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The video game industry has been through cycles like this before. One of them (the 1983 crash) was so bad it killed most American companies and caused the momen

The video game industry has been through cycles like this before. One of them (the 1983 crash) was so bad it killed most American companies and caused the momentum to shift to Japan for a generation. Another one I can recall is the "death" of the RTS (real-time strategy) genre around 2010. They have all followed a fairly similar pattern and in none of them that I know of have things played out as the companies involved thought or hoped they would.

georgeecollins 1y ago
I worked in the video game industry from the 90s through to today. I think you are over generalizing or missing the original point. It's true that there have been boom and busts. But there are also structural changes. Do you remember CD-ROMs? Steam and the iPhone were structural changes. What Microsoft is trying to do with Gamepass is a structural change. It may not work out the way that they plan but the truth is that sometimes these things do change the nature of the games you play.
- kbolino 1y ago
  But the thing is that Steam didn't cause the death of physical media. I absolutely do remember PC gaming before Steam, and between the era when it was awesome (StarCraft, Age of Empires, Unreal Tournament, Tribes, etc.) and the modern Steam-powered renaissance, there was an absolutely dismal era of disappointment and decline. Store shelves were getting filled with trash like "40 games on one CD!" and each new console generation gave retailers an excuse to shrink shelf space for PC games. Yet during this time, all of Valve's games were still available on discs! I think Microsoft's strategy is going to come to the same result as Embracer Group. They've bought up lots of studios and they control a whole platform (by which I mean Xbox, not PC) but this doesn't give them that much power. Gaming does evolve and it often evolves to work around attempts like this, rather than in favor of them.
  - georgeecollins 1y ago
    I am not saying that about Steam. In fact Steam pretty much saved triple A PC gaming. Your timeline is quite accurate! >> Microsoft's strategy is going to come to the same result as Embracer Group. I hope you are right. If I were trying to make a larger point, I guess it would be that big tech companies (Apple, MSFT, Amazon) don't want content creators to be too important in the ecosystem and tend to support initiatives that emphasize the platform.
    - ethbr1 1y ago
      > big tech companies (Apple, MSFT, Amazon) don't want content creators to be too important in the ecosystem 100%. The platforms' ability to monetize in their factor is directly proportional to their relative power vs the most powerful creatives. Thus, in order to keep more money, they make strategic moves that disempower creatives.
- IgorPartola 1y ago
  Not in the game industry but as a consumer this is very true. One example: ubiquitous access to transactions and payment systems gave a huge rise to loot boxes. Also mobile games that got priced at $0.99 meant that only the unicorn level games could actually make decent money so In-App Purchases were born. But also I suspect it is just a problem where as consumers we spend a certain amount of money on certain kinds of entertainment and if as a content producer you can catch enough people’s attention you can get a slice of that pie. We saw this with streaming services where an average household spent about $100/month on cable so Netflix, Hulu, et al all decided to price themselves such that they could be a portion of that pie (and would have loved to be the whole pie but ironically studios not willing to license everything to everyone is what prevented that).
the__alchemist 1y ago
Thankfully, RTS is healthy again! (To your point about cycles)
- needcaffeine 1y ago
  What RTS games are you playing now, please?
  - sgarland 1y ago
    AoE2, baby. Still going strong, decades after launch.
    - KeplerBoy 1y ago
      And AoE4, one of the few high profile RTS games of the past years, is dead.
      - the__alchemist 1y ago
        That was disappointing to see. I thought it was a great game, with some mechanics improved over 2, and missing some of the glitchy behavior that became cannon (e.g. foot archer kiting) The community (nor my friends) didn't seem to go for it, primarily for the reason that it's not AoE2. Exquisite sound design too.
      - sgarland 1y ago
        I own all AoE games, and despite having 3 and 4 installed, I don’t think I’ve so much as launched them. Every time I think “I should try this,” I remember I want to try a new strategy in 2 instead.
        the__alchemist 1y ago
        You and many people. Give 4 a try! Its multiplayer is excellent. Kind of a hybrid between Starcraft and AoE2 in terms of pacing and civ divergence. (Fewer, more diverse civs) The archer kiting/dodging mechanic that dominates AoE2 is gone. I play AoE2, not 4 because that's what my friends play, but 4 is the more interesting one from a strategy perspective. More opportunities to surprise the opponent, use novel strats, go off meta etc.

georgeecollins 1y ago

I worked in the video game industry from the 90s through to today. I think you are over generalizing or missing the original point. It's true that there have been boom and busts. But there are also structural changes. Do you remember CD-ROMs? Steam and the iPhone were structural changes. What Microsoft is trying to do with Gamepass is a structural change. It may not work out the way that they plan but the truth is that sometimes these things do change the nature of the games you play.

kbolino 1y ago
But the thing is that Steam didn't cause the death of physical media. I absolutely do remember PC gaming before Steam, and between the era when it was awesome (StarCraft, Age of Empires, Unreal Tournament, Tribes, etc.) and the modern Steam-powered renaissance, there was an absolutely dismal era of disappointment and decline. Store shelves were getting filled with trash like "40 games on one CD!" and each new console generation gave retailers an excuse to shrink shelf space for PC games. Yet during this time, all of Valve's games were still available on discs! I think Microsoft's strategy is going to come to the same result as Embracer Group. They've bought up lots of studios and they control a whole platform (by which I mean Xbox, not PC) but this doesn't give them that much power. Gaming does evolve and it often evolves to work around attempts like this, rather than in favor of them.
- georgeecollins 1y ago
  I am not saying that about Steam. In fact Steam pretty much saved triple A PC gaming. Your timeline is quite accurate! >> Microsoft's strategy is going to come to the same result as Embracer Group. I hope you are right. If I were trying to make a larger point, I guess it would be that big tech companies (Apple, MSFT, Amazon) don't want content creators to be too important in the ecosystem and tend to support initiatives that emphasize the platform.
  - ethbr1 1y ago
    > big tech companies (Apple, MSFT, Amazon) don't want content creators to be too important in the ecosystem 100%. The platforms' ability to monetize in their factor is directly proportional to their relative power vs the most powerful creatives. Thus, in order to keep more money, they make strategic moves that disempower creatives.
IgorPartola 1y ago
Not in the game industry but as a consumer this is very true. One example: ubiquitous access to transactions and payment systems gave a huge rise to loot boxes. Also mobile games that got priced at $0.99 meant that only the unicorn level games could actually make decent money so In-App Purchases were born. But also I suspect it is just a problem where as consumers we spend a certain amount of money on certain kinds of entertainment and if as a content producer you can catch enough people’s attention you can get a slice of that pie. We saw this with streaming services where an average household spent about $100/month on cable so Netflix, Hulu, et al all decided to price themselves such that they could be a portion of that pie (and would have loved to be the whole pie but ironically studios not willing to license everything to everyone is what prevented that).

the__alchemist 1y ago

Thankfully, RTS is healthy again! (To your point about cycles)

needcaffeine 1y ago
What RTS games are you playing now, please?
- sgarland 1y ago
  AoE2, baby. Still going strong, decades after launch.
  - KeplerBoy 1y ago
    And AoE4, one of the few high profile RTS games of the past years, is dead.
    - the__alchemist 1y ago
      That was disappointing to see. I thought it was a great game, with some mechanics improved over 2, and missing some of the glitchy behavior that became cannon (e.g. foot archer kiting) The community (nor my friends) didn't seem to go for it, primarily for the reason that it's not AoE2. Exquisite sound design too.
    - sgarland 1y ago
      I own all AoE games, and despite having 3 and 4 installed, I don’t think I’ve so much as launched them. Every time I think “I should try this,” I remember I want to try a new strategy in 2 instead.
      - the__alchemist 1y ago
        You and many people. Give 4 a try! Its multiplayer is excellent. Kind of a hybrid between Starcraft and AoE2 in terms of pacing and civ divergence. (Fewer, more diverse civs) The archer kiting/dodging mechanic that dominates AoE2 is gone. I play AoE2, not 4 because that's what my friends play, but 4 is the more interesting one from a strategy perspective. More opportunities to surprise the opponent, use novel strats, go off meta etc.