There is a lot about gaming that keeps getting better and better with each year. Graphics keep improving, playing games together now has fewer obstacles than ever, and the surrounding infrastructure and player involvement has grown to unprecedented levels. On the other hand, there are things which frustrate us about the current direction of video games, issues which have only been growing since the last generation.
Back in the day – a dated expression, we know but one still accurate – the majority of cheats, bonuses and unlocks could be found within the games themselves. Whether through accomplishments or simple button-combinations, the huge range of crazy opportunities on offer used to boggle our small minds.
“5 Things Resident Evil 2’s Remake Has To” (CC BY 2.0) by BagoGames
From turning on blood in Mortal Kombat games in releases where it was supposed to be censored, to unlocking a huge quantity of lives with the Konami Code, summoning a car to join the battle in Age of Empires, or unlocking the ability to play through Resident Evil 2 as a hunk of tofu, these used be standard in so many experiences. Since then, however, unlocks in these games have tended towards the more predictable and bland.
Sure, there still some which can’t help but make us smile, like the retro cell-shaded Spider Suit in PS4’s recent Spider-Man, but the most obvious, especially when it comes to cheats, appear to have fallen to the wayside. What used to be free, usually in terms of experience and progress boosters, are increasingly falling victim to the games as service model, locked behind microtransactions.
What’s even stranger is that only traditional video games seem to be getting stingier when it comes to these types of bonuses. Online casino games, for example, have also seen some considerable evolution over the last few years, and yet their bonus systems go in the opposite direction, commonly offering things such as 80 free spins or considerable free credit when signing up. This is directly relatable to things like free premium currency when it comes to traditional video games, yet the online casino industry even in this directly relatable area is actually generous.
Part of this unquestionably comes down to the ballooning costs of traditional video game development over the last couple of generations. Making your game the biggest and best looking around will costs many millions of dollars after all, and developers and producers have to recuperate this cost somehow. Should traditional gameplay elements end up locked behind this though, held ransom for decisions that the players never chose to make? We don’t think so.
“Tagged!” (CC BY 2.0) by JD Hancock
At least, as we can see with the backlash to recent poorly received efforts like EA’s mess with Battlefront 2, industry leaders are starting to get some hint that customers aren’t some infinite resource from which they can draw. Besides, the current indie market is bigger than ever before, even making major strides on consoles like the Switch. If the big boys aren’t going to help us, then we are quite capable of turning to those who will.
