Why do I care about making games in the year of our lord 20XX?
Woah, that's a big wall of text.
In a sense, video games are currently bigger and better than ever. The market is ripe with numerous amazing titles (both indie and AAA) being released every year, ensuring that most peoples' backlogs (including mine) always remain full. The establishment of games as a massively profitable entertainment industry has resulted in ever-increasing project scopes and a myriad of improvements in user experience - including the smoothing of difficulty curves, more accessibility options, better conveyance etc. Setting aside some predatory consumer and company practices, getting into and enjoying videogames has never been easier.
That said, the medium's aging has brought with it a degree of "optimized stability". Skyrocketing studio/publisher budgets featuring extensive market research have slowly ushered in an era of projects that are "too big to fail". Executives are hard-pressed to green light smaller experimental projects or bold creative decisions because of the financial risk involved. Instead, they often prefer to invest in sequels, reboots and remasters of well-known and loved franchises, sticking to familiar genres, controls, graphics and IP. During development and testing, every aspect of the game is thoroughly consumer-proofed. Most fresh ideas are removed or dulled out to create a pain-free user experience that lacks depth, challenge and intrigue.
That isn't to say triple A titles all suck, quite the contrary. Contrasting with mediocre yearly franchises riddled with microtranscations, games like "The Last of Us (2013)", "Grand Theft Auto V (2013)", "God of War (2018)", "Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)" and "Spider-Man (2018)" are a perfect representation of just how far the top end of "big" video games have come. The design cohesion, quality writing, attention to detail and immaculate polish of every aspect of these experiences are undeniable achievements worthy of celebration. And they certainly are celebrated, much like Oscars winners, at fancy festivals and by piles of "Game of the Year" awards.
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Through another lens, the core mechanics and aesthetics of most bigger budget games have somewhat converged into a happy medium. It is easier to understand why most innovation in recent years has come from independent developers when we observe the other end of the scale: big corporations that often boast >1000 employees, selling copies by flaunting huge open worlds, long playtimes, unspecific bonanzas of tried-and-true gameplay systems and cutting edge graphics technology. This consolidation is hardly unprecedented for an entertainment industry, of course, and trendtreading is not foreign to smaller studios either (what percentage of indie games coming out today aren't either roguelikes or "metroidvanias"?). If we look at games simply as products that feature art in them, then design-by-commitee conventions have certainly brought improvements for consumers. If we are to reconcile art and entertainment as equals, however, then we (as in those of us not currently crunching away at a gargantuan project with a ridiculously unfeasible deadline) ought to try a little harder to push the medium's boundaries.
Just as Hollywood's tiring superhero recycling is slowly making way on the big stage for more creative big-time productions (like 2023 Oscar winner "Everything Everywhere All at Once"), consumers and developers are similarly starting to seek and plot new ground in the world of videogames. The rapidly widening interest in immersive indies like "Undertale (2015)" and "Inscryption (2020)", as well as the huge success of challenging, adventurous and uncompromising games like "Elden Ring (2022)" are an indicator of the gaming community's evolving comprehension of their beloved artform. Gamers are maturing, and as such, the space for bold developers, both veterans and newcomers - less preoccupied with maximizing appeal as they are with following a distinctive vision - is slowly growing. Here's to foolishly hoping that new massive multiplayer games also breathe a bit of the fresh air.
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In any case, if you're me, that's exciting news: those are the kinds of games I've always loved the most, and the kinds of games I hope to work on for the rest of my life. Even when they are indulging us in absent-minded fun, games are much more than just escapist software - they're important shapers of ourselves and our society. Through shared experiences, the meaningful joy of play is currently and constantly integrating itself into our culture and future. I'd feel left out if I didn't try and contribute, even if only a little bit.
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