Problem is that those sports games have been pretty much auto-buy for decades, let's stop pretending this is new. EA mastered this formula late in the SNES/Genesis era (which is why there's so many of them around to be used as donor carts for reproductions).

Like many people here, I've been playing games for a good long time, around 30 years, and the fact is that there were FEW games that stood the test of time. For every Mario, there were ten Bubsies, for every Street Fighter, ten TUFF E NUFFs. No one remembers the shit from the old day, and I suspect the kids of today (or us when we're in our sixties) will not remember tripe like Sea of Thieves or Fallout 76.

This is why I don't worry much for the future of physical games on console. Let's face it, there's only going to be so many companies that can SUPPORT this nonsense, let alone the issues with streaming games (lag, data caps, etc). Greed will eventually kill digital distribution, as it has killed many a great thing, because people aren't made of money. No one's going to pay 100/month between all these fucking services.

I agree, but there is this long-running trend of ever fewer released bigger games per year (from thousands per year in the late 90s to a few hundred nowadays), presumably because of higher production costs and if one assumes that the percentage of games that will stand the test of time successfully stays the same, then because of the lower number of released games to start with (except for Indies, maybe some of them will become classics) we might end up with a lower number of truly great games now than in the past. We obviously have to wait a bit to see how the future regards the games from today but it doesn't look good.

The question would basically be which games from the last three years we think might still be played in 15 years and compare that with the number of games from 15 years ago that we still play now.

Well, the big releases are certainly drying up due to stag atiob, there's still plenty coming out from mid-tier and small developers, and the apparent ascendency of THQ Nordic can only be a good thing. There are ebbs and flows to everything.

Too many stores.

Beware of some of them disappear, not good. I am not going to support them beyond the games I already own there (like Fortnite)

Epic games is already in trouble. Apparently Fortnite has already pissed off the Chinese government. Given that the owners of Epic Games is a Chinese company this does not bode well for the Epic Store.

https://www.keengamer.com/article/20613_pubg-and-fortnite-just-got-banned-by-the-chinese-government

Chinese gamers have to play something. You cannot just ban everything. But it's an interesting development. One has to wait and see what happens.

As well as “inharmonious chatroom” or “game visuals [that] promote incorrect values”.

So, does it mean the Witcher series is not available in China?

I suddenly feel so harmonious especially when correct values are promoted to me.

First problems with the Epic Store raise there head.

It seams Epic has a VERY vague user agreement where they basically give themselves the right to sell user information to "sister companies" cough'Tencent'cough without the possibility of the user to decline.

YongYea video on the mater:
https://youtu.be/6WZ1RW8Ongk

Also, this. Forced updates without notifying you ? Even Steam has a visual notifier, and you can delay or queue updates.

Epic is a store to get FREE games from, but not to BUY games from. Read this in the EULA I was asked to sign before getting the free Subnautica game:

"Epic may update the Software remotely without notifying you, and you hereby consent to Epic applying patches, updates, and upgrades. Epic may modify, suspend, discontinue, substitute, replace, or limit your access to any aspect of the Software or Services at any time. You acknowledge that your use of the Software or Services does not confer on you any interest, monetary or otherwise, in any aspect or feature of the Software or Services, including but not limited to any in-game rewards, achievements, character levels. You also acknowledge that any character data, game progress, game customization or other data related to your use of the Software or Services may cease to be available to you at any time without notice from Epic, including without limitation after a patch, update, or upgrade is applied by Epic. Epic does not have any maintenance or support obligations with respect to the Software or Services."

emphasis mine.

Doesn't sound much different than any other "cover your ass" client-EULA. *shrug* I might care if those things ever prove to be legally enforceable, which none have so far. In some way I think they exist mainly to appease company lawyers and shareholders only.

By the way: after the latest build the then DRM-free Subnautica now needs the client to run. So it's no alternative to GOG.

Like steam, EA, uplay or MS store. It's the same.