Are video games going the same way as films and music?
I’m a big fan of video games but I’m getting more and more disheartened by the number of “blockbuster” games that are actually very poor quality. Games like Call of Duty are just rehashed old games – often with a single improved feature – that sell like mad, when great games that try to be different such as Mount and Blade don’t sell anywhere near as well.
I guess this is a similar thing that music and film have gone through. Once genres of games become very popular they become money making machines, allowing developers to make unimaginative and boring games yet still have them sell loads of copies.
There is hope though. Many consoles (Xbox and PS3 included) have “arcade” sections of their online stores where indie developers can make games and sell them for cheap prices. This allows small developers to make a game and then easily distribute it. This has been going on for a while on PCs – Minecraft is probably the best example – but having the stores on consoles opens up a whole new market. Indie games tend to be more innovative than the big games in stores too.
I’m not saying that all big name games are bad though. RPGs like Oblivion were very popular and also amazing games. I just find it unbelievable that people buy new versions of games like Call of Duty every year when there are a huge number of good and completely different games ready to be bought for a much lower price.