Videogame Software Keeps Sliding While Hardware Soars

Here's a tip for the industry....Start making quality games instead of rehashing crap from the previous years.
 
Hu-duh. People who spent $400-500 on a new game console have $400-500 less with which to buy games. This isn't that hard to figure out.
 
I would have no issue with re releasing games with HD Versions on the Xbox one. However, so far, they have not done even that. (Halo 1 through 4 may get that treatment though.)
 
ManofGod said:
I would have no issue with re releasing games with HD Versions on the Xbox one. However, so far, they have not done even that. (Halo 1 through 4 may get that treatment though.)
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HD versions would require a console capable of HD in the first place. *Nyuck Nyuck*
 
>Release tons and tons of shit
>Customers don't buy them
>Game companies upset games are not selling

This isn't rocket science

Also, Wolfenstein has a review embargo and the AI is dumb as fucking mud, I mean, holy fucking shit, beyond fucking stupid
 
14637b425d7a98202cdb6742ee66f4d55a1f9e586a2cb602cdec52d5a41add0e.jpg
 
The death of retail:
Sales of new games at U.S. retail shops fell 10%
...
sales of traditional PC and console games sold and delivered over the Internet jumped more than 25%
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Scythe said:
Here's a tip for the industry....Start making quality games instead of rehashing crap from the previous years.
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....but people keep buying it, so why should they change?

Its best to stick with independent developers and small companies that focus on using current hardware, rather than large ones who focus on outdated Console hardware.
 
1) Larger titles move toward keeping players addicted for longer and longer
2) F2P titles, a good amount of people have spent the majority of their PS4 gametime in those, my 400+ hours included (and the DS4 pad still has good stick-rubber, wow)
3) MMO, many experience no time for other games
4) The ordinary people are getting tired of what's offered. See getting f'd in the A then beaten while lying down on the ground by EA with so many games. See COD Ghost being a pile of shit. See EA sports games getting worse. See Titanfall dying faster than anybody would have expected on all platforms. See more and more people going "hey this Dark Souls shit isn't so bad, I should look into these non-mainstream quirky unique Japanese-made games".

Bring on the crash, may it destroy a two letter company, and may their good employees find better, more warm and caring jobs in the industry afterwards. Amen.
 
The article won't load for me, but based on the summary, it sounds like they are only looking at brick & mortar game stores, and then extrapolating data for ALL games sales based on just the B&M sales

Just because Game Stop is doing bad, doesn't mean Steam is failing too.
 
Babbster said:
Hu-duh. People who spent $400-500 on a new game console have $400-500 less with which to buy games. This isn't that hard to figure out.
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You left out that while they may have had the cash to buy two $50 games, with stagnant wages and increasing cost of living, they will only have the cash to buy one. What do they expect. Just over a decade ago, the pain point for hardware everyone was scared to cross for very long or at all was $250. The price of a video game was $30-40. Now they are opening with $400-500 and ~$60.
 
Krenum said:
....but people keep buying it, so why should they change?

Its best to stick with independent developers and small companies that focus on using current hardware, rather than large ones who focus on outdated Console hardware.
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RTA, obviously LESS people are buying it
 
raz-0 said:
You left out that while they may have had the cash to buy two $50 games, with stagnant wages and increasing cost of living, they will only have the cash to buy one. What do they expect. Just over a decade ago, the pain point for hardware everyone was scared to cross for very long or at all was $250. The price of a video game was $30-40. Now they are opening with $400-500 and ~$60.
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You're mixing fact with fiction. Games have been $50+ (brand new) since long before the current century kicked off. Video games are cheaper in real dollars today than they were in the 20th century.
 
Addendum: FWIW, video games also cost orders of magnitude more to develop than they did when I blew $40 on Red Storm Rising for the Commodore 64.
 
IIRC, figures like this do not include Steam since Valve doesn't report it's earnings nor sales figures.
 
Yes!
I'm DYING to keep jumping from console to console where NONE of my games are backwards compatible!
I want to ditch my old console and all the games to buy the SAME GAMES again at a higher cost!
I want to buy unfinished pieces of garbage at $60 a pop with no promise or guarantee it'll ever be fixed!
I want 1080p at under 60fps for the next 5 years!
I want to pay $15 a month per person in my family to game online in addition to the internet costs plus subscription fees on top of that for certain games!
If any of that applies to you, go stand in line at Gamestop, if it doesn't, get a PC and Steam.
Keep your games, go higher than 1080p, know you're buying into an alpha or beta before hand, pay most games online without fees, smile!
 
SGA76 said:
Yes!
I'm DYING to keep jumping from console to console where NONE of my games are backwards compatible!
I want to ditch my old console and all the games to buy the SAME GAMES again at a higher cost!
I want to buy unfinished pieces of garbage at $60 a pop with no promise or guarantee it'll ever be fixed!
I want 1080p at under 60fps for the next 5 years!
I want to pay $15 a month per person in my family to game online in addition to the internet costs plus subscription fees on top of that for certain games!
If any of that applies to you, go stand in line at Gamestop, if it doesn't, get a PC and Steam.
Keep your games, go higher than 1080p, know you're buying into an alpha or beta before hand, pay most games online without fees, smile!
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Let's list the ways in which your post is wrongheaded/just plain wrong.
1. No one is "jumping from console to console." The Xbox 360 debuted in 2005 while the Xbox One debuted in 2013 - and games are still coming out for the 360.
2. Maybe you want to keep playing the same games over and over again. That's certainly your prerogative but I don't know how widespread that attitude is.
3. Unfinished games for consoles? Well, thank goodness that never happens on the PC.
4. 1080p is the current HDTV standard. 4K might be adopted widely before the end of this console generation but it's pretty unlikely. As for fps, some of us don't give a shit as long as the game is fun.
5. Neither Xbox Live nor PSN costs $15/month. Not even close.
6. I haven't had to "stand in line at Gamestop" since the one time a friend and I decided to pick up Borderlands 2 at midnight (the one and only time I've ever dome similar). Not only can console games be ordered over the Internet but they can be bought and downloaded just like Steam
7. Sure you can go higher than 1080p on PC. If you buy an expensive video card and an expensive monitor - oh, and keep buying expensive video cards every time there's another game that goes to the next level.

PC gaming is great for those who enjoy it (I've been playing PC games for a very long time - a ridiculously long time if I count my years with the Commodore 64) and console gaming does indeed have its negatives. Your collection of lies and half truths, however, is a joke.
 
Babbster said:
5. Neither Xbox Live nor PSN costs $15/month. Not even close.
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But it's not free now is it?
6. I haven't had to "stand in line at Gamestop" since the one time a friend and I decided to pick up Borderlands 2 at midnight (the one and only time I've ever dome similar). Not only can console games be ordered over the Internet but they can be bought and downloaded just like Steam
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Just without the Steam sales.
7. Sure you can go higher than 1080p on PC. If you buy an expensive video card and an expensive monitor - oh, and keep buying expensive video cards every time there's another game that goes to the next level.
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You mean a $100 graphics card? Cause that's what the PS4/Xbone are equivalent to. When I mean equivalent, I mean you can still at least crank up the resolution to 1080P, and still get a playable fps. You could buy a $100 graphics card every 2 years and still be ahead of a PS4 in cost.
PC gaming is great for those who enjoy it (I've been playing PC games for a very long time - a ridiculously long time if I count my years with the Commodore 64) and console gaming does indeed have its negatives. Your collection of lies and half truths, however, is a joke.
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Looks to me you're bending the truth to a convenient lie.
 
Babbster said:
.
2. Maybe you want to keep playing the same games over and over again. That's certainly your prerogative but I don't know how widespread that attitude is.
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I didn't see the part where you actually included the price of a monitor. Seriously? Might as well buy a new TV with every game console you buy. And you can hook up your PC to the TV. Console fans need to get it stuck in their heads. It's as easy as an Xbox One or PS4.
 
Ashbringer said:
But it's not free now is it?<snipped for boredom>
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Blah, blah, blah. I acknowledged that there are disadvantages to game consoles. Why isn't the truth sufficient to argue in favor of PCs, and why does every fucking thread related to consoles need to morph into a monument to PC gaming elitism...errr, superiority...in the first place?

Honestly, the insecurity so infrequently on display in this regard is pretty sad.
 
Ashbringer said:
I didn't see the part where you actually included the price of a monitor. Seriously? Might as well buy a new TV with every game console you buy. And you can hook up your PC to the TV. Console fans need to get it stuck in their heads. It's as easy as an Xbox One or PS4.
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Yeah, I included the price of the monitor. Know why?
1) Everybody already has a TV (most likely either 720p or 1080p class), and that's where most people intend to connect their consoles.
2) Monitors over 1920x1080/1200 in resolution are by no means the norm and they are more expensive than their 1080p counterparts.
 
Babbster said:
Yeah, I included the price of the monitor. Know why?
1) Everybody already has a TV (most likely either 720p or 1080p class), and that's where most people intend to connect their consoles.
2) Monitors over 1920x1080/1200 in resolution are by no means the norm and they are more expensive than their 1080p counterparts.
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Nobody cares past 1080p on PC. Anything past 1080p is strictly for benchmarking or people with too much money. Why not just hook up the PC to the damn TV then?
 
The current objective of game developers is to produce a game at full cost (59.99), yet implement free-to-play components in order to seek more money after the initial sale.

Developers today just produce a game that has addictive properties, and then tack on a "free-to-play" in-game purchasing system.

In the earlier years developers (for the most part) wanted to one-up themselves in terms of quality, doing research to improve the game's audio/visuals and refine gameplay aspects with respect to the gamers.

Now you have the Call of Duty era. It's an internal competition of how long can corporate developers go rehashing the same stuff over and over again, with the customers paying full price for part of the initial game and then selling the rest piecemeal.

The publishers will defend with a term: "entitled fucks". However providing free content, here and there within reason, was common. Developers did it for the love of the game. The passion of the game. Developers originally liked their games. Today content, by the big companies, is made for money. There is no passion. It's all about money, greed, and logically survival(for the peon workers).

Anyway back to the original topic. Videogame Software Keeps Sliding While Hardware Soars.

Developers rehash engines/graphics/audio/etc, add grinding components, and there you have it. No need to keep up with hardware.

Grinding is the gameplay of today. It is a reason for this thread. Why create new when the old is good, just change an outcome or two of the grind and it's a new experience. Developers will not rush to develop new things, while they can still utilize the old.

Also indie game developers produce games that don't need the super new hardware. They aim for multiplatform games, and mobile.

Nvidia/AMD may be seen getting more and more involved in the development of games, giving money to developers in order to advance the need for newer hardware.

Should Nvidia/AMD fail, they will (it is inevitable), the price of graphics cards will skyrocket. They will slowly reduce the amount of discrete hardware they sell, and only the few wealthy people and educational institutions and companies, people with money to burn and use, will buy them. Think of it as a future of only TitanZ and 295x2 hardware. Few people will buy a TitanZ or 295x2.

The general folks who want to play their games will do so through mobile devices, or through grid graphics processing. Pay either Nvidia/AMD a monthly subscription fee to have access to grid graphics processing... streamed through networks with tolls and extra fees.....

Playing games "the old fashioned way" with your own discrete graphics card will become a niche area of gaming.

The main objective is a graphic processing subscription model. Buying discrete graphics hardware and being content with it using it for many years, not buying new hardware regularly with each new iteration, goes against Nvidia/AMD business survival. Paying a monthly service fee on the other hand... now you are talking. We just need to get there. Slowly but surely.

Basically from top to bottom, it's nickel and diming for most of the way.
 
Babbster said:
1. No one is "jumping from console to console." The Xbox 360 debuted in 2005 while the Xbox One debuted in 2013 - and games are still coming out for the 360.
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Because the 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and Wii don't all have individual exclusives worth playing. You kind of do have to "hop" in order to play specific games.
Babbster said:
2. Maybe you want to keep playing the same games over and over again. That's certainly your prerogative but I don't know how widespread that attitude is.
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I find this mentality very asinine. God forbid someone wants to play a game he missed or hadn't heard of that's a few years old.

Babbster said:
Why isn't the truth sufficient to argue in favor of PCs, and why does every fucking thread related to consoles need to morph into a monument to PC gaming elitism...errr, superiority...in the first place?

Honestly, the insecurity so infrequently on display in this regard is pretty sad.
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I think it comes down to misguided aggression. A lot of PC games are essentially console ports, so when you buy a game you can't be sure it will contain mappable controls, an FOV so low it makes you sick, dumbed down gameplay from a predecessor in a series in order to court a wider market. Combine this with a fierce marketing machine for console with almost nothing mainstream for PC (except maybe Blizzard), and it gives an ongoing perception that PC gaming is a second class citizen in the world of gaming, even if it's doing well.

Another way to look at it is pc gamers frequently get their games screwed by developers taking a console-focus. How often do console games get screwed by developers focusing on PC?
 
tetris42 said:
I think it comes down to misguided aggression.
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I buy that. I'm definitely not an advocate for shoddy console-to-PC ports. If you're going to support a platform then support it.

As for your more specific responses, keep in mind what I was responding to. Yes, people will want to play older games but they can do that by either keeping their current Xbox 360 (or PS3 or PS2 or Wii or whatever) or buying one.

Heck, I wouldn't recommend a PS4 or Xbox One today any more than a diehard PC-only gamer would. There aren't enough games and they're both still too expensive. Neither console will be discontinued or go unsupported by developers/publishers within the next 4 years, so waiting is a high-value proposition. In a year, gamers will likely be able to buy the consoles for a hundred bucks less and all the PS4/One games currently available for half their current price (or less).

The only place where I differ with the [more reasonable and honest] PC-only crowd is that I think either console will end up (when they reach $300) being a better value than a similarly priced video card. :D
 
What does "Videogame Software" include?

Does that include every wannabe developer who releases some trash p2w game app?
 
Scythe said:
Here's a tip for the industry....Start making quality games instead of rehashing crap from the previous years.
Click to expand...

This cannot be restated enough honestly. Until the big developers begin to branch out into smaller indie style game development for new franchises using new game mechanics, I will not be excited for most AAA titles.
 
Babbster said:
As for your more specific responses, keep in mind what I was responding to. Yes, people will want to play older games but they can do that by either keeping their current Xbox 360 (or PS3 or PS2 or Wii or whatever) or buying one.
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My mistake, I did misinterpret that. I very much dislike the concept of people dismissing games just because they're old, but having to support it on a modern console is a different animal entirely. Though that's a reason not to be thrilled with having the games locked to the hardware.
 
Seems this needs to be re-iterated since people keep acting like game sales are going down:

Last year:
482.2 million online + retail
This year:
509.9 million online + retail

Retail (brick and mortar stores) went down, but online sales went up more than enough to offset, so overall game sales increased over the previous year. This is all in the article.
 
tetris42 said:
My mistake, I did misinterpret that. I very much dislike the concept of people dismissing games just because they're old...
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As do I. As someone who's played several hours of Sid Meier's Covert Action in the past month, you can be assured that I am a proponent of classic gaming. ;)
 
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