8 Recent Gaming Trends That Absolutely SUCK

[@PeteBaldwin]

The main trend that's killing gaming for me these days is the way everything seems to be focussed on making miniscule improvements to graphics with no effort put into gameplay, world design, quest design, features and so on. The law of diminishing returns means that for each step forward, you need a much more powerful rig but we've already hit a point where the improvements just aren't noticeable enough to justify the cost. We're seeing next to no innovation or improvements when it comes to gameplay, physics, animations and so on but oh look - we've improved the way the light bounces off an object by 0.0001% and providing you spend £1000 on a new graphics card, you should still be able to hit 30fps. The overall mechanics of your average 2023 game is no better than what we were seeing 10 years ago - often, they're worse. There are less features, less variation in gameplay, less stuff to interact with...

[@Bird_Dog00]

I hear you. But the thing is, good gameplay mechanics are hard work, and so is good writing. Plus, a main characters well thought-out character ark or interesting side quests are hard to get across in a flashy gameplay trailer...

[@BigFatCone]

RTX does make things look amazing though. I sat down in the early secret area in Quake 1 with the starting gun giggling every time a shot actual lit up the area in real time. Would I prefer something more cerebral? Sure. But don't knock good lighting.

[@wintertrooper7918]

Or massive open worlds but little to do in the world

[@theonus_4483]

Yes this! Making the graphics good but the gameplay something we've had for 15 years and are bored of is like a chef making the food look great but when you take that first bite it's just the same crappy stuff you been heating up in your microwave for 10 years. Much like food, it's the gameplay that represents the flavour left in your mouth and ultimately how good the dish is. But sadly, again much like food - we take the first bite with our eyes and that's when we decide to pay - so too much focus gets put on that / the marketing.

[@philsurtees]

Yeah, there's this company called Nintendo. You obviously haven't heard of them. They have the cheapest console on the market - one of the biggest selling in history - and they _LONG AGO_ learnt exactly what you have said, and have been concentrating on gameplay every since. You should check them out.

[@ElvinGonzalez]

Battle passes are a trend I utterly hate. Trapping the player into playing for dozens of hours to unlock a weapon/skin or pay 20 bucks to unlock it right away is already bad enough, but having that in a 60~70 usd game is just pathetic.

[@rick4151]

Right that’s what I’ve been saying for years there are hundreds of other games I wanna play I do not want to be stuck on Fortnite for weeks at a time, trying to level up the battle pass but if I miss out on a cool skin it makes me upset because I’ll probably never be able to get it and it just makes me not want to play the game

[@gazzy9136]

Battlepass deez nuts foo

[@bongo2011]

I think its fine as long as it doesn't give you an upperhand. Like the Battlepass just unlocks skins/cosmetics. Nobody is forcing you to pay for your shit too look cool.

[@atma-media]

Another reason I got sick of OW2. The second they put playable heros behind a pay wall, I uninstalled it. Same with D4, I was fairly excited about but blizzard kept dropping their games in poop and calling it an update. When I saw the battle pass in beta I had decided, hard pass

[@nodlimax]

Haven't bought a single battle pass in any game I played that has offered them (I'm staying away from most of those games anyway). So yeah I hate those as well. I just look at this stuff as ways to draw more money out of my pocket while forcing me to keep playing or otherwise I'd miss out on the "value". I hate shit like daily login rewards because it just creates anxiety when you miss a day for whatever reason. Battle passes are the same thing. You either buy it and play it out completely to get all the "rewards" within the limited time frames or you risk losing things you already paid for. Alternatively you have to pay more money to get the stuff you haven't unlocked yet. So they charge you to get the battle pass and then charge you extra to unlock the levels... Fuck that shit...

[@DudeInNOVAisAwesome]

I think one of the worst trends that was not mentioned was publishing expensive games that are essentially in beta status. I have stopped pre-ordering games because too many in recent years are nearly unplayable because the bugs are so bad. And developers know this. It goes along with the under-staffed and under-paid issues. Unfettered greed is ruining gaming along with every other industry.

[@urban_ghost_5226]

I often wait around 1 year before buying a game. The bugs are fixed around that time and it's less expensive

[@urban_ghost_5226]

I often wait around 1 year before buying a game. The bugs are fixed around that time and it's less expensive

[@Satsujinki1973]

Yep. games I am interested in go on my wishlist now, and I wait for a good sale. Everything that is not on game pass that is.

[@VisonsofFalseTruths]

I haven’t pre-ordered a game since Pokemon Scarlet, and that was only because the preorder had bonus content at GameStop and because my housemates all pitched in for a couple of double packs. I never understood the trend of pre-ordering a game just for the “privilege” of playing a day before everyone else.

[@MSPintail]

That's not a recent trend though. It's beeing going on at a massive scale for 10-15 years.

[@Sonosuke]

I remember playing a game called DARQ on steam and leaving a review. I mentioned how much I liked the ending soundtrack and like 3 hours later, they answered me with a download link to the OST. That was so sweet

[@benncatlover]

That’s a good dev team

[@jakemarmelstein8533]

Those are cool devs

[@ImperialDiecast]

@@benncatlover takes a review like no problem

[@benncatlover]

@@ImperialDiecast yes it’s nice when devs listen and respond

[@Mogmanhatengr]

Cumshidfard

[@arturoperezify]

For me a trend I hate seeing are the games that are either always online or digital only releases. They're a huge slap in the face toward game preservation. Ubisoft recently said that Gamers need to start getting comfortable with not owning games...

[@mystbunnygaming1449]

As someone who lives in rural Texas, the "always online" thing makes games unplayable for me, so it's always frustrating to see this trend continue to come back and grow.

[@kennethshiro9500]

they've wanted to do it since the start of last gen. they want full control. no used games = 100% profit forever. It doesn't even matter too much at this point anyway, since from a preservation standpoint way down the road you'll be missing out on gigs of updates and dlc if you care about that. Plus bonus they can do a lazy remaster of it 5-10 years down the line and sell it to you at full price AGAIN.

[@kennethshiro9500]

@natsockaiser2067 not on console they're not, aside from the switch

[@mode3763]

Lmao Ubisoft. They're such an irrelevant company.

[@motan7864]

im definitely comfortable not owning their trash games

[@brentschmogbert]

8:ugly game ui 7:terrible licensed games 6: developers responding to steam reviews 5: war against mods 4:soft aim hacks in multiplayer 3:terrible pc ports 2:even worse switch ports 1: mass layoffs and studio closures

[@ShaneDanger42069]

Thank you

[@brentschmogbert]

youre most welcome @@ShaneDanger42069

[@bepo5650]

@@derrick2181they want to make money lol :)

[@gazzy9136]

@@derrick2181It’s so they get more watch time

[@WebieTM]

From that list, I don't know what of those are "recent", except maybe 6?

[@Tomahawk.01]

Paying $70 for a broken buggy mess

[@tylerfosse7336]

Better off paying me instead

[@millirock7639]

Paying 2000 just for every game to be a broken mess 😔

[@xxx-pliskin-sniper-xxx8538]

Soon to be $100 😂

[@tochukwuudu7763]

according to Yong Yea gaming company's are planning to increase it to 100 dollars, and when that happens, I'm going outside to touch grass.

[@Volyren]

Exscuse you? You mean "broken buggy mess of a functional game that released years ago."

[@NoName-rg3np]

The attack on physical media sucks. The game companies have their “dollar bills” sights set on overdrive, so while they’re having layoffs they are also recording record profits while trying to have even more control over what we play by forcing us into subscription services or forcing us to buy digital. I grew up with gaming, and this generation will probably be my last if I can’t collect games and be able to play them in the future without a subscription.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

I paid $50 extra for the PS5 that has a disc drive just because I'm worried about the accessibility of old games. Even if the old game is available on a new console, you'd have to buy it again if it can't be ported over. So long ss you keep your old console and have the physical game, you still can play it. This is my first console in which I still have the prior model. I'm planning to port my Final Fantasy XV and FF7 Remake gameplay to the PS5, the latter of which will finally let me buy the DLC. I don't have Remake on disc, which I should get since I really love that game, but I do with FF XV.

[@bulletant880]

Technically physical media is digital media, disks just have alot less storage space and as games take up more space with high end graphics and mechanics the more physical falls away. With that in mind I don't see the issue with downloading games, downloaded single player games off steam and can still access them through the steam root folder independently from a external/internal drive.

[@bulletant880]

@deannal.newton9772 The fact that it's digital or on a physical disk doesn't make a difference it's the amount of assets that's put into the game itself that determines the size such as the quality of the game and so on. Same with movies/series the higher the quality the more space it needs. As I explained having a physical copy doesn't mean it's a physical copy it's just a digital copy on a external storage device.

[@bulletant880]

@deannal.newton9772 Whether it's a digital copy on a physical disk or digital download doesn't really matter. The editing process determines the size of the game this includes resolution and the amount of assets included into the game

[@SaladofStones]

Then do something about it, or fall back in line with the rest of them

[@Gallyga]

My big bugbear with gaming trends is Devs finding new ingenious ways of hiding the Quit to Desktop option on PC games. It used to be as easy as Pause>QtD. but nowadays you have to go back to main menu and then find what ever sub menu they have hidden the option. Just let us PC gamers quit to desktop from the actual game like we used to be able to!

[@kerrybarneyiii1202]

I used to just alt f4, but for some reason it stopped working? Idk if it was a Steam update or something, but it is very annoying

[@sidekicks3738]

​@kerrybarneyiii1202 What type of keyboard do you have? Sometimes there's a gaming setting that blocks certain buttons.

[@K1NDR3D]

@@kerrybarneyiii1202It didnt stop working, it only stopped working in certain games cause devs don't want people rage quitting. I fucking hate it. As if a few extra steps will prevent me from quitting your mediocre gameplay experience

[@kerrybarneyiii1202]

@ sidekicks3738 I’ve got an older Corsair, but alt-f4 does work for other things, just not my unashamed save scumming in the 2000s era dungeon crawler Fate 😂 @K1NDR3D yeah it only slows me down for a second when I have to think “huh? Why didn’t that work? Oh well, Windows-Exit lol” It does slow down my save scumming tho and that alone is annoying 😂

[@criptych]

​@@K1NDR3D sounds like the kind of game I would rage refund

[@Azg4l0R1]

An other issue that I saw a lot in resent years is PC games calibrated for controller, trying to pass the tutorial and read press R2 to pick up item for example. And then go to the menu and there was not even a page for mouse and keyboard controls.

[@Htw6048]

Some keyboard and mouse compatible games on console also do the same thing too!!!!

[@charlesajones77]

The UI thing reminds me of the advertising scene in Ready Player One: "We estimate we can sell up to 80% of a player's visual field before inducing seizures."

[@harveyanimations8974]

Nah it’s more like 45 percent

[@reappermen]

Unlike advertising, the UI actually is part of the game. And sure there are universally bad UI's, like where it tells you useless stuff, or makes infos to large/small wasting space and so on. But there's plenty of people that like comprehensive UI's that tell you a ton of infos at a glance. I mean, Paradox games are a thing, and they are basially an UI with some nice graphics thrown in the middle of the screen (part of the time) as a nice adition, while everything of actuall relevance happens in the UI.

[@charlesajones77]

@@reappermen Lol, I never thought of Paradox games like that, but you're absolutely right :)

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

​@@reappermen to be fair, that's kinda what I expect out of a civilization builder.

[@MrSTVR]

Similar to the HUD issue I'm so tired of games using Destiny menus where you slowly move a cursor around and have to hold for 3 seconds to confirm anything. I will take snappy responsive menus any day, even with the supposed risk of clicking something by accident.

[@skybluenerd219]

Absolutely agree

[@the.DARKNE55]

Then it slows down whilst on a item lol but the hold button to confirm is good because otherwise we'd only have to scroll to a confirm button

[@le_fancy_squid]

I have found the hold button to be a great feature when used properly, like doing an expensive weapon upgrade or something that would cost a high price. But some menus use it as a back button, like, to go back to the screen you were at before...3 seconds of holding down a button just to go back...why?!

[@Astraeus..]

@@le_fancy_squid Genshin Impact just put in that sort of "hold" button to exit a build menu in the little home-base builder that they have. I don't read patch notes (who the hell does though?) and was away from the game for a couple months, so I never noticed....had a mini freak out when I tried to exit the builder and nothing happened...thought first my controller died. Then I was worried just that specific button died...took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out what was going on. And like going back in a menu, where they put this particular hold button is completely pointless. Exiting the builder "by accident" or whatever would cost you nothing and have no negative impact. They legit put in a wait button that does nothing but waste my time every time I exit the builder :/

[@brucepreston3927]

Yes! It is very annoying! I don't mind having a click and hold on a purchase button, but other than that, it should be quick and smooth to navigate!

[@badicusvibesimus182]

For me it's crafting systems in LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Most of them just feel like they're shoehorned in and have zero/low impact on the core gameplay.

[@Eaglesoars8891]

Loathe it its everywhere now😂

[@Bird_Dog00]

I'm with you mostly. Just one correction: They do have an important impact on gameplay: They are grind. They padd-out the play time. Personaly, I wouldn't mind them so much if they wouldn't go at my willing suspension of disbelief with a sledgehammer all the time. "You want to craft a spear? Go find 20 sticks, 10 rocks and 2 dog turds. Now rubb them together. Bingo: spear! "You want the Mk2 spear? Well, now you need 100 sticks, 80 rocks and 50 turds form a very specific dog to rubb together!"

[@BigFatCone]

I fucking hate crafting. Sure, it's more realistic but if I want realism, I'll touch grass. At least you don't have to craft your turbo or exhaust in racing games.

[@monfr0]

I hardly ever used bg3's potion crafting. Was just too lazy and ended buying them lol

[@jameschappell-ih4cw]

I find this to be very true and it serves no purpose unless the farming itself is fun or the farming flows naturally from questing. Additionally farming could be linked to achievements such as when materials are obtainable from tough bosses that themselves give trophies. Or simply do away with crafting and have the items you want obtainable from completing challenging objectives that are fun. The sad thing is that crafting implemented in the way we often see is easier to program. I’ve been playing Forbidden West and although the combat makes farming bearable, it’s still the same old farming for mats for an item that you can complete the game easily without.

[@ghostrecondelta1741]

always liked games that incorporate the UI into game world itself. Kinda like Dead Space putting the Health on Isaac's back and ammo counter on the gun's Holo Display when Aiming.

[@bland9876]

Sometimes it's annoying when they do that even though it is kind of cool at the same time. I think Halo has both the regular and then the assault rifle also has the number on it.

[@CarstenSvendsen]

Have you tried Bulletstorm? The gameplay is amazing, unique and the story is well... there, but the dialogue is what you're here for.

[@horsthooden4600]

Ghost of Tsushima is KING with that. You dont have a minimap with a marker, the wind blows in the direction of your marker on the big map.

Or The Divisi… oh, fuck no, that was just in the E3 trailer (and it's a shame it wasn't in the final).

[@demosneokleous4877]

Insomniac when someone creates a mod in their game: "That's so cool, come and work with us!" Capcom when someone mods their games: "I hope you like jail"

[@dansmith16]

Also Capcom: We will make our characters even uglier.

[@Jackfromshack]

They deleted mods for LGBT flags in Spider-Man 2 bro.

[@sirmounted8499]

@@Jackfromshack based

[@alexubel]

Insomniac is in no way like this.

[@evansellers5205]

Valve: Why not both?!

[@joffa99m44]

Point 1. Not only because of embracer, but I heard from a gaming podcast that a lot of layoffs happened because the studio couldn't keep up the live-service model. After people went back 9-5 jobs on site, they wore force to make layoffs. Some even knew way before that they would be forced to, so they set this up to get rid of unwanted workers.

[@stuartmorley6894]

Many companies staffed up during COVID then seemed surprised when players fell off. In a lot of cases though companies are perfectly able to make large profits but numbers much always go up. Embracer are a special level of crap though. A disgusting level of corporate idiocy. Job losses in the UK do actually get publicised though because it's mandatory to give staff a 30 day notice of potential redundancy. It's not always great, I was once at a company that gave me that 30 day notice every month for two years but at least it's a bit of a heads up.

[@LostUkraineGirl]

everyday there are news about LAYOFFS

[@RaycastAF]

Not even just everyone going back to work. A ton of us never stopped working. But because people have Live Service Games Fatigue. They all feel the same. The Suicide Squad Game reveal made my eyes roll so far back into my head that I still can’t see right now

[@ghostxplatinum]

Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is one of my most anticipated games of the year however upon finding out that new game plus is locked behind a DLC paywall is extremely disappointing. Greed is the root of all evil and this business decision sets a very bad precedent for the rest of the gaming industry.

[@Mo_Mudabber]

No it’s not💀 more people are excited for FF7 rebirth

[@CptSnuggl]

Yeah I thought that was a fake thing when I first heard about it (the paywall ng+). Because who TF does that.. I love the Yakuza games, man... But yeah that's not an awesome move. Unless they plan on making the game like $20 or something. Can't imagine paying 60-70 bucks for a game and then having to pay more to do a big+

[@CptSnuggl]

@deannal.newton9772 yeah it's definitely not a choice a lot of people make, thankfully. I don't even think EA has done that yet 😂

[@tankian4545]

​@@CptSnugglDragon Age: Inquisition had DLC that was kinda the real ending...

[@CptSnuggl]

@@tankian4545 ah damn I didn't know that.. hopefully more games don't start doin this cuz it's pretty backwards, imo. They don't want us to own games and now they only want us to play the game once, then pay extra to play again? It's just wild

[@TwippyTwilight]

What I hate the most is when a game is online when it doesn't need to be, and then when the studio wants to shut the server down, (a server that they really don't need to use) they shut the entire game down, without even giving you an offline version to play. Like DC LEGENDS. They just took that down and all the money everyone spent on it just flew away. Can't go back to see anything you've done, can't play the 1 player parts. So many games just say FU to the players. Imagine if Parker Brothers' Monopoly, just stopped selling it in 1936 and told everyone they couldn't play anymore, just because, they aren't "supporting" it. I mean it's really complete BS to do to the players.

[@xandercrews2854]

Many family’s relationships may have been saved if they stopped selling Monopoly 😂

[@SlowlyChoking]

Batman on the NES was incredible. The music is still stuck in my head to this day.

[@Apollon0077]

I had its soundtrack in my head for YEARS before i could figure out where it came from 😂

[@streetmagik3105]

Sunsoft was killing it back then. Batman on the Genesis had great music too.

[@danieldennis6313]

Trend no. 6 of developers responding with either very defensive or ultra aggressive positions, and then doubling down on the content being highly criticized, isn't just restricted to the gaming sector but is something resonating across the entire entertainment industry. It seems to be emanating from the lack of self reflection, the belief that they are too big to fail and a sense of entitlement from the creators believing they can do no wrong when it comes to expressing their unique ideas and individualism.

[@derealized797]

Their politics don't belong in games, or any form of entertainment, but especially not video games. It ruins the immersion entirely, the escapism is no longer there. Really all it does it make people dislike them and care less than ever about whatever activist nonsense they feel like we're ok paying for... and on top of that, they say we need to "get comfortable not owning our games". Already as a result, Gen z is now much more interested in classic and indie games, because they were made for entertainment, not corporate virtue signaling. Enough is enough. People are desperate to avoid it. If these hacks go out of business, it's their fault, and they won't be missed. They had one job.

[@deathstarr109]

It’s really 2 things for me: game optimization and game “fun”. Many developers focus on making the game look triple A that they forget to make the gameplay experience enjoyable. Yeah I can see the detail on the guys nose but what are the things the character can do that would make my time playing the game worth it? And secondly I’m not a graphics snob. I’ll play a game that looks like a potato if it’s fun. That being said, if it looks like a potato, my potato pc SHOULD RUN IT. Developers seem to want to force you to have to get the newest hardware just to run their half-baked game, I almost think it’s on purpose…

[@MeldinX2]

Very true. Gameplay is king. Of course it's nice if a game looks good also but many devs kind of forgets that the game should feel good to play and be fun first and formost. And not have alot of grindy or boring system/parts in the game. They should ask themselfs ''Is this part of the game fun?'' and if the answer is no then they should cut it out or change it.

[@srellison561]

Games pushing the limits of hardware go all the way back to the mid-80's with Sierra Entertainment. In other words, since there have been PC games, the games have pushed the hardware. I've been a gamer since there have been video games and I sold PCs and software during the 80's. The majority of new PCs and upgrades that I sold were due to new games coming out. Back then everything wasn't plug and play. I was the company expert (self-taught) on what CD-ROM drives and sound cards worked together and with what games, so most of those upgrade questions got pushed to me,

[@immortalfrieza]

That's why these days I prefer to play indie games that use retro graphics, or if it's a AAA game ones that use stylized 3D graphics like something out of an anime or somesuch. It's because those games have no choice but to focus on the gameplay and story in order to have value rather than just jacking up the graphics as much as possible.

[@ARStudios2000]

The worst part is how consumer unfriendly it is and how they fail to realize it. I mean, this is the exact problem I have with Adobe and their subscription methods. Consider how there are many parts of the world where people can't just shell out cash for the latest tech hardware or the best wifi. This is straight up excluding further future potential sales, and damaging sales in the long run in my opinion.

[@immortalfrieza]

@@ARStudios2000 Oh yeah, Adobe. Adobe makes products that are incredibly necessary to a lot of functions of everyday life, and then charges a monthly subscription just to have it. Meanwhile it's put so much of it under copyright that nobody else can even come close to their capability. Adobe knows it too, which is why they pull things like this. I wouldn't mind if it was just a one and done thing even if it was expensive, but having to pay over and over and over and over again? That's just absurd. Subscription services in general should be illegal, but ones like Adobe's that have all but a monopoly on something that's pretty much necessary for modern life for a lot of people. What are they going to do next? Have Windows 13 come out and require a subscription just to use your computer's operating system?

[@rashido_grey]

The layoffs is the worst for sure. There's a lot of expectation for games, sure, but not every company needs to be the Rockstar of income. All the greed of tight deadlines, little pay, and overworked staff is horrible.

[@vladdracul5072]

That's not restricted to the gaming industry, it's just capitalism showing its true face now that people are no longer smart or interested enough to recognize it.

[@Ryan-ld2nj]

I want the industry to trend more towards new IPs and be less reliant on sequels/remakes/remasters. But I think the entire entertainment industry is just in auto-pilot nostalgia mode creatively.

[@IBTU]

💯 so sick of rehashing

[@arkeshn729]

All entertainment industries seem to be coasting on autopilot.

[@mmd3585]

The nostalgia is there for a reason, though. Some games were great concepts that weren't fully explored when they first released, like what happened with Resident Evil 2. But the remake/remaster of recently released games is insane, like what Naughty Dog just did with TLOU part II. I don't have a problem with sequels, as long as they are from games that are badly in need of something new, like Street Fighter 6 was, instead of just being more of the same. The sequels problem can't be associated as a problem exclusive to the gaming landscape right now, since it always was there. God of War 1,2 and 3 are essentially the same game telling the story of Kratos, for example. The issue is that game producers are spending so much time and money to create games, that the more experimental stuff is being put away by the developers to focus on the big budget ones. Games like Spiderman (which is overrated, IMO, but has insane production value nonetheless) or the upcoming GTA VI are huge productions that has all the studios from the company focusing on a single game, instead of each one producing a smaller, possibly more creative game. That is why we had Bully, The Warriors, Manhunt 1 and 2, Red Dead Revolver and GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas during the PS2 lifespan, then followed by only GTA IV, V and RDR1 for the PS3/XBOX 360 era, with some minor releases around it, to just RDR2 on the last generation (and a re-release of GTA V). It sucks, because if the game is great, then it is amazing to have something so well produced around a great idea, but when it doesn't, it is a massive disappointment, like the one I have with Spiderman from Insomniac.

[@JayAG313]

Yea I don't mind sequels especially if a game/franchise is great why not continue on with it. But only making sequels and nothing new and fresh causes a issue. As for remakes/remasters I can understand if they tryna bring back a dormant franchise and reintroduce them to the newer generations, just as long as it leads to new games in those series. Like RE doing remakes and new games. Silent Hill doing the same thing with the Silent Hill 2 remake with new games in development as well. And some games in general just deserve remakes/remasters on newer hardware but like I said relying only on that is a issue. Like they make so many remakes/remasters nowadays they literally should just have their own category at the game awards. Honestly Xbox got the edge over PS rn with original IPs.

[@nameless98]

I got your point but I wanted madly to play uncharted and last of us after my ps3 died. Now they are cheap but I own pretty beefy pc so I can apreciate 60+ fps and beatiful graphics. Also I wanted to say that new IPs are always risky for devs to make. Most of first IPs are indeed undercooked. Watchdogs for instance. If they would know what sucess that game will be I bet it would look and feel completely different. And not every developer can recreate game over and over again like subnautica. That wouldnt be enjoyable too on jut story driven game. Subnautica developed in one but if devs have firstly in mind story and then the gake itself it would all just fall apart and consume A LOT of time for just one IP

[@Angel-Dust-The-Prostitute]

added context: the PC port is now stabilized and these graphics for TLOU part 1 have been fixed. To mimic the effect seen in the thumbnail you would have to turn all graphic settings to their lowest setting, turn all Anti Aliasing off, turn all shadows off, turn lighting off, turn reflective details off (Reflective details makes face skin more realistic), lower the level of detail (LOD) to the lowest settings, and further etc.

[@alinzelnan]

7:13 A developer studio that's known for not fixing/optimizing their games switching to the engine known for being abysmal in regards to performance if not optimized well - what could go wrong?

[@skybluenerd219]

My personal take on the worst trend is just the constant need for better graphics, at the cost of games being either a chore to play, or just buggy as fucc because of it

[@youtubedj9298]

Yeah, basically since PS3 era, gaming has focused on graphics and gameplay has gone down hill because they need to hype things up and who's gonna pay a lot of money for chess, checkers, cards, etc?

[@Unknown_Genius]

@@youtubedj9298 Better graphics and gameplay going down hill isn't even correlating to each other. It's just the fact that they choose to play everything as safe as possible, never take any risks, and on top: somehow get less and less competent as no one wants to work at bigger studios anymore. Hence why I'm happy to not be on console which is seeing way less total releases, essentially being bound to mostly soul less AAA games - and with worse sales on top.

[@AdderTude]

They do it because of the legion of people who complain about graphics being "bad" despite great gameplay. I've seen far too many comments on Steam reviews and elsewhere with players bitching about how "bad" the game looks just because it isn't hyper-realistic on their RTX 4090 (or the AMD equivalent).

[@youtubedj9298]

@@AdderTude Metal Gear Solid, one of the most highly acclaimed series, was rereleased on Steam/PC and people were literally complaining and reviewing bombing the game, complaining about the graphics of a 2 decade old game.

[@baytownoutlaw9992]

I Agree

[@pman6549]

Gameranx has to be one of my favorite KZbin channels. Always up and about uploading alot, know there shit about games, interesting video ideas. Jake Baldino and Falcon are also two amazing narrators for their videos. They contrast eachother perfectly it's a really interesting dynamic.

[@gameranxTV]

🤝

[@frankjoz2803]

Jake and Falco are goated

[@Axtrudithorize]

They don't have a dynamic, they don't work together. If they worked on a video together then you might have something. Otherwise they just take turns.

[@SteveSmith-ix4wx]

@@StingRayo98 Dude, your comment history is cringe. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ Just don’t watch their vids if you don’t like them. One of your comments says “Falcon find a new job…”

[@monkeydluffy5054]

@@StingRayo98imagine getting triggered when anyone can’t pronounce character name you are pathetic

[@Sisren86]

I saw the 'if we do say so ourselves' line coming as soon as the sentance started...and was still blindsided by that delivery. I love you, Falcon.

[@RocketAdminAustin]

I feel like the idea of Gollum could have been a great stealth platformer but just wasn't executed correctly. I feel like there is some story to be told behind the character when he was off-screen in LotR and the Hobbit.

[@phillystevesteak6982]

I dunno. A whole game with Gollum...? I'm not seeing it. Periodically switching to Gollum for certain puzzle/stealth levels, ok I could do that

[@HelgaP]

exactly, i was hoping for a game like styx: shards of darkness/master of shadows. really unfortunate how it turned out!

[@Shibafi]

The Mod community was what helped me overcome one of my biggest fears, Spiders, by making at the time of release hogwarts spiders into boxes, and later another mod came out that made them little tiny burgers, if it wasn't for that detail, I would've missed playing one of the most entertaining games when it came out. Not to mention how the mod community for The Sims franchise has carried that game for over 20 years! often even patching and fixing the game that publishers wont even fix, if Capcom goes after that community, its game over, no pun intended.

[@timd729]

Guys... It's a flat screen game. Maybe try facing your fears in VR or something if it's that bad.

[@sergeantsapient]

I'm not sure it's helping you overcome spiders if it's hiding them from you. You don't overcome fears by circumventing them. I mean good for you if mods made your gaming experience more manageable. That's one of the many things they're meant to do and I'm glad you were able to enjoy the experience of playing the game. I just don't believe it's helping you in the way you're describing it.

[@Commodore22345]

"The Mod community was what helped me overcome one of my biggest fears, Spiders, by making at the time of release hogwarts spiders into boxes, and later another mod came out that made them little tiny burgers, if it wasn't for that detail, I would've missed playing one of the most entertaining games when it came out." You do know that Hogwarts Legacy has an arachnophobia mode right? I don't know what it turns the spiders into, but you didn't need mods to remove spiders from the game.

[@sergeantsapient]

@@Commodore22345 It seems to just remove their legs. Since I don't have arachnophobia myself, maybe that's effective? Personally it creeps me out more. It also seems like it wasn't available on launch so there's an argument to be made that mods would have been the best option before that. I also think there's an argument to be made that it is pretty funny to turn them into hamburgers. It's a little immersion breaking but humorous at least.

[@fAEtusDeletus]

@@guyincle126 Laughs in Serious Sam

[@fartloudYT]

layoffs eventually are going to mean that companies do not have enough talent and expertise to warrant the price tags of the games. games are blander, glitchier, more AI is involved. it is like firing all the chefs at your restaurant and replacing them with microwaves, but keeping the price tag.

[@mgiebus1869]

They're probably gonna use AI to fill in the blanks, meaning more shiny, generic games

[@ForeverMasterless]

For the most part the companies doing layoffs are the companies already not doing well financially. The companies that made well received games that sold well did not do layoffs last year and many of them continued hiring more. This is not some industry-wide thing, this is competition being very fierce, consumer standards being very high, and some games are going to fail and take their companies down with them because there's not enough time/attention/money to go around for every game. Some HAVE to fail. it is what it is.

[@baytownoutlaw9992]

No it's more like to many chefs spoil the broth. Money, tech, or Manpower is not the issue It is a lack of passion. Look at blizzard vs GGG. D4 has everything then need to make a game as good as Path of Exile except passion.

[@JoshBlades71]

The Layoffs one pissed me off. Bungie fired Michael Salvatori. The man who made to sacred piece known at The Halo Theme. It also set their expansion back fricken 4 months

[@PJSteMarie]

I'm sure Michael being fired wasn't the reason TFS was delayed. Yea everyone was salty about the firing but he's 70 years old and probably got a pretty good severance. Apparently, they are just using Destiny 1 music for TFS and maybe wanted a different direction for the future of Destiny. That being said Destiny/Halo soundtracks are the fucking best and this man needed a much better send-off.

[@JoshBlades71]

@@PJSteMarie oh I worded it wrong😅 I was trying to say the layoffs set the expansion back

[@necrolicious]

your thumbnail reminded me of a gaming trend I hate, sequel games that shit on everything you did in the first game, because they know they already have your money for both games and you can't get the time back.

[@King_CreepaLot]

It truly is a tragedy to see how more studios are going after mods, shoot half the time I'm doing anything on a video is when I'm making a mod for it, I've been modding for a long while now and it's a great little hobby to pass time with and crank out some more enjoyment!

[@yootoobsuks4210]

Nobody needs those mods more than Bethesda. Mods breathed another ten years of life into Skyrim, as far as I'm concerned.

[@Sedlan18]

Dead Space on PC is still having some graphical glitches, if make any changes in the graphic options, the game starts stuttering for no reason, and there's a glitch with the inventory.

[@blackmagefelix6548]

Mods have sold me several versions of games I already owned on console. Skyrim and Left 4 Dead are prime examples of this. Owned them both on the 360 and the idea of adding maps and missions or making it goofier with cartoon characters and sound effects as soon as I was able to get a capable laptop I repurchased games just to mess with them.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

This was my reason for why I bought the Sims 2 way, way back. I wasn't interested initially...but then someone created mods so you could look like some of the Kingdom Hearts characters and I was sold on the idea of really having my own Organization XIII all living in one big house together 😂. The game ran terribly on Vista, though, so I never got far before it crashed. But still, it was the mods that gave EA a sale from me (before I learned how awful they are). I feel that so long as it's not a mod in a multi-player game that indeed allows for cheating, and the person legitimately bought the game, what someone does with the game after that is none of the publisher's/developer's business.

[@JustPeasant]

Capcom vs game modders is a peculiar case. It's a cultural difference. Japanese CEOs view the world (and mindset) differently then the rest of the world. They're stuck in early-mid Shōwa era. From 1931-1945 to be specific. It's very self-evident. In their world, CEO is a god-emperor, board members are military officers, their developers, an army. Everybody else (especially foreigners)? A non-entity. Go figure. Suffice to say that executives with this kind of mindset are NOT a decent beings...

[@McGeezle]

L4D2 on console is a fucking joke. You have to pay for the L4D1 levels

[@kosmosXcannon]

​@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValleyif I have it correct, the only way mods can affect multi-player are if they are done client side. Which you would actually have to hack the company hosting it. If they are things like asset swaps, the other player won't see it. I think to get Balders Gate 3 moved with multi player, everyone essentially has to run the same mods in the same order. I could be completely wrong about all this, but I have dabbled a bit with some mods for things like Skyrim or fixing games.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

@@kosmosXcannon A mod for an outfit that makes you more invisible in a battle royale game would be such an item I would say would be very problematic in a multi-player game. I'm not sure if that counts as just an "asset swap" or not, though.

[@tfomoridresden]

The sad part with the layoffs is I was part of THQ during mid to late 2000’s, I was doing motion capture for their only mocap studio, graduated cum laude in animation, and when the economy destroyed itself first thing to go was entertainment industry. I was going to Hollywood parties thrown by big name’s. Once you are out of the industry for a year you are done. Technology just changes too much. After the studio closed I was even going around as a contractor teaching colleges how to set up a mocap studio and the full process from start to finish. Once that ran dry I was done for. I truly feel for those professionals losing their jobs as it will be a long hard road of them.

[@brandonnotsowise2640]

Kinda what’s happening right now, in a different way. Combo of companies downsizing in the face of economic headwinds and the expedited adoption of AI due to this and advancing tech.

[@fransorka8074]

"economy destroyed itself"? "face of economic headwinds"? Its all "fake" view, reality is Corporations started to gain not 500% on their products but for example only 200-300% in comparison of their investment and they think its "crisis" because affects stock prices, so their only smart-moves are layoffs. Greed, thats all. From just recent report 2024 Jan from "OXFAM" report (you can search to read it, entire long analysis) since 2020 y. 5 billion of people faced their "wealth" decrease but 5 (five) the most rich persons on the World did a DOUBLE raise of their wealth/fortunes. Its all in the OXFAM report. This all "economic crisis" is just a greed of corpos and their stocks expectations.

[@straightjacket3.519]

The economy doesn’t destroy itself. I buy less games because everything else I buy costs double what it did three years ago, that’s inflation due to reckless government spending.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

​@@shrek_yourselfIt made perfect sense, though, I'm not sure why you would find it dumb.

[@twilightsparkle2764]

Did life treat you well now mate? I hope you can soon have a better future(sorry for my English).

[@random_gamer_guy82]

Imagine going buying a brand new car and paying full price for it, you have to pay for it in full there and then and the dealer saying "sorry it's finished but there's a day one patch we are working on and the car has no wheels till we work it out but we are working on it" but as gamers day one patches are pretty much standard now and we are just meant to be ok with it.

[@BillLambert]

Agreed on all points, and I particularly liked this slightly more ranty style of presentation from you Falcon... feels even more genuine and I'm all for it!

[@ultramegamighty]

As for bad ports, ANY bad port, I think a quote from Yahtzee would sum it up best: "I speak no hyperbole when I say that releasing every box with no disc inside would've been less of a mistake."

[@quinn6464]

Speaking to the massive layoffs, I think that this, and the history of publishers purchasing studios for the last 20 years combined with the success of indie games, we are going to see a rise of more indies. The need to have a publisher is a bit archaic in the current landscape. Yeah, it's tempting to have that surge of cash to help you develop your game, but your fate is not controlled by yourself. I imagine a lot of the devs that have gotten laid off, if they choose to come back to the game development, will choose to stay indie.

[@omarmainuddin7251]

The pace of the industry is such that this topic might see a yearly recurrence. Thank's Gameranx 😀

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

A recent gaming trend that is awesome is GameRanx daily videos.

[@gameranxTV]

🤝

[@agentmaryland1239]

Honestly, with all these lay offs, there better have been some serious digging to make sure they were laying off the right people. Like, I can see if a company like Google was noticing a drastic decline in quality for their platforms and they noticed which department was causing the decline, then going in and seeing who was performing the worst and letting them go after a warning or two to up their game...but if they seriously just saw the numbers not climbing as high as they wanted despite reaching their projected goal and *still* let go of an entire division....then that's just fucked up. Imagine thinking an entire division of tech experts was the problem when it was likely just one or two people, so now you've just ruined your own reputation as a business for a workforce.

[@mercai]

There's no "right" people getting laid off. Corps just draw a line on their chart of profits or expenses, and cut anything below that chart. Studios that aren't super-profitable, new projects that aren't guaranteed a success, etc. For Embracer, let's be honest, the C-level management were the ones who should've been sacked - but instead it's hundreds of good devs and projects across their studios.

[@WLW.]

Simple as - Gaming Trends which have ruined gaming is : - Battle Royale Mode = Less core content of games e.g Cod , Battlefield etc + More microtransactions + Less Serious / Gritty - RPG Taking over many non rpg games = Batman - Gotham Knights , Far Cry , Gears of War , WWE 2K , Red Dead 2 , ASSASSIN CREED ! Etc... - Esports / Competitive gaming - Online gaming more toxic now + Sheeple relying on META only + More Tryhards Now = Not as enjoyable - Streamers / Pro Players = Gaming updates / Nerfs being catered to that audience = Ruins it for the normal gamer + More sheeple following in the tryhard steps of Streamers = Gaming less enjoyable. received It's pathetic the way gaming has gone.

[@ferrite1707]

About #1, according to the latest Skillup vid, over 2,500 jobs reported cut in the video game industry this year in January alone(so far and the month isn't over). That is a sizeable percentage of the jobs cut all of last year. Things are sadly increasing.

[@CymruCreator]

The UI thing is a very serious issue when it comes to people with cognitive issues. I have a form of ADHD and struggle with inconsistency. Also when I don't get chance to learn what the different bits of on screen information are before the game just shoves a ton of stuff on screen and takes it off really quickly. Like, if they teach me that quest related information is displayed on the right under the minimap, then I'm fine, but if they don't show anything and that put everything on the screen at once, like a quest update plus dialogue, plus an achievment, plus some kind of upgrade notification, plus a lore entry, I don't know which is the priority so I try to figure it out but get overloaded and end up with a brain crash. Then if it puts a quest update on the bottom left, even though the quest log is on the right, it throws me for a loop big time.

[@HanSolo__]

Imagine they gave the F-35 pilots this kind of UI instead of the automated selection of information flow into their helmet visor.

[@bookbookbook1]

@@HanSolo__ Suicide squads UI looks like a baby game compared to something like world of warcraft lmao

[@CinderFallenAngel]

Bethesda doing that to Skyrim is nuts. Without mods I would have put Skyrim down years ago. (Especially as there are mods that fix some of the bugs or making QOL improvements, like improving Dragon AI or making the inventory system easier to navigate. )

[@raptorfromthe6ix833]

todd howard is out of touch and have been for some time

[@Unknown_Genius]

They've had that a long time already. They've only released new paid mods from the community, they've done nothing "new" or added something "new" with that. I don't even get why people went so extremely mad over it, we literally knew that at some point the next batch is ready to roll out. And it's not like we can get Skyrim DRM free on GOG now without having to download the updates so we can keep the mods running...

[@drinmer1]

You already bought the game, so they don't care. You are not adding value to their company anymore,.

[@KyleDavis328]

I'll never play Skyrim without SkyUI again. And that's just one mod, let alone probably the dozen or so mods I and most others find absolutely essential to the game.

[@FoxheimStudios]

Man, I feel so bad for game developers in recent years. The way games can be made better is to give them more time. Big companies get real impatient with game development because they don’t understand HOW games are made. If they weren’t so strict on impossible time restraints and gave them more time, games, all games, would get better.

[@pikachuchujelly7628]

Or just make games smaller and not so ambitious in scale so that they can actually be finished on time.

[@EddyKorgo]

capitalism at its finest

[@EdadTace]

For the bad UI, I really need to mention UI that also just works poorly. A prime example is Starfield; I always dreaded opening *any* menu in that because it would take so long between pointlessly long animations and, in some cases, just ignore input.

[@abelardadebayor5642]

skyrim, oblivion, plus morrowind on consoles

[@brucepreston3927]

I have quit several games because of cluttered UI...I have also seen a growing trend of filling the entire screen with flashing lights and particle effects...I have no idea how people play like that...I can't keep track of what is going on when it feels like i'm getting flashbanged by a disco ball every 10 seconds!

[@KalebSDay]

Your first point about bad UI definitely extends to poor Ultrawide screen support. Every game should have the option to center the HUD elements to a 16:9 aspect ratio while leaving the edges of the screen exclusively for immersive purposes. MCC, COD, Spider-Man, & Battlefield all have settings for this...but for some reason it is not industry standard.

[@BigFatCone]

Because ultra-wides are super nieche.

[@reappermen]

That might in part be because ultrawide is a nearly nonexiststant nieche. Sadly forgot where I saw it specificaly, but read an article about monitor production of the various large monitor makers recently. Turns out less than 0.1% of gaming monitors made (and presumably sold) in the last few years were ultrawides. It is nice that they exist formpeople that like ultrawide, but fact is the player numbers with them are basically a rounding error.

[@jalexanderjalex3342]

As a Souls fan I hate that every fantasy RPG is going for that style now. It's so annoying that you can't have classic RPG game.

[@3rdEyeMangekyoRinnegan]

True I don't think trying to beat a boss for 3 hrs is fun

[@pclown9490]

I absolutely agree I came up in the age of regular Nintendo with final fantasy b&d RPG staple. But I will say one great thing that the dark souls games has done is leaked their style play into other games like assassin's Creed Valhalla. I enjoyed the other games but it's the first one I've played with an actual role and Perry buttons that are much more easily executed.

[@ImperialDiecast]

i feel like we hit a peak in gaming with RDR2 back in 2019 for pcs. After that, things just kept stagnating but we are being told everything is rendered in real time now, and nothing is baked in, therefore you need a 1000 dollar gpu to get the same framerate with path tracing cyberpunk as your 2080 did back 4 years ago in rdr2.

[@zacharyholt4243]

Essentially the big corpos swoop in and buy up companies, not for the teams, but for the intellectual properties the teams are working on. When they release the project they were working on when they got bought out, the corpos lay the teams off so they can cut operating costs while maintaining a catalog of legendary games. The issue and solution is the 9000 layoffs. This presents a lot of options for crowd source funding of new game studios. We could see hundreds of small studios spawn and crank out masterpieces that will outsell the corpos.

[@tribe-r1851]

I'm tired of having Gamepass and PS Plus Extra, and not being able to download games like Senua 1 or Evil West, because I live in JP. I wish they would make things more uniform, so the same game catalog would be available for all subscribers.

[@srellison561]

I'm pretty sure some of that has to do with each country's censorship laws. There are games available in the US that kids can play, but because of the modding community are banned in Japan.

[@ElvinGonzalez]

Another trend I HATE, specially in fighting games, is having a lobby as main menu. Wanna enter the arcade mode? Walk to 30 seconds from the middle of the lobby to this door. Wanna fight someone online? Walk thru this other door. Oh you got confused and walked thru the wrong door? Go back and walk thur the opposite door in the lobby. WHY CAN'T I HAVE SIMPLE MAIN MENU TO SELECT WHAT I WANT TO DO?! Jeez.

[@Stitch-007]

Shoutout to developers of hogwarts legacy to actually delay the game and release it when it’s actually good. Could really feel that delaying the game made massive difference to the game.

[@themajesticnarwhal3273]

dudes from the timeline where it was good

[@TheDarkAngel969]

@@themajesticnarwhal3273 That's your opinion

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@themajesticnarwhal3273 lol someone from that "boycott"

[@Stitch-007]

@@themajesticnarwhal3273 what’s your point?

[@samuelhacker7463]

5:49 What is that game with the monkey? I need a reference for indie animation on a 2D plane and that would be perfect if I could get more footage.

[@authornathanday6983]

Falcon, always appreciate your candor. And the "flopping" analogy had me rolling.

[@Hirnlego999]

I liked the idea of Gollum, he seems to have a very tragic life that could be portrayed really well by a great developer. At to that his two personality types that could change the outcome of the game in various ways, do you choose to good or bad action... add also to that the limitation of him being a weak one, so he would have to avoid quite a lot of any sort of fights in order to survive...it could be a great game which could be quite challenging. Could also add quite marvelous visuals if done right, as well as audio. I bet Monolith would have been able to do it well, neither Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor or Middle-earth: Shadow of War are bad games. Could be great for stealth

[@Durwood71]

Since you mentioned Starfield, I'm reminded of one relatively recent gaming trend I can't stand: review bombing. It's annoying and has made me skeptical of Steam reviews in general to the point that I will likely no longer trust the aggregate rating, whether positive or negative, when making purchasing decisions in the future.

[@kadosho02]

Another example would be Cyberpunk 2077. At the time, that was being knocked down by tons of reviews, but very few gave reasons why. Gamespot delivered their experience with the game (its original release) and it was less than stellar. But they actually went into a deep discussion why the game was not worth people buying it. No matter which platform. It even became a regular discussion on several podcasts, and they even revisited the game with the recent patches, and dlc.

[@Bird_Dog00]

I don't like the practice of reviewbombing, but I understand why it exists. For many gamers it feels like this is the only voice they have. Devs and - even much more so - publishers do have a habit of ignoring even the most reasonable complaints made by gamers. So, driving the review scores down seems to be one of the very few ways to get the devs' attention.

[@theoaremevano3227]

It's weird, because sometimes, it ends up being an important tool for the fans confronted with jaw-dropping lack of accountability, but as with the boy who decried a certain wild animal, it carries the same capacity to backfire, throwing a cloud of smoke over the potentially valuable lessons to be learned about a game and how a better future can be built. That kind of assertive dissent loses a lot of its power when it becomes a juicy, low-hanging fruit to anyone with an appetite. Personally, I've been picking out games of interest for myself for a long time now, and I hardly ever outright dislike a game I make a point of buying because I generally know what I expect to get out of it.

[@johnk8255]

New subscriber. I like your concise and witful style. Thanks for the info

[@akuseru1078]

Kong was a topic here in Chile, the company that developed the game said that they were in fact tight in time and cash by a publisher that always gives little time and money to every dev they contract.

[@lozangekitten-gamer7626]

Yeah, the Mass layoff also was in high conjunction with the misuse of AI to "replace" the human part of the work. If AI is the Future, it's aiming at "Dystopia City"

[@blackdoc6320]

My hot take is that in the event of a buy out (either of a company or IP) there needs to be some kind of timer for them to utilize the IP or property they purchased or it's put in the public domain.

[@gameranxTV]

👍🏼

[@SilverSpectre266]

In a lot of the cases, devs are being treated conceptually as contract workers now. It feels like studios hire them seemingly as full time because its more motivational and youre likely to get more effort out of someone who feels like they actually work for the studio and have security rather than someone who knows that their job has an expiration date, but then they either keep them if they feel they need to hang onto them a little more, or they drop them at a moments notice to maximize their own profits on release. And since the gaming industry doesnt care about employee retention numbers like most others its really no skin off their nose.

[@bilalsalameh440]

wtff thats crazy

[@Khemith_Demon_Hours]

The tech industry was very innovative for late stage capitalist neo liberal lizardry.

[@CMSonYT]

Devs have always been "contract workers." People just didn't notice before. In fact, Developers have more stability today than they did 20 years ago.

[@oktusprime3637]

>Dead Space Remake on PC plays pretty well on PC for me now. >Shows a massive frame spike as he says this at 12:14

[@dansmith16]

The game didn't need a remake or Sweet Baby Inc representation.

[@soilcredibility]

8: Bad game UI 0:18 7: Terrible license games 2:48 6: Developers responding to Steam reviews 5:14 5: War against mods 7:41 4: Soft aim-hacks in online multiplayer games 9:35 3: Terrible no-good PC ports 11:10 2: Even worse Switch ports 12:38 1: Layoff and studio closures 13:51

[@jdyacaman]

Thank you for these videos man. Thank you Gameranx

[@lonewolffang]

There was a TimeSplitters in progress? Just when I didn't think it would hurt. 😢 One of mine us a live service game shutting down the entire game and having no offline or alternate way to play the game.

[@kadosho02]

Sadly yes there was. But the entire team was let go 😞 Matt McMuscles discussed this, in one of his recent videos as well. Matt even knew some of the dev team members too

[@floatinghamstick]

A large problem I have with open world games is that many developers focus too much on story and not enough on gameplay. Back in the golden age of open world games, developers would make missions with the idea of showing off gameplay, new vehicles or areas of the map and then write the story around that. Now they focus on the story and then need to try and cram gameplay around it and it suffers for it. Another thing is the way that open world games will often shoehorn you into small, restricted areas during missions. They spent years developing a large, immersive world and now they're not letting you play in it.

[@immortalfrieza]

I've seen the exact opposite problem, where open world games focus too much on gameplay while leading the story barebones at best. Especially Bethesda open world games which have the barest thread of a main story that's just enough to get you running around and you end up screwing around for dozens of hours rather than actually doing the main story.

[@floatinghamstick]

@@immortalfrieza I'm 100% ok with that. I play games for the gameplay, I read and watch TV/movies for story, I play games for the gameplay and interaction with the world. RDR1 is a much better game than RDR2 because it doesn't sacrifice gameplay for story.

[@LilyMaeBlossom]

It's more the opposite. The problem nowadays isn't really open world games moving to story based gameplay, it's story based games moving to open world. For decades many games have prided themselves on story telling - we called them rpgs back then, although rpg now just means....game that you play. But like I said, RPG just means game you play. People don't wnat a story game anymore, attention spans are WAY too small for that. But people sure do want game time. Open world, stupidly long boss fights, insane difficulty scaling, goofy travelling mechanics. That's enough to bring people in. N that's what we're seeing.

[@mica4977]

This somewhat plays into the success of some indie games such as Lethal company. Enjoyable gameplay that is fun to play with friends at an affordable price.

[@floatinghamstick]

@@LilyMaeBlossom I think you may have hit it on the head there. I don't think I've ever thought about it like that.

[@Stalkingwolf]

i'm an UI/UX dev for now almost 30y. Bad UIs shows that the devs not using the UI them self and/or never watched a normal user using it. that was the first i did or had to do. watching user use my applications. that was an eye opener and helped a lot. fun part was that i understood why Mac had no right mousebutton. if you once mention click right they are always going to ask left or right when you next time mention "click here".

[@zejulius58]

I don't think dumbing down is always the solution tho. One game that I would argue as one of the best UI systems is EVE Online ... and it's simply because it is 100% customisable to your own liking. it takes litteral hours to set up your UI properly and I'm sure a sizable portion of players don't even bother to go to the extent I (and a lot of other players for sure) went to, but having that option is just ... great !

[@Zedek]

Yeah, so to move something pressing the CMD button instead of dragging a selection box with the right mouse button is great Apple design!

[@markbradley5355]

Can we also talk about the push for everything going digital or worse, subscription based? Discs can’t seriously cost that much to make. I think one of the most glaring issues is games getting delisted as technology is phased out. Call me old fashioned but there’s something about going into a store, purchasing a physical copy, unwrapping it and popping it into my console.

[@twolessba1087]

Games are so big now that they don't physically fit on disks, and the read write speed of the blu ray drives just isn't optimal to having data installed directly onto the hard-disk. so if youre going to be downloading 50-100gb anyway might aswell sell the game digitally. this is a non problem.

[@dansmith16]

Digital used to be an excuse to avoid paying more for physical, now they are parity or worse.

[@rickinielsen1]

Played Starfield for less than 3 hours before I was SO fed up with the even worse UI and menus than the usual Bethesda level stuff, and went to download mods to fix it. And of course the mods existed already offering huge varieties and configurations :P

[@VityyOne]

Maybe the fact that Doom and Wolfenstein have good switch port is just about ID Software who are masters at optimisation 😅

[@VityyOne]

@deannal.newton9772 In their defense I knew people that developped for Nintendo consoles (DS and Wii) and they all said that it was freaking pain in the ass to develop on, even if it's not for a multiplatform game. And the fact that they are completely underpowered and old compared to other consoles and computers so with modern engines that take advantage of modern techs it is kind of complicated to make sure it will work on older devices... ID Software and its ID Tech engines are different in the way they surely include many features in their engine dedicated to optimization but also I think they completely rewrite their engine when they work on a newer version, that makes sure they can get rid of older code and prevent bloating, that is really hard dedicated work that only them can afford apparently because they release a game everytime they release a new engine version 😅

[@rd3munna812]

Switch was never made for these AAA games i can't even blame the developers since current phones are powerful than switch

[@marvinmallette6795]

Yeah, Doom in particular is designed to market the Id Tech engine. Fortnite markets the Epic Games engine, especially since it was updated to UE5. Half-Life 2 markets the Source engine, though Portal 2 is currently a flagship Source engine game. Crysis markets the CryEngine. Crysis Remastered runs on the Switch. Fortnite runs on the Switch. Doom runs on the Switch. Portal 2 runs on the Switch. Publishing games on the Switch is theoretically possible, but newer games like to waste as much CPU as possible with shaders and add-ons/plugins to the base engine. And the main weak point of the Switch is the CPU,...

[@rd3munna812]

@@marvinmallette6795 fortnite is a 7 year old game it's even available on mobile so switch running fortnite is not a big thing I'm taking about new game. Switch is a 7 year old console even 7 year old high end gpu can't run current games properly

[@marvinmallette6795]

@@rd3munna812 Fortnite got upgraded to Unreal Engine 5 last year. It is basically a "new" game. The fact that the Switch can run it is "optimization".

[@Jinx_1981]

I felt the similar experience with the bad UI while playing spiderman 2 on the ps5. Not that it was bad but I thought it was really small when trying to play in my living room sitting on my couch and I'm squinting trying to see how much health I have and special meter i have and all that. I wish more games would let you increase the size of the hud

[@Rylan_McD]

I love the ESO UI. You can turn EVERYTHING on or off. Set things to automatically display or turn off. Change your damage output to number or percentages. All sorts of stuff. It’s great.

[@SubjectiveObserver]

I get the impression that MMOs always give you the best UI experience, despite everybody mocking them. Even on consoles, they give you a lot of freedom to customize the information and controls.

[@tabularasa0606]

And if you don't like it you can mod it.

[@abelardadebayor5642]

its not ESO has awesome UI, its just game has so little tings you can do, you dont even need much UI

[@michaelgiertz-rath7994]

There are tons of modlets dealing just with your UI in ESO. And all of them are good - depending on what you enjoy, that is. ESO is, in my eyes, one of the better MMOG experiences you can have these days, especially since you can solo the main story + DLCs and only need company for dungeons and certain world bosses. But if you're prepared enough and unless there's an unfair mechanic REQUIRING at least a second player to come over, you can solo pretty much everything and feel like a legend. ESO works as a power phantasy almost as well as a single player game, but you CAN bring friends, you can coop with others and you can show your stuff. I consider this a really cool setup for a MMOG.

[@JamesCarmichael]

"Gaming has been on the uptrend for a couple of years now. 2023 was a great year." Um. You lost me there.

[@brucesmith7481]

13:51 Every time someone says "2023 was the best year in gaming" I point to this. We can't look at just half the picture - all those layoffs last year is terrible.

[@Paulafan5]

Best year in gaming in recent years, but would be the worst year in gaming in the 2000-2010 era.

[@PandaGamingPodcast]

The terribad PC ports are what caused me to get a PS5 and I haven't played a flat-screen PC game since. Let's look at NMS VR, PC version is terrible to run on my PC and it's far beefier than the PS5, NMS VR on the other hand for PSVR2 is lit af son and runs great. I guess the examples I've seen give a lot of credence to the idea of optimization of a game being more important to it than hardware factors to make the game run well.

[@WTFlacky]

Something else people don't realize, game studios have layoffs after every game release. Smaller studios just don't have the work to keep testers and developers occupied until another game is ramped up to reach a certain stage.

[@bland9876]

Based on the thumbnail I'm going to say I saw a video saying that the PS2 version of Half-life has better graphics than the PC version.

[@geoffreyporter7567]

Falcon: “Do you remember trying to play dead rising on a CRT back in the day?” Me: core memory unlocked

[@alexgusenko360]

The pc Port thing bugs me especially hard. I just switched onto a gaming laptop with pretty good specs, because of the much more saturated indie market which is accompanied by these previously console exclusive triple aaa games. But now before spending any money on any just a little more demanding game you have to look up how well it’s optimised, whether it’s fixed etc. just sucks man. But man the indie side doesn’t disappoint at all😁

[@vladdracul5072]

Many indie games can't disappoint anyway because their standard is already low. Rudimentary graphics are just the most obvious example. There are other indie games that become huge successes though; I guess it depends on how serious the developers are about making them.

[@ln108]

Would be nice to hear from Developers who had buggy PC releases actually discuss the issues on this. My guess is that it ends up being a mess because they can't account for every setup out there. I assume they try to get it ready for higher end systems, but I think generally speaking, most people on steam don't have the latest high end systems.

[@Skrenja]

​​@@ln108Nah. I'd argue it's because games are built for consoles first, then ported to PC. PC ports almost always suck. The PC version should be built first, then ported to consoles. There's almost no reason not to now. It's not like we're in the PS3 era where consoles had radically different hardware architecture than what PCs had.

[@ln108]

@@Skrenja Could be, that's why I'd like to hear from the developers. Whatever the issues are, triple A studios have no reason for as many issues as we see. Smaller developers generally would get a pass from me as long as they actively work on the issues.

[@timogeerties3487]

About PC ports: wanted to test out Dark Souls 3. Got it from Steam, started playing it and was confronted with XBox console commands while playing with a keyboard. I couldn't find a switch to keyboard controls in the game settings so I gave up

[@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233]

Yes. 100% this, it's a problem with dual development as well. When certain functions are hardmapped to certain keys, even when you remapped the key to something else ( really annoying for me as a lefty, since I always have to remap the whole WASD bullcrap )

[@KK-qs2kq]

Charging a premium for low effort minimal viable products.

[@singlesightart]

With the soft aiming hack. I wish that was an Accessibility feature. I am visually impaired and have cerebral palsy so for me, MKB is much easier to work with but aiming is still extremely difficult. I basically never play multiplayer anything because my hand eye leaves much to be desired when quick reflexes are needed., but it would still be great on single player games.

[@dimitrijespasic473]

What is the game on 3:51?

[@lawaern3474]

It's funny that you mention the war against mods right after he idea of Bethesda switching to Unreal. Bethesda's in-house engine has its flaws, and wasn't as expanded/improved as it could be for Starfield's release. But it's pretty good for making mods. Heck, I, an utter modding layman can tweak a lot of things to my liking. Granted, this is through modding tools. Unreal? Eh? I know of pretty moddable unreal games, xcom for instance, but none of them hold a candle to Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim. Like, how many projects are there to remake older xcom campaigns in xcom 2? I reckon, instead of switching engines, they just need to focus on working on theirs for a bit.

[@ARStudios2000]

I don't know, man, they've had decades to work on it and it's STILL pretty rough

[@fredsorre6605]

Does nobody ever realized that those Dev replies done by Bethesda for their bad reviews was AI written.

[@joshmartin2744]

Nah, they probably aren't going to bother going through that much effort. It's probably just boilerplate garbage.

[@AlexP-dz7ew]

It being written by AI makes it worse lol It just means they’re too cheap to give someone a job and use a robot to do their whining for them

[@fredsorre6605]

yep they making use of their Microsoft given tools especially the exclusive one that came when they got acquired. @@AlexP-dz7ew

[@Unknown_Genius]

​@@AlexP-dz7ew "someone" - would you honestly hire 70 people just to respond to all steam reviews in a timerelevant manner just to fire them after a month again? lol

[@gerardomunoz9303]

I tried of that crap too. Give us our mods back!

[@JarrodSavage]

What game is on the right at 0:59?

[@matrixlag4074]

Not sure if I agree with him on mentioning the dead space remake being a bad port. Not only was it perfect, But I don't think it can even really be considered a port anyway. IMO

[@williamdc3104]

The studio I was with got shut down just before Christmas without warning. Having to change career paths thanks to this since now the market is flooded and can't find a job.

[@OndraMike]

If I wan't to play a single player game (on PC), which does not have a online multiplayer, or a multiplayer in general... I'm still forced to play online, because the game needs to be connected to the internet.... just why? Not everyone wan't to play online... or just sometimes, when the internet connection does not work... I hate this trend aswell...

[@samuelgregr8451]

Agree this is my main thing that I hate about today's games

[@KaiTheTyrant]

It’s even worse when the internet causes all the lag in the game

[@JuniorStarsUTD]

When my friend downloaded Starfield, the 1st thing that stood out to me was the mechanics 😂😂😂😂 I was like dude it’s the same for every game 😂😂😂😂😂 why lol at least they stand by their product 😂😂😂😂 literally the same mechanics in new Vegas was in starfield, I started dying laughing 😂😂😂😂

[@Safetytrousers]

People who like Bethesda games want the Bethesda style of play. Of course the mechanics are similar.

[@Olie986]

Try using just a few more laughing emojis

[@coltonismyname]

👁️😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👁️

[@ericcarlton87]

As always, great video GR. Someone help my brain comprehend this, please! If every console game is created on a PC first but optimized for console release why when the game is then ported back to PC do most games nowadays run so terrible on PC. Does the dev team have to get the ok from the publisher before development begins with what platform said game will be released on. For example). The game gets the green light to start development but only green lit for Xbox series X and PS with no plans for PC release. Later on the devs get the green light to port to PC, since there were no plans early on for a PC release and due to hardware differences/ architecture said game ports like shit to PC. Does the game have to PC in the original plans for development for it not to be a poorly optimized game?

[@charlesqueen4690]

This is the funniest gameranx video ive seen in a while, dude is so truthful and factual it made me burst out laughing, now my girl just thinks im crazy. I love this channel 😂

[@jacobdrolet4262]

Amazing video gameranx, fantastic job and I love Star field game on my Xbox,love playing it too.