A new industry report from Epyllion has broken down the video games industry's battle in the attention economy, which it is struggling with.
Etterra
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So they’re losing non-gamers who like EA sports?

@[email protected]
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42M

Crypto? Really? What data have they been looking at? I would say different people engage with these mediums for completely different reasons. Gaming being the more casual activity while crypto is for addicts.

iamthetot
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The data that they have been looking at is in the original report, linked in the article, to some great detail.

@[email protected]
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12M

I am aware attention is the currency of the internet but games do exist outside of it. Unlike crypto. Their target group may overlap to some degree but games and unregulated gambling are still different things. Even when gambling is involved in games those markets are separated from the actual game like in CS2. That’s the extreme case and you can still play that game as normal without ever opening a crate. Games do not compete with crypto unless developers desperately try to.

@[email protected]
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12M

I have a lot of attention to provide.

NachBarcelona
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52M

They’re not losing mine.

@[email protected]
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102M

That’s because most games suck.

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32M

I don’t know whether to upvote this or not. On one hand, I know plenty of great and amazing games. On the other hand, plenty of slop is being created or forced into existing games.

@[email protected]
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Not playing games, or not playing the current live service shovelware they keep pushing out?

Lots of people are realizing there were more quality games released between 1985 and 2015 than you could ever play in a lifetime. We don’t need new shit if it’s just gonna suck.

@[email protected]
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572M

There’s plenty of great new stuff too, often times even modern iterations of the retro stuff we loved, but it doesn’t get the same level of marketing, so it’s harder to find.

@[email protected]
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I am dedicating a week off just to play Slay the Spire 2 early access.

@[email protected]
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292M

You’re right, of course. Indie devs with passion are still putting out some great stuff.

My ire was much more for the AAA studios, which seem to have tossed out all the talent and vision that brought them to the top.

I mean, I was Ride or Die with Square Enix for decades, when they were different companies. After 16, I think I’m just done with new Final Fantasy games altogether. Fuck you guys, imma go play 6, 8, and 9.

Belazor
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To be honest I think Final Fantasy might be a bad example. FF16 feeling so weird and being so divisive isn’t because it’s AAA slop, it’s because they always experiment with something in each entry.

This time, they experimented with doing a dark, gritty and punishing word that had basically no levity in it. Even your home base had nothing but NPCs either being quietly depressed or LOUDLY depressed, emphasis on the loud. There was nowhere to go where you could take an emotional break from the impending end of the world. Every chapter of the story up until the very final cutscene did nothing but make the world more depressing.

Rebirth proves that they can create a world that feels massive but not empty, that they can create a gritty story without being emotionally oppressive, and that they can create a game that feels like the classics but in the modern age.

I don’t believe the source material is the only reason they made Rebirth as good as it is. Yes, they knew they couldn’t fuck this one up or else it was the end as a relevant company, but if they had truly lost their soul, they wouldn’t have been able to rise to meet that challenge.

In other words; I won’t write off new FF games unless FF16 becomes the template rather than an experiment I personally choose not to replay.

@[email protected]
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62M

I don’t play AAA games anymore (haven’t in years) but I still feel somewhat sympathetic to their plight. What has happened to them is the same thing that happened in the music industry and the film industry and a long time ago in the book publishing industry.

The marketplace is too crowded with quality stuff and so it’s extremely difficult to compete with what’s already out there. The only real answer is to take massive risks and hope you can hit a home run. Unfortunately, AAA studios just like big movie studios aren’t set up to take risks anymore. They’re set up to spend a huge amount of money on a project that’s supposed to be guaranteed to succeed. Indies can survive more easily in this space because they’re small so they can take more risks.

It’s like the dinosaurs after the asteroid impact. The big ones are dying off and the tiny ones are surviving and will eventually become birds. Or something I dunno!

@[email protected]
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32M

YES! 6 ftw

Anytime I see FF6 mentioned, I have to refer that person to view Ethra. I’m super stoked to play this game. it’s the sprite style game I’ve wanted for a while. octopath was fun but I dunno…this game looks amazing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2177510/EthrA/

@[email protected]
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172M

Hey buddy, those live service shovelware games are manufactured by Shovel-Spyware-Freemium Holdings Inc. They are returning valuable profits back to their shareholders!

And isn’t that what video games are really about anyway? Think of the shareholders.

@[email protected]
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22M

Older games are also meant to be beaten. I remember games that had reviews saying, “This game will take 40-60 hours to complete”, and that was it. You could replay it if you wanted, but it was just an experience.

The new idea is live service games. Games you can never really beat, you just grind at it forever. That or they have a bunch of add on things to make the game take a lot longer so you keep playing the same thing over and over again. I’m not saying they’re not fun, just that they lack a satisfying conclusion and variety.

@[email protected]
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312M

“Gambling and crypto” reminds me of when I was in DARE and they would refer to “drugs, alcohol, and tobacco,” and I thought “aren’t those all drugs?”

@[email protected]
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72M

I mean, at that point a lot of games are also gambling.

@[email protected]
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192M

This is shareholder bait.

rogsson
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No. We lost interest in corporate fuck heads with no ties to gaming, using any imaginable way possible to milk, manipulate and fuck their customers over. We still love games.

@[email protected]
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312M

milk, manipulate and fuck

That definitely sounds like porn /s

@[email protected]
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102M

just spent 45 on 3 new indie games. gonna play the shit out of them. also playing cash cleaner simulator and loving every minute of it.

anytime I see any AAAAAA slop on steam from companies like ea, ubisoft, activision etc…i click their game, then click ignore so I never see it on my lists again.

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62M

Those three companies are dead to me, even if they hold some IP I used to hold dear.

@[email protected]
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12M

Exactly

@[email protected]
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32M

This is simply not true

@[email protected]
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342M

Can someone explain to me how cryptocurrencies are even in this fight in the first place ? How are they grabbing and holding people’s attention ? Are they staring at the graphs all day !?

I Cast Fist
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Gambling with make believe money and lots of economy and trading “experts” telling you where to “invest” in

@[email protected]
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102M

Because the article is badly written.

It’s confusing money spend on X must equal time spent on X.

The total amount of money spend on video games has gone done but more money is now being spent on things like crypto currency. This is being claimed that it means that people are spending more time on crypto since they are spending more money there. It ignores other issues such as who is spending on what (its countries as a whole, not amlunt on average per user), gaming is more expensive, more games are being made as a live service and are flopping (Highguard anyone?), retro gaming is getting bigger (doesn’t cost a fortune), etc…

@[email protected]
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22M

Totally. Been a gamer for 30+ years, and none of the new stuff holds my interest. Also, my hardware being less than a full time mortgage, means most new games run poorly. So, old stuff it is.

GreenBottles
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52M

Yes, trading is addictive

@[email protected]
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72M

*gambling

GreenBottles
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Kind of… it can be far more structured and methodical than typical gambling

@[email protected]
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32M

People follow “rules/systems” and notice “patterns” when pulling slots too.

@[email protected]
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212M

I’m old enough to remember when games were being demonized. Don’t sound too bad now, eh?

somethingDotExe
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Me too. Pretty funny 😂

@[email protected]
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52M

Gambling/crypto is all risk, porn is risk-free reward

If people have more alluring alternatives for cheap dopamine, maybe video games can prioritize satisfying gameplay and narratives. Play has value, that’d be ok

fonix232
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porn is risk-free reward

for the watcher, sure, but for the actors?

also don’t underestimate porn addiction. people can spend thousands of dollars on such addictions.

@[email protected]
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42M

but for the actors?

Animated porn superiority.

Fluffy Kitty Cat
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Porn addiction isn’t real, it’s a Christian grooming term

@[email protected]
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You’re right, of course - I just meant in the context of why it’s competing with video games for user attention. Gambling, porn, crypto, video games : one of these things is not like the other (he says with several 1000+ hour games in his steam library)

@[email protected]
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For a the past few years, I had wondered why videogames, movies, and TV shows nowadays feel so… Bland. Meaningless. Soulless. Corporate. Like, I know they ARE corporate, but these industries have all been dominated by gigantic corporations for my entire life. What changed recently? Am I just getting old and curmudgeonly and preferring content that was made back when I was younger?

Then I was watching DoorMonster talk about some show (I could be wrong, but I think it was the video about how Arcane had a great Season 1 that was largely ruined by Season 2) where they kept joking about not accusing them of using AI to write things.

Then it clicked. The Writer’s Strike from May-September 2023. On paper, the Writer’s Guild secured restrictions on the use of AI. And I can’t point to anything specific and say “that was clearly written by AI”. But I can say that for the past few years everything put out by pretty much every company has felt very… “Meh”. Nothing new has grabbed me and said “wow I need to watch/play that”. Could be a coincidence, but I also have to wonder whether AI tools involved in writing and visuals have cost us something intangible that I can still feel.

@[email protected]
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62M

I see it as eating a sandwich mades by a loved one, vs one you find at a gas station made by some machine with fillers and packed with sugars.

one is made with love, and you can sense it. mustard in a smile on the bread, meats and crunchy lettuce layered properly.

the other is because you essentially have no choice, you know it takes like crap, is stupidly overpriced and could potentially make you sick but you need it to keep driving to get home from the work trip to see your loved one who makes the best sandwiches ever.

@[email protected]
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42M

To continue the sandwich analogy, it’s also, like…

You eat the sandwich made by your loved one, and not only is it everything you asked for, but they also threw in some good salami and a dash of balsamic vinegar that you never thought to even ask for in the first place, because they know your tastes and thought you’d like it. You now have a new favorite sandwich.

Versus the gas station sandwich, which is fine, but only just meets the bare minimum qualifications to be a sandwich. They used to load it up with cheap cuts of meat, which at least made it good value for the price, but lately they put in maybe a single slice of ham or two, a single sad piece of rubbery cheese, and condiments are all sold extra. And the price of the sandwich itself, smaller and cheaper than ever, has only gone up.

@[email protected]
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That’s being mean to gas station sandwiches, but otherwise I agree

@[email protected]
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For Hollywood, I think it’s more about the financialization. Investors don’t want to do risky productions, so we only get the decade old "IP"s rehashed for the thousandth time, rather than independent art experiments.

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I’m reading between the lines a bit here, but back when I regularly attended PAX East, one of my favorite panels to attend was the video game data panel hosted by EEDAR (now a part of Circana). The games like NBA 2K, GTA, Call of Duty, or Assassin’s Creed that can regularly break $1B in revenue are the kinds of games that may sell to people like you or me on a gaming forum, but also that they can sell to the kind of person who only plays four or fewer games per year. Since then, I imagine live service games that keep you hooked on that one game in particular have only exacerbated that figure of four or fewer games per year. That’s a huge segment of the market. And I imagine that’s the customer that the market is losing on a Friday night to TikTok or OnlyFans.

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