The Most Bothersome Trends in the Video Game Industry
There’s always a dark side
Video games have been linked to my life for as long as I can remember. They’re just as important to me as movies, sports, or music — if not more. Video games, contrary to popular belief, can deliver some of the most emotionally impactful moments in all of entertainment — and that’s a genuine fact. In the future I want to detail the kind of substantive experiences gaming has given me, instead of just talking about random Game Boy titles I stumbled upon (I’m thinking of revamping the whole Quick Takes/Retro Review thing, so stay tuned for that). Today, however, I’m going to be ripping some of the trends I find to be irritating with the video game industry — both with games and developers alike. Like any other medium, there’s plenty of annoyances to be found. I’m sure some might disagree with my opinions, which is OKAY, but just hear me out. I’m going to kick it off immediately, since there’s no time to waste. I’ve got a bone to pick, and nobody is safe from my wrath.
Delays/Announcing Too Early
“Hey, how awesome does that game look?!?! Well, you’re not going to be able play it for another 4 years. Have a nice day!”
This is easily the most appropriate criticism for the modern era in gaming, since I can’t recall such a high volume of these tragedies occurring in past years. It’s somewhat appalling that such a large amount of titles face this curse each year — and it baffles me to think about it. Batman: Arkham Knight was announced for an October 2014 release date, yet just one week later it was delayed to June. What kind of cockamamie, ill-advised, and fan-displeasing nonsense is that? Games seem to be getting announced far too early, and I’ve come to grow skeptical of any high-profile announcement. In some instances, delays seem to result in games being somewhat disappointing — like Watch Dogs and The Division. While those weren’t bad games by any stretch, they lacked the revolutionary promise that their early impressions might’ve suggested. Then there are some examples that I like to file under the “WTF are they doing with all this time” club — examples being The Last Guardian, Duke Nukem Forever, Might №9, and Final Fantasy XV (those are just some off the top of my head). Lastly though, it’s important to remember that delays are sometimes necessary for a game to reach it’s potential. I’m just annoyed when they’re showcased so much and so early on.
Speaking of Final Fantasy, I’ve got a whole section dedicated exclusively to Square Enix — a developer that had once been my favorite in the industry.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To further prove my point, No Man’s Sky just got delayed…AGAIN. This just goes to show you that, in the time of just over a day that I spent writing this article, these happen at a disturbing regular rate.
Square Enix
Firstly, I want to start off by thanking Square for delivering some of my favorite titles of all-time (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy X) — and I genuinely mean that. My problems with them aren’t related to the quality of their games, but rather their ineptness at understanding how to properly cater to their fans.
“Hey, you know how Final Fantasy XIII was your least favorite in the series? Well, we’re making two more sequels to it instead of working on all the other stuff you actually care about!”
“We are proud to announce the remake of Final Fantasy VII! Oh, and it’s just begun development and the design leader didn’t know he would be in charge of the game until now!”
“Kingdom Hearts III is officially under development. We promise to continually tease you with release dates each year even though the game will probably be released in 2023!”
Whether it’s their propensity to delay games for an eternity or market the games people don’t want, I honestly believe Square Enix doesn’t have a clue. Make the stuff fans actually want, and shut up about the potential release dates. Just go away.
Lack of Content in Fighting Games
Some may vehemently disagree with this sentiment, but I’m fed up with fighting games getting a pass on their lack of content. I understand that people who buy fighting games tend to not care about having a wealth of content (similar to Call of Duty consumers only caring about multiplayer), and that’s a perfectly reasonable counter-argument. Unfortunately, I can’t get myself to accept that. Asides from 2011’s excellent Mortal Kombat, fighting games have historically tended to forgo this aspect of creating video games — and has been conveniently been ignored by the mass media. I have a problem with games receiving such high praise from consumers and critics alike, since they seem to neglect the idea of viewing a package as a whole.
“It’ll Be Good in A Year”
There’s this particular agenda that the industry seems to be integrating that I’ve found to have gone somewhat unnoticed. It takes place in two forms:
1. Games that aren’t fully finished at launch, but are promised to receive tons of future updates to add the content people are complaining about (Grand Theft Auto 5, Destiny, Street Fighter 5, Star Wars Battlefront). Generally those guilty of this aren’t bad games, as GTA 5 is clearly far from it, but they are an example of the type of lazy development taking place. Now, don’t get me wrong, I use the term “lazy” very loosely — it’s more in reference to developers rushing a game out for whatever reason. Games should be released at their highest potential, not half-baked with the reassurance that more is coming. Although, I do find the following to be even more heinous……….
2. Games that are riddled with glitches and bugs, sometimes so severe the game suffers immensely from them (Batman: Arkham Knight on PC, the aforementioned Brink, Assassin’s Creed Unity, 2006’s Sonic the Hedgehog). We live in the year 2016, and there are still these kind of issues plaguing video games. Funny enough, I’ve noticed that every Nintendo game has been completely exempt of these bug issues. Maybe Nintendo deserves more credit there? But anyways, it’s just unfortunate that games are hurried along for a release date when they aren’t in tip-top shape.
Multiplayer Focused Games With Abysmal Single-Player
This is essentially the same issue I have with fighting games, except that single-player isn’t nonexistent — it’s just of the lowest conceivable quality standard. With consoles getting more and more advanced, it isn’t surprising that their online capabilities have influenced developers in putting tons of effort into making competitive multiplayer the core element in their projects. It’s resulted in some titles being embarrassingly undercooked, and a toxic stain on the industry — at least from my perspective. I’ll never forget when I played 2011’s Brink, which contained what was quite possibly the most pathetic attempt at an offline mode that I’ve ever seen. The “story” was all condensed into 4 (yes, you heard that correctly) poorly acted cutscenes that made Paul Walker from 2 Fast 2 Furious look like an Oscar candidate. Other perpetrators of this include Titanfall, Evolve, and Star Wars Battlefront.
Madden: The Bane of My Existence
That’s right, we’re singling out a single franchise on this one. Wanna know how much I hate Madden? Just bring it up to me in any casual conversation, I guarantee you I’ll start steaming like the goddamn Hulk. I love watching the sport of football, so the Madden series was theoretically the best possible thing for me to get into. Nope, not even in the slightest.
Unlike 2K Sports with their NBA series, Madden continues to add next to nothing in the form of improvement. I could go on and on about the dissatisfaction I get with the franchise, but it’s unfortunately futile to do so. EA has a lock on the NFL license, so no other publisher or developer can attempt to create a game — meaning there’s no competition of any kind. Instead, I get to sit and watch as Madden sells 400 million copies each year by adding hardly anything new. How is it that the old PS2/Xbox era of NFL games had more features than ones being released in 2016? Seriously, just look up NFL 2K5. You could create a player and customize his friggin’ apartment. As of now, I guess I’ll have to continue to see this franchise re-introduce old mechanics as “new” features from now until the day I die.
Movie Licensed Games Can’t Help But Suck (Except for Some Rare Exceptions)
What’s morbidly sad about this is that there are some great examples of how to do these things well. With 2009’s X-Men Origins Wolverine (Uncaged Edition) there was proof that giving a passionate developer some more time can result in a solid product. What actually ends up happening (because getting quick cash is always more important) is something like 2012’s Battleship — or something far worse (the image above).
There are some incredible properties out there to borrow from, and it shouldn’t be forced onto developers to create games in such an inappropriately small amount of time.
Some other successes like Spider-Man 2 and the Batman: Arkham series show that there is incredible potential. How dope would it be if you let a distinguished developer like Sucker Punch (creators of the Sly Cooper and Infamous series) work on a Spider-Man game? What if you gave Naughty Dog (every awesome video game series ever and you can catch these hands if you disagree) the chance to make an amazing Star Wars game? Perhaps even giving Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two souls) the shot at Blade Runner (I still hold onto the belief that movie could make for an incredible video game adaptation, even if I’m in the minority)?
Bottom line is this: Out of every trend I despise about the industry, this is the one area where I truly believe the highest upside lies if it were to be nullified. So to all the executives out there: Let’s give these incredibly talented people a chance at creating something truly special.
So those were just some of my quick thoughts on the industry’s ugly side. I don’t want to misconstrue my love for video games too much, though, since there’s an incredible amount of good the industry has done. But even the mot favorable of life’s pleasantries have a downside, so let’s face those downsides head-on and try/hope for some level redeemability to occur. In the end that’s all that matters — you gotta try.
Originally published at popcandieent.blogspot.com on May 27, 2016.
