http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/ailing-video-game-industry-222612072.html#more-13312

Not much of surprise with anything here, but yea, I agree with the idea that this generation of console has been around too long and that most games are just rehashes.

Sadly that article really doesn't add much to the discussion, pretty much everyone know that this generation's long in the tooth and that the Developers aren't doing anything very original. I do love that the games listed in his silver lining are all Sequels and with only Bioshock Infinite having anything original (and I'm a bit ho hum on it's premise.) I think if he had some ideas on how to improve gaming then the article would be a bit more worth reading.

I just wonder why companies think they need new consoles to do new IP. I feel like this generation is only "long in the tooth" because of the constant regurgitating of the same franchises and gameplay styles.

Honestly I think Crysis and the like look plenty good enough. I love not having to upgrade my PC. I would love to get a few more years out of my GTX 480 but I also want some new IP.

I think that's a mentality that's left over from previous console generations, where a new generation always brought a more complex controller and allowed for noticeably different gameplay due to improved hardware.
Also, bringing a new system onto the market, means that people will have to build a new library of games from scratch, which means more money for them (provided that they manage to build a library of good games fast enough). I wouldn't be surprised if they're intentionally holding back new IPs and ideas, just to make the next generation look better in comparison to the current state of constant rehash.

The industry isn't ailing, it is changing. With the advent of the indie market and cutting out the middle men the money spend on games gets more "democratized". Bigger AAA titles do have it worse to make big bucks, especially as those overblown marketing budgets don't bring back their investment.

In general, the money spent on videogames is more, but it no longer gets divided by five big publishers.

I wouldn't really call that a bad thing ....

I have to agree with that. Hardly the problem is that current consoles are too weak for some new refreshing ideas that would sell buttloads.

Having said that, it is also true that people tend to buy more new games/stuff for a device that is new, just because they are more excited about the device in the beginning. Be it a new console, IPad4, a new PC graphics card etc. Heck, even I went to buy a bunch of new-ish Steam games recently, as something to show on my new shiny computer (which I still don't have, duh).

I don't understand why they also make such a big number in the article about the sales of the current console units being on decline. Isn't that just expected? It isn't as if the same people keep rebuying the same consoles over and over again, unless they get broken when warranty is void. So it is quite understandable that XBox360 or Wii is selling less and less each month, unless they think there's some huge untapped market out there yet to buy one of those devices which have been around us 7 years or so.

And wasn't it so anyway that the console HW sales are not making much money to the console companies anyway, the money comes from the cut they get from console games released on their device? Maybe AMD, NVidia care more about the console HW sales.


BTW, I liked it in the article how one of the suggested reasons for the decline was that people are getting tired of more and more sequels, and then right after that they say this: What a breath of fresh air indeed. Let's also hope for a new COD game. :)