Some of it is shit, but that’s true for literally all media and art across all of human existence.
Gaming is better than ever. This whole discussion is ridiculous, with everyone blaming this or that for something that just doesn’t align with reality.
I think the main difference is that we mostly forget about the shovelware titles of 20 years ago. Meanwhile the predatory monetization practices of the popular kids games of this current era will not be forgotten.
You can’t say that gaming is better now when Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Roblox are the most popular games for an entire gaming generation. There are still masterpieces being made today and there was plenty of shovelware back then but there will never be another year for gaming like 1998.
You get like 3 games worth playing a year now and studios that would make all timers year after year now release a game once a decade and sell micro transactions or 50,000 ports of it.
Obviously I don’t know your personal situation, but they can’t actually force you to play Roblox. You’re allowed to say no.
Joking aside, the existence of bad games doesn’t make gaming worse when there are great games still being made. ET doesn’t count against Super Mario Bros. just because they were released in the same decade. Superman 64 doesn’t count against Ocarina of Time just because they were a year apart. And Fortnite being released eight years ago definitely doesn’t count against gaming today just because people are still playing it.
Yeah 1998 had some great games. A couple of them even hold up today. But not many, and the biggest reason those games topped the charts back then was because gaming as a whole was like 1% of the size it is today.
If you can’t find more than three games worth playing in a year, then either you don’t like games that much, or you’re not looking.
Obviously I don’t know your personal situation, but they can’t actually force you to play Roblox. You’re allowed to say no.
Mainly I’m bringing up Fortnite and Roblox all these years later, not because I think they are bad games but because their monetization strategies have negatively influenced the gaming disasters that have tried to copy them. I don’t think if you strip Fortnite down to its mechanics that it is bad, I think it’s quite good just not for me.
Multiplayer games are nearly unplayable in 2025. And I just don’t have the free time I had back then. So I get frustrated that we wait more than a decade for good games from established studios and we don’t really get many new IPs.
I fundamentally disagree with your take that only a couple games of 1998 still hold up but I think we can agree to disagree there since I think that’s a matter of taste.
Not to be contrarian, because I think you’re making some good points, but Split Fiction came out less than two months ago.
I’m also sinking hundreds of hours into Ravenswatch, which I don’t hear anyone talking about, but it’s incredible.
Other than those, I also have a hard time finding games to play multiplayer, but I think maybe that’s a problem with you and me and not with gaming. Like I see people having a ton of fun with Marvel Rivals, and I wish I could get into it, but I can’t.
Thankfully it looks like the industry is moving away from microtransactions and live service games, or at least they’re starting to learn that there’s a time and a place for those things.
I’d agree with the 3 games worth playing a year comment if you limit it to bigger budget games and anything new over $50. But indie games and games that are around $20-40 at launch. Naw, you need to raise that number significantly or expand beyond a single genre.
Gaming hasn’t gone to shit.
Some of it is shit, but that’s true for literally all media and art across all of human existence.
Gaming is better than ever. This whole discussion is ridiculous, with everyone blaming this or that for something that just doesn’t align with reality.
I think the main difference is that we mostly forget about the shovelware titles of 20 years ago. Meanwhile the predatory monetization practices of the popular kids games of this current era will not be forgotten.
You can’t say that gaming is better now when Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Roblox are the most popular games for an entire gaming generation. There are still masterpieces being made today and there was plenty of shovelware back then but there will never be another year for gaming like 1998.
You get like 3 games worth playing a year now and studios that would make all timers year after year now release a game once a decade and sell micro transactions or 50,000 ports of it.
Obviously I don’t know your personal situation, but they can’t actually force you to play Roblox. You’re allowed to say no.
Joking aside, the existence of bad games doesn’t make gaming worse when there are great games still being made. ET doesn’t count against Super Mario Bros. just because they were released in the same decade. Superman 64 doesn’t count against Ocarina of Time just because they were a year apart. And Fortnite being released eight years ago definitely doesn’t count against gaming today just because people are still playing it.
Yeah 1998 had some great games. A couple of them even hold up today. But not many, and the biggest reason those games topped the charts back then was because gaming as a whole was like 1% of the size it is today.
If you can’t find more than three games worth playing in a year, then either you don’t like games that much, or you’re not looking.
Mainly I’m bringing up Fortnite and Roblox all these years later, not because I think they are bad games but because their monetization strategies have negatively influenced the gaming disasters that have tried to copy them. I don’t think if you strip Fortnite down to its mechanics that it is bad, I think it’s quite good just not for me.
Multiplayer games are nearly unplayable in 2025. And I just don’t have the free time I had back then. So I get frustrated that we wait more than a decade for good games from established studios and we don’t really get many new IPs.
I fundamentally disagree with your take that only a couple games of 1998 still hold up but I think we can agree to disagree there since I think that’s a matter of taste.
Not to be contrarian, because I think you’re making some good points, but Split Fiction came out less than two months ago.
I’m also sinking hundreds of hours into Ravenswatch, which I don’t hear anyone talking about, but it’s incredible.
Other than those, I also have a hard time finding games to play multiplayer, but I think maybe that’s a problem with you and me and not with gaming. Like I see people having a ton of fun with Marvel Rivals, and I wish I could get into it, but I can’t.
Thankfully it looks like the industry is moving away from microtransactions and live service games, or at least they’re starting to learn that there’s a time and a place for those things.
I’d agree with the 3 games worth playing a year comment if you limit it to bigger budget games and anything new over $50. But indie games and games that are around $20-40 at launch. Naw, you need to raise that number significantly or expand beyond a single genre.
Right, and let’s not forget that Retro gaming is completely legal.