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- cross-posted to:
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Ball says that the blame for all of this can’t be pinned to a single thing, like capitalism, mismanagement, Covid-19, or even interest rates. It also involves development costs, how studios are staffed, consumers’ spending habits, and game pricing. “This storm is so brutal,” he says, “because it is all of these things at once, and none have really alleviated since the layoffs began.”
Huh. Baldur’s Gate 3 blew the doors off. They had the same Capitalism, Covid-19 and interest rates. They had the same development costs, consumer spending habits and reasonable game pricing. They had good management and no layoffs. All this success selling to a gaming segment that makes up a tiny sliver of the overall market. Maybe some of those game developer leaders should ask Sven how he did it. Or, you know, listen to him because he already told everyone how they did it. Or not.
Lots of good indie stuff, not much from AAA. My recommendation: try new single player or co op stuff. Stop recycling content.
We had [email protected], [email protected] 1.6 update, [email protected] DLC, [email protected] and Half Life 2 update in this year. Hey, I don’t make rules.
… and most importantly: Helldivers 2
o7
For Democracy
And just a few posts up from this:
But how many of those where asset flips or AI made?
Investor money dried up
It’s just all tied up in AI and crypto right now. Because everyone wants to get in on the next get-rich-quick scheme. Coked-up investors don’t have the patience to stick it out and wait for a return, they’ve moved on to shiny new toys (that have very little chance of real growth or market viability) and are gutting and cutting the games industry to pay for it.
Maybe gamers are getting older in general and realizing they don’t have the time to dedicate to intensive games that are like taking on a 2nd job and studying for college.
I prefer games now where I can do the grindy stuff mainly AFK and do the challenging stuff solo in short bursts. No more 2-3 hr clan raids and shit like that anymore. Hell, sometimes I just start up MAME and set some classic arcade scroller to god mode because I just want to blow stuff up for a few minutes.
While some gamers are getting older the number of players does keep increasing with newer generations like alpha picking up controllers. Many millenials and older zoomers may have more disposable income but also much less time to play, backlogs of hundreds if not thousands of games and bunch of good old games they just keep coming back to.
However gaming doesnt exist in a bubble. Social media platforms, streaming services are also competing for our attention. The whole entertainment market is so saturated that only ways to increase profits is to enshittify or win marketshare from competition.
Same. I’ve found my spark again in VR gaming and generally go to the arcade style more! Ain’t nobody got time for a 10 tier skill tree
I’ll be picking up VR soon. Do you have any recommendations?
Beat Saber is still my fav. Modded to have custom tracks. It can be good for a little cardio. Just make sure you have your headset sweat cover on!
Yes! Beatsabre is one of my other top VR titles I have wishlisted. Thanks for the recommend!
Single player.
- Half life Alyx
- Vertigo / vertigo 2
- Moss / Moss 2
- Walking dead: saints and sinners
- A fisherman’s tale
- Wanderer
- Star wars squadrons (YMMV)
Arcade-style games.
- Pistol whip
- Until you fall
Tech Demos.
- The lab (free tech demo by valve with some cool games)
- Job simulator
Multiplayer.
- Contractors
- Pavlov
- Legendary tales
Indiana Jones
Depends what you like. I’ve been enjoying Space Pirate Trainer and Gun Club VR. Single player FPS types where you shoot down waves of attackers. Hands down favorite, though, is Half-Life: Alyx. Great story, very immersive, and the use of VR is top notch.
Y’all should both try Pistol Whip, it’s fantastic
Nice, thanks! Honestly I enjoy every genre of game except sports titles so your clrecommendations are solid! Half Life: Alyx has been on my wishlist since VR released on Steam and I fully intend on picking it up day one and it being my first VR game. Appreciate the other recommends!
What, again?
The article (as far as I read) fails to mention the that layoffs have hit then entire tech sector. Not just games.
I lost my job (iOS dev and actually a games dev job) twice in ‘24. I don’t think it is necessarily a reflection of the games industry.
There are some really nice games this year, if you know where to look. I’m playing Uncle Chop’s Rocket Repair and it’s awesome. So fun, so inventive, great visuals, mechanics and soundtrack.
Deadlock has also gotten a fair chunk of my time. I scratches the same itch as DOTA and a little bit of CS too.
Creeper World got a new instalment, too. Different from the 4 mainline games, it’s new and fresh and fun.
I am in IT, also lost two jobs this year, and getting a new one took like 3 weeks and some trying, which is unusually long
it’s good to hear things like this because my friends are taking 6 months to a year to find a new job and they’re all smarter than me
I was looking for 3 months each time. I have like 15 years exp!
I have 15 years as well and I can’t find shit
Ooh, new Creeper World? Underrated games, though the concept was tough for me to get my head wrapped around for a little bit.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2257010/Creeper_World_IXE/
I blasted through the campaign. If it’s anything like 4 I’m expecting 4000 good community levels.
Jesus man that is brutal sorry to hear you’re going through that.
Yoooo how the fuck did I miss a new creeper world ?
IXE. It’s new and fun
I was pretty surprised by the barrenness of my wishlist. There’s been shockingly few titles I’ve been that excited about. Almost nothing in the AAA realm. And the few things that I am waiting to come out have been on that list for several years already…
Another article i scrolled past before seeing this was stating Steam broke their record releasing over 18,000 games in 2024.
How can anyone have enough time to even try them all?
Lots of AI-generated/asset-flipped trash that can be safely skipped.
most of those are anime role-playing, porn games with tits
I dunno about you but I don’t play every genre of game. So like 70-80% of those are off the table immediately. I’d also be curious how many of those are the drop in the bucket nsfw games that get released every few days. Really need to toggle the ‘adult’ setting on my Steam account. Although sometimes the title alone is gold like ‘Hitler: BDSM Bunker’…
Ehhh, a bunch of studios have things in the works. Just because very little came out in 2024 doesn’t mean that the industry imploded or anything.
There were plenty of layoffs all over the tech industry. I’d argue that big tech was hit harder than games.
It takes many years now to release anything big. Good blockbusters are relatively infrequent. Star wars outlaws hit in October, It wasn’t stellar but it wasn’t a bad game. Civ 7 is due out in February.
At worst, I’d say we’re in a little bit of a lull.
It’s really hard to imagine something dumber than “Gamergate 2.0.” I sincerely hope it’s all 12 year-old trolls and there’s no grown adults with jobs and responsibilities getting all in a tizzy over the race or gender of a fucking video game character.
Or journalists desperate for material trying to stir something up. “I saw a comment about a game. There’s an article!!”
You’d be surprised or disappointed to know that there are infact, mid-20 and 30+ year olds who even get themselves tied up in a knot over this shit. So I don’t think it’s really an age thing, more like, a matter of these people not living fruitful lives and have nothing better to do than orchestrate and manufacture imaginary problems to give themselves purpose.
Well diversity has received a ton more spotlight and discussion for past 10 years with many developers and games being “canceled” for their views, opinions and many games have been heavily criticized for not being diverse enough or containing elements that are offensive for group a, b or c.
Now the pendulum is swinging back with those canceled or holding more conservative or religious opinions banding together to crusade against whatever they consider woke.
Result is a minefield where your game can be attacked if its not woke enough or too woke resulting in bunch of bad press.
I am done buying games I don’t play lol
Oh fuck, I replaced you…
Lord willing, One day you will fill that void inside of you 🫡
Until then the merchant is there to take your money.
Khajiit has wares, if you have coin.
I believe it, the last games I remember buying and enjoying start to finish were Hi Fi Rush (1/25/2023) and Hogwart’s Legacy (2/10/2023).
Coming up on 2 years with nothing memorable.
Coming up on 2 years with nothing memorable.
This implies Baldur’s Gate 3 (8/3/23) was not memorable, and I take issue with that.
I wanted to like that game, but the turn based combat was fucking mind numbing.
I’m glad it’s not just me
Play it on hard mode so every move matters and the combat gets a lot less boring
Awhile ago they released mod support, and I’m pretty sure I remember hearing about a mod that made it real time with pause.
I ended up dropping it too, but it’s more that I’m just not as into rpgs as I was in the past. I can recognize how good it is, but the genre just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Stalker2? Helldivers? V rising?
Some good stuff has come out this year
Stalker 2 was a straight fucking banger. Sunk 70 hours into it with my first play through and I’m already craving another run. I swear I’m probably the only person who’s played through the campaign with only like 3 bugs in 70 hours
I’ve got almost 100 hours and have only had 1 bug. I broke my don’t preorder rule for it since its Ukraine…but even day 1 I had no serious issues.
Stalker 2 is buggy as hell, that’s a pass.
Helldivers is just another live service game.V rising? Can’t say I heard of that one.
I haven’t played most of the popular games released this year but I know they’re not any good
– this guy
I’ve been playing games for over 40 years, I know what I like.
Stalker 2 is not buggy as hell. I’ve been playing it since launch. It’s got euro jank for sure but nothing that has stopped the mass majority of us from enjoying it.
Helldivers 2 has some stuff you can buy but doesn’t require it at all. I’ve only bought the game and not spent another dime on it and have been having a blast with friends.
V rising is top down coop rpg. It’s a ton of fun as well.
There have been a few good indie games. Been playing a lot of Timberborn this year for instance.
That said, it’s just helping me catch up on my backlog.
I thought it went into early access a few years ago?
Yeah, it’s got a steam release date of 2021 and it’s still in early access. That said, I also bought it early this year or late last year and have played a lot of it too.
(IDK where I’m going with this other than to say that anyone with even a passing interest in the genre should get Timberborn, it’s fantastic and just getting better.)
I already own it, but I’ll have to give it another go. Been playing Against the Storm again lately and it’s fucking fantastic. I liked Timberborn, but I didn’t play it a ton. I think it was my first proper dive into city builders and I felt like there was a pretty strong learning curve coming into the genre, so I put it down and forgot about it.
Timberborn is among my all time favorites
🦫🦫🦫
I don’t even look at announced or new games anymore. It’s the same open world sandbox go on fetch quests shit but it takes 3x the hard drive and costs over $100 cad.
Just going to be the one to say it…
Ew, HP.
What?
We’re not allowed to enjoy Harry potter anymore because Rowling is a mega TERF.
People hate Nintendo for being a shitty company but I really enjoyed Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. Prior to that though I think the last game I actually enjoyed was Horizon Forbidden West from two years ago.
It’s just Nintendo’s turn to be in the spotlight for being crappy. Most game companies, especially if they’re big enough are crappy in different ways from each other.
Nah. Nintendo has been a shitty company for the last 10 years at the very least. They make good games, but as a company they should fail and go out of business. They are extremely litigious, shutting down many fan projects simply for existing, which apparently is enough to have a chance to hurt their profits on decades old games. Their services suck as well, overpriced and lacking. They close down their online store fronts before everybody else, case in point, the xbox 360 online store was closed down recently, at the end of last year, meanwhile, the Wii has been dead for 6 years already, and it was a console released a year after the 360. There are many other examples on why you shouldn’t support Nintendo, a 15-minute search on the internet will give you plenty.
Just as there are many reasons not to support Microsoft, Sony, Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Ubisoft, and so on. None of them is off the hook and they’ve all been under the microscope as well. I wasn’t saying that Nintendo doesn’t do crappy things, but that most game companies do crappy things and they tend to get heat for the crappy things they do almost on a rotation based on what gamers are focusing on.
For palworld players, Nintendo is the current boogeyman, thanks to the Legends Arceus gameplay patents.
