Gaming is a unique industry. It’s very young when you compare it to other forms of entertainment like movies or music, but blockbuster titles like Grand Theft Auto V or Fortnite have shown just how much money games can rake in. That has understandably led to a great deal of financial interest in the medium – one that can feel at odds with the creative intentions often behind the games themselves.
Looking towards modern tools, modern perspectives, and future implementation can give a sense of which direction the industry might go in from here.
Standard Setters
Every now and again, there is a game that pushes modern gaming technology to the absolute limit of what it’s capable of. That’s not to say that it’s automatically hailed everywhere as the best game of all time, but it makes the most of what the current hardware offers. The game that perhaps best fits this bill in recent times could be Red Dead Redemption 2. This is not only because of the raw graphical power of the game but also because of how that graphical quality is stretched throughout an enormous world rather than focused on a short game like Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga.
With modern consoles, especially the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, many feel as though there hasn’t been a game that properly has made use of what the hardware has to offer. That means that there is a natural anticipation for what Rockstar, developers of Red Dead Redemption 2, will do with Grand Theft Auto 6.
The Bursting Bubble
One issue with the modern gaming landscape is that the price of both game development and the purchase of the games themselves have increased while continuing to do so. This also means that games must make more money to succeed, setting an increasingly high bar that companies fail to meet. This, naturally, means that there have been more and more lay-offs at development companies in an effort to cut costs.
This has created a problem in the world of AAA gaming, where the medium can no longer sustain that same output level, meaning there has to be some sort of change. To look at how exactly this problem can be remedied, many are turning their attention to smaller games.
Indies and Other Smaller Games
Not only are indie games more direct forms of output from the creative team rather than being seen through a more corporate lens, but their development is seen as much more sustainable. The success of 2024’s Balatro can showcase the kind of appetite for these smaller games. However, this is nothing new – not only have indie games been thriving for years, but the success of online casinos like Spin Casino can showcase the potential success of short-form gaming experiences. This isn’t something that a player would notice through the myriad of available games like Bridesmaids, Cricket Star, or games that utilize RPG mechanics, but the money-making model of these games is arguably what allows them to thrive.
