[elaus]

Is this really limited to video games?

People are excited to buy new cloths, even though they're "just a slight variance on something you've already had multiple times before".

They love to try out the new hyped-up food stand, even though the hotdog will be just a slight variance on all the hotdogs they had before.

[msgodel]

Clothes wear out though. I buy the same two maroon and gray button up shirts once a year because usually the ones I bought a few years ago have holes in them by then.

Video games don't wear out, you can still play the same software you bought in 2003 today.

[tsimionescu]

Why do you assume that the millions of people who buy the new Persona or Mario Kart game are the same ones that bought the old one? It's very likely that they're fresh 12-20 somethings that were younger or otherwise just missed the old ones.

Not to mention, for Perosna in particular, each Perosna game tells a whole new story, so buying the fifth one is like going to see the fifth movie in a franchise: you know you like the style, and you want to experience a new story in this style. It's also not even a very long series - compare to Final Fantasy, for example, which will soon get its 17th main game (probably more like 25th or something if you included spinoffs).

[TeMPOraL]

> Video games don't wear out, you can still play the same software you bought in 2003 today.

The way you perceive them does, at least did back in 2023 (or 2013) and earlier.

You pick up, say, original Half Life or something from that time; story-wise it's the same game you remember, but in terms of experience, is nigh-unplayable in its original form now, because you already experienced how decades of progress in videogames look like. Not just in terms of graphics, though that is a big part, but also in terms of UI! Properly mapped controls and GUI behaviors are alone worth looking up/waiting for a remake. And/or, the Nth installment of a game in the same universe.

[msgodel]

I often play games from the 90s from before I learned to read. IMO often they're better than modern games including their own remakes.

Every good game has odd control schemes, that doesn't mean it's worn out.

[alt227]

> you already experienced how decades of progress in videogames look like

IMO the quality of games has gone greatly downhill, and when I pick up something old like Doom 3, Half Life 2, or Portal, I am staggered by how good they are in comparison to most of the unity based slop which currently passes for games.