Comment on Anon is worried about AAA sales
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
This could literally cause the collapse of the entire western AAA gaming industry.
Wouldn’t be the first time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
TL;DR: A much smaller gaming industry was enshitified at an alarming pace, barely after it got started. There were too many competing options, many of which were sub-par experiences, and there was no way to tell until after purchase.
Perhaps that’s not directly comparable, but to my eye, the biggest similarity is not enough value for the liquidity (disposable capital) people are willing to put forward on a product. At some point, people will just spend less or spend on something else entirely.
Meanwhile, you have older gamers like myself that are more than happy to take a trip down memory lane, since a few decades can make those old games fun again. I’m in this 14%. That said, I tend to buy new indie titles, mostly due to the lower pricepoint, lower expectations, reliably better art, lower system specs, smaller time commitment, and so on. Games like Assasin’s Creed Odyssey showed me that big studios aren’t necessarily pushing more and interesting narrative into monster-sized titles, opting for cut/paste easter-egg hunts and aftermarket content purchases instead. Less really can be more.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 20 hours ago
Not only memory lane, but stuff like ROM hacks and randomizers can make new games from their retro roots. Hell I’ve gotten back into Doom in the past few years, and people just basically never stopped making new (free) levels for that since it came out 30+ years ago.
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
There’s also the Quake Brutalist Jam 3 that came out last month. It’s playable with a modern Quake I engine, and man, some of those levels are incredible.
All for the low-low price of $0.
nutomic@lemmy.ml 18 hours ago
Looks neat! In fact I never heard much about Quake having singleplayer.
dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
It’s super neat. Map quality is all over the place, but most are real gems. I’ve only had one soft-lock in about 20 maps, and only a handful of those had impossible to beat final fights (I’m sorry, but failing to take down 15 shamblers at once, in a room with four central columns for cover is not a “skill issue”).
It had good singleplayer for the time. IMO, it hasn’t aged particularly well. ID was learning how to do a fully 3D game on the fly here, and it shows in spots. The best moments are built on experience with building Doom maps, but that’s practically a different sport.