Decline When did decline start to you?

[Atchodas]

Decline started almost 20 years ago ...

Commandos 3 was released on October 14, 2003

 

[Azdul]

For me it did not happen all at once but gradually during the 7th gen as more and more developers and publishers came to pretend that there is some mythical "broader audience" that they can all get only if the cut one more feature and simplify all the remaining ones.
(...)
The PS4 has like... what 10 actual games that are not available everywhere else?

Exclusive games have their market potential limited to one console - so they need to make up for it by appealing to 'average console gamer'. Also many hardcore brand fanboys will buy them just because they're exclusive - so they cannot be too complicated for mouth-breathers.

True broad audience is there - but you won't find it on PS5. Anyone who buys Playstation expects Call of Duty, exclusive 3rd person action-adventure shooters, Spiderman games - and broad audience just do not care about any of that.

For me the definition of games for broader audience are Minecraft and Elder Scrolls - unsurprisingly tried as a new idea on open platform (PC) - and then released for every platform under the sun and selling buckloads. 'Console exclusive' is exactly opposite to that - usually being epitome of conservative, forgettable game design.

 

[Ravielsk]

Exclusive games have their market potential limited to one console - so they need to make up for it by appealing to 'average console gamer'. Also many hardcore brand fanboys will buy them just because they're exclusive - so they cannot be too complicated for mouth-breathers.

True broad audience is there - but you won't find it on PS5. Anyone who buys Playstation expects Call of Duty, exclusive 3rd person action-adventure shooters, Spiderman games - and broad audience just do not care about any of that.

For me the definition of games for broader audience are Minecraft and Elder Scrolls - unsurprisingly tried as a new idea on open platform (PC) - and then released for every platform under the sun and selling buckloads.

No, my point is that this "broader audience" is a ghost. Its not a real target demographic because it effectively includes everyone, meaning that chasing it is the same as making a game that is good for everyone. Which is a impossible goal to achieve, its like making a soup that everybody will like. There will always be someone who dislikes it. The only way you can even approximate a game "for everyone" is to effectively turn it into a movie thus defeating the point of even making a game in the first place.
If you were to examine the few games that did reach something that could be described as "broader" it was always due to mostly external factors that had little to do with the actual game design. It was mostly circumstantial factors or marketing. So even the approach of "streamlining" for "broader audiences" is retarded as when you are shooting for 20+ mil. sold units(or paying accounts) the actual game design itself is a secondary feature as far as the "broader audience" is concerned.

'Console exclusive' is exactly opposite to that - usually being epitome of conservative, forgettable game design.

That is a entirely recent development. Console exclusives used to be the titles that pushed the boundaries of game design. Only in recent years did they devolve into "third-person-shooter-man" gallery. Besides my whole point with that part was that the industry has devolved so much that even the "dominant" console is unable to get even a fraction of what its predecessor had, a predecessor that was almost universally considered to a shit undernourished system.

 

[Sranchammer]

 

[Azdul]

The only way you can even approximate a game "for everyone" is to effectively turn it into a movie thus defeating the point of even making a game in the first place.
If you were to examine the few games that did reach something that could be described as "broader" it was always due to mostly external factors that had little to do with the actual game design. It was mostly circumstantial factors or marketing.

Turning a game into the movie could work in the 90s - when 3d technology was exciting and prerendered cinematics could convince casuals to try JRPG or survival horror for the first time.

In contrast - in the 80s most games were games 'for everyone'. River Raid or Tetris come to mind.

Game for broad audience needs to be innovative - not in a sense of gameplay gimmick introduced in late in the story - but some idea that makes gameplay fundamentally new from the very beginning.

Fallout 1 is an example of game without mainstream appeal. Before you'll reach fresh, innovative gameplay ideas - you need to slowly fight through generic cave full of rats in turn-based mode - and it is not immediately obvious what makes the game better than games on Commodore 64.

 

[samuraigaiden]

"broader audience"

The best selling car isn't the best car, it's the car that fits most people. In terms of design, functionality and most importantly economics.

Expecting the best selling game to be the best game is equal to expecting the latest biggest blockbuster movie to actually be something worth watching and not just garbage tailored to the human tragedy demographic.

Anything aiming for the biggest possible numbers has to be mediocre by design.

 

[Ravielsk]

"broader audience"

The best selling car isn't the best car, it's the car that fits most people. In terms of design, functionality and most importantly economics.

Expecting the best selling game to be the best game is equal to expecting the latest biggest blockbuster movie to actually be something worth watching and not just garbage tailored to the human tragedy demographic.

Anything aiming for the biggest possible numbers has to be mediocre by design.

My point exactly, which is why it inevitably leads to decline when everyone is chasing the same "broader audience".

 

[mondblut]

Console exclusives used to be the titles that pushed the boundaries of game design console sales.

FTFY.

The costs to make "blockbuster" shite raised tenfold, and I suppose whoever is responsible for funding adware at Sony and Xbox aren't willing to up their offerings accordingly. Add the fact that modern consoles are basically repackaged AMD PCs and porting games between them has never been easier, and you would limit yourself to just one platform for... what reason exactly?

 

[†††]

The best selling car isn't the best car, it's the car that fits most people. In terms of design, functionality and most importantly economics.

LOL no. It's a mix of marketing + status + conformism