As a hobby, I sometimes play around with various game engines and I can see how much easier it has become compared to years ago. Nowadays, you can create your own game without any formal training. It used to be much harder to develop a game in the past. It is a fact that there are more advanced techniques available now, but in many ways, it has also been simplified. Just looking at the new animation tools of Unreal Engine 5.4 is impressive.
Games are getting bigger and graphically more stunning, and it’s amazing to see how fast the industry has progressed compared to 20 or 30 years ago. Games have definitely improved over the years, but why do many people, myself included, still complain that they are not as good as they could be?
Developers now have better tools than they did years ago, they have more freedom and possibilities. However, these resources are not always fully utilized, which is a shame. Many game companies are run by businessmen who may have no real connection to the gaming world. For them, it’s all about making a profit, regardless of the reviews or how “fun” the game actually is. Their main goal is to generate money and keep investors happy, so they try to squeeze every last cent out of games. Since games are no longer made out of love but rather to maximize profit, the industry has suffered.
There is also a toxic atmosphere in many game companies, just look at Activision-Blizzard and Ubisoft. I would never want to work for companies like these. It’s unfortunate to see the gaming industry being exploited in this way, and that’s where things go wrong.
Think about it this way, imagine you are a writer and you want to publish a book. You make sure to have a very beautiful and attractive book cover. People think, “Oh, that looks good, so the story must be good too, I’ll buy it!” even if you have written a cliché story full of errors, nothing new, just a mishmash of previous stories you’ve written. Then you also leave some pages blank so you can sell additional pages to complete the story, while people have already paid the full price for the book.
That’s how triple-A studios have been operating in recent years. Quantity over quality, it sells anyway so why make changes? Not only are consumers affected by this, but also the employees of these companies who have to deal with all this nonsense. I recently read an article about how relieved developers were when Skull and Bones was finally finished. They finally felt free from the bizarre development of the game. I cannot support products like these, where developers didn’t even want to work on them and felt relieved when the development was finally completed. But those businessmen kept pushing for such subpar products.
There is a reason why games like Baldur’s Gate 3 have shocked the gaming industry. The industry needs to focus on quality over quantity and prioritize the passion for gaming rather than just profits. It’s time for a change in the way games are developed and marketed to truly elevate the gaming experience for players and developers alike.