Studies conducted at my desk and on my couch have also found a downward trend in video game quality.

and the microtransactions inside them. and the underwhelming day 1 dlc.

Also, the games market was brought up a lot by the global pandemic and had to come down eventually.

For me, its the long term viability of older games vs new ones. I can play older games on their original console or pc and they don't have always onoine functions that break the game when the server shuts down. Hell, I am having a great time re-playing nfsu2 on my og xbox. I don't find it any less fun than most wanted or some of the newer ones when I only have 30 minutes to play.

Somewhere out there is an article by someone who walked around a games conference and came away from the experience horrified that so much of the content he was seeing was from small indie studios who weren’t in a position to hire wastes of oxygen like himself, and was furiously nail-biting about what this would do to the state of the industry.

Related news is the authors of Dave the Diver having to explain that they are in no way an independent studio, and they do not deserve the award they just received for “best independent blah blah,” because “indie” has at this point simply become completely synonymous with “original and good.”

Because they feel frustrated that they cant keep playing the games they paid with their hard-earned cash due to publishers destroying them.

[email protected]

how much money do young americans have to blow on video games? people are struggling. is it really surprising that, as disposable income vanishes, so does recreation spending?

I'm a pretty conservative game purchaser. I've never paid over $40 for a game (including games on sale) because there are so, so many amazing indie games on Steam that charge so little for many hours of fun.

When I see a AAA game come out, I know it's going to be profit-driven, uninspired, and rushed because it exists solely for the purpose of making money for a large corp. For that reason (among others), I avoid them altogether because I know my dollar goes way further going toward an independent developer who makes games for passion (and only sometimes for money). The passion always shines through in their work, unlike passionless AAA games.

Ugh first millennials aren't buying homes fast enough now it's this darn gen Z and not buying video games and 12 different streaming platforms. Such spoiled generations

Survivorship of older games is a really good indicator that they’ll continue to be available in the future. Like you said, too many modern games are online only and turn to expensive nothingness when the servers are shut down.

with no new ideas and safe bets only.

I'm just done with Capitalism in general. I got 1000 games, 200 of which are GOG offline installers. Those are burned onto M-Disc storage for the apocalypse. Cancelled all TV streaming, no buying games or books even. Nothing but food and bills now as I wait for it all to collapse.

Also, with the speed that games have been coming out the last 20 years, there’s always something on sale to play

Just (re) started Dead Space after not playing it for 10-15 years. Still good, still enjoy, why buy when I can just replay games I've forgotten the story to?

Same for Control a few months ago... And I'm sure others.

Especially when most games that've come out this year run like shit, and a new graphics card is nearly a rent payment

M-Disc

woah woah woah, Mr. Namedrop. What is this, now? 100GB RW Blu-rays? $57 for a pack of 6?

$57 for 600GB

$100 for a 4TB WD Red

the hard drive won't last as long

That implies it's powered. Would it last as long as cold storage? (with running disk checks every six months)

...this is so offtopic, but I must know.

M-Discs are just like Blu-ray storage. However, they are not re-writable, instead being physically engraved with a laser. They are marketed as lasting 1000 years. Get yourself a nice Bluray-writer and you're all set.

As a rule, I never buy games on release. From everything I hear, you pay twice the price to get an unfinished game in most cases.

I put them on my wishlist, keep an eye on the reviews and depending on those I decide how much of a discount it will require for me to actually buy the game. Usually I end up getting them at least a year later and/or at least at 50% off.

Maybe their parents have less money. Guess who's fault is it ?
Wall Street Journal that wrote original article have it in their name.

Make a timeline comparing the rising cost of games, rising unemployment, addition of tariffs on exports from Japan and this. Notice a pattern?