My Thoughts On : The 2024 Video Game Recession (Because the word "Crash" is clickbait)

 

This is a topic that has dominated headlines a lot recently. As someone who plays a lot of video games a lot, it is a topic that I find of great interest, and a bit of concern. Well, concern for those who unfortunately lost their jobs. They were placed in a situation that they should have never been put in, and as a result, have become the latest causalities in this downturn in the market. All the major triple AAA studios have been laying off people. I have sympathies for those who have lost there jobs. Most of them only found out when the event occurred. The ones who have done all the work are getting the boot while those responsible for the bad decisions have been getting golden parachutes larger than what most will make in their entire lifetimes multiple times over, for bad decisions that resulted in the layoffs of those who poured their heart and soul into the company.

Jim Ryan, the now ex-CEO of Sony, posing with the London development team a couple of days before it was announced that Sony’s London Game Studio would be closing, full well that he already knew what was going to happen, was just plain offensive. Keeping those who have completely devoted themselves and their life’s work for the company, only to be kept in the dark at the hands of those who exploited them and now laying them off because of decisions of their making, is a crime in itself. There is no love for the Jim Ryans and Bobby Koticks of the world here. There is no love for those who treat the hard-working souls who give it their all as just quote “disposable bodies” to be tossed aside when they are no longer needed. Yet, someone will try to justify and defend these silver-spoon buffoons somehow by saying something along the lines of “this is just Capitalism. They should have known the risk, blah, blah, I just crapped myself in my own ignorant thoughts, more blah blah, I’m a dipsh*”

With that said, triple AAA gaming had gone in a horrible direction in the past couple of years. With the incorporation of microtransactions, standard gaming features no removed to make way for those microtransactions, and gambling mechanics have left a very negative taste in those just want to play the game. Good gaming had been tossed aside for games to entice players to give more, treating them like ATM machines than customers. 

I’m not a fan of microtransactions at all, but when a small independent studio releases a game for free, I can understand why microtransactions would be there. They have to make their money somehow. Yet, when a triple AAA studio releases a retail game going for $60,$70,$80, etc, and then microtransactions on top of that, one goes, “WHAT, WASENT THAT $60,$70,$80 NOT ENOUGH!?”. The big wigs running the game studio will respond that because of how complex console hardware is now, they have to justify the cost. Just to let you know, this is an urban myth. Yes, console hardware is much more complicated. Yet, with the massive advances with SDK’s, and the prominent platforms conforming to well-documented and well understood cross-platform API’s like OpenGL, Vulkan, and DirectX, making games have never been easier, even though it is still complicated. With how much EA is making in microtransactions from Madden, they could afford to give always that game for free and still be rolling in the money instead of charging at least $70 to release what is essentially the same game year after year, just with a different roster.

Some of my favorite games are triple AAA games. I’m a GTA junkie. I’m also played HL2 and Doom 3. I’ve played the older versions of both COD and Battlefield. I've embraced many of the NFS games. However, I’m not a fan of the direction that gaming has gone. Skull and Bones (more like Ships and Things) is at this point the poster child for everything wrong with the modern gaming scene. If it takes a video game crash to wipe away these bad practices, then maybe a crash is what is for the best (again, I sympathize for those who lost their jobs and again, they should have never EVER been placed in this position). Yet, as also mentioned, gaming has gone in a horrible direction. With that, I’m now going into sweaty armchair pundit mode again. (as if this whole article hasn’t been that already).

First, do I think that a gaming crash is happening. No. I would compare this much more to a quote “video game recessions”. However, do I think that there is a massive downturn in the market in regard to triple AAA gaming, Yes. Is the effect of the gaming market driven by the post effects of COVID? Yes. At the same time, do I think that there is more going on than what meets the eye? Yes. Do I think that the entire video game market is being affected by this downturn? No. The video game market is more mature than it ever is. This isn’t 1983.

We are not seeing a repeat of 1983, and event that happened shortly before I was even born. However, while the effects, the only part of gamign that I see affected by this downturn is the triple AAA component. I can’t really see indpendent developers, small studios, or those who develop for casual gamers being affected at all with what is going on. With that mentioned, I also don’t see PC gaming being affected all that much because PC gaming is very diversivied with a massive variety of games from both the big and small. However, with the downturn, I seeing console gamers being affected the most. If the words Xbox and Playstation are a part of your everyday venacular, than you should be concerned about the events playing out. However, as mentioned, the gaming market is much more robust compared to 1983. At the same time, I don’t see the rest of 2024 being all that poisitive for the triple AAA gaming scene. Only time will tell.