I was reading an article yesterday, about how 60 dollar video games may be causing pain for the big console video game makers, and have caused the sales of video games in recent times to plummet. I think the problem of video games is simply more than price. What is my take? The “replay” value of these games made today, is well, poor. Secondly, games these days take themselves too seriously.
First, let’s address the “replay value.” First, non-gamers need to understand what “replay value” is. It is the entertainment value of playing a single video game several times. For example, I like the war strategy PC games, because I can pay 29-39 bucks for many of them, and still be entertained years after owning the game. Hell, the FIRST Starcraft, a game that came out in 1998, still had large amounts of loyal fans playing online well into the 2000s. Even many of the old-school console games used to have a replay value which would be considered legendary. I can still pop in Super Mario 3, a game 22+ years old, and still be entertained today playing it as a 33 year old grown man as I did as a 12 year old. How many 3 year old Xbox or Playstation games have similar staying power or are even memorable after a year? Not many. The same thing happens year after year: Some game comes out with a bunch of hype, a bunch of online teaser trailers, and bunch of commercials. Kids (and their parents) then go out and buy these 60 dollar games, then after a couple months, or even weeks after play, they sit and collect dust never to be played again.
A direct result, in my opinion, of the seemingly non-existent replay value of today’s games is focus away from fun factor. The big game designers have focused too much on realism, sound, and graphics and moved away from old school fun factor. They are too realistic, too dark, and too serious. Many of these games nowadays might as well be big budget action or science fiction movies, not video games. Many games already use the voices and likenesses of celebrities that don't come cheap, which no doubt leads to these 60 dollar retail prices. Don’t get me wrong, the sound and graphics of today’s video games is leaps and bounds over the old school 8 and 16 bit games, but the entertainment value of many of these games today is far from memorable.
A direct result, in my opinion, of the seemingly non-existent replay value of today’s games is focus away from fun factor. The big game designers have focused too much on realism, sound, and graphics and moved away from old school fun factor. They are too realistic, too dark, and too serious. Many of these games nowadays might as well be big budget action or science fiction movies, not video games. Many games already use the voices and likenesses of celebrities that don't come cheap, which no doubt leads to these 60 dollar retail prices. Don’t get me wrong, the sound and graphics of today’s video games is leaps and bounds over the old school 8 and 16 bit games, but the entertainment value of many of these games today is far from memorable.
Other smaller reasons have also hurt the console gaming industry. For example, I can download no frills but fun games on my cell phone for a couple bucks or less, rather than forking over 60 bucks for an overproduced, overpriced video game that will be obsolete or not worth playing again after you beat it within weeks. Then the nickle and diming for downloadable content has also left a bitter pill in the mouths of gamers. So I pay you 60 bucks for a game, then I pay you more at 5-10 bucks a pop to add things that should have been packaged in the game to begin with? No thanks.
The message is clear to the game companies. Go back to the basics of focusing on the fun factor adding to the reply factor, and while you are at it, make the prices reasonable. You can cut down on the production costs by not hiring big name actors and actresses to use their likeness and voices. I don't own a wii, but look at the big budget big name games of Xbox and Playstation: Halo, and the latest Call of Duty games, and compare them to a simple, but fun Super Mario wii. Mario has so far outsold all of them combined; by itself. A basic side scrolling game based on a now 30 year old game character has outsold the big budget, heavily produced, heavily marketed games. Compare the latest Grand Turismo (which I feel is a great racing game by the way) to a rather silly in comparison Super Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart has so far outsold it several times over. A game with lots of fun-factor and mass appeal is outselling the very arguably too realistic Grand Turismo several fold. If these game sales aren’t a scream from gamers to the game companies to get back to the basics, I don't know what is.
The message is clear to the game companies. Go back to the basics of focusing on the fun factor adding to the reply factor, and while you are at it, make the prices reasonable. You can cut down on the production costs by not hiring big name actors and actresses to use their likeness and voices. I don't own a wii, but look at the big budget big name games of Xbox and Playstation: Halo, and the latest Call of Duty games, and compare them to a simple, but fun Super Mario wii. Mario has so far outsold all of them combined; by itself. A basic side scrolling game based on a now 30 year old game character has outsold the big budget, heavily produced, heavily marketed games. Compare the latest Grand Turismo (which I feel is a great racing game by the way) to a rather silly in comparison Super Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart has so far outsold it several times over. A game with lots of fun-factor and mass appeal is outselling the very arguably too realistic Grand Turismo several fold. If these game sales aren’t a scream from gamers to the game companies to get back to the basics, I don't know what is.
Truth! My son is only enamored with role play games like Skyrim for long perioods of time. Anything else, wasted $
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