Could another "Videogame Industry Crash" ever happen again?

[43M]

So, for gaming historians, back in the 1980s, before Nintendo reinvigorated the industry, there was a pretty severe crash in the industry, which put alot of gaming companies out of business.    Back then, there were actually a TON of different videogame consoles, albeit many were low effort copycats, and Atari was the biggest name of the bunch.   However, after a long slate of underwhelming releases and poor sales, the industry took a major hit, which killed off many companies, development studios and was the catalyst for the downfall of Atari.   They were notorious for making a videogame "adaptation" of E.T. which they scrambled to get done in like 3 months to get it out by holiday season, and this kind of marked the beginning of the end for them, and started a dark few years for the industry.

Now, things are alot different now, so I am not saying anything close to that can or ever will happen, but the reality is, we are seeing more and more games these days being released in very poor condition, including extremely hyped games from major studios, which are causing more and more people to not only stop preordering games, but waiting until weeks or months after launch to see where the game is.      I think this could lead to even fewer blockbuster titles.   I think its the reason why companies like Bethesda and Rockstar have taken so long to put out sequels for GTA and Elder Scrolls, and just continue milking the success of decade old games.     Also why alot of other beloved IPs have seemingly disappeared over the last several years.

In a way, perhaps we are already in the midst of a "crash".   Again, not like the 80s one really, but this is probably one of the ugliest stretches Ive seen for the game industry in a long time.    Sure, there are still really good games that come out, but they are fewer and further between, and even "good games" that do come out are often bug riddled messes and poorly optimized when first released.

[Kiltman]

Partly I think it’s just the curve is so different, games haven’t really needed to change it up for the last decade. And when they try it often leads to troubled productions the more photoreal and big they go.

I’m really curious how AI is going to be used in the industry. It has the potential to really push things forward. Both with results and with timeline. You are still going to need guiding hands but from quest building, enemy ai in games, dialog and textures…it really could ease the stress on devs and speed things back to a more normal timeline.

It’s weird because I feel like the industry is in a good spot with the issues of greed in the 2010s mostly in a better place. 

[Norm]

I still feel bad for Howard Scott Warshaw. ET sucks but it's not even ******* close to the worst 2600 game, let alone worst game ever. But that whole thing, producing more damn copies than there were of standard 2600s out there, it became the face of the crash. 

That being said, I don't think it's near as bad overall as it's made out to be. It's so under the microscope now between YT and just general social media. I've seen some of the dumbest **** turned into game breaking, things that nobody would have talked about years past. 

As someone who games on PC and console (console certainly isn't immune either) but looking at all the garbage that gets pushed out on Steam anymore is annoying, but we have the knowledge they didn't have been then to know what to avoid. That's a big help. 

IDK. Maybe they'll be a correction back a bit but afaik, gaming revenue has done nothing but grow for ages. 

[43M]

2 hours ago, Norm said:

I still feel bad for Howard Scott Warshaw. ET sucks but it's not even ******* close to the worst 2600 game, let alone worst game ever. But that whole thing, producing more damn copies than there were of standard 2600s out there, it became the face of the crash. 

 

I agree.   Even AVGN, who was notorious for hating ET, admitted it wasnt even THAT bad, especially considering how rushed it was.

2 hours ago, Norm said:

That being said, I don't think it's near as bad overall as it's made out to be. It's so under the microscope now between YT and just general social media. I've seen some of the dumbest **** turned into game breaking, things that nobody would have talked about years past. 

As someone who games on PC and console (console certainly isn't immune either) but looking at all the garbage that gets pushed out on Steam anymore is annoying, but we have the knowledge they didn't have been then to know what to avoid. That's a big help. 

IDK. Maybe they'll be a correction back a bit but afaik, gaming revenue has done nothing but grow for ages. 

My concern is more about how incomplete and poorly optimized games are at release. It is becoming way too common, especially among studios who are/were considered among the best.

And its been nearly 3 years since next gen consoles launched, and how many TRULY "next gen" games have we gotten?   Not to say some good games haven't been released, but pretty much all of them are just slightly enhanced previous gen games.

Its not a huge deal for me since I rarely buy any games that aren't at least 2 or 3 years old, but there are so many concerning trends.

[Norm]

10 hours ago, 43M said:

 

I agree.   Even AVGN, who was notorious for hating ET, admitted it wasnt even THAT bad, especially considering how rushed it was.

My concern is more about how incomplete and poorly optimized games are at release. It is becoming way too common, especially among studios who are/were considered among the best.

And its been nearly 3 years since next gen consoles launched, and how many TRULY "next gen" games have we gotten?   Not to say some good games haven't been released, but pretty much all of them are just slightly enhanced previous gen games.

Its not a huge deal for me since I rarely buy any games that aren't at least 2 or 3 years old, but there are so many concerning trends.

Yeah I bought a PS5 a couple months back just because they went on sale and I knew full well there wasn't anything amazing for it. It doesn't get turned on much. 

I wonder if the poorly optimized, etc stuff on release is "helped" by the ability to patch. Everyone complains about giant day 1 patches and just them in general, but it's also better than having no ability to fix them?

 

I totally feel you on this, but there's also a big *** segment of the population that isn't into reading about gaming stuff online that doesn't seem near as fired up about it. But maybe I'm wrong about that, that's my feeling.

I do wish there was a sort of crash of some sort that caused a bit of a reset. That's for sure.

[naptownskinsfan]

Social media backlash killed Mass Effect Andromeda, and nearly killed a AAA franchise and it’s got BioWare kinda in limbo.  They did not hit on their next game Anthem, and they are bringing around the next Mass Effect very slowly and are also releasing content for The Old Republic at a much slower pace than they ever did.  

Same thing happened with Battlefront 2, and rightfully so with their crazy loot box system.  However, in this instance, the game became completely different than intended after launch, and found new life halfway through its life cycle and even near the end game.  

No longer will a game ever release and not be able to be updated like the past.  Patches can dramatically change a game.  But if you have serious launch issues, or even things that can be fixed, it can dramatically alter sales and the trajectory of the game.  

[43M]

10 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

Social media backlash killed Mass Effect Andromeda, and nearly killed a AAA franchise and it’s got BioWare kinda in limbo.  They did not hit on their next game Anthem, and they are bringing around the next Mass Effect very slowly and are also releasing content for The Old Republic at a much slower pace than they ever did.  

Same thing happened with Battlefront 2, and rightfully so with their crazy loot box system.  However, in this instance, the game became completely different than intended after launch, and found new life halfway through its life cycle and even near the end game.  

No longer will a game ever release and not be able to be updated like the past.  Patches can dramatically change a game.  But if you have serious launch issues, or even things that can be fixed, it can dramatically alter sales and the trajectory of the game.  

Social media backlash is sometimes unfair, but in the case of the games you mentioned, largely justified.    Andromeda wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be, but the game released in pretty bad shape, and given that it had alot of hype (simply because its Mass Effect), but at the same time, needed to really prove to fans that the new cast and story could live up to the old one, and it really missed the mark.

Any game that aggressively seeks to bleed players wallets after the initial game purchase deserves to be destroyed in every way.

Obviously, every game will need patches going forward, and there will be bugs and glitches....and I dont even have an issue with that.   Games are too big these days to expect perfection immediately,    But there is a major difference between a game that has some annoying issues but is still largely playable, and a game that clearly wasnt ready to go gold and was rushed out the door, only to promise to fix it via several updates, some of which the patches end up being bigger than the game itself.   

There is a saying...."A late game is only late until its released, but a bad game is bad forever."   

With patches and updated, poor performing games can often be salvaged (Cyberpunk, No Mans Sky, etc...),. but there are some that no amount of updates can salvage).

Edited May 22, 2023 by 43M

[Spartacus]

9 hours ago, 43M said:

Social media backlash is sometimes unfair, but in the case of the games you mentioned, largely justified.    Andromeda wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be, but the game released in pretty bad shape, and given that it had alot of hype (simply because its Mass Effect), but at the same time, needed to really prove to fans that the new cast and story could live up to the old one, and it really missed the mark.

Any game that aggressively seeks to bleed players wallets after the initial game purchase deserves to be destroyed in every way.

Obviously, every game will need patches going forward, and there will be bugs and glitches....and I dont even have an issue with that.   Games are too big these days to expect perfection immediately,    But there is a major difference between a game that has some annoying issues but is still largely playable, and a game that clearly wasnt ready to go gold and was rushed out the door, only to promise to fix it via several updates, some of which the patches end up being bigger than the game itself.   

There is a saying...."A late game is only late until its released, but a bad game is bad forever."   

With patches and updated, poor performing games can often be salvaged (Cyberpunk, No Mans Sky, etc...),. but there are some that no amount of updates can salvage).

Social media backlash regarding video games is one of the only positives when its directed towards the correct reasons. It saved SW Battlefront 2 from being a complete disaster, removed the auction house in D3, and has consistently caused developers to rethink releasing incomplete games even if some still fall into that hole. Video game players don't have enough self control to not buy the newest version of any video game so the next best thing is to create as much bad PR for poor behavior as possible. I'm all for it. 

That said I don't see a crash ever happening like it did initially unless the quality becomes way too poor overall. There is simply too few hands and way more money then their was during the initial crash. Not to mention a slew of resources saving people from buying terrible games which just didn't exist when the last crash occurred. 

My concern with the current gaming landscape is games have gotten so expensive that innovation has really taken a back seat to safety of the profit margin. Outside of a few studios most are pumping out the same 5 games they have been pumping out for the last 10 years with little to no innovation to the design. There just isn't any breaking of the mold for developers for the most part. You don't see a Doom, a Call of Duty MW, World of Warcraft type jump in innovation  outside of the indie scene which is pretty sad. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Spartacus