Here's an observation (hot take or not, I dunno)...
There is no medium in which the gap between critics and populism is bigger than video games.
I always thought it was movies- you know, arthouse stuff vs blockbusters. And I used to be into movies more and follow that industry and was kind of fascinated at the trends at how movies and movie-making was perceived.
Now that I'm focusing that attention on video games, it's pretty wild that I'm seeing what to me is the third iteration of this wild gap:
First one was sports games. I 'member back in the PS1 days already when critics and serious gamers, the kind who hate sports, made fun of Maddens being the same and not really interesting games, yet they were popular. At the time I was into both games a little and football a LOT so I thought it was funny.
Second one is mobile, of course- the most popular gaming in the world and it's barely an afterthought in our world.
And now it's open-world games... or service games... or just.. .BIG games.
The reaction to Starfield from the XBox stream is really the highlight of this "uch, 1000 planets" says all the critics. Why do they make games so big and empty?
Well... I guess people like this. Not you, not me not Yahtzee and our favorite critics, but people that don't play a million games maybe? It's just interesting, that's all.
The complete opposite is music- I remember the Pitchfork mentality of snobbery and taste-makers and "selling out." Now you're an elitist monster if you don't equate Megan Thee Stallion with Mozart- just wild opposites.
And I don't think it's just a correlation that the music industry has shrunk to practical irrelevance and games is the biggest money-maker except for maybe porn.
There is no medium in which the gap between critics and populism is bigger than video games.
I always thought it was movies- you know, arthouse stuff vs blockbusters. And I used to be into movies more and follow that industry and was kind of fascinated at the trends at how movies and movie-making was perceived.
Now that I'm focusing that attention on video games, it's pretty wild that I'm seeing what to me is the third iteration of this wild gap:
First one was sports games. I 'member back in the PS1 days already when critics and serious gamers, the kind who hate sports, made fun of Maddens being the same and not really interesting games, yet they were popular. At the time I was into both games a little and football a LOT so I thought it was funny.
Second one is mobile, of course- the most popular gaming in the world and it's barely an afterthought in our world.
And now it's open-world games... or service games... or just.. .BIG games.
The reaction to Starfield from the XBox stream is really the highlight of this "uch, 1000 planets" says all the critics. Why do they make games so big and empty?
Well... I guess people like this. Not you, not me not Yahtzee and our favorite critics, but people that don't play a million games maybe? It's just interesting, that's all.
The complete opposite is music- I remember the Pitchfork mentality of snobbery and taste-makers and "selling out." Now you're an elitist monster if you don't equate Megan Thee Stallion with Mozart- just wild opposites.
And I don't think it's just a correlation that the music industry has shrunk to practical irrelevance and games is the biggest money-maker except for maybe porn.