This is not a golden age of gaming. Most of the games that have come out are reboots, remakes or sequel. What is the last big new IP? Look at the top games of 2018: Red Dead Redemption II, Monster Hunter: World, God Of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Forza Horizon 4, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4, Far Cry 5, Tetris Effect, Hitman 2, Battlefield V, Fallout 76, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider.
The top games in 2019 have been The Division 2, Resident Evil 2, Crackdown 3, Kingdom Hearts III, Devil May Cry 5, Metro Exodus, and coming up is Mortal Kombat 11 and Rage 2. If the industry is going to succeed there needs to be more risks taken and new IPs created.
Last year there were a few new IPs but they didn’t set the world on fire. A Way Out, Sea Of Thieves, Detroit: Become Human, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, etc… and Astro Boy (which is a great game but niche due to VR).
The first half of this year the only big, new IPs are Anthem and Days Gone. Anthem has had major issues and Days Gone seems to be mixed… but we will see. There are still dozens of games that have come out that I didn’t mention but the trend seems to be going towards getting a quick buck with free-to-play games with microtransactions and re-releases and ports (looking at you Switch).
A few multiplayer games have already come and gone such as Marvel Heroes, Battleborn, Lawbreakers, and Evolve. It’s all or nothing now… either become a big hit like Fortnite and Apex Legends or fizzle out in a year or so. These are all AAA games and indies seem to be taking over that creative mantle. The golden age was around 2007. Just look at these new IPs that came out then: Bioshock, Portal, Crysis, The Witcher, Uncharted, Mass Effect, Crackdown, Rock Band… those were all new IPs.
If the publishers don’t invest in new IPs (and the consumers buy them) then we will be looking at another industry crash.
Anon
