GTA 5 Will Not Matter in 100 Years: How Long Can Video Games Matter?

Analyzing the historical importance of a mostly disposable

[porkChop]

A lot of things won't matter in 100 years, not just games.

[b163o1]

Yea, mainly cause 97% of us will be 6ft under......if the zombie apocalypse doesn't occur.

[XB1_PS4]

The only way I could see this game mattering in 100 years is if someone blows something big up, and claims it was because of this game. lol

[PopRocks359]

I'd have argued it's because Rockstar will have made some new GTA installments by then.

[Thatlalala]

Gta 25 will be out. Who will care about number 5?

[ATi_Elite]

Seems like I have been waiting 100 years for Half Life 3!

[Beastforlifenoob]

3 digits in 100, Half Life 3 conformid!!!

[WeAreLegion]

Yes, it will.

[TheGrimOfDeath]

Not sure if sarcasm or if you're actually serious.

[WeAreLegion]

I'm serious.

Many books made hundreds of years ago still matter, even if they weren't necessarily trying to say something. Entertainment is entertainment. GTA V will still matter in 100 years.

[dredgewalker]

@legion
Should it matter if it doesn't matter after a hundred years? I'm much more concerned on how much things have changed after all that time. The only thing that I can hope for is that there'll be a scientific breakthrough in life extension during our lifetime so that we can share our knowledge and experience to future gamers :)

[CheexInk]

@WeAreLegion

Books are remembered for their cultural/historical qualities or for the profundity it may have contained. GTAV isn't shaping up to have either of those. It's a great game, but it's just one of many great games that are significant for the short time that they are the best. It will stop being significant once a new GTA game that does everything GTAV did and more releases.

[H0RSE]

For games to be remember many years later, they have to have accomplished something great - like changed the genre, introduced new tech or shifted the industry as a whole. GTA V, although hugely popular and really well-made, doesn't do this. If anything GTA III would be a candidate.

Games like DOOM, Halo, Mario 64, WoW, Street Fighter II, The Sims, and Half Life, all come to mind. If not remembered, these are at least games that really changed gaming.

[slapsta72]

nor will this article :)

[Yep]

How can you be butthurt by this headline?

[MattyG]

Nobody was claiming that it would.

[Hayabusa 117]

Ditto for video games.

[MattyG]

@Hayabusa Actually, many people do have debates about how long video games will last. Most people fall on the same side as this article, but it's a debate nonetheless. Maybe nobody claims they'll last for 100 years, but there are questions about how long they'll last.

[SnakeCQC]

Im putting my steam account in my will so it may matter!

[seanpitt23]

I will not be here so it dosnt matter.

[Ares84HU]

Not that it matters but I still play PS1 games. Even SNES or Neo Geo games sometimes. Mostly for nostalgia but I really enjoy playing them.

So maybe it won't matter in a 100 years but people could still be playing it in the next 20 years or so. Isn't that enough?

[TheEnigma313]

99.9% of the would will be dead in 100 years, so I don't think any of us would care. GTA 5 is already an instant classic and will remain that way for a while.

[GdaTyler]

What about newborn babies? :p

lol just a joke. ^_^

[TheEnigma313]

I don't think many of them will be a live 100 years from today.

[Boody-Bandit]

None of us will be here in 100 years.
Most things as we know it wont matter in a 100 years.
Hell the planet might not be here in a 100 years.

Seriously, who cares?

We are on the dawn of a new generation of gaming and this is what IGN writes about. SMH

[MattyG]

Did you even read beyond the headline? It's less about the fact that no one will remember them, more about the fact that compared to other mediums, video games have a very short shelf life. Books will last for hundreds of years, video games become irrelevant in decades, maybe even less.

And they post stuff about next-gen all the time, I think its ok to give that topic a rest at some point.

[WeAreLegion]

I read that, but it makes no sense. Tetris is not irrelevant. Pong is not irrelevant. People play these games every single day.

[HighResHero]

There are thousands of books from hundreds of years ago that most of us have never heard of. It's only the very best, most popular, etc. that remain widely recognized.

It is presumptuous to assume that Video Games haven't or wont be created with timeless qualities that will be appreciated for many decades or more.

It is also possible that games will be created that wont be appreciated until after their time.
That being said if interactive entertainment in the form of "video games" is still around in over 100 years, they'll probably be quit a bit different given the way things are going.

One more thing to note. With advances in knowledge, lifestyle, technology, etc. some of us might very well be gaming in a hundred years time.

[MattyG]

@Highreshero I don't think the article is saying that the medium won't matter in a hundred years, but that the games that are popular now really probably won't be remembered. I think that's what you were saying, but I'm not sure.
In any case, yes, I'm sure some of the games will be remembered, but the majority of them won't.

[TheEnigma313]

I wonder how thing will be in 100 years. Technology is going to be sick. There's no telling how video games will be played by then.

Sorry I know I'm off topic.

[metalgod88]

The title of this article was oddly written, but that's beside the point. Honestly, I don't think the game itself will matter, but rather the things the game did well will. Other devs are going to want to try the same things Rockstar and Take Two did to make their game even better.

Who knows, maybe Ubisoft saw something GTA V did that was so awesome they needed to put it in their game too. =P

[scorpiosfinest]

You won't be around or matter in a 100 years so who cares????

[Benjaminkno]

I mean... Pong still matters and that was what?... over 40 years ago???

[Tzuno]

Matters until the generations that grew with those awesome games die. I am glad i witnessed the evolution of gaming since Atari. It was a great ride until now especially until PS2 time. Who knows what future holds.

[dcj0524]

Books have been around for what? 3-4 THOUSAND years? Movies been around for 100-120. Games? In its most basic basic form 1950 when a guy played pong on a comouter the size of your local McDonald's. Games as we know it right now started in the mid 70s. We haven't seen the best games yet just like the people of the 20s haven't seen the best movies yet. Give it some time. I guarantee you in 2114 people will still remember Pong, Pac-Man and The first Full VR game ( when-ever that comes). They'll remember GTA 3 as the most basic form of open world games, Wolfenstein 3D for the first Shooter and Quake for the first fully 3D CG.We have NO idea what gaming be like in 2113. Hell we barley know what'll be like in 2030. I mean if you played pong or Pac-Man when it first came out could even imagine a game like infamous or Battlefield? In 1990 those games were impossible. In 2013 they are. You catch my drift.
-End Rant

[Tdmd]

Nor will Fight Club. Still is a great movie/book though. What was your point again? Tsc... stupid article...

[brewin]

This is why games like Mario, Zelda, and other long lasting franchises are important. These are what gaming will be remembered for. Mario exists in more mediums than just games. But the article is kind of pointless because how much stuff is really "remembered" after 100 years? Lots of things, including games, will be remembered because things are so well documented these days. This wasn't afforded to many things from the past. Pointless article really.