As an RPG fan I already own most of the titles in your list outright, and the few that I donāt are not of interest to me.
This is the second time Iāve had a free month on game pass and itās been the same both times. I think the real problem is that there simply isnāt any innovation in the gaming industry anymore. Every mainstream title is a case of been there, done that, got the t-shirt, with developers too scared to try anything truly different, and just regurgitating the same old thing with different visuals attached.
Thatās why most of the games Iāve bought over the last few years are from indy devs. Theyāre not afraid to cater for niche markets or to try new things.
Thatās a fair assessment I think. A lot of the games on the service are older for sure. I agree with your sentiment on innovation as whole too. Games are getting more and more expensive to make and in turn that making devs take less and less risks and do more and more games as a service titles with microtransactions.
I would argue though that a service like gamepass can empower devs to do some outside of the box games or games that they wouldnāt normally do if they were shopping their games to publishers. Obsidian is a great example. While Grounded isnāt the type of game I usually play I donāt know if they would be able to sell a game like that to publishers before they were acquired by Microsoft. Another even more out there game that Iām super interested in is Pentiment also by Obsidian. its a historical mystery narrative-driven game set in early 16th century Germany.
Iām personally optimistic about these types of services giving devs new freedom to try new things. Itās in its infancy though so it could go either way.
In my personal opinion, these services will go the way they always do when controlled by large corporationsā¦ towards the largest profit. Theyāre not run by gamers or people that are interested in moving the industry forwards, theyāre run by suits and accountants for whom maximising profits and shareholder dividends takes precedence over all.
Thatās why we have a thousand and one zombie shooters, survival/crafters, online battle royales, and new F1 / Fifa / Madden / NBA / Whatever games every single year. Theyāre the easy sells that entertain the undiscerning massesā¦ the same masses that binge reality TV as if itās somehow entertaining. In fact, thatās a good comparison. The gaming industry is going the same route as TV already hasā¦ high quantity, low quality, no āriskyā innovation or original ideas.
Thatās why indy games do cater to niches and new ideas. They have no publisher, now parent company, and are not under anyoneās heal. Theyāre small teams running on passion instead of profit, making the kind of games they want to play themselves instead of whatever is guaranteed to sell the most copies. A success for them can be measured in the thousands rather than the millions.
By the way, one thing I noticed about game pass is that their catalogue is mostly made up of games that fall into certain categories. 1) Games that have been out for ages and have already made the majority of their profits. 2) Games that havenāt really sold that well, so have little to lose when offered for a subscription fee. 3) Games that offer micro-transactions or DLCs that are not included in the game pass version. So, not really the great deal it appears to be if youāre an avid gamer.
The simple fact is that whenever a corporation offers you a great deal on something, you can guarantee theyāre recouping that lost profit from you elsewhereā¦
While I agree with most of your sentiments, here is where Iāll have to respectfully disagree. Iād argue that most of what hit gamepass now are in fact indy titles and day and date indy titles. Take a look at the most recent batch of games coming. Of these title 6 are day and date games, and 5 are made by indy studios.
Totally get not liking the service though, itās not for everyone. Iāll reiterate that I still agree with most of what youāre saying. Albeit, Iām more optimistic about the industry as a whole.
On Gamepass, check out Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Small indy title, based on the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 ruleset and turn-based. Itās not the prettiest game out there, as far as the characters go, but the gameplay is quite fun.
Iām not sure what point youāre trying to make with that screenie. That indy devs do release on game pass? I never said they didnāt, and every game in that shot also falls nicely into one or more of the three categories I mentioned.
I also didnāt say that all indy games are good, that they are never generic garbage thrown out to make a quick buck, or that they are never under the thumb of a greedy publisher. I said if you want niche, innovation, and games that are made with passion instead of profit, then the indy sector is where you need to look.
I can appreciate that. I have no issue with people choosing to be optimistic. However, Iām a realist rather than a dreamer. Having been gaming since the mid-80ās Iāve seen where the industry started, what direction it took, and what itās become today. Itās just another profit-orientated business, and thatās why itās so easy to predict itās future.
Point of the screenshot was just to show the newest batch of games coming to the service as youāre clearly not a fan and donāt really look at the catalogue much.
A couple of them sure, but my friend, most of those games are indy games that havenāt even released yet so they certainly donāt fit into number 1 or 2 and many donāt offer DLC/MTX. So Iām not sure where you are getting this from?
You say realist I say cynic. Iāve been gaming for almost (not quite) as long as you so Iāve seen the trends too. I know that I donāt agree with many of them or even would rather games be more like the games I grew up loving (based on previous conversations it seems we like similar games). But I think whatās really happening here is gaming is evolving and our taste just arenāt keeping up. I have a prediction: I would bet all my guitars that there will be people who grew up in this current generations of games saying the same exact thing weāre saying about the state of the industry today in 20 years but wishing games were more like the games of today.
I cannot be as pessimistic about the industry as you are when games like Pathfinder, wasteland 3 and elden ring released less than 5 years ago. Or when games like Starfield are right around the corner.
All that to say that you are wrong, but so am I and we are both right! We both have seen whatās going on with the industry and just have come to different conclusions.
A couple of days ago decided to re-launch Divinity: Original Sin. Needless to say, couple of days past I uninstalled it as per tradition for so many years since first trying it. Alas, got a bit further than the last time, but not by much. I just canāt stand those longā¦ deliberateā¦ pausesā¦ thatā¦ someā¦ npcsā¦ makeā¦ whileā¦ talkingā¦ And if I skip their dialogues, I donāt know whatās my objective.
Thinking of continuing with Ghost of Tsushima next, butā¦ that means I have to turn on my consoleā¦ ughā¦ but Iām lazy to do thatā¦
Been watching this thread with interest. Last games Iāve ever played were Heavy Rain, Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Tiger Woods Golf and Gran Turismo. Thatās how far I am behind the times. Still got the old PS3 and Nintendo Wii gathering dust. Youāre fueling the fire to get a more modern gaming system and eat into my guitar practice time.
Edit: thats mental I mention PS3 and then get an email from PlayStation regarding changes to Tās and Cās.
I have a stack of PS3 games I held onto because they were great and exclusive. Uncharted 1/2 are there, among others. Unfortunately I have no PS3 to play them on anymore. When I turned it on after years of being idle, it asked for an update. That update failed and the PS3 was bricked.
I looked into an emulator for my PC instead, but realised I have no way of getting the games installedā¦ no optical drive at all on this rig.
