[schnevets]

There's something beyond the obvious nostalgia factor that makes these 25 year old video game business stories so captivating. It might be from these massive corporations moving with a gut-driven, ride-or-die mentality or the fact that the only indicator that matters is sales.

In comparison, today's gaming industry is fragmented beyond all recognition. The audience has grown and matured, but every major player is a unique gumbo of F2P, overplayed IP, indie risks, and speculative technology. Also, they're all subservient to some larger corporate strategy.

Once again, my cynicism may just stem from my age, but it seems like there hasn't been much excitement for the past 5 years or so.

[jonny_eh]

And there's far less meaningful innovation in gaming today. VR was pretty promising, but has failed to be transformative. The new consoles' graphics frankly don't look much better than current ones IMHO, despite having 10x or 100x the performance. Game streaming is the most interesting and disruptive technology, once the major players figure out the right business model.

Back in the 90s, opening a gaming magazine was so exciting due to the crazy stuff you might glimpse.

[brutus1213]

Ha .. I miss those days and have been curious what was different. I have chalked it to youth but maybe you have a point. Opening up gaming magazines was an experience that poems should be written about. I remember old magazines on Amiga and even Nintendo Power that I'd keep in my bedroom as some of my most hallowed possessions.

[lostgame]

VR will be a lot more exciting when we hit ‘retina’ VR, where immersion will be much more effective. The screen dooring effect of the original Vive and Oculus was a huge negative for me.

[jonny_eh]

I bought a PSVR, arguably the least impressive of the bunch, but was still blown away. It was really neat. But I didn't touch it after a couple weeks. It was too annoying to put on, take off, clean, store, etc. So I sold it, and don't miss it at all.

[som33]

It's because the internet has given control of software to companies. Pre 2005 the only control game companies had over software was a few PC RPG's that had been rebranded mmo. In an internet enabled world, every game can be made client-server and have in game stores.

The internet is what ruined gaming because it gave corporations and developers too much power and control of the software and the ability to deny ownership, dedicated servers to their customers.

[schnevets]

I noticed this while searching for quality mobile games to help pass the time in quarantine. "Always on" completely changes the gaming medium since that constant relationship between developer and player means the product should never "end".

I don't like to think of new technology as "ruining" something, but maybe art is the one exception. After all filmmakers stubbornly stuck with 24 fps even when frame rates improved.

[otabdeveloper4]

> In comparison, today's gaming industry is fragmented beyond all recognition.

Not really. The gaming industry today is free-to-play MOBA games for Android and iOS.

Anything else is legacy that only keeps existing due to nostalgia of the 25+ crowd.

Granted, this crowd is the largest and the one with the most disposable income here in 2020, but it's obvious that going forward it will quickly wither and disappear.

[msh]

The Nintendo switch seems popular among kids and lots of teens on consoles + steam.

[krustyburger]

I don’t think Nintendo has developed those issues, except for (arguably) overplayed IP.