An incredible and well-thought out article Peter! I loved the details you went in with AI and your experience!
As much as I try to keep up with the news in the gaming world, I admit that my actual gaming life trends quite a few years older compared to modern technology. I still use my PS4 Slim and Switch 1 as my main gaming consoles (on top of an old PC I've been fighting with a bit to get working 😅), and I've been satisfied with that. I've always waited years to upgrade, and modern consoles have really never given me a good reason to upgrade as of yet (especially with everything going on as you wrote about).
All of that to say: I've made a certain peace about the state of things and where I now stand. Your quote here made me think about that all the more:
"What I can control is what consoles I buy, what games I purchase, what I want to play, and who I want to play them with. When I look at it from that perspective, I see some positivity... for myself at least, perhaps you too."
I wish I could snap my fingers and make things "right" with everything going on, but I know I can't. Meanwhile though, I know that there's still so much I'm personally experiencing for the first time in gaming! Even though I'm running hardware from the early/mid 2010s, I keep finding so many good games I've never played before: Dragon Quest, God of War, Detroit: Become Human, and the list goes on — on top of all the indie games I've been finding too lately. I feel like if the entire industry collapsed today, and someone declared that there would be no more games ever made...then I would still have plenty of games to last me my lifetime!
I'm not sure where everything with the gaming industry is heading, but I think your approach is best.
Awesome article Peter, and incredible job on the amount of work you put into it!
Thank you Joe. I wonder if you and me are the outliers, happy to be a generation behind everyone else 😄 But you're right, there is an enormous history of games just sitting there to be experienced. I suppose the only concern you and I could have would be whether that history is properly preserved and maintained, which isn't a guarantee. Still, I'm hopeful in that avenue will be one we can still pursue, somehow.
Thanks for sharing this. When everything changes and spreads so quickly, we should all be taking some extra time to assess what's happening and accept our opinions will form gradually the more information we have at hand.
Personally, I'm definitely one of the romantics. I decided to switch to GOG for all my digital purchases to the extent that I can, and set up some rules (e.g. only get games I can immediately start playing, to replicate that excitement of getting a hard-earned game after months of waiting as a child). Plus, my team and I are working on a small game and we're brainstorming ideas on how to bridge the gap between digital & physical. It's fun to at least daydream about giving something cool and tangible that you poured your heart into. It simply doesn't compare to a download button.
Let's hope that eventually, everything will happen for the best.
Thanks for replying. What you said about buying something that you can immediately play is actually a very good point. When I was younger I would go to a store, buy a game, and immediately play it when I got home. Now I download a game and forget about it, thinking I'll get to it later. Part of that is different responsibilities in my life now and I need to carve out time deliberately. Yet I was talking to someone yesterday who made a similar point that because digital is not tangible, it becomes so much easier to forget, the attachment just isn't the same.
It's good to hear that your team are at least thinking about how to bridge that gap, I hope it goes well.
Finally found the time to read this and I don't regret doing so!
I think I'm in a similar mindset as you, where I realize there's little to nothing I can do to change the current reality, and there's more than enough for me to still do gaming-wise to not have to think too much about the next big AAA thing.
What you mention about the concept of a retro game fading is already something I notice personally, and not even because of digital games. I realize that out of the games I recently bought, the vast majority aren't even from this decade. I got a game from 2013, two from 2015, one from 2016... but I do not actively think of them as retro games, rather just cool games I didn't get around to playing earlier. When it's so easy to explore previous generations of games, it also becomes easier to say 'nah, I'm good' to new releases built and/or sold on shady practices.
What is a retro game now? A podcast I listen to set the loose rule of any game over 10 years old, but that means so many games that you and I would consider fairly modern are included in that category, which is hard to believe. I agree with you, it's just that with so many games available now we're just trying to constantly catch up.
Great article, Peter. You really spanned the gamut!
As the gaming industry continues to change from what I myself desire into what shareholders desire, I realize that - as you stated in the article - this change has been going on for some time. Years, in fact.
I am not the gaming industry's target demographic and I never will be. Therefore, while I watch changes happen with great interest, the level at which they affect me matters less and less to me.
I especially like what you wrote at the end about having enough games to play for the rest of time right now. This is exactly how I feel If game development paused for five or ten years, humanity would still have enough games for several lifetimes.
This article is a gateway for multiple long conversations. Once again, well done.
Yeah, you kind of got everything at once, didn’t you? Sometimes the thoughts just pile up in my head and need to escape. I at least tried to interconnect them all together.
I’ve also long been an outside observer now, watching as events and changes happen yet they don’t seem to affect me at a macro level. These things happen, then they pass. The only difference this time is that change seems to have built up into a critical mass, though it will still continue on regardless.
It means a lot that you liked it so much, thank you.
I haven’t bought a physical game since Diablo 3 ( and we all know how that went with the good old error 37!). It’s weird how as a PC gamer this is something we have a very different perspective on. I am completely behind people who want physical media but the memory of standing in a game store is less salient. I grew up in South Africa so we didn’t get games directly due to Apartheid and sanctions so there may have been a few sea shanties and a funny shaped hat need in order for us to play games.
I think at the moment we are quite lucky with Steam and GOG both actively making sure that games are on their services (GOG especially as that is their shtick) so we have access to games from years ago. There are also websites with abandonware games where you can download older games. Preservation is not really a thing on the PC as we are not held back by compatibility as much as consoles are due to generational changes and every system being closed systems. There are multiple emulators for DOS games and earlier Windows versions. I have not seen a game that came out on PC (Windows and DOS specifically) that people haven’t been able to play. Some require a lot of fiddling to get going but there are endless websites with advice and patches that make older games run. GOG has a vast library of old games.
Not sure if you are on Twitch or not but there is a streamer who every January spends the month playing CD ROM games from the disk on modern hardware. Very interesting to watch especially if you fancy fiddling and problem solving.
I think I have said before that I struggle to play older games because of the quality of life they have added to newer games.
Are you a console gamer then? Did you say you are a programer in the piece?
I play console and PC games, though lean more towards consoles for the convenience. So PC games I play tend to be more action oriented than say strategy or other genres which suit a mouse/keyboard.
For the past year I've been growing my Steam wishlist with a lot of indie games because they are starting to appeal to me more. Whether I'll get round to buying them I don't know, but I've started noticing a lot that at least look interesting and fun based on recommendations.
I have been a pc gamer for almost 40yrs. I have had consoles in the past but pc is where I am more comfortable. PC just has so many options and I tend to play keyboard and mouse mostly but have played lore games with a controller (mostly Elden Ring Wukong style games).
Indies have been on a role for 10yrs or so now. Just finished Replaced and that was a lot of fun.
Another interesting take. From the UK, we only knew of three markets for games - Japan, the US, and Europe. Yet gaming is truly global and has different variations and constraints which not everyone thinks of. I assume then that you also may have less attachment to physical media since it was not something you necessarily had as much of?
I'm interested to know what preservation means to you personally then. For instance, as a PC gamer, what if you wanted to play a really old game again, would that typically be possible for you?
Also I forgot to mention I am living in the UK now since around 2001 (landed here the day before 9 11) my dad is originally from Lowerstoft and I am in Devon.
An incredible and well-thought out article Peter! I loved the details you went in with AI and your experience!
As much as I try to keep up with the news in the gaming world, I admit that my actual gaming life trends quite a few years older compared to modern technology. I still use my PS4 Slim and Switch 1 as my main gaming consoles (on top of an old PC I've been fighting with a bit to get working 😅), and I've been satisfied with that. I've always waited years to upgrade, and modern consoles have really never given me a good reason to upgrade as of yet (especially with everything going on as you wrote about).
All of that to say: I've made a certain peace about the state of things and where I now stand. Your quote here made me think about that all the more:
"What I can control is what consoles I buy, what games I purchase, what I want to play, and who I want to play them with. When I look at it from that perspective, I see some positivity... for myself at least, perhaps you too."
I wish I could snap my fingers and make things "right" with everything going on, but I know I can't. Meanwhile though, I know that there's still so much I'm personally experiencing for the first time in gaming! Even though I'm running hardware from the early/mid 2010s, I keep finding so many good games I've never played before: Dragon Quest, God of War, Detroit: Become Human, and the list goes on — on top of all the indie games I've been finding too lately. I feel like if the entire industry collapsed today, and someone declared that there would be no more games ever made...then I would still have plenty of games to last me my lifetime!
I'm not sure where everything with the gaming industry is heading, but I think your approach is best.
Awesome article Peter, and incredible job on the amount of work you put into it!
Thank you Joe. I wonder if you and me are the outliers, happy to be a generation behind everyone else 😄 But you're right, there is an enormous history of games just sitting there to be experienced. I suppose the only concern you and I could have would be whether that history is properly preserved and maintained, which isn't a guarantee. Still, I'm hopeful in that avenue will be one we can still pursue, somehow.
Thanks for reading to the end, it was quite long!
Thanks for sharing this. When everything changes and spreads so quickly, we should all be taking some extra time to assess what's happening and accept our opinions will form gradually the more information we have at hand.
Personally, I'm definitely one of the romantics. I decided to switch to GOG for all my digital purchases to the extent that I can, and set up some rules (e.g. only get games I can immediately start playing, to replicate that excitement of getting a hard-earned game after months of waiting as a child). Plus, my team and I are working on a small game and we're brainstorming ideas on how to bridge the gap between digital & physical. It's fun to at least daydream about giving something cool and tangible that you poured your heart into. It simply doesn't compare to a download button.
Let's hope that eventually, everything will happen for the best.
Thanks for replying. What you said about buying something that you can immediately play is actually a very good point. When I was younger I would go to a store, buy a game, and immediately play it when I got home. Now I download a game and forget about it, thinking I'll get to it later. Part of that is different responsibilities in my life now and I need to carve out time deliberately. Yet I was talking to someone yesterday who made a similar point that because digital is not tangible, it becomes so much easier to forget, the attachment just isn't the same.
It's good to hear that your team are at least thinking about how to bridge that gap, I hope it goes well.
Finally found the time to read this and I don't regret doing so!
I think I'm in a similar mindset as you, where I realize there's little to nothing I can do to change the current reality, and there's more than enough for me to still do gaming-wise to not have to think too much about the next big AAA thing.
What you mention about the concept of a retro game fading is already something I notice personally, and not even because of digital games. I realize that out of the games I recently bought, the vast majority aren't even from this decade. I got a game from 2013, two from 2015, one from 2016... but I do not actively think of them as retro games, rather just cool games I didn't get around to playing earlier. When it's so easy to explore previous generations of games, it also becomes easier to say 'nah, I'm good' to new releases built and/or sold on shady practices.
What is a retro game now? A podcast I listen to set the loose rule of any game over 10 years old, but that means so many games that you and I would consider fairly modern are included in that category, which is hard to believe. I agree with you, it's just that with so many games available now we're just trying to constantly catch up.
Thanks so much for reading, it was quite long!
Great article, Peter. You really spanned the gamut!
As the gaming industry continues to change from what I myself desire into what shareholders desire, I realize that - as you stated in the article - this change has been going on for some time. Years, in fact.
I am not the gaming industry's target demographic and I never will be. Therefore, while I watch changes happen with great interest, the level at which they affect me matters less and less to me.
I especially like what you wrote at the end about having enough games to play for the rest of time right now. This is exactly how I feel If game development paused for five or ten years, humanity would still have enough games for several lifetimes.
This article is a gateway for multiple long conversations. Once again, well done.
Yeah, you kind of got everything at once, didn’t you? Sometimes the thoughts just pile up in my head and need to escape. I at least tried to interconnect them all together.
I’ve also long been an outside observer now, watching as events and changes happen yet they don’t seem to affect me at a macro level. These things happen, then they pass. The only difference this time is that change seems to have built up into a critical mass, though it will still continue on regardless.
It means a lot that you liked it so much, thank you.
I haven’t bought a physical game since Diablo 3 ( and we all know how that went with the good old error 37!). It’s weird how as a PC gamer this is something we have a very different perspective on. I am completely behind people who want physical media but the memory of standing in a game store is less salient. I grew up in South Africa so we didn’t get games directly due to Apartheid and sanctions so there may have been a few sea shanties and a funny shaped hat need in order for us to play games.
I think at the moment we are quite lucky with Steam and GOG both actively making sure that games are on their services (GOG especially as that is their shtick) so we have access to games from years ago. There are also websites with abandonware games where you can download older games. Preservation is not really a thing on the PC as we are not held back by compatibility as much as consoles are due to generational changes and every system being closed systems. There are multiple emulators for DOS games and earlier Windows versions. I have not seen a game that came out on PC (Windows and DOS specifically) that people haven’t been able to play. Some require a lot of fiddling to get going but there are endless websites with advice and patches that make older games run. GOG has a vast library of old games.
Not sure if you are on Twitch or not but there is a streamer who every January spends the month playing CD ROM games from the disk on modern hardware. Very interesting to watch especially if you fancy fiddling and problem solving.
I think I have said before that I struggle to play older games because of the quality of life they have added to newer games.
Are you a console gamer then? Did you say you are a programer in the piece?
I play console and PC games, though lean more towards consoles for the convenience. So PC games I play tend to be more action oriented than say strategy or other genres which suit a mouse/keyboard.
For the past year I've been growing my Steam wishlist with a lot of indie games because they are starting to appeal to me more. Whether I'll get round to buying them I don't know, but I've started noticing a lot that at least look interesting and fun based on recommendations.
I have been a pc gamer for almost 40yrs. I have had consoles in the past but pc is where I am more comfortable. PC just has so many options and I tend to play keyboard and mouse mostly but have played lore games with a controller (mostly Elden Ring Wukong style games).
Indies have been on a role for 10yrs or so now. Just finished Replaced and that was a lot of fun.
Another interesting take. From the UK, we only knew of three markets for games - Japan, the US, and Europe. Yet gaming is truly global and has different variations and constraints which not everyone thinks of. I assume then that you also may have less attachment to physical media since it was not something you necessarily had as much of?
I'm interested to know what preservation means to you personally then. For instance, as a PC gamer, what if you wanted to play a really old game again, would that typically be possible for you?
Also I forgot to mention I am living in the UK now since around 2001 (landed here the day before 9 11) my dad is originally from Lowerstoft and I am in Devon.