Is The Games Industry Becoming Stagnant?

As I sit here looking at both last years titles, and those to come, I can’t help but ask myself, is the game industry becoming stagnant ?


Take a look at your favourite publishers, games companies and producers and think about their back catalogue. In the early 90’s the industry was frothing at the mouth with new ideas, we had finally entered a plausible 3D world in which every industry designers dreams were that one step closer to reality. Fast forward to the 00’s and our current generation:Since the introduction of these next-gen consoles should we not expect the same enthusiasm for the life cycle of the hardware itself ?

When confronted with nearly an identical “top sellers” list every year I find it disheartening to see less and less breakthrough in ingenuity. That’s not to say I am against sequels or franchises, in fact it’s quite the opposite. I used to be a massive fan of the “Final Fantasy” series and continue to support Capcom and their range of fighting games.

What I am sick of however, is the large amount of drivel pushed in to our stores year in year. Yes, I’m talking about Call of Duty (CoD) and the way Activision are treating the market. They are not the only guilty party but I for one feel that I have been wronged by this company. Year in year out they regurgitate practically the same franchise, yes there are minor changes but with each iteration I can’t help but having and overwhelming sense of déjá vu and extremely underwhelmed by the lack of changes in the single player.

Some games do need to be treated as franchises, here I’m talking about your sports game. I say this only because sports teams in general tend to change every year and so do the players. One year many can retire and the next new teams could graduate to a higher division. These are the type of factors that need to be integrated in to game play to keep it relevant.

I am using (almost picking on) CoD. this is a game that I feel could be balanced through possible updates. With each iteration they have boasted better online performance and a more balanced set of weapons. Surely some of these changes are minuscule, to the point that it could factor just the tweaking of variables. It’s not like they have a problem supporting games after release, hell look at the number of map packs they are promising to bankrupt each and every fan with. Is it too much to ask for them to maybe for a brief second think about supporting the community as opposed to supporting their bankroll?

There are other companies that also fall short of meeting expectation in my book and we will get round to that. But first I want to try and analyse why is it companies continue to release practically the same game on almost a yearly basis ?

Is it because of a struggling economy? Maybe they are struggling to break even. But that can’t be true, again in the case of Activision, last year they broke records and saw what could be their most profitable year in a long time. This doesn’t solely come from the CoD but if you weren’t aware they have been reaching astronomical figures with their new Skylanders franchise. With each figure retailing at roughly £6/7 and a multi-pack going for just under £20 these small figures are a new revelation in marketing towards today’s youth. These figures have taken off so drastically that they have became almost unobtainable. So how does Activision treat this behemoth? The only way they know how, just recently they announced that not only do they plan to release a sequel but they intend to introduce a set of up to 16 new characters to it’s already large roster of 37. With the game itself retailing at about £50 with 3 Skylanders coming, parents are expected to purchase the remaining 34. And I do mean expected, we were all young at one point and some fell prey to the “Pokemon” phenomenon. This would be a potential £280 just to have the full collection in the original game, now with a further 16 characters and another £40ish game it could climax to a whopping £432 just for one game. Although these figures are based on simply buying the toys separately.

I’m sure if you are an avid fan of either series at this point you may be contemplating a heinous crime or formulating your counter argument against my blatant attack on Activsion. Maybe some of you have even started to compile a list of games that have revolutionised the gaming world that have flown straight out of the doors of Activision or their subsidiary companies. Although if you even look at their back catalogue they have been doing this for years;the Cabela franchise, Guitar Hero, Spiderman, Tony Hawk, X-men and countless others have all been driven in to the ground one way or another. Some of which may have had overhauls on mechanics or slight tweaks in direction but for the majority of them have remained the same and some of which were bled dry to the point that they no longer exist.

There are other companies guilty of this and another big offender is Capcom. They have offended some of their loyal fans to the point they have been renamed “Cashcom”, “Crapcom” and many other names. All because of their money grabbing tendencies.

To add insult to injury most of these companies are now opting for what has to be the cheapest get out ever. I am talking about none other than the HD remakes. Never before have their been HD remakes (yes I know it hasn’t been possible until recently) but come on, £50 for some titles that many still have. It seems to be a fad that has swept across many companies ranging from Capcom to Insomniac. These games are churned out fast and retail for full priced games. Sometimes there aren't even extras like the terminals in “Halo Anniversary”, these are the same games with upgraded graphics. How long will it be until our next set of favourites are upgraded, with rumours of FFX being redone and a lot more in the pipeline.

Why is the industry so devoid of ideas that we rely on reboots, rehashed and ridiculously unnecessary HD remakes. As a games designer in training I find it extremely disheartening to see that there is such a lack of creativity in what could potentially be what was once the job of a lifetime. That being said there is still hope for the games industry as there are still absolute gems to be discovered amongst the hordes of sequels, prequels and HD remixes. Although you only need to take a look at last years online list of most played games to see that some of these games are not receiving the attention they deserve.