Parallels to 1983

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Baron Cappuccino, Apr 21, 2013.

  1. Baron Cappuccino

    Baron Cappuccino Well-Known Member
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    Gaming aficionados might recognize 1983 as the year of "The Great Video Game Crash" ("of 1983" tends to complete the phrase). It was caused by a lack of standards and an environment where even hobbyists could put games on the market. Shovelware likely got coined at this time, if for no other reason than the burying of hundreds of ET cartridges in the desert.

    People speculate that mobile gaming and indie-friendly marketplaces like XLBA might be the future of gaming. We at TA are well familiar with shovelware as it manifests on iDevices, and it's likely the existence of sites like TA that keep us from abandoning the platform. Personally, such sites have saved me likely hundreds of dollars. If we're the minority, what does that do for the majority? Do you think that the preponderance of terrible games could lead to another great crash? Nintendo reversed the last crash with a seal of approval and a AAA title only sort of policy, restoring faith in the industry. Comments?
     
  2. hiptanaka

    hiptanaka Well-Known Member

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    I think we're trending towards something similar. This is largely related to the relentless proliferation of F2P games (not just on iTunes, but on Steam and other PC channels) with no "barrier to entry" and sometimes reliant on deceitful business practices to gain revenue.

    Yes, I understand that many F2P games are very well-done, polished, and of high quality, but the lack of even basic standards necessary to publish a game on iTunes or the PC these days is very similar to the circumstances leading up the '83 video game crash. Gaming standards must be regulated, at least at a very rudimentary level.
     
  3. Nobunaga

    Nobunaga Well-Known Member

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    It's funny, I was thinking of this the other day.
    So many dev's that respond on this site are of the belief that F2P is the way to make money on the AppStore. Personally, I think almost as many F2P games, percentage-wise, fail to turn a profit as paid games. What i was thinking is that the amount of complete garbage / scam apps has probably put a lot of more casual gamers off actually paying for apps.
    Some form of quality control would do heaps of good for the legitimate developers out there. It might slow or even stop the rise of the freemium. It would definitely instill some sense of confidence in people purchasing software from Apple. Without a step in this direction I don't think mobile gaming can take the leap of legitimizing itself as a true platform for gamers.
    Just my thoughts. I could be way off base.
     
  4. pluto6

    pluto6 Well-Known Member

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    You are probably right, but back then the consoles were reasonably expensive (comparatively), and there just were not a ton of people interested. Kids are growing up with gaming systems, so there is little chance they would allow them to disappear, vs in 1983, few people would have cared. Most considered video games a fad, I certainly did. I loved the text games by Scott Adams, I don't remember if Infocom was around back then. The arcade games were the ones to play as the home games just couldn't compare either from a control perspective, or a graphics perspective. So while I see the market consolidating towards standards (this always happens with any enterprise that sticks around), I don't see that lack of quality will cause the market to crash - again with large enterprises, the small guys will get pushed out, and the large corporations will determine the market - one can look at pretty much any industry today and see that has happened - there are exceptions, but these tend to be high quality, or niche markets for particular products. My $.02. Interesting thoughts though.
     
  5. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    Infocom was around in 1983. At the time you also had games like Wizardry, Ultima, the original Wolfenstein, Bard's Tale (and several other early EA titles). The PC/Apple 2 games market was largely unaffected by the console crash of 1983.

    And that's why I think the parallels with the mobile market don't hold. The mobile gaming market behaves much more like PC gaming than console gaming. Ultimately, the market crashed because costs outstripped perceived value: what you got for your $40-$50 purchases just didn't seem worth the money. People stopped buying the games, and more important, stopped buying the consoles. Mobile gaming has the opposite problem -- what you pay is not enough to cover the costs of what you get, which is why so many folks have switched to the FP model. For all that we, more serious gamers, dislike the model, the majority of people love free to play. And as long as people keep buying the devices (for other reasons besides gaming), they'll keep buying/renting games for them.
     
  6. the9quad

    the9quad Well-Known Member

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    2012-2013 has been one of the best year(s) in gaming. I see a lot of great games and a lot of publishers going belly up, not sure what the answer is to be honest. Games are too expensive to make/publish/advertise I think, coupled with unrealistic return on investments has really done a number on some big names lately. I know square is in trouble,THQ is gone, etc... I guess people are not buying games. It's not like it's been all crap like 1983 either.


    Ios on the other hand, there is just too much crap its like an avalanche of crap, and to be honest TA handing out 4 and 5 star reviews for darn near every game they review doesn't help the situation. Half brick's latest is a perfect example..... Sure they don't review every trash game, and the ones they do review are better than most on the AppStore. But, every other review site isn't reviewing all the crap either, they all essentially review the same games and TA consistently passes out stars like they are candy, I honestly don't trust a single review they do. Another example would be pixel people its barely more than a interactive sideshow, 5 stars! Really, if it was on any other platform it would be derided to no end, but since its ios it gets a pass. Not exactly how you get a platform to be taken serious.

    TA forums and neogaf forums give a much better feel for a game, as well as specialty sites like boardgamegeek and pocket tactics, not to mention the reviews seem an order of magnitude more informative and witty. The above I consider a much better seal of approval than some crap on the TA front page.
     
  7. smegly

    smegly Well-Known Member

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    It's just that the gaming industry has spread further, so it includes impulse buys for suckers who don't really know how to sniff out a good game. They might even enjoy these bad games as far as they expect to enjoy a game in general. For example, my mom had a DS and bought quite a few bad games for herself that I can't begin to understand the appeal of. That doesn't have much impact on the quality of the games I go for or the number of them. Is she a statistic in the gaming community? Yes, but I wouldn't call her a driving force behind the industry proper.

    In 1983, the industry was dealing solely with hardcore geeks who knew their stuff, so the attempt to infiltrate that market with crap was entirely different.
     
  8. pluto6

    pluto6 Well-Known Member

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    Some interesting perspectives. Although mostly I was thinking there are at least 7 really old gaming people here on TA. I hate getting funny looks by gray hairs when I'm talking with young adults, teens, and kids about video games. It's like I was supposed to grow up, but I never did. I'm always glad to know there are other hardcore gamers that have been around for many, many years.

    Although I really, really like the ability to save pretty frequently, and not always have to start at the beginning of a game.
     
  9. smegly

    smegly Well-Known Member

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    And how old are you?
     
  10. pluto6

    pluto6 Well-Known Member

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    Well - when I was born, we only had 48 states. So - pretty old. :(:(. :D
     
  11. Greyskull

    Greyskull Well-Known Member

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    You know of the 7 sages? BURN THIS MAN!

    I'm still under my mid-thirties mathematically, and don't anyone say otherwise! ;)
    50 states existed when I was born...and the president of the US was from the state of Georgia. I think that's enough info :).

    I just wanted to clarify something about the crash, going back to the first post. It wasn't just the quality or lack therof of the games. It coincided with the wide adoptiom of affordable home computers, and the crash DID NOT include "computer" games; in fact is was the opposite.

    Why buy a new Atari/Colecovision etc. when for the same price you could get a Commodore (in my case), play better games at lower prices, and, if you had the need, be able to do...you know, computer stuff?

    The crash didn't last long either. As a child it felt long, but the NES took off big in just a few years.

    It was a CONSOLE gaming crash. I would love to see a much worse crash personally. I'll get to the reasons why at a later time; I'm supposed to be beta-testing a music app.
     
  12. smegly

    smegly Well-Known Member

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    So prior to 1959. Well, that's cool. You got to evaluate pretty much the whole gaming phenomenon as an adult. Did you have a Magnavox Oddyssey?
     
  13. pluto6

    pluto6 Well-Known Member

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    @greyskull - I think you are right in many ways. I remember evaluating every IBM clone, or processing chip with -"will it run MS Flight Simulator"? If it did, you were safe, if not - prepare for errors.

    @smegly - no Magnavox - I had a TI 99. Then pretty much just PC gaming until I got a SNES. PC gaming was really great with Wizadry, Infocom, MS Flight Simulator, Kings Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Doom, etc, etc. but, the console controllers are hard to beat, so got various handhelds, Playstation, most Nintendo offerings, Xbox, and now the more recent consoles. It's been a fun ride... My kids are all gamers, and up til recently I could generally beat them. My middle son is a beast though - he can beat the old SNES platformers like Ghosts and Goblins.
     
  14. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

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    There have been a number of well-written articles comparing modern gaming with the stuff that went down in the early 80s, and while there are enough similarities to make the comparison, there are also a good number of reasons why another crash can't happen. One of those is the evolution of business models. We've been through reasonably priced premium apps, the surge of lite apps, ad-supported free apps, all sorts of free-to-play/freemium models... whatever the market demands, developers are able to build their games accordingly. It means devs who can't keep up tend to fall by the wayside, but it also ensures a steady stream of income into the business as a whole. People are spending more on games than they ever have done, and this is in spite of the various recessions and financial troubles countries are struggling with around the world.

    Plus, as previously mentioned, gaming isn't a single market. If one did somehow manage to crash, there would still be others.
     
  15. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

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    I cant see a crash, like Midian says people are spending more money on games than ever before. iOS gaming is eating away at console gaming as kids dont like spending $40 or so dollars on a single game when in a weeks time they then try and exchange it for something else

    iOS gaming is so cheap IF there is a crash then iOS gaming will benefit as more and more people will flock to iOS.

    I do worry however about the amount of freemium, i personally think too many people dont buy games on release and instead wait for price drops or games to go free, crazy when games are a dollar or two.

    Do think people expect WAY too much from a 99c game though, moaning about they completed the game in 8 hours, moaning theres no game centre, moaning theres only been 2 updates etc from their 99c purchase!
     

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