Game trends in the 21st century (13/5/21)
Over the years, games and gaming in general has fluctuated in popularity. Ten or so years ago, games were popular, but it was seen as ‘nerdy’ or boring. Over time, different genres of games have come and gone, with the odd few games being huge cultural successes, inside and outside the gaming community. Although gaming was popular in the 80s, when it was starting up with the likes of Nintendo games (Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda etc. https://www.eightieskids.com/20-greatest-video-games-of-the-80s/) and consoles such as the Playboy, nobody really predicted how quickly games would skyrocket in both popularity and quality. There are a vast variety of game genres, such as platform, shooter, horror, click-and-point, action and adventure, all of which are hugely popular over the globe. There has, however, never seemed to be a game genre (horror, action, mystery etc) that is consistently popular throughout the decades, there always seems to be a new game with a different genre that is popular every year. For example, just in 2020 alone, a huge variety of games rose in popularity, including games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Hades, The Last of Us part II, Genshin Impact and Among Us.
Each of these games are independent and have individual genres to them. Animal Crossing (only available on the Nintendo Switch) is a life simulator game that runs in real time, Hades is a dungeon crawler style game, The Last of Us 2 is an action-adventure game, Genshin Impact is an action-based roleplaying game and Among Us (Probably the most unexpected game to become popular in 2020) is a multiplayer online social deduction game. Each game is incredibly unique and has a diverse playable experience. In addition to this, excluding Animal Crossing and The Last of Us 2, all these games are brand new ideas and brought new ideas to the gaming industry.
The sudden rise in the popularity of these games in the last year can be pinpointed to the lockdown rules brought in as a response to deal with Covid-19. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released on 20th March 2020, four days after the first official UK lockdown began. This is most likely why the game (and the Nintendo Switch console respectively) were sold out nationwide for months afterwards. Everyone was starting to get bored, and a life simulator game that allows for a whimsical form of escapism is exactly what most people were looking for to entertain themselves over the quarantine. Another example of this is Fall Guys, a game that was popular in the summer, mostly due to Twitch streamers and Youtubers playing the game constantly. People gravitated to the competitive and multiplayer aspects of this game- it works like a real life obstacle course that players could battle to reach the end of.
https://www.theverge.com/22163356/2020-pandemic-video-games-social-animal-crossing-fall-guys-twitch
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Above) Genshin Impact (Below)
Personally, I picked a variety of indie games that became popular around 2015-2017 to use as my main inspiration for my game overall. These games were not best-sellers, and not all of them are very well known. However, the unique and riveting storylines and beautiful and intriguing art styles are what prompted me to go down the path I did. Five Nights at Freddy's (a 7 game indie horror series with an eighth game releasing later this year) is one of my personal favourite video games. This is the genre I wanted to go down. I enjoy the dark and grimy aesthetic of the games, and the art style which I find particularly intriguing. https://store.steampowered.com/app/319510/Five_Nights_at_Freddys/
Other games that inspired me are Sallyface (2016) by developer Steve Gabry and Little Misfortune (2019) by developers Killmonday games. Both of these games are unique and inspired me and my FMP development in different ways. Sallyface’s dark and grimy aesthetic and Little Misfortune’s unique and dream-like art style are both things that have influenced me to develop my game with these in mind.
Based on this research, I am creating a game that I think would fit in with the sudden rise in gaming popularity. In addition to this, the opportune timing means my game, if it were released, would be released into a gaming world that has suddenly boomed with popularity.
Each game I have spoken about is unique and has an individual style and aesthetic that made each game something completely special and separate from the other popular games. I am creating a game to fit in with this as there has not been a hugely popular click through game which is what I aim to make. I will be using my knowledge and understanding of what makes these other games popular (escapism, good characters, lock down rules etc.) to further my own game and make it as realistically enjoyable as if it was to be released on a gaming platform.
(https://www.ranker.com/list/most-popular-video-games-today/ranker-games )
https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-video-game-every-year-2018-11?r=US&IR=T#2008-rock-band-playstation-3-xbox-360-wii-playstation-2-14
https://stackward.com/hottest-gaming-trends-21st-century-pop-culture/35726