Has gaming had its "Golden Age"?

[Gimpymoo]

This is not a "Pepperidge Farm Remembers" deal but genuinely, has gaming peaked?

It all seems so very "sterile" nowadays compared to the "wild west" anything goes approach from the 80's through to the early 2000's. Not saying things have not improved because they have, just look at basic game mechanics from the 90's compared to now, makes you wonder how you just accepted it.

Developers know what formulas they think work, so stick with them if they want to sell their game as to not upset the mainstream masses.

YES, there are some VERY creative indies out there doing some great stuff but it does feel a little "rinse and repeat" a lot of the time.

The lack of dedicated servers for me is a sad demise on many levels, sure, the devs/publishers are happy as they now have complete totalitarian control over when to "shut down" a game etc etc but that does not make it "better".

Gaming can never return to such a time as now it is enveloped into mainstream culture, it has surpassed pop culture, it will be gaming, but not as we know it.

Gaming will of course evolve but have we seen the Golden age?

 

[McBain]

For me personally it has, but that's probably more to me getting older rather than gaming itself.

You're never going to beat the communities that spawned off the back of games like CS, DoD, BF1942 etc. Those were the golden days, the golden times of LAN'ing etc.

Game communities nowadays just don't exist really, it's just people abusing one another. I stick to single player for the most part.

 

[almoststew1990]

Gaming is now very big business instead of just... normal sized business. Games have become exponentially more expensive to make whilst the initial outlay for the cosumer is the same. The risk on publishers and developers is huge.

Games therefore need to make money in other ways and the predatory micro transaction, loot boxes, live service etc is the current solution to this. I don't like any of that and I'm not sure what the best solution is. Fortunately I think we hit "Peak ********" With Need for Speed Payback and Forza 7 - the stupid card / slot upgrade system, as well as Battlefront 1 or 2 (I can't remember which one had terrible loot boxes). Live service games seems to have been added to the mix and tamed loot boxes a bit; they're not for me but have their place.

Games will nowadays be made from the ground up to make money. Working out the optimum cost of loot boxes, the DLC, how long it will get updates for to keep platyer retention at just the right level, etc.... I think they currently have to be designed this way, a business product/service, and I imagine it would be foolish for a publisher to release a game without considering how much of the game is included in the base game and how much is parcelled into DLC. I don't think this happened to the same degree 20 years ago. We're gonna spend xxx hours making it and hope to sell 1m copies at £40.

I think that AAA games are very safe and boring because making games is such a risky business for publishers and the developers. They need something that will sell, given the huge costs over up to 10 years to make a game, that they then may or may not make back over the next 5 years. Not to mention the risk of upsetting the internet over something fairly minor (usually gender or race), getting review bombed or cretins on twitter saying that teh game should be boycotted.

To be honet, I'm surprised anyone bothers to make games at all.

I don't think all these pressures were so big when a game took only 2 years to make by a small team to an audience with lower expectations that didn't feature a vocal minority constantly on patrol for non-PC elements of the game. Games added value by having extra features, bonus modes, hidden challenges etc.

TLDR; yes you're right we've had a golden age, and I don't think we will be able to go back to games like Quake 3, No One Lives Forever, Battlefield 2, Forza 4 and GT 4, THUG...

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Yes definitely, the 90s were the golden age for me, but if you grew up after it youd have no idea how incredible it was.

 

[Darujhistan]

Depends what space you're in if you're as AAA gamer who only buys from filth like EA and Activision then yes. If you'e someone who is heavily into guild's and playing with friends in MMO's the way it used to be then probably yes as well. I don't think strategy games have had their golden age, and if you're some who is prepared to get off the beaten track there's plenty of good games - Plague Tale for instance. As mentioned above the golden age of gaming communities is over sadly, too toxic and full of morons, I stick to SP games now, I enjoy it much more. So I think if you're happier with SP (you can still play MMO's like ESO fine on your own for the most part), you stay away from the obvious AAA scams, and you're prepared to seek quality out then no I don't think the golden age has passed.

 

[chroniclard]

No.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

It peaked years ago. Days of the Jedi Knight series, Starfleet Command, X Wing, Morrowind/Oblivion, KOTOR. There were almost too many games to play they were released with such frequency. I'd actually be happy with modern rinse and repeat versions from this era, but we don't even get that now. What we get now is the occasional tech demo (making it costly to upgrade to just see one game in all its glory) or those filled with loot boxes. I actually don't mind DLC on decent games.

 

[wellibob]

The demands we have today for gaming are so extreme, the technology isn't available just yet. Also as you age you seen to think you must like gaming as you have in the past but the thrill will dwindle.

Gaming has to evolve or it'll die. Time will tell.

 

[cheesyboy]

What's missing now is the AA games. We've just got AAA and indies, for the most part, with very little in-between where you would traditionally get the more interesting mainstream titles.

PS2 era was the Zenith of AAs. Dark Souls is a AA game, really, they're a bit of a rarity now though. The Surge, Hellblade, Plague Tale come to mind in recent years.

Indie games have been peaking for the past decade, though.

 

[Junglist]

I don't think so. I find I'm a lot less frivolous with games compared to how I was 10 years ago. Now I tend to buy games I really want or that have been received well by friends etc. Last year I only bought a handful of games (AC: Odyssey+DLC, The Division 2, Modern Warfare and Pokemon which i haven't got around to starting yet) whereas in years gone buy I'd buy a lot more.

I think it's more a case of growing up. Just hit 30 in December and life is getting in the way of being able to play games as much as I'd like, though I did manage to sneak in about 12 hours of RDR2 over Fri-Mon but that's an exception and not the rule these days. Gone are the marathon gaming sessions with my friends until 6am.

 

[BowdonUK]

I think we've definately hit a slow down for the past few years. I remember the early days of gaming and the thing I liked most was playing new games that offered something new. These days not many games offer new things. Also there is a lot of copying of ideas. The battle royale mode for example. Suddenly every games company had to try and force a battle royale mode in to their games.

Also someone mentioned loot boxes and microtransactions. Though I think they should be regulated I'm not that concerned as long as it doesnt effect the playing experience of the game. But I've noticed that it appears that games makers are crippling their own games and the only way to play the game as intended would be to spend money on it.

Another issue I'm not fond of is how some games will bulk up game play hours by repeating the same type of mission over and over again. Mafia 3 particularly got on my nerves for this. After clearing a building of enemies, then you had to fight the boss of that area. But when you go back to the building its full of enemies again.

It seems the big software houses are either slightly tweaking their games so they can release a new version every year or squeezing out every last drop of money from their previous games before they move on to the next project.

 

[Andrew_McP]

The problem with games now is that it's too easy to make one. Obviously a AAA title is an incredible act of coordinated commercial creativity, and not easy at all to put together well. But the technology has matured to the point where "anyone" can throw a few hundred hours into a game maker and add another work of sludgy creative mediocrity onto Steam. The real joy of gaming, for me anyway, was in climbing the creative ladder all the way up from Pong in black and white to The Last of Us (arguably the peak of modern gaming, using mature tech to tell a mature tale via satisfying gameplay).

When tech was slow and awkward you had to be a real genius to push things further than anyone thought possible, and so every year brought new and unexpected capabilities from primitive tech. Almost every retail game was worth a look, because it was hard to make, hard to get published, and hard to get distributed. But now... the more there is of anything, the less value it has. Gaming is still great, but it's great in the same way that TV is; occasionally amazing, mainly just a time sink.

Of course gaming was always a time sink and I hate to think how many careers or talents I might have had if I hadn't become fascinated by Pong, Space Invaders, Star Wars('83), Doom('93), then flight and racing sims, then Fallout 3 & modern 'experiential' games. But ultimately whether you're a captain of industry or an expert at Tetris, we all end up 'back to the mud' as Joe Abercrombie writes. As long as we enjoy the journey from mud to mud, that's what matters.

I like to think if I was starting again from here I'd play a lot fewer games and watch a lot more YouTube guitar tutorials. Real world skills always trump virtual ones, because we're still physical beings and not brains plugged into the Matrix. Yet.

 

[llamadal]

Lack of dedicated servers for me has been the biggest disappointment, you could get some pretty good communities on them, various mods, proper administration to kick idiots and so on. It all added to the overall enjoyment.

Also the amount of low effort releases, poorly implemented co-op (if at all), bugged on release, minimal updates, split games due to dlc.

Just gets a little tiresome!

 

[AHarvey]

The problem with games now is that it's too easy to make one.

I was going to post the exact same thing.

It's too easy to make a game now, it's saturated with copies of ideas and usually badly.


But, Red Dead Redemption 2, i'm 38, gaming since I was 3 and this is by far the best game I have ever played. Story, emotions, game world, looks, it's just amazing.

You're still getting games like the new Terminator game as well. Maybe an A or AA game depending on your view, it has issues but its still fun. Shadow Tactics was another great game for me.

As long as games are fun that's all that really matters.

 

[Nevakonaza]

its sad how things have become in the gaming scene.

the thing ive noticed has gone downhill VERY fast in recent online games is teamwork,Its pretty much none existent,9/10 can forget about getting revived by a team mate in BR games,they purposely let you die so can then come over to your body and take your load out.

Also i wish game developers would stop favoring the opinions of YouTubers over the mass community,They look at the big YouTubers as they think they're "professional gamers" yet when the community want something changed or suggest something it doesn't happen.

people mention Micro transactions ,im good with this as long as it doesn't affect game play..cosmetics etc

i do find myself not really enjoying games much these days though,so much in face considered selling my gaming PC and just keeping the PS4 for the odd single player games here or there.

 

[Rezident]

No, according to the data it is getting bigger and better every year and if you look st the games, they are bigger, better and deeper too. Gaming passed out the movie industry for revenue a decade ago but unlike film which has plateaued, gaming continues to grow, who knows how far it will go with VR etc.

I am playing Red Dead Redemption 2 now and honestly, it is the most masterful gameworld I have ever seen, it is regularly breathtaking and I am nowhere near finished it 150-odd hours in. I haven't even played any missions in weeks, I am hunting and exploring and just loving so much about it. I too long for the memories of Half-life (or insert your first loved game here) but the human condition means that we remember those experiences through rose-tinted glasses - we remember how we felt then, when the experience of gaming itself was new and exciting to us, that's why when you go back to play those old games again, it is never quite the same is it?

Gaming is, evidently better in almost every conceivable way, now. You just may feel different about it, as you are older and have kids etc and have played a thousand games now.

Before that I played Witcher 3, probably the best game I have ever played (again!) and I can't wait for their next game. If Cyberpunk 2077 is the best game ever - again - I won't even be surprised, I will just enjoy it. I am not saying it is better than Half-life (or will make me feel better than I did the first time I played We've Got Hostiles or Surface Tension or whatever you first loved), I am just grateful for it all.

And when they make a sequel to Skyrim, guess what? Best game ever again probably! It's a hard life this post-Golden Age of Gaming

 

[cheesyboy]

No, according to the data it is getting bigger and better every year and if you look st the games, they are bigger, better and deeper too. Gaming passed out the movie industry for revenue a decade ago but unlike film which has plateaued, gaming continues to grow, who knows how far it will go with VR etc.

I am playing Red Dead Redemption 2 now and honestly, it is the most masterful gameworld I have ever seen, it is regularly breathtaking and I am nowhere near finished it 150-odd hours in. I haven't even played any missions in weeks, I am hunting and exploring and just loving so much about it. I too long for the memories of Half-life (or insert your first loved game here) but the human condition means that we remember those experiences through rose-tinted glasses - we remember how we felt then, when the experience of gaming itself was new and exciting to us, that's why when you go back to play those old games again, it is never quite the same is it?

Gaming is, evidently better in almost every conceivable way, now. You just may feel different about it, as you are older and have kids etc and have played a thousand games now.

Before that I played Witcher 3, probably the best game I have ever played (again!) and I can't wait for their next game. If Cyberpunk 2077 is the best game ever - again - I won't even be surprised, I will just enjoy it. I am not saying it is better than Half-life (or will make me feel better than I did the first time I played We've Got Hostiles or Surface Tension or whatever you first loved), I am just grateful for it all.

And when they make a sequel to Skyrim, guess what? Best game ever again probably! It's a hard life this post-Golden Age of Gaming

If you like expansive open worlds, then the games market is catering for you, that's for sure.

But if you don't, pickings are much thinner.

 

[kevman]

No - I think the industry is much bigger than it was and a lot more **** is pumped out. Some of the best games i have ever played have come out in recent years. Commercial pressures are higher and downloadable delivery as caused a release now finish later culture.

 

[bigmike20vt]

peaked in terms of money? I dunno, I doubt it.

but the thing is, I have witnessed the birth of videogaming right from the late 70s with black and white pong likes through to star citizen....
We are at a point now where the hardware is capable of doing pretty much what ever you want to visually that is possible on a screen. Sure, lighting gets a bit nicer, resolution a bit higher and a few extra frames per second.

but the bottom line is that the huge jumps in "fidelity" we saw in the 80s and 90s will never happen again..... lets face it we are closer to photo realism than we are to games like Night Driver, so there just isnt that much more to improve.

VR (and AR) is possibly the last "great" breakthrough, now we have that then am not sure where the next big wow thing is going to be. The only limit now is the developers imagination (and their development budget)

Its not going to die out at least, not like the arcades..... We have definitely had the golden era of those, and those which are making a sort of comback - mostly in Asia afaik - are closer to theme parks than they are what i consider an arcade.

The thing which saddens me is that I am primarily a loner / or play with a few real life friends to do some gaming.... whilst it is true that my needs ARE still covered, equally more and more high profile "AAA" games seem to be going more towards multiplayer with random people and a lot of the time with PvP stuff.

I really have no interest in that..... Like i said, there are options for me still but there are a whole bunch of games i look at and thing "that would be so cool if....................................." I also see some of the IP I love getting less and less time and have huge compromises made to them to accommodate multiplayer features or to go towards MMO.

just look at Elite Dangerous, I love it dont get me wrong, but it has huge limitations in terms of npcs and persistence, which are apparnrly due to "mmo" and to having to keep everything server side.

but the smaller indies are a beacon of hope for me, there is some top notch indie stuff out there.......