, again you pay £70 to £100 for the game and you are immediately hit with advertisements for cosmetic items which all look better than the cosmetics in game, If you want to unlock them you will need to pay for a battle pass there is nothing on offer that actually helps you with the game no special items just cosmetics and some of these packs are the price of a game which is just crazy.
Games being released in a mess.
We are seeing this more and more often, no one will forget the disaster and the uproar with Cyber Punk 2077 when that game released it was a right mess especially for players who didn’t have the Xbox Series X, Sony even pulled the game from the store that’s how much of a mess it was and people paid out £70 minimum on release and it took a further two years to fix it, and then there was Redfall well with Redfall that was just rubbish so I will end it there with that one.
Developers are relying more and more on day-one patches and post-launch updates to fix all the issues that should have been addressed before it was released, again Cyber Punk 2077 will be my example.
Live service oversaturation.
More and more live service games are being developed and so many of them are just not up to par, Marvel Rivals is an exemption to that rule they just hit the nail right on the head and is deserving of all the success.
Now games like Anthem and Marvel’s Avengers, Outriders were live service games with no content.
Ubisoft used to be innovative but now not so much, Assassins Creed is what Call of Duty is the same game with a different skin on it. They no longer bring anything new the game worlds are the same cut and paste mechanics filled with issues that should have been fixed before release I’m looking at you Star Wars Outlaws (an awful game in my opinion).
Now for something positive.
Now I have had my complaints, lets go onto something positive I have not lost my love for gaming and that is because there have been some brilliant games that have come out, Selaco one of them it is brilliant for me it is what Perfect Dark on the 360 should have been. Another brilliant game is Dead of Darkness the game is so good I will be buying a physical copy of it on Switch when it releases, if you are a fan of psychological horrors especially original Resident Evil & Silent hill then you will really like Dead of Darkness and one more game I will recommend is ReSetna this game reignited my passion to try and get good at metroidvania’s (I still suck at them).
Finally, I will leave you all with this.
It is perfectly fine to not like a game someone else likes it is not fine to harass or abuse people who do like those games and vice versa. I like games that I’m sure some of you will think are not good and that’s ok because we are all different and our differences are important. We need all need to take a step back from influencers, Streamers, Youtubers and Journalists telling us what is good and what is bad how we should be thinking, I know I am sounding like a hypocrite but I’m not a journalist, but I can promise this the reviews I write are my experience with the game and the game alone I do not care for any outside politics if I enjoy the game great if I don’t great and that’s how it should be for everyone.
I would love to hear your opinions about the current state of the industry but more importantly recommendation for games to play.