Is Gaming Better Than Ever?

[@Lextorias]

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[@LacosteTK]

I Hear You Man And Thanks For This Videos, But I Didn't Hear You Mention How Video Games Are Now Expensive Than Ever Some People Can't Afford To Buy These Expensive Consoles And Powerful Computers, Also The Big Corporations Exploiting Thier Own Customers With Pre-Ordering Games That Don't Work Properly When They Become Available. I Agree With What You Say But Your Video Sounds To Only Support The Positives About Gaming With The Negatives Just Being Glossed Over

[@Lextorias]

@@LacosteTK I have an entire video on monetization in the gaming industry and another video on piracy in gaming that both cover games becoming more expensive. Again, I don't think bringing up every possible negative just to needlessly worry about them when they're not relevant is productive or healthy

[@The_Smuggler_]

Talk about expensive consoles, the PS3 was like $600 when it came out and that was like 5 financial crashes ago. An IBM computer you could game on back in the 90s literally costed more than a car. It's a miracle something like the steam deck exists. If I told myself 10 years ago a portable computer that cost under $500 had better capabilities than 5th gen i7 system with a 2080, I'd call bs. Gaming has always been expensive. It hasn't changed, only our perspective has.

[@cthellis]

How crazy is it that video games are only like 50 years old?

[@maxuwl]

Only one life time And is peak Is different of how it evolved comparing by other mediuns, how fast it is compared to animation, films and stuff

[@dovahnok0957]

Even more crazy is that more than 50 years of man hours are being put into some of the latest AAA titles

[@1Dome]

That's a long time.

[@BRIGHT_LORD_C]

Hip-hop is the same age.

[@ekki1993]

@@maxuwl Most mediums got accelerated with the internet and globalisation. Animation, films and others have also changed significantly in the past 20 years, even if they were over twice as long. Videogames still have a lot of growing to do, which is why they will keep getting better for some time.

[@sushiroll3795]

Mfs who exclusively play AAA live-service games with predatory monetization complaining about how "gaming sucks nowadays" is one of the most obnoxious trends that I've ever seen on the internet.

[@syeddanishanwer]

@@aaakkk112 Hahahahahahahaha... I just unsubsribed to DF because they complain a lot about fussy things. All of us don't need 60+ FPS with real like reflections and other superflous things. They make games with 30 FPS appear aweful. Most gamers like me are perfectly satisfied with 30 FPS 1080 and even ignore minor stutters. I have been gaming since 1989. And I still find AAA gaming fun and entertaining even with 30 fps on my PS5 and mid-range PC.

[@bnlss2]

Or better yet, they just almost don't play games and mostly complain online about them after watching some news about new dead on arrival hero shooter or something.

[@brya9681]

Most AAA single player games also have paid garbage too so that's not 100% true.

[@flamingscar5263]

@@syeddanishanwer disagree hard on that 30fps take, I litterally can not play 30fps, I get motion sick from anything less then 60fps We're not all you, 60fps needs to be the minimum, 120fps standard

[@flamingscar5263]

@@aaakkk112 DF doesn't "complain" about these things, they just point them out, they aren't game reviewers, they just like taking a deep dive into the graphical sides of games You go to DF to see videos about how a game is graphically, not if you should buy the game

[@TheKrzysiek]

Ah yes, War Thunder Why play predatory AAA games, when you can play predatory indie games

[@dosdoğruyup]

this guy is me fr

[@svenrawandreloaded]

not AAA but absolutely not indie either

[@CaptainAstronaut]

Excellent Video! Some people online are claiming that gaming is dead, meanwhile I'm out here wondering how I'm going to find the time to play so many cool looking games coming out every month

[@justicefernandoestevesandi5953]

Same. So many cool looking games, too little time.

[@TyGuy9001]

Super agree. There are so many good games coming out that I just don’t have the time to play them all lol. Also, cool to see ya here Mr.Spaceman! Fan of your videos!

[@GlitchedVision]

@@TyGuy9001 those people claiming gaming is dead just isn't paying attention to the right games :D AAA is dying but AA and indies are better than they've ever been in gaming history :)

[@2010AZ]

Captain Astronaut jumpscare, nice

[@drgonzo123]

@@GlitchedVisionand it’s not all AAA games either. Just for the next few months, I’m looking forward to Space Marine 2, Astro Bot, Indiana Jones, The Plucky Squire, Dragon Age, Silent Hill 2, and more! And that’s not even mentioning the smaller indie games coming. Gaming is better than ever, it’s just the casual audience who plays nothing but sports titles, live service, and the occasional Ubisoft game who are complaining. I would too if that’s all I played.

[@kaijuultimax9407]

I think the big issue with gamer sentiment tanking is that AAA publishers have broken the unspoken social contract wherein AAA games were the place gamers came for the big, innovative and flashy experiences, while indie games were where we went to spend small amounts of money on novel experiences. Because in the 15 or so years since that unspoken contract was established, indie has evolved to be on the same level as the AAA giants while those giants have stagnated. What was once impressive because it was AAA is no longer special because I can get the same thing from an indie game (and nowadays even with a similar price tag as the bigger and more ambitious indies are often listed at $30+). This means that the only difference between the indie and AAA market anymore is the monetization and that's where I think the negative sentiment toward AAA is coming from. Indie games are now the same price, quality and sometimes even the same subject matter (ie: there are a lot of modern military shooters in the indie space now) as AAA games but with far fewer microtransactions and paywalls. Indie games in the modern day are what AAA gaming was in 2004 and you can tell the AAA industry wants to go back to being perceived the way it was in 2004 as it keeps remaking games from that era in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

The thing that gets me is that the indie scene is on par with the PS1-PS2 era of games which was one of the wackiest, most diverse, and highest quality eras. Some of the best Castlevania games were made by like 12 people on a relatively tiny budget by today's standards. Now tools have evolved by 1-2 decades so of course a 5 person team can make a masterpiece. Morrowind was made by 40ish people over 6 years. Can you imagine what can be made with modern tools and 20 talented devs and 3 years?

[@fanmovie357]

​@@haruhirogrimgar6047About the last point, Enderal is the best example of what 13 people can do working on a game on their free time for 8 years.

[@xBINARYGODx]

"the unspoken social contract wherein AAA games were the place gamers came for the big, innovative and flashy experiences, while indie games were where we went to spend small amounts of money on novel experiences." LOL wut? 'AAA' has been pushing out crap since before you were likely born (or since you were a kid). Did you think AVGN got famous on nothing? There is an ocean of crap - and sorry, there was no contract for something that you never actually experienced. You post wreaks of "I am older now, and so...."

[@kaijuultimax9407]

@@xBINARYGODx Jokes on you, the term AAA didn't even exist during the LJN days. AAA is a phenomena classified during the 90s. You thought you had some big dunk lined up but you're actually just another dumb idiot looking for a cheap gotcha. Well go find it somewhere else.

[@KPX01]

@@xBINARYGODx i do not remember AAA like squareenix pushing crap all the time, most of their stuff like FF and chrono trigger are solid. Even EA make NFS and madden good once, no microtransaction and overall just a good game. Are there crappy game sure but at least you do not have to pay for the extra skin too.....

[@PolygonDonut]

Honestly the best part of gaming right now is the fact that SO MANY specific niches have the most talented people working incredibly hard on making the best games for THAT niche. You can have really specific interests and still be given a masterpiece tailored for you, made with love and care. Especially when you have the past 50 years of backlog to choose from.

[@omiadera]

holy moly pongon jumpscare

[@simplysmiley4670]

And then the niche that doesn't have many games for that niche, doesn't do it well so you're stuck with nothing for it.

[@nisnast]

I'm so fucking glad Armored Core VI, Ace Combat 7, Tekken 8, Monster Hunter World, Resident Evil... Everything these past few years, have come out, these are some of the best games in their respective series and most of them were very niche

[@simplysmiley4670]

@@nisnast Prolly cause not a lot of folk can really try them out, still quite expensive games when you combine their price with the fact you need something that won't crash and burn when you turn the game on. xd

[@MaverickHunterXZA]

"Harvest Moon and pixel graphics" Someone didn't think that one through...

[@Lextorias]

I’m glad someone noticed that

[@Istreakilaz]

My thought was to immediately check the comments LMAO. didn't disappoint

[@Hunter-wn6xr]

Hell ya brother, I do appreciate someone talking about the beautiful aspects of the gaming sphere, it’s so tiresome to only hear about all of the bad

[@shira_yone]

Honestly I just think of it as everyone collectively having a _"better safe than sorry"_ mental breakdown. People are, as an illustration, traumatized by the predatory monetization explosion of AAA games, they regret not pushing back on such bs harder back then and are now compensating that by being very sensitive to anything negative coming from new games. And games doesn't exist in a vacuum either, other medium such as film are also manifesting this sentiment over the years. It's tragic but for the most part, understandable.

[@WMan37]

I genuinely think the gaming industry is the best it's been since 2004, the golden era of video games. But that's mostly thanks to the banger indie games coming out lately. This comment is right however. I feel I should explain that I also understand why the sentiment is worse than ever, and it's mostly thanks to the AAA space, where there's 4 layers of DRM between you and an Ubisoft game for example if you buy one (Steam, VM Protect, Denuvo DRM, and Ubisoft Connect) meaning preservation _of_ "The best gaming has been since 2004" is going to end in tragedy in the future as more and more situations like The Crew happen. Games release on launch unplayably buggy while being incredibly expensive, where you will often get a game for like $70 then get gouged with microtransactions. Then you have to hear about shitty people on social media (mostly twitter) put a ™ at the end of the word "Gamers" as they condescendingly act like we're not dumping HUGE money into the industry during an economic crisis where rent is exteremely expensive and grocery prices are going up, like we should worship the ground they walk on because they made a half baked product, trying to blur the line between cult of personality and merchant transaction. It's _frustrating to deal with_ because they act like we're getting their games for free. Say we were _just_ paying $70, no microtransactions. That's like 1/5th or 1/6th the cost of the *entire platform we're playing the game on.* That $70 isn't $70, it's 6-7 hours of our time on this planet at minimum wage, and we get condescended by PR teams and random strangers for having an issue with poor quality control. With the proliferation of social media, yeah, we see this, and we're responding with equal levels of indignation. We know that if we don't say something, we don't get loud and disruptive, things will get worse. Oblivion Horse Armor seems so quaint by today's standards because back then we didn't speak up as much. I have immense respect for indie developers who give me complete working games that are cool, I have strong disdain for people who nickel and dime me every step of the way, lessen my ownership of the game I'm dropping money on, and make player hostile choices both in and outside the game.

[@HelloOnepiece]

Survivalship bias probably plays a huge role with every "it was better in the past" take. People tend to forget just how much trash shovelware came out in the early 2000s

[@no.no.4680]

Remember how every popular movie got a shovelware game to go with it? We were all disappointed when a family member bought us one of those doggy doo doo games just because we like the movie a little bit. And the icing on the cake was that if we wanted something different, the answer was “well I already bought you X so play that”. 😂

[@Watburnt]

Even the best parts of past eras are kinda trash to go back and play Like DMC1 started an amazing franchise and has a really good idea but man is it just not a good game to go back and play now (The camera alone is frustrating enough) or MGS1 having an extremely annoying control scheme

[@firuis1]

Makes me think of looking at the PC game section in Cex and other game shops and normally a good 60-80% is just crappy puzzle games, people are idiots if they think older games were all good lol

[@Writing_Gamer_513]

And the 90s, and the 80s, and the 70s. We can see all the trash that existed on the primal consoles thanks to someone like the AVGN, he shows us how badly designed most games on the NES alone were.

[@viscountrainbows2857]

I have played so many ripoff shovelware on those 40 in 1, 100 in 1, 300 in 1, type discs.

[@GlaDos321]

If it was dead, nobody would be talking about it. Just like the film industry, good stuff is just slightly harder to find now.

[@Ashtarte3D]

But that's not even the case. Last year alone we had BG3, Mario Wonder, Alan Wake 2 and ToTK as massive AAA successes. The problem is you need to ignore so much live service garbage, not that it's hard to find outstanding titles.

[@og_mante5138]

@@Ashtarte3D That’s true, but the good to bad ratio is a lot worse these days. It’s not really a debate.

[@dr_diddy]

​@@og_mante5138i mean... that's just because the barrier to entry is a lot lower. There are more good games and more bad games but you as an individual get to choose what you play.

[@flamingscar5263]

@@MACARONIEMANIAC its just not, if you focus on the bad games it may seem like that because there is more bad games, but at the same time, there is more good games, theres just more games in general as the comment under me pointed out, last year we had BG3, Mario Wonder, Alan Wake 2 and ToTK as massive AAA successes, thats not signs of "worse in general"

[@projectz975]

and tbh the fact that good stuff is hard to find is because of one of the reasons gaming is soo good rn, like its easier than ever to make and publish games so theres SOOOOO many games coming put every month. for every one game you find that appeals to you theres like 20 others that would be somebody else's favorite. its really rad

[@bagrisham]

Your comment toward the new industry scale is an excellent point. Now, there are so many different types of games, with vastly more titles being generated now than ever before (that sit alongside older titles, which are still popular). Everyone can find their niche, and while that is great, it can lead to heavier competition. Gamer attention spans are split by such a massive amount of new/upcoming titles. Thus, people have ballooning backlogs of quality titles, let alone the sizable volume of mid/low-tier games being created. It's wild to see the progress of the field, and now that graphical fidelity is reaching (some) limits, the emphasis towards gameplay or ways to differentiate may shift moving forward. Great video. Quite enjoyed your takes on this topic.

[@LilFeralGangrel]

The cool thing about modern gaming is we're in an era where "dead genres" keep reappearing, imsims, traditional rpgs, survival horror, and so on are being made. Sure AAA is in a terrible place but it was headed this direction for years. but AA and indie? never better. PC gaming is bigger than console gaming now too. which is absolutely bonkers to me. PC gaming nearly died 20 years ago, and now it's stronger then ever.

[@brya9681]

AAA companies just like film are basically selling leftovers, reheating the metaphoral meal with all these damn reboots, remakes and remasters. None of them want to take a chance and make something new as original. Let's all thank AA and Indies for keeping the medium fresh.

[@elymnir4683]

I'm still waiting for imsims to make a comeback. I'm waiting SO MUCH. But it's a bit hard to be hopeful when Microsoft shuts down Arkane or when Embracer sends Deus Ex into the abyss.

[@justsomeguy8385]

Yeah I thought fighting games were dead 20 years ago, but they are doing better than ever now. The competitive arena FPS like Quake 3 Arena hasn't been able to make a comeback though. Not in it's purest form at least. Lots of games take inspiration from them, but definitely don't work the same way at their core.

[@xBINARYGODx]

People who think that AAA is worse, are being amazingly convenient with their memory - if AAA were much better, why can someone make a career about crapping on older 2D games for so long, and be famous for it?

[@wub9044]

@@elymnir4683 I got a quite nice list of ImSim gems to suggest for you, friend. 👌

[@meikahidenori]

It's not that gaming is dead - it that people these days KNOW what experiences they're after and some are so niche it's hard to cover them all. People need to expand their interests a bit and they'll find HEAPS to enjoy. There's so many games outside the popular few that are just fun for a few hours and that's awesome as we never have nothing to play

[@cheerful_crop_circle]

Depends.

[@cheerful_crop_circle]

AAA have bigger budgets.

[@DanCreaMundos]

If you want to make a game, consider this that indie game developers have many advantages against big companies: - You don't have a time limit other than the one you set for yourself - You can make whatever you want or dream of - You can find hundreds of free apps and tools and tutorials to make of your idea a reality - If you make it with an indie game, you REALLY make it because there's a lot of money in this media and new/cool indie games can get very popular, very fast - If you fail, you can always learn a lot and iterate with mostly only time lost, and your next game may be a hit - you can try your luck with a very simple and attainable idea, vampire survivors with its fun simple mechanics and pixel graphics sold over 2 million units on its first month There is no good reason not to try

[@dimiteatree]

Indie game players have been eating well for several years. I hardly play "AAA" games anymore (except Elden Ring).

[@cynicle]

My backlog is insane... I'm currently going through a Metroidvania stage again and have GRIME, Tivi, Ender Lillies and Bloodstained all going simultaneously (while eying off Nine Sols). There are so many games on Steam right now it's almost impossible to not find bangers in there.

[@dimiteatree]

@@cynicle 100%. Need to be more selective or it becomes overwhelming QUICK.

[@cynicle]

@@dimiteatree So true. I'm roughly at ~1900 games across platforms, I had to start using Playnite to keep track of it all.

[@BishyB]

​@cynicle i think im on my way to have the same problem The only difference is my backlog mostly consists of Jrpgs, most of them taking over 60 hours to beat, so i think im already screwed😅

[@mohamedaityoussef9965]

Gaming is not dead, im just dead inside now And it's somewhat literal

[@og_mante5138]

Everyday, we die a little inside until we’re all the way there.

[@clashmanthethird]

don't dead open inside

[@Celis.C]

On a tangentially and unsolicited sidenote: the menstruation cycle is one of literal necrosis. So once a month, women are quite literally "a little dead inside". This is why access to female hygiene products is so essential; there's actual risk of deadly complications without proper (access to) hygiene (products).

[@mohamedaityoussef9965]

@@Celis.C wtf lmfao ok yeah sure I'm with you on that You should get checked for adhd bro

[@Celis.C]

@@mohamedaityoussef9965 ADD confirmed, cheers for your consideration o/

[@officialfumofeltingchannel1490]

Whats this? A positive video on KZbin in a sea of endless negativity on this site? Never thought I’d see the day

[@kimchithe6th]

What’s this? A positive video on KZbin in the negative KZbin video factory? How odd! I must inquire with my supervisor about this post haste!!

[@daevious_]

@@kimchithe6th Guess we're making positive videos now.

[@funebure]

It's sad/frustrating how that negative core bleeds into most mediums as well, as you mentioned there are trends in problems going on, many that should not be ignored, on film, animation , VideoGames, music, everywhere, yet at the same time, the exponential increase on access to those mediums in the last couple of decades has been mind boggling, both om quantity and ease, both as consumers and creators, is not easy to reach balance in addressing the flaws yet crediting the virtues of each, but seeing how that negativity is an easy motivator that steers most of the conversation.... gets exhausting which is why is always nice to see videos/art spawn from passion With all that said, and my deteriorating eyesight, and quoting Tim Rogers on Boku no natsuyasumi (6.10.13) Gaming is dead since "my bad eyes have trouble seeing *them*, so it basically doesn't exist" Really nice comfy video

[@RockingRavine]

It is amazing how precise on your words you can be. Straight to the point, no sudden loud scream, just a well built argument in a simple video format. Amazing job, dude!

[@HunterDrone]

i stick to the definition of indie studio as 'Not affiliated with a publisher' cause anything else has way too many gray areas

[@bennettcarlson3974]

I think the best definition of an indie game I have ever heard is, "They are what AAA isnt" and honestly I cant think of a better definition.

[@joshuasgameplays9850]

@@bennettcarlson3974 So I guess under that definition, indie games are less of a category and more of an art movement?

[@joshuasgameplays9850]

@@blunderingfool What?

[@arceustriforce1622]

Pretty much. A lot of indie studios have gotten to the size where I don’t even really count them as indie anymore. I think AA is a good label for them now, bigger than a one person itch game but smaller than a full triple A game.

[@momob4276]

I really don't understand why people are confused about what indie means. indie is short for = INDEPENDENT it's literally right there in the name. And independent means that it was created independently, which typically means being self funded, self marketed, etc. again being independent in the creation of a game. It's not that difficult.

[@dafff08]

gaming isnt dying. the tripple a game quality is.

[@pinkuwah]

have a nice video everyone :3

[@thijsvanderwolk3281]

:3

[@flowerthencrranger3854]

Aww thanks

[@treekoace0259]

Gaming isn't dead but it is an extremely mixed bag. The whole Helldivers thing is because people feel the developers essentially lied to us with hiding the fact that it would eventually be required to have a PlayStation account to play the game. There were thousands of players that were no longer able to play when it was instated and it felt like a kick in the teeth especially with how close nit the Helldivers community is specifically.

[@noahreinhuber6191]

20:19 I think you’ve just articulated something I’ve been trying to understand for damn near a decade now

[@MrProngles-z9i]

I love this channel! So glad I found it. As always big props for this banger video! Thank you!

[@eglaiosdeminecraft9259]

I'd like to add the point of "noisy minority" in gaming as we see it on social media. I remember seeing there was data from 2023 implying that gamers mostly play old games. All the dudes enjoying Minecraft, Fortnite or GTA, even though probably numerous, are more unlikely to talk about gaming online, since they can just enjoy their favorite games instead of paying attention to this. I personally think most people who do share their opinion about gaming are those who are both invested into it, and are seeking for something to play, AkA are most likely not satisfied from start. Therefore, I think the point of gaming as reflected online nowadays mainly revolves around novelty rather than actual enjoyment, more precisely about feeling like one's ahead of their time, instead of being a granpa by playing 2-years-old games. Then, for these people who have time to spend online rather than playing their favorite games, I think the gaming industry is indeed in a bad spot due to a severe lack of novelty. I mean, rather than lack of novelty, it feels more like past restrictions backfiring. I think the industry was heavily propelled by speculation, and adopted the approach of "copying what works elsewhere and minimize the gamble of innovation", which worked for a couple years, until now where big studios are spamming remasters like they're eating the breadcrumbs of what they can still do in that risk-minimizing mindset. So if we consider most people who talk about gaming online refer to what's gonna release next rather than what they can play, then yes, gaming is worst than ever. To add up to this, mainstream gaming feels incredibly restrained. I mean, among the entirety of potential methods to trigger enjoyment through the interaction with a software, there's likely so much more than rpg, open world, metroidvania, platformer, soulslike, BR and the few other genders that drive the industry nowadays. The extraction shooter genre is likely the latest one created, and despite being relatively niche, I feel like it had an enormous impact in the gaming sphere for the only fact that it's one of the very few new things in the last years. Ok now time for the biased and subjective comment : I think games should be primarly meant to be enjoyed for what's inside them. If I'm more attracted by the novelty or rarity of a game than its actual content, then I will likely have more fun getting into NFTs. NFTs and trading overall offers a constant race for who gets first into the next big thing, which seems to perfectly fit the behavior of logging in online to talk about games that aren't even released yet, or seeking for the feeling of playing something trendy.

[@CowboyBehop]

This was a really great video. Thank you for making this. I needed to hear this today. Gaming and the world, have been so pessimistic and negative. Again thank you for the positivity. It's a good change

[@corrinflakes9659]

The best game I ever played was a 2022 game, as an adult, a game managed to beat my previous favourite that held the spot for 10 years. Being Xenoblade Chronicles 3, like the narrative of that game was the exact thing I needed to hear, and it changed me, and it’s just fun anyway.

[@corrinflakes9659]

Also Xenoblade developer MonolithSoft is a co-developer on 3D Zelda. They contribute to this iterative process too. Xenoblade Chronicles X is Breath of the Wild’s dad.

[@ScarfKat]

Fantastic video. I like the extra humor added in as well, it feels like more than usual and it landed really well. I remember you kept saying you wanted to do a smaller video but would always get sucked into a rabbit hole, so I'm glad you actually got to make a smaller video this time lol.

[@Quilly_DM]

A new upload so soon? Oh my. This will be nice.

[@brovid-19]

This is exactly why I have so much more respect for old school game devs compared to now. Nowadays, if you want a tree there.. you just plop down the tree asset. Back then .. it's "how do we fool them into thinking we put a tree there?" Limitation breeds innovation.

[@Scerttle]

People Make Games do a good job of covering specific issues with gaming that need to be addressed rather than crapping on gaming at large. They're one of the few members of the media that talk about things in a negative light that I feel have a positive impact.

[@IsraelSilva-ho8yc]

Found your channel randomly (holy algorithm), loved the content! Keep up the grind dude!

[@henryfleischer404]

This has me thinking about how a few years ago people were calling the FPS genre dead. This was because it had splintered into multiple smaller genres, so the kind of FPS they liked (call of duty clones) were much rarer. Before the mid to late 2010's, I thought of first person shooters as basically Call Of Duty, and so I was completely uninterested in them. And then I played Doom, liked it, then played Doom 2016, which I have a lot of problems with but I liked too (why is it called Doom, when it does not play at all like it? At least give it a subtitle or number.), and then played Dusk, Amid Evil, and finally The Citadel, which is only my favorite FPS because Beyond Citadel is not done. These games are all part of a movement that outsiders tend to think of as very backward-looking, but actually tends to cloak very interesting and innovative game design behind retro aesthetics.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

Ehh... DOOM and Doom 2016 are more similar to each other gameplay-wise than DOOM is to DOOM II, but Doom 2016 is also more similar to DOOM II than it is to DOOM. It's hard for me to not see 2016 as being part of the series for exactly that reason.

[@henryfleischer404]

@@dontmisunderstand6041 I don't understand what you're saying, could you clarify with some examples or specifics?

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@henryfleischer404 DOOM is kinda a turn your brain off and zone out kind of frantic shooter. DOOM II is primarily a puzzle game that has some shooty bits. Doom 2016 is kinda an inbetween for the two.

[@henryfleischer404]

@@dontmisunderstand6041 For me, the differences in the core gameplay loops outweigh the difficulty argument. Being able to salvage health from enemies instead of having to run away, and being able to jump over enemies really changes the feel of the game, as does confining just about all combat to dedicated arenas instead of having enemies throughout the whole level.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@henryfleischer404 I'm not sure I follow. At no point did I say anything about difficulty, the only thing I talked about WAS the gameplay itself.

[@marqod1437]

I think at least part of the reason "game journalists" and social media shills claim a game has died is to imply a game must have a high player count to be alive. "If you don't play your favorite live service game like its your career, the game and all the money you sank into it might disappear," is the message.

[@becharac]

Love your videos, i agree with everything you said here. But I think you missed a mark on one thing - it's not that games are dead, it's that magic in them is dead. Every AAA studio used to make games to compete with each other, bring the technology further and further (for profit ofcourse!, its reasonble), but few years ago they understood that it's cheaper and easier to put lootboxes, monthly passes and junk like that in games, that's the big reason we enjoy indie games in the first place, they are inovative and fun, tho often short and most in need of a team (quite a few are just niche choices because of that). Indie games wouldn't survive if AAA studios would still retain the same "magic" they did 10 or 15 years ago.

[@FG-418]

I think that society need to stop thinking that gaming = AAA. Gaming isn't dead because gaming isn't AAA. AAA is doing too good, but the smaller studios are doing just fine and giving better games than ever. Tbh, I don't think the "magic" has changed. AAA are indeed making bigger than ever projects (GTA VI) but republishing the same game over and over by the bigger studios really isn't new, look at the Need For Speed franchise, or Dirt, Call Of Duty and Battlefield, they were releasing games more often maybe but it was the same game with the new graphics resold to you every year. And the sports game formula hasn't change since then either. The games we found that had that "magic" mostly also came from smaller studios, which was the norm at the time, and would be called Indie nowadays in terms of backing and manpower. In the end, we currently have more innovative fun games to play that we ever were. I just wish more people would go back to take chance on buying one of these news IP/games than supporting the lootbox/gambling trend.

[@BittenToe]

I love your videos, just super well researched and informative sit-downs covering important topics. The minimal editing is great as well, I honestly prefer it to over-edited attention hoarding videos.

[@idk5598]

i don't think its overall better, it definitely gotten bigger but so are the problems. stats could be very misleading if they were taken in a vacuum.

[@almostcheesecake]

I'm not in the gaming industry, but this video is weirdly inspiring to me as a creator

[@dc7981]

An entire generation of kids who grew up playing call of duty now refuse to play things that aren’t call of duty….

[@cheerful_crop_circle]

Depends on the tastes and personalities.

[@rkroll17]

Yes anyone can make a game but it’s important to understand just how much work you’ll have to do. Especially starting with no prior knowledge you’ll be spending a lot of time learning programming. I still think spending some time in classes would benefit someone who wants to develop any kind of software. School helps prevent reinventing the wheel.

[@caesarishere]

yo i love you lextorias please continue what you're doing i always feel joy when you post :)

[@JeffGranja27]

Bad things tend to be easier to notice, no wonder there are some people that deny that gaming gets better and better, heck, I still haven't played all the publicly considered "masterpieces" last one I played being BioShock franchise, not to mention the tons of good indie games that go unnoticed, the next Stardew Valley could be under our noses, again it just gets better, people need to stop talking about Concord and Blizzard and any other bad thing that come to mind in gaming because good stuff heavily outweights it

[@lucasdanziger79]

On that indie game topic, it’s amusing how much more fun I have playing Sunday Rivals, than Madden.

[@XDarkEcho]

I'd argue gaming has gotten both better, and stagnate, over the years. Indie developers have become a blessing because of their risky and creative ideas, which in turn creates memorable and engaging games, that you don't/won't often see in the AAA hemisphere. If we didn't have all these talented indie devs, I feel like gaming would definitely be dying, because games nowadays in the market take up to 4+ years to develop, and most still be coming out half baked, riddled with bugs, and scummy ways to nickel and dime the players with Battle Passes, or monetization(though normally in F2P games, it has found it's way in B2P games too). Indeed, and even with Indies being a blessing, they've opened a new can of worms, of becoming "quantity over quality", thanks to the fact ANYONE can make a game. You have to go through the excessive slop, to actually find something that's worthwhile and worth supporting(not trying to say every indie game is slop, but you can clearly tell who's put in the effort, compared to those who just made a quick build from the assets store and called it a day hoping for a quick buck). The cynics have been getting more attention, because it's easy to bash on something, and spread negativity; that saying "misery loves company" rings true here. And with all these easy pickings like, company layoffs, forcing DEI/Sweet Baby controversy, buggy games, intrusive monetization practices, gamers just following the hate bandwagon because their favorite influencer is doing the same, etc. It's become such a empty term now, people just sling around just because. A game isn't dead till it's lost ALL support from the developers in my opinion, the servers are down, and you're just playing alone for the most part; even then that's a stretch. I don't think it's possible for a game to truly die, unless there's literally no way of accessing, or playing it anymore, in any way. Great video on the state of the gaming industry, from the past to now the present. How the industry has truly changed in many aspects, and how gamers and the audience have changed as well. How social media influencers have weaponized negativity to spread misinformation, and ruin a game's image solely because they're not happy of a certain change. It's a very complex situation the gaming industry is in these day and age, compared to back then where the sky's was the limit; but now, it's just a huge muddled mixture of corporate greed, screw ups, and disappointments. I have faith after a few more years, things might get back on track, but even if it doesn't, the games that are good will prosper, and the ones that are truly bad will fail; gamers have started to push back on a lot of the bad decisions they're don't agree with, and how publishers are treating their developers too.

[@joshp2080]

Bro, THANK YOU. I swear, every other day im in the comments of some asmongold video about "old games good, new games bad" . Its despicable howbmany boomers just dump on the modern gaming industry just for some political take on how capitalism devours creativity. Like come on, gaming is incredible,yet they latch on to that narrative constantly

[@Nintendofanboy101-yk8ro]

wow, this video is such a gold mine. For me, the switch is one of the best video game consoles ever and it's partly due to indies. I think the negetivity can be down to nostalgia sometimes.

[@SacrificAbominat]

I'm honestly to the point I'm not getting hyped up much about a lot of AAA games becuase they're either very predatory, lack creativity, or play it safe. But I'm not starved for great games because the indie market has effectively become like the old AAA market was in many regards. Back int he PS2 days there'd be a lot of games that were just made by teams of 20 to 30 people, and didn't really have much more of a budget that a million dollars which is pretty much what the indie market is right now. I'm also seeing some AAA developers decide to make indie level game more often as well. One of my favorite developers from back in the PS2 days was CyberConnect2, and I honestly haven't been that interested in their games much since they got typecasted by Bandai Namco into an anime game developer and basically made Naruto games for a decade. Well they decided to self publish their original games recently, and their Fuga Melodies of Steel series is a lot like the games they made back in the PS2 days for apparently a comparable budget of $2-3 million per game. I'd consider it an indie series even though it is made by a AAA developer, and I'm kind of hoping a lot of other AAA developers start moving towards making smaller more indie like experiences that can be more experimental and actually "fun" instead of a second job like a lot of AAA games feel like these days.

[@BucketSoup2023]

I don't care 2023 and 2024 have been great years for games

[@mynameisatypo]

0:14 younger than your mom

[@DraganAlves]

Brilliant video; we need more gaming history surveys like this

[@vaelegoro7782]

Everything is better before it becomes corpratized to make as much money as possible usually at the cost of what made it so good in the firstplace

[@nighttilt]

Lol such a great video. Best non-segue for an ad read ever. On a serious note, you explained your talking points very well. You put how I feel about modern gaming into words that I simply lack the intelligence to convey. I appreciate you taking the time to make this video. Thank you.

[@dionisiosmarinos4285]

I am enjoying Ender lilies and Hades, will be playing the walking dead telltale games in a while and in two weeks I will have space marine 2. Gaming it's at its peak

[@Armaan8014]

Excellent, well balanced video. Subbed 🤝

[@Zeverinsen]

*The video game industry is the reason why anyone who likes good games, should care about unionisation.* One of the biggest contributing factors to the onslaught of sloppy big publisher titles, has been corporate culture and lack of worker protection in the US. These morally bankrupt entities crunch, over-hire and over-fire without any consequences, and make a big profit even when accounting for how they overpay their executives. The modus operandi in the tech and gaming industry is morally reprehensible, and that has negatively affected mainstream titles and studios. Yeah, we can pretend like all the indie darlings can fill the void left by the big ticket names, but the wound will only continue to fester if we don't clean and stitch it up! If we just turn our backs, we will continue to miss out on possibly amazing experiences as they are destroyed by execs, while the hardworking people who are crunched into burnout have to suffer for this unplayable greedy slop. *_It's unfair to everyone, and it's about time it stops._*

[@NevisYsbryd]

Unfortunately, doing this would pretty much require setting a precedent that would have profound ramifications for tech and finance which are far bigger and wield power comparable to nation-states and exercise quite a bit of it over the exact governing bodies in question.

[@JomaXZ]

Refreshing to hear a more optimistic take on how things are. And one that isn't delusional or illogical about it either. I think a big shift in how games are produced is around the corner that's gonna make them even better, but I can't say I know when or how that will happen... But it's most likely budget and time related.

[@isainepto]

People that said gaming is done, are the same people that only play the newest trending multiplayer competitive game on the market. Those games peak 2 weeks after release then die when the next one is released, thats why they feel like that, because nothing will fill that void they themselves created

[@Ornithopter470]

It's not just that. Most games being released are slop. More =/ good. But that's been true for forever. A lot of it is that as gaming as a whole has become more commoditized and pushed for either the broadest audience possible, or become a hyper focused niche targeting a miniscule community, you lose something valuable.

[@DionPanday]

How do you know what people are playing unless you know all the games in their library?

[@Ornithopter470]

@@DionPanday by looking at sales numbers and steam activity.

[@alexmejia7012]

​@@Ornithopter470y'all saying but I don't see y'all buying all the good games that aren't "woke " only complaining about the bad ones completely ignoring the bad ones

[@armorbearer9702]

You reminded me of something I am constantly reminded on Matt McMuscles' channel. Many great games were ruined because corporate thought any gaming company can churn out a good game. All they need is a good IP.

[@BLP04]

I’m so glad this video exists. “Video games are dead” mfs are the kind who only play CoD and FIFA

[@gootfried]

And why is that a problem? People need to be chronically gamers or what? Didn’t play cod or fifa for a long time, but yes. Exactly that’s the problem. Should they be punished?

[@BLP04]

@@gootfried no, but if you’re only looking for shit, don’t be surprised if you only find shit

[@CraftyArts]

And thats after they call for a boycott a week earlier

[@gootfried]

@@BLP04 football is shit or what? We don’t have any alternative and kids are being abused and attacked from ea. that’s why I didn’t buy for years a football game, but what a sport fan should do? Play other games so that you are happy?

[@BLP04]

@@gootfried just say that sports games suck instead of saying that all games suck, then. It’s that simple, especially because we all know that sports games suck

[@GeneralDMadness]

Cool bomb rush cyberfunk music in the background. Make it louder pretty please, I can barely hear it

[@rbdriftin]

I find that people who tend to say gaming isn’t as good are just depressed or distracted by real life.

[@qazhr]

Ok then what are micro transactions, live service and message over gameplay in recent years

[@officialfumofeltingchannel1490]

@@qazhr Literally just don’t play them and focus on the good games that come out its that simple

[@chaserseven2886]

@@qazhryou lost me at “message” go fear monger somewhere out else

[@chaserseven2886]

@@blunderingfoolanother of you echo chamber dwellers?

[@qazhr]

@@chaserseven2886go to /r Kotakuinaction then come back to and say I’m fear mongering if it does not awaken you

[@itsliqs]

Fuckin' love your channel dude, videos just get better and better.

[@VariousMethod5]

Gaming isn't dead. Its progressively made more and more for people who have a lot of free time and as gamers get older you have less and less free time. Older gamers then become an easy target for negativity. I do think gaming has slowed down a bit. You mentioned people being impacted by Outer Wilds. That was 2019. If you lived through how much gaming changed from 1996 to 2001 then the idea that five years is 'now' seems a bit strange. Gaming probably needed to slow down, though, just so everyone can catch up on everything we've missed.

[@WhoovieCOD]

great video! i feel like your writing for the vids has gotten better and funnier for the same reasons of iteration making better games

[@julioruiz1934]

This is the best take on the state of gaming in my opinion.

[@originalw01theonlyone]

We can focus on making video games more mechanically complex instead of visually

[@jamesdreads7828]

No sponsor plug transition is a 'good' transition. It's better when you just do the sponsor plug without trying to uncomfortably make it fit within the context of the topic of the video. An exercise in which you're doomed to fail 9/10 times.

[@AVRTH]

Hey man just wanted to say you are doing a fantastic job. Every video has been engaging from beginning to end and I appreciate the level of research you put in. Keep it up I see a bright future for you on youtube.

[@momob4276]

100% agree with you. I think some people are addicted to being mad all the time online. I'm getting tired of games being categorized as Game of the year, OR worst game ever. It's ok to ENJOY game that's just OK. There are so many games I look fondly back on even if they weren't the best games I've played because they were still fun and I got my money's worth.

[@shira_yone]

The mindset of that kind of people is that "life is too short to be spent on slop/mid games" and I can't really blame them for thinking that way, to each their own truly. I very much agree with your sentiment however. Although my personal solution to this abundance of "not the best" modern games is to just avoid most of them and just play old games that are really good (if not the "best" in genre) despite their age.

[@davec8385]

Great video, thanks for shedding some perspective on the wider picture! I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day :)

[@Raskol-Solipsysta]

The industry as a whole became so big so fast that we all still remember when it was just a bunch of nerds doing games for other ppl and fun, now its all about money and more money - thats the real issue imo either the change being so rapid or the cynicism of it

[@somedood99]

This video is incredibly insightful and provided me a semblance of hope in the noise of all this negativity. I spent 5 years of my life learning 3d art just to get into game development and to eventually get the opportunity to work on 1 project but was let go due to studio budget after the games release. I worked in animation for 2 years but left to try to get back into game dev and went to my first GDC this year just to know if the industry truly has gotten worse. I heard the struggles of alot of people who lost their jobs with someone even passing away after losing their companies health insurance. The future felt bleak and i felt like i wasted my life trying to chase a dream but the poignant comment at the end about not letting the negativity consume us has really helped clarify that i shouldnt give up just yet.

[@sartiee4957]

The Return of the King

[@ja6896]

Man, what a great youtube channel. Keep it up fam

[@mikedelgrande5296]

For the past few years I've been leaving comments in comment sections about how I can't relate with "gaming is dying" or "games are bad now". I've been gaming for 40 YEARS on a nearly daily basis. I was there Gandalf ... And every year I play a huge pile of bangers and love every minute of it. I do stay away from live service, F2P, loot boxes and battle passes. Maybe that's why I have good gaming experiences, or maybe I just love gaming. Either way I can't relate with "games are worse now" or whatever. I think gaming is the best it's ever been.

[@Donderu]

There’s been a shift in the past couple of years. I feel like there was a pretty big slump, but bad devs and bad corporate practices are starting to be punished properly by consumers

[@justsomeguy8385]

I definitely disagree with your conclusion. Yeah we have so many options and games are easier to make and more technically capable than ever, but they also don't seem anywhere near as innovative or interesting as they used to be. And game devs have it worse than ever when it comes to being able to support themselves. What's the point of spending years making a game you are passionate about if hardly anyone will play it and it won't even make enough to cover your bills from that time? Instead you have to churn out quick mobile cash grabs with micro-transactions to actually support yourself, or go work for an abusive big studio. I have high hopes for VR, but honestly that's only held back by the convenience of the hardware. I have no doubt once the hardware is appealing to the average gamer, it will wind up exactly like flatscreen gaming is now. No telling when that will happen though.

[@NevisYsbryd]

Having more games is not entirely a good thing, either. The market is horribly oversaturated and most people are not interested in scouring through the practically infinite piles of terrible indie games to find the handful of gems that they will not be able to connect to anyone over due to small playerbases.

[@Natediggetydog]

New lextorias? And just in time to watch while I “work”? This day keeps getting better and better

[@FenixPJ_]

I'm not sure if this comment will ever get to you but around 19:50. You talk about wanting the audience to care about the developers and people who make video games. Well one thing I think you and all the other channels talking about games can do is actually say the name of the individuals who actually worked on these games. You're not the only channel that does this, so I won't say it's a problem you exclusively have. But calling game developers just "Devs" or "Dev Team" is incredibly dehumanizing and whether intentional or not, downplays a lot of the credit that these people have when working on a game. If you want to talk about the Tears of the Kingdom developers actually credit them by their name instead of "The Director" and "The Producer". This might seem minor but in my opinion this goes a long way in making your audience actually care about these developers.

[@Lextorias]

I try to cover individuals that deserve credit in my videos when I can, and make sure to link to resources where people can read more about them. Referring to "devs" is a blanket term for me for a reason though, as the teams behind games are often hundreds large, and you can't just credit the success of a game to one or two people when it's a team effort. Talking about the directors and producers in ToTK is a situation where I could've named every individual person and their title, but it was a very brief mention and doing so would have slowed the video down for very little benefit to the viewer or the video. If I was talking about them more in-depth than a brief mention I would've absolutely credited them individually. Thanks for the feedback though!

[@VikTheGreat360]

Popped up in my recommended with an interesting thumbnail. Then you said the opener with the line about man hours for GTA VI and landing a man on the moon and now i’m immediately hooked. Great writing. Great hook. Great video. New sub 🎉

[@chizzicle]

The thing is, gaming is better than ever now, but not because new games are better than they've ever been. We get few gems like Baldur's Gate or Elden Ring sure, but so much of the so called AAA games are boring junk. Gaming is better than ever now because we have almost entire history of gaming at our disposal. We don't just have the few great games released today, we have the great games released 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago, all available to us, some easier than others but still.

[@filipmularzuk6693]

Awesome material mate. Spot on. Especially the part about content creators making mostly videos and posts how everything is going to shit, rage and critique sells. And it's nice to watch smth like this for a change

[@Tardvark]

*Gaming has never been better*

[@Belesprit656]

It's always annoying when people complain about graphics and it's like they're about as good as they can be. Why complain? Playing a game on even a Gameboy Advance or Wii makes you really appreciate the improvements. Those consoles aren't even that old.

[@AquaSloth]

Your ability to read your script in such massive chunks without a cut is blowing my mind rn. Great video!

[@NutBuster99]

rote

[@AbstractInhuman]

Personally, I think modern gaming would be even better if we had shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I'm not kidding.

[@theshadowking3198]

It’s like saying the economy is better than ever yeah for the 1% Anyway I’ve just been playing old games ngl

[@selinov]

@lextorias, your essay is on point. Iteration is something that "doers" (programmers, artists, athletes, etc.) understand, but executives can't. I love your writing, bruh. 👏🏾

[@motivateddad]

For Iterative design, Bethesda, known for their famous environmental storytelling and explorable world which gets better every game they made, proceeds to not use any of them in Starfield.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

To be fair... Starfield is very similar to Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. Only without the actual cool and interesting parts of Daggerfall. It seems as though int he production of Starfield they forgot that Daggerfall was one of the games that didn't receive as positive a reception as pretty much every future game they made would.

[@TerenceChiII]

Bethesda got WORSE with every game they made since Morrowind.

[@hplwonder4054]

Amazing video (Even more amazing sun wukong cosplay Love the beard, unironically) I've recently just gotten started with game development and if there's one thing I know it's this Make what you like, but don't rely on it to pay the bills. But if you wanna do that, I recommend you to use the Blue ocean tactic, to make games in a niche market with high demand but low supply But also, please stay healthy, over the month that I've been working I've lost a considerable amount of weight over how little I've been eating, and I've gotten a pretty severe and consistent back pain as well as in my hand and wrist, I'm only 19 and I can already see the veins practically popping out of my hand Of course I've learned to manage my time, going from 15 hours per day every day to 12 hours and eventually 9... Making games is awesome, but don't destroy yourself over it, and the only standard you should have is your own, because you wouldn't wanna make a bad game

[@weirdyakuzafan]

I feel another aspect to it all is that unlike when they were younger, people don't just play ANY game now, their standards and tastes have solidified. They don't equally enjoy Mario and Zelda anymore, it's now one or the other. Compound that with the fact that not as many games release in a year as you might think, whittled down further by games releasing in genres you don't like, whittled down EVEN MORE by current trends you might not care for... It's certainly gonna feel like gaming is dead I think.

[@shira_yone]

Whittle down again by the newer games that is supposed to scratch one's itch are (perceived or objectively) worse than the older games. Not even graphics, something that for the most part constantly improving for video games over the years, is something that is guaranteed to be better than an older games that is just way ahead of their time. People usually mention indies reviving dead genres, but lets be real 90% of them are just the old game/genre you know and love but worse in a few or more key aspect that made someone love the game/genre in the first place.

[@weirdyakuzafan]

@@shira_yone I don't like what you said in that last part but I honestly can't argue with you either... I'll just say that I think people who think like this need to adjust their expectations better, and leave it at that.

[@BiDisaster327]

I agree with your comment and you make good observations, but unrelated to that, seeing a black and white profile picture of kiryu smoking made me read your comment like a cutscene and I giggled. thanks

[@DogginsFroggins]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I have literally never seen someone who likes Mario and dislikes Zelda or visa versa.

[@shira_yone]

@@weirdyakuzafan I agree, but people do get overboard hyping up indies (the future of gaming and whatnot) and then when the game is respectable yet underwhelming at the same time, people are then told to temper their expectation. The contradiction is full of comedy to me so I tacked it on my first reply.

[@PurplePenguin4]

I think gaming is great because now I can actually go through my backlog. No games coming out lately have me interested. I don't think I've bought a game that came out past 2020.

[@DeadSceneMedia]

Gaming has never been better and I'm happy to see someone talk about that.

[@ocisxo]

your writing is so good

[@WYPOUT42999]

The king returns!

[@Ty-douken]

The way I've looked at it is there's never been a better time to be a gamer, but that doesn't mean the best games are coming out right now. This is especially true depending on personal tastes, but also because there's so many games it can be hard to find the ones you like. I grew up like many adult gamers now during a time when you could play almost any release that interested you & it was relatively easy to keep up as most games took a maximum of 20 hours or so to beat. Contrast that with now the average AAA game is 30-59 hours & there's plenty of 100+ hour open world games too. There's new genre mash ups we'd never seen before on a yearly basis & so many fun games to try that you could never boot up the same game twice & not run out of things to try. I guess what I'm saying is that while it seems dire in some situations & can be difficult to get into a groove with games like we used to because we're bombarded with things, it ultimately is for the better of gaming & we need to focus on finding the games that speak to us as game are art. Also we gotta try to help all of the newer gamers (new & old) that might be getting taken advantage of by microtransactions by doing our part to only engage with them responsibly or possibly having a governing body set some standards like how they used to with the "Concerned Children's Advertisers" for cartoons.

[@cheerful_crop_circle]

Adults dont like wasting time on pixels on a screen.

[@shauas4224]

Its just a huge habit of whining about anything and everything nowadays. Look at Minecraft videos, 99% of "essays" talk about how Minecraft is dead and mojang is releasing worthless updates and similar yap for an hour straight. Then you open new version once a year and its still the best experience ever