Editor's Note: State of the Industry

[TheAmazingHobo]

Wow... that was enormously unpleasent to read and made the author sound unbelievably passive-aggressive and mean-spirited.... so.... good job ?
Maybe ?

Serious add:
I´m not kidding.
If there was any other point to this article than a person I REALLY don´t want to ever meet ranting about how the industry he works in is shit and everything connected to this industry is also shit and especially everybody who buys stuff made by the industry, reads articles about stuff made by the industry or is interested in the industry is also shit,
I certainly failed to notice it.

 

[Continuity]

This article is so angry I'm not sure if it's sattire or not. Great read either way.

No, actually its bollocks.

The gamer is not to blame in the slightest, the only party here that deserves blame is the publishers. They're the ones forcing though overt monetisation at the cost of artistic diversity, they're the ones in control, they decide what games get made, they decide what games to advertise heavily and how much funding projects get, they're the morons weighing us down with gears of war clones and MMO after MMO even though everyone is still playing WoW.

Every single flaw and fault in the industry can be traced back at some point in the chain to a publisher. And what is a publisher anyway? a bunch of jerk managers and accountants who couldn't give a shit about gaming and just view gamers as cash cows... well they can all fuck right off.

 

[MetalGenocide]

Requesting a video of this. Please make one.

 

[WaderiAAA]

Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, one is gold.

There should be room for both old and new games in the industry.

 

[The Urban Moose]

I don't understand why reviewers who tell it like it is are screwing the industry. Why is that, exactly?

 

[thirdsonsaburo]

It's funny that a lot of people are reading this as satire, because it's really, really not. That's the way the industry is.

Then again, some of the most absurd satires (Waugh's The Loved One comes to mind) aren't so far from reality.

So our reality is just that absurd. Everyone is to blame for this massive catastrophe, and we can probably take today to mourn that fact and feel full of self-pity.

But we should also start looking at how to fix the industry from the ground up. The players, distributors, journalists/reviewers, publishers, and developers all together need to do their part in figuring out where we went wrong and how we can fix that.

Still gotta hold on to hope, after all.

 

[Ewoc]

"If I'm the man, then your the man, and he's the man as well, so you can point your fucking finger up your ass!"- TOOL

Awesome article, great job! Loved it.

 

[Maldoror19]

The industry relies too much on what 'the gamer' wants. If developers are making games to only please the gamer, then their role is purely to churn out entertainment like Hollywood does. The point here is, Hollywood is not the entire film industry.

Games such as Civilization, Dune 2, and Legend of Zelda are all genre defining games that were made with a distinct vision from within, and which were not compromised by consumer needs. In fact, what makes them genre defining, is that the mechanics of these games were so intelligently integrated with the player's ability to freely play them how they wanted to, that there was a fair and respectable balance between creator and consumer.

Looking back at these mentioned games, with today's industry standards, they all might be perceived as great risks that could quickly end up in the bargain bin. But they didn't - because the people who made these games actually really cared about them, and clearly communicated this through aesthetic self evidence without compromise.

Surely, there is room enough for developers in the industry to make the games that they want to create from their own desire that also can cater to an audience that will want to embrace such a vision. Throw away most of the publisher's consumer trend research and be confident in developing something with passion. Integrity sells itself.

 

[Trilliandi]

Well HERE'S another brilliant idea. Yes, this is a wonderful little piece of written complaint. Too bad the person writin it apparently can't aim half as well as those mentioned within it. Honestly, how many people who frequent this site didn't ALREADY know this? And for those of them that did'nt, by some miracle since most of the video makers on this site have already SAID all this at some point, and they're part of the problem, then by what new miracle now are you expecting them to read this? You got a blue fairy hidden away we don't know about? (Anyone thinking of a 'Hey Listen' line right now, put that thought away before someone gets hurt)

This isn't the sort of messege that a Editor's Note can really do anything about except be a long and boring complaint, that will only serve to annoy those who'll actually take the time to read it...

 

[matt_newgrove]

Shit just got REAL!

Anyways, great read.

 

[Ryuuske]

In the terms of a Great read, sure, I guess. But so much is wrong with these 'opinions' that I couldn't even be bothered to finish this article. I'll make a rebuttal short. The Gaming world is not 'fucked'. It is simply moving forward at the gamers discretion, which is how it should be. If a developer of two gets screwed because of it well so be it. Thats how the world is.
About the metacritic thing, I do somewhat agree with you. But if these reviews are actually truthful, then bad ones have credibility and shows the developers lack to make something worth playing. Do better next time and the review will work.
Also there is nothing wrong with how gamestop sells pre-owned games. Pardon me for not wanting to buy a game I used to play for full price like a year after I played it. And pardon my impatience for not wanting to wait for it to be shipped to me by buying it from some random person online.

 

[Ghost]

Meanwhile indie games developed by small teams with tiny overheads are flying off the virtual shelves... Well alright they're also pirated like there's no tomorrow, but they have no obligation to generate X amount of revenue, and no massive debt they require the game to sell well to pay off. By distributing on Steam the most they'd have to pay would be software licenses.

You can't blame the consumers for being fussy about what they want, not at all. For a start, advertising warps our minds. No one in this word actually needs 3D games, but developers are being forced to made games for the 3DS just because they will sell.

Surely massive publishers competing are doing more damage, by releasing games to compete directly with similar games (MoH, CoD, Battlefield. If I was to look a picture of a modern FPS I wouldn't be able to identify it). Maybe the videogame industry has become too big, to the point that it's purely about making a huge profit like any other industry, which is generally a bad idea for videogames since people refuse to play games purely for looking 'generic'.

This post is poorly written, I know. 3 hours of straight studying fucks with my brain.

 

[Xman490]

What's so bad about the loss of the disc medium? I like not having to switch discs to play games, and I like having sales show up to make me twice as likely to buy a game (e.g. Just Cause 2, Limbo, Dead Rising Case West).

What's so bad about truthful game reviewers/critics? I like not having to play a game that I end up loathing, and I like having knowledge of games that are good (e.g. Just Cause 2, Limbo, Dead Rising Case West).

You, sir, are pissing yourself in shock.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

You can point the finger anywhere you like, really. It's as much your fault as it is theirs as it is somebody else's. If you would only want the same games you wanted last year and the year before and at the same time want new games that haven't come before then none of this would be happening. Publishers wouldn't be refusing to spend money on new IP, while, at the same time, spending millions to revamp last year's hits, stifling creativity and turning what used to be a fun career creating worlds into a dead-end job making trees or coding cheering fans. But then, you want what you want. That's no crime.

Nor is it a crime that you want what you want how you want it.

This is pretty much my stand on shameless ripoffs and games pretty much being remade, but looking slightly different or having a few new features and yet... everybody goes out and buys them. I'm not so jaded as to say all games fall under this routine (I enjoy Minecrafting here and there ) but at the same time, I can tell a lot of people just don't recognize that they're being shafted sometimes.

I really pity people who aren't willing to try different games or think that they have to fork out 60$ to get quality.

Now let me elaborate on how my view seems to differ from many other peoples'.

I don't want the game industry to make lots and lots of money and have lots of lots of employees who inevitably get laid off year-after-year. I would much rather gaming stay niche and keep the root of all evil out of it.

After years of bitching about wanting the right to make copies of your game purchases, you've bent over and grabbed your ankles for Steam, paying good money for games you don't even get to hold to begin with, much less make copies of or even play the damn things without an internet connection.

This I actually avidly disagree with. I have NEVER paid good money for a game on Steam, it's why I use it so often. Most games on Steam I have gotten for 5$... and frankly, I would rather not have to deal with having dozens upon dozens of boxes and cases of games, I lost many of them in a move 2 years ago and I'm still annoyed about it. If you complain about Steam ripping people off for being expensive then I think you're not using it the way I am... rather you probably haven't used it at all.

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

That's how the industry works.I mean,your extra credits show has even stated that if a game is bad,punish the developer by not buying it.We're not all money banks.Frankly,and I don't want to insult the boss by saying this,the whole prospect here would be to get rid of the buyer effectively removing the industry and any point for which anyone would attempt to make a game.
Why try to please an audience that is not there?

 

[secretsantaone]

Yeah! Fuck people having fun with videogames! I want the masses to conform to my specific taste in games!

And fuck people who complain about video games! Yeah they should just shut up and enjoy what they don't personally enjoy! If they complain they don't like an element from a game it's obvious that THEY'RE the problem and not the game element. After all, it's not like the consumer is the one being relied on to fork out their own money for the game!

If there's a hair in my burger, I'll complain. If there's bad acting in a film, I'll criticise it. If there's a note that sounds off in a piece of music, I'll point it out. But suddenly if I want to point out a stupid game mechanic or a plot hole in a story I'm being picky? Isn't that your bloody job?

There's massive variety in the modern game industry, just because the some mainstream games are rehashes designed for the lowest common denominator (just like every other form of entertainment ever) doesn't mean gaming is now suddenly dead. For every Transformers 2, there's a District 9 or an Inglorious Bastards. For every Justin Beiber album there's an In The Aeroplane Over The Sea or an Abbey Road. For every COD clone, there's a Portal or a Mass Effect.

Gaming is far from fucked.

 

[Russ Pitts]

"If I'm the man, then your the man, and he's the man as well, so you can point your fucking finger up your ass!"- TOOL

Exactly.

 

[punipunipyo]

Saw the cycle, know the problems, still trying to support good companies, but still ALWAYS seeing shit games being bought, still tons of crappy sequels/sequel-baits being made, totally "milk products", People STILL BUY IN TO THEM! yeah, i'm mad too, but what can you do? too many games out there, too much money being pour in to shit games, and there are only so many buyers out there, Arts being dropped, "milking products" being purchased... DLC, $1 gaming, being pooped out, and stupid kids flooding to bandwagon shit games... sad, (how ever, this year, i am excited about a few titles...)