E3 2014 has Revealed Something Startling about the Gaming Industry

It’s been about two weeks from since E3 2014 concluded.

Wow; 2 whole weeks already? It honestly feels longer than that. Even so – the hype has now subsided, and we have a much clearer picture of what’s going on in the gaming world. There were a lot of amazing moments, and a lot of “what on earth?” moments. Yes, it was much fun.

But today, I’m not here to give my review of the show. No, instead, I’m here to give my viewpoint of the general outcome of all the presentations. As you can read by the title; I basically want to talk about the one thing that stood out to me, as a viewer, and as an avid gamer.

The industry is starting to plateau again.

What do I mean by that? Well – ever from since Nintendo single handedly managed to revive our near-dead gaming industry (yes, Atari – thanks for that) ~ gaming has been on a constant rise. The 90’s was the great comeback year. A lot of VERY popular franchises, from all sorts of companies, started during that era. There was this constant rush of new, imaginative, blockbuster titles and made their way into the homes (and hearts) of millions of gamers. It was a time of amazing experiences – that only grew with every “next generation”.

As the early 2000s rolled in – those experiences had comfortably fastened themselves into the world of 3D, and even more gamers started to sprout up. By the mid-2000s, gaming had TRULY expanded worldwide. Massive online communities became sprawling, virtual ecosystems. Consoles were now multi-purpose; used not just for gaming, but TV/movie-streaming, music playing, and even some light internet browsing. They became the center of party nights, and international fads. Yes, gaming had hit levels never before seen!

Sounds exciting right? ‘Course it does! So then, why on earth would I say that the industry is starting to plateau? Well, let’s look at the more recent times of the last-gen, and the current happenings of the new-gen.

As I said, the last-gen which is now almost 10 years old, was truly a very big boom in the industry. All 3 of the, (at the time), new consoles – brought something interesting to the table, that helped cause that boom. But, turning attention to the 360 and PS3 – something was quite similar.

They were both the exact same system. Even if, not completely – they were like fraternal twins.

Multiplatform titles were practically the same; aside from any performance differences, and exclusive DLC. Their non-gaming services were almost tit-for-tat. Even their sales were basically in the same ballpark. In fact, they’ve both sold, as of now, just over 80-million units worldwide. Okay, so what am I getting at? Well – they were both the catalyst for what is currently happening in the industry right now.

By that – I mean that they both basically started and quickly drove many practices in the industry that are now commonplace. DLC, for instance, existed before it became popular on these systems – but it was here that developers found a goldmine. Unfortunately for us, that goldmine became tainted very quickly, from constant usage. It was also here that the great debates between “graphics camps” took off to new (and rather insane) heights; with thousands of gamers giving (aggressively declaring) their opinions on the current happenings, to their fellowman. It was here that certain genres became, quite big – mostly dealing in the shooter, and action-adventure departments, as well as apocalyptic action-adventure. Many developers had now started to try and “out-do” each other, by creating other versions of popular franchises. While this practice has resulted into many “half-brother” games sprouting (like Battlefield vs. Call of Duty, for example); this is what has also lead to me coming to my point.

Oh yeah – let’s get into the core of that now.

Here we are in the 8th-gen, and I must say; aside from the indie developers and the good ol’ folks at Nintendo; this generation is frankly quite boring when you compare it to the past ones, even the one which everyone is now seeming to down-play, even though we JUST GOT OUT of it. The 8th-generation, (well the majority of it anyway), is simply a reincarnated form of the 7th-gen. No, I shouldn’t say that. I guess you can say it’s like it’s gone through puberty. After puberty is complete – you’re a little different physically, emotionally and even personality-wise – but really; you’re just a more mature version of your pre-pubic self.

That’s what I’m seeing with this “next generation”.

It doesn’t feel like a step forward. It just seems more like a, shuffle forward, if you will. Like, the industry was just so comfortable where it was at during the 7th-generation; it didn’t want to move from that spot, so instead, it just shuffled forward a bit – enough to where there’s a DIFFERENCE, but the whole thing isn’t DIFFERENT. Those new, fun, creative experiences that were in abundance before – they all died. They were instead replaced with these “realistic”, dark, gritty, worlds of violence, terror, and destruction. Gaming was now no longer being transported to a fantasy world in search of a great adventure, but instead, trying to re-create reality, and just bend the rules a little.

THAT is what I’m seeing in this “next generation”. The new ideas have dwindled. Now, developers seem to just want to continue what they started in the 7th-gen; now, with “true HD graphics, all at 60 frames”. It’s not about having fun; it’s about the achievements and YouTube cred. It’s not about you actually enjoying the console – it’s about you owning the “technologically superior, truly hardcore” system. And hell – it’s not about you buying quality entertainment on a disc. It’s about you buying a game that was rushed to market, with the developer's hopes of "fix it later" – all while trying to get every last penny in your piggy bank, vacuumed out by online fees, season passes and “extra content”.

What we saw at this year’s E3 – to me – was the perfect example of this. I’m not saying that E3 was bad. No, this was actually a really good show, from (almost) everybody. But, at this point, the only person who seems to understand what “next generation” means – is Nintendo and the indies. They’re the ones who are creating fresh, new experiences and yes, I know Nintendo is using mostly the same franchises; but it’s with new, fun twists – not just prettier pixels – and it’s the indie developers who are creating completely new worlds for us to explore – truly an example of intuitive imagination. The sad part is; it’s these guys that are being given the second-thought. Everyone else is getting all the attention from the media and gamers, alike. The same old franchises, “uprezzed” – heck, even the same games are getting re-released, that were JUST RELEASED. The same hardware, “upgraded” – to produce these “beautiful, never before seen levels of graphics”. Bah! PC titles have looked like that for a good while now!

It’s this small transfer in the industry that has me so worried. What’s gonna happen in the next, “next generation”? Where are we gonna go? What are we going to have to look forward too? While isn’t nearly in the same condition it was in, during the Atari reign – it’s certainly starting to flat line and simply stop growing in terms of “new”. And you want to know what the saddest part about it is?

Gamers are encouraging it.