the state of games these days

adolf hamster · 12 Sep 2017 at 22:50

is it just me, or does it seem to be that these days the way the games industry works is as follows:

1. indie dev comes up with a fantastic game concept (eg dayz, minecraft or subnautica)
2. game gets popular- for good reason
3. literally every man and his dog starts copying this general premise
4. steam gets filled up with a million copycat games that are all a mild twist on the original formula only not as good
5. ???
6. no profit, because now my steam queue is filled with terrible copies of what i already have played just because of the tags "early access" "survival" and "sandbox" are involved.

is this just the way it's gonna be?

insideline · 12 Sep 2017 at 23:03

sounds like most creative industries tbh

DONOHUE07 · 13 Sep 2017 at 11:11

Pretty much nailed it, I was getting tired of gaming, but I bought an Oculus Rift during the sale and now I'm in love again!

danoliver1 · 13 Sep 2017 at 11:16

DONOHUE07 said:
Pretty much nailed it, I was getting tired of gaming, but I bought an Oculus Rift during the sale and now I'm in love again!

Same, have not played a 2d game in years, once you've tried vr there's no going back.

SS-89 · 13 Sep 2017 at 11:27

danoliver1 said:
Same, have not played a 2d game in years, once you've tried vr there's no going back.

Wouldn't necessarily agree with that, I bought an OR last year and whilst the initial novelty was great the drawbacks are still there along with a lack of true AAA content. It's improving and there is potential but it has a long way to go (especially on pricing for mainstream adoption).

Glanza · 13 Sep 2017 at 11:29

It's been like this for the last 20 years or so, only with the influx of Steam and anyone being able to make a game in their garage is it becoming easier to swamp the market with copies.

It won't be long before PUBG gets it's crown knocked off once the next 'big' thing comes along.

Bishie · 13 Sep 2017 at 11:34

danoliver1 said:
once you've tried vr there's no going back.

Not true, there's certainly room for both. I purchased Oculus during the summer sale, but I still gravitate towards games like Battlegrounds and Witcher 3. I find VR tiring after a long day, and I only enjoy a handful of seated experiences like Elite Dangerous.

almoststew1990 · 13 Sep 2017 at 13:05

adolf hamster said:
is it just me, or does it seem to be that these days the way the games industry works...

This is not new there were "Doom clones" and "GTA clones" over the past 25 and 15 years ago respectively! However I agree that some genres, particularly the survival genre is over saturated and most of the games are a bit rubbish (I've played quite a few). I would be interested to see how many actually get finished - as in, not just out of Early Access, but no more patches for fixes or non-additional content. E.g. PUBG is going out of EA this autumn but I seriously doubt this will be when the game is 'finished' and only additional content is provided.

adolf hamster · 13 Sep 2017 at 14:49

almoststew1990 said:
This is not new there were "Doom clones" and "GTA clones" over the past 25 and 15 years ago respectively! However I agree that some genres, particularly the survival genre is over saturated and most of the games are a bit rubbish (I've played quite a few). I would be interested to see how many actually get finished - as in, not just out of Early Access, but no more patches for fixes or non-additional content. E.g. PUBG is going out of EA this autumn but I seriously doubt this will be when the game is 'finished' and only additional content is provided.

indeed, it seems to be the in thing these days to do early access as an excuse not to finish a game properly.

don't get me wrong there's a few titles who've really been dedicated to maintaining updates and additional features that actually make the game better on top of fixing bugs (kerbal space program for example is leagues ahead of when i first started playing it)

it's just rarely do i see a game and think "wow i really need to buy this"

Marky · 13 Sep 2017 at 15:18

The number of games released on Steam in 2017 is set to overtake the number of releases between 2006 and 2014

It's a bit ridiculous - And just like the iOS/Android App Stores, Steam is becoming absolutely full of ****

chroniclard · 13 Sep 2017 at 15:20

I feel like getting PUBG at some point but by the time its out of early access surely its already over and we will be onto the next big thing...........

Drollic · 13 Sep 2017 at 17:32

All these early release messes need to stop.

Mark A · 13 Sep 2017 at 20:41

A lot of people like early access games and a lot of them are great, so why do they need to stop?

What needs to stop is steam letting all the shovelware through just because it makes them money from card sales. 'Games' that the only selling point is that it has 4000 achievements that you get given for pressing a key etc.

chroniclard said:
I feel like getting PUBG at some point but by the time its out of early access surely its already over and we will be onto the next big thing...........

Not really no. Its supposed to be out of early access by Q4 2017, but even if its not why does that matter? Its fully playable now and being played by over a million concurrent players. Its not often a 'big thing' comes along, which is why CSGO and DOTA have been at the top of the concurrent player list for years and years, PUBG is the only game to beat them. I very much doubt something will take the crown for a long time.

Malevolence · 13 Sep 2017 at 21:11

Anyone remember when all you had to do to test a game, be that alpha, beta or whatever was to sign up to the companies website/forum and then hope you got picked? And it was free, and very often you received a free copy of the game on release too. The devs these days must be laughing all the way to the bank with the hordes of impatient idiots all willing to pay full price to test their products.

Raumarik · 13 Sep 2017 at 21:31

Everyone praises Minecraft yet forgets it was essentially early access to, I was playing it early in alpha, it was happily charging years before release.

adolf hamster · 13 Sep 2017 at 21:43

Halfmad said:
Everyone praises Minecraft yet forgets it was essentially early access to, I was playing it early in alpha, it was happily charging years before release.

that's why i used it as one of my examples of the rare time an early access title really delivers.

tbf though, vanilla minecraft was never that great, it relied on the community of modders and map makers descending upon it to produce the bulk of the excellent content available. it too was victim to a plague of copycat games that never really took on the original.

i suppose dayz would be the exception given it started as a mod rather than an actual game.

LOAM · 13 Sep 2017 at 22:14

Mark A said:
A lot of people like early access games and a lot of them are great, so why do they need to stop?

What needs to stop is steam letting all the shovelware through just because it makes them money from card sales. 'Games' that the only selling point is that it has 4000 achievements that you get given for pressing a key etc.

Not really no. Its supposed to be out of early access by Q4 2017, but even if its not why does that matter? Its fully playable now and being played by over a million concurrent players. Its not often a 'big thing' comes along, which is why CSGO and DOTA have been at the top of the concurrent player list for years and years, PUBG is the only game to beat them. I very much doubt something will take the crown for a long time.

This, nothing will come close to pubg for years, its a phenomena.

purplesky · 13 Sep 2017 at 22:14

I've got a boat load of games on Steam, most of which I haven't played. And the ones I have touched have probably been played for less than 15 minutes. Next time you're bored, just open up Steam, take a look at your games list for a minute or two, then close Steam after realising that the games are rubbish. You'll be less bored than you were before.

I used to get all hyped up over a game, particularly after watching reviews on YouTube, or reading reviews on various games media sites/media/magazines. The disappointment soon sets in once you start playing the game and realise it's not the 10/10 masterpiece the reviews made out, and quite often just another boring title with poor game play, poor storylines and little motivation to even want to play. Of course the reviews are generally fake and sponsored which explains the hype. As you get older though, you can more easily see through the BS.

seabiscuit · 13 Sep 2017 at 22:27

Well at least two of your example games are heavily influenced by/homages of other earlier games. Mincraft is (at least in it's early days) hugely influenced by Infiniminer, and that is something that Notch has freely admitted to. Subnautice is heavily influenced by FarSky. I'm not putting either game down, they've taken the influence, improved and expanded upon it and created their own slant. But to say that those were original games is ignoring what came before. nanos gigantum humeris insidentes (yep, only got by googling, don't know that off the top of my head)

adolf hamster · 13 Sep 2017 at 22:39

seabiscuit said:
Well at least two of your example games are heavily influenced by/homages of other earlier games. Mincraft is (at least in it's early days) hugely influenced by Infiniminer, and that is something that Notch has freely admitted to. Subnautice is heavily influenced by FarSky. I'm not putting either game down, they've taken the influence, improved and expanded upon it and created their own slant. But to say that those were original games is ignoring what came before. nanos gigantum humeris insidentes (yep, only got by googling, don't know that off the top of my head)

and that's the important bit that's distinct to the rest.

at the end of the day there's nothing really new under the sun, and everything draws its influences from somewhere, but it's the difference between being a good band in your own right or just another terrible tribute act.