Top 10 Reasons The Video Game Industry Is In Trouble

Yes I will do it! I’m the bearer of doom and gloom. Someone has to do it. While most publications are rife with BEST this and that about the industry, few are looking at what ails it. I intend to rectify this with my list and hopes for the fixes of my favorite hobby. Without further ado…

10. Sequelitis

Yes, the industry has gotten sick with it. Following Hollywood tit for tat video games, for the most part, have become wholly un-original. Before you come stampeding my way with torches, let me explain. I don’t mean original as in a new genre or way to play a game (ducking Wii-motes). I mean original as in a new IP (Intellectual Property). What happened to getting excited over new characters? All of the gaming icons we know were once new. Instead of creating new characters, we get the same ones for the fifth, sixth, and eleventh installments.  I subscribe to the financial reasoning of betting on a name that people know, but it also smacks in the face of how that character became popular in the first place. No! I don’t want to play as Dante anymore, at least not for a while. I’m tired of hopping around with Mario, can I get a new character? Everyone talks about how this year was so great for gaming, but virtually every game on the Best Sellers list is a sequel – GTAIV, MGS:4, DMC 4, GHWT, Rock Band 2, GOW2, Res: 2, Mario Kart, etc etc  (You know these titles so well I can abbreviate them) How about a year without any sequels and totally new IP? Wouldn’t that be refreshing… [Continue Reading]