Wait, you're implying the new greedy biz model (essentially, pay-to-win tricks) came to life because of … how can I put this? … the resurgence of indie devs??? Because the indies are putting out hundreds of games every day??? You're saying those bad practices (loot boxes, essential DLCSs, etc, I don't know what IAP is
) are coming from big studios because of the indies???
Absolutely.
I'm an old fart enough to be in the game industry right from its beginning, and perhaps I know a bit more than most of you
So allow me to explain a few deeper interrelations. It will be long, but hopefully not boring.
The huge,
uncontrolled amount of indie releases have created such a crowded market, that traditional biz models won't apply anymore. Therefore, a more aggressive model has emerged.
The traditional biz model had two very important factors:
Publishers controlled the releases, carefully scheduling a year's output (e.g. big games scheduled for holiday seasons, so that marketing has enough time to build a pre-release hype, low-tier games scheduled in such a way that they won't harm the big games' sales, etc, etc). As a result, gamers had a very clear understanding about the upcoming games and could plan their expenses accordingly.
Publishers and developers were equally interested in the game's success.. Since releasing a game required so much effort/money (marketing, manufacturing, shelf space, etc), every released game had to be successful to a certain extent. And everybody did their thing: developers created great games, while publishers created effective ad campaigns and secured great retail deals.
Sure, this structure had its own share of problems (stalling, lack of innovation, monopoly), however the industry was pretty much healthy overall, because both publishers, developers, and gamers had some control and could plan ahead.
Enter the indies. They may have great ideas, and they certainly have the tools to rapidly create games. But they are all lone wolfs. There is absolutely no coordination.
So at first, indies were much about idealism, self-expression and attitude:
I have a great idea, and I'll teach EA a lesson how to make a great game, DAMMIT!
Then, as dev tools become cheaper, and easier to use (nowadays practically anyone can make a game), there came a new indie breed with selfish greed and attitude:
I wanna get rich RIGHT NOW, FUCK YOU ALL!
So, they have successfully disrupted the industry by exploiting the weakness of the system (sooo… you say the publishers are the central thing of all -- then let's leave'em out of the fun! Appstore/Steam does not need publishers anymore, yeeehhaaaa!)
Publishers have severely weakened, but not defeated:
you guys made the new rules, so guess what: we are willing to play on your terms. Brace yerselves, IT WILL BE NASTY.
Enter the hyper-aggressive Tencent and its psychopath kins (the
new EA, the
new Activision, the
new Ubi, the
new Konami, etc)
Now this control is all gone, the game biz has became a huge, paranoid battlefield with guns blazing.
Nobody is your trusted partner anymore. Nobody knows anything, no plan-ahead is possible. Everybody does his own thing, alone. Absolutely no coordination.
As such, everyone wants to realize the profit
right now, because no one knows what the future holds.
The result?
Legit idealist indies don't have a chance to stick out from the crowd (you could make the best game ever, but what for if you don't get recognized), so the quality is rapidly waning.
Ironically, the game biz generates more money than ever, but the profit dissipates somewhere among the many greedies who are absolutely not interested in quality.
Moreover, a new type of gamers emerged as well, fully conditioned to accept and embrace the New Terms. Shit games are OK, spending money is not OK (
We are so smart that we do not realize how dumb we are. )
So this is it. Hope this small rant sheds some light on the state of our passion / profession.