Growing Pains: Could Video Games Be Dying?

"That’s a bit of an extreme title, but that’s exactly what game designer Anna Anthropy, author of the recently released Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, is suggesting if no change is made to the direction that video games are going."

-TheGamerAccess.com

[t0mmyb0y]

I'm not even going to bother reading this. If she thinks they are dying, show me a game before Heavy Rain and Journey came out that are comparable. They are getting more personal, emotional, etc. Plus what would all us gamers do then??

[Robotronfiend]

Get out of my head! I thought the same thing.

[DeadlyFire]

Gaming business has surpassed the Number 1 entertainment industry spot which previously belonged to porn. So I don't think its dieing anytime soon.

Crippling economy has consumed a few studios and few more on their way out, but dozens more are starting up.

[vikingland1]

No they aren't dying.

[gcolley]

no more than movies

[TekoIie]

If sales of games are going up over the years then video games are far from dying. Im not even going to read the article because it doesnt deserve a hit.

Games this gen have begun rivalling movies in story and experience. Hell look at the mass effect 3 controversy, If it was a movie it would have been forgotten about already. Look at the COD vs BF3 stuff going on nearly 6 months after it started.

So basically short answer... NO.

[THC CELL]

The writer is getting old lol games will be around forever just wait at some point we will enter a state where we can play games in our sleep

[Saladfax]

The article wasn't bad, just sort of a waffling intellectual analysis of the market and its future.

A few odd assumptions are made: while yes, Netflix and other streaming services might change the *way* we absorb media like television and film, the point can't be ignored that *we're still watching*. If gaming changes to digital-based content, streaming, or even something like virtual reality, the market and the media will still exist.

Even if some people get turned off by the general lack of truly rich experience (or simply exhaust the small handful of those titles), then yes, some folks will probably stop playing games.

On the other hand, if it becomes clear that this is a product people want, then someone will fill the niche. That's just the way it works. With more and more developers making more and more games, with the rise of and confidence in top-tier indie titles, plenty of experiences, even niche ones, can be had.

Heck, indies can even get pretty big budgets if they can get a decent crowdfunding campaign going.

[Canary]

The game industry is very much dying. In its current incarnation, at least. Digital distribution and independent publishing will change the landscape of the gaming industry even more than the advent of casual gaming with the launch of the Wii and 360.

The increasing controversy over EA is very indicative of this: EA is the largest publisher, and the least likely to remain in business after the industry "dies." That's why they've gotten increasingly shameless in their money-grubbing: they know it ain't gonna last forever.

And guys, really. Try to avoid these knee-jerk responses. Just because you LIKE gaming and WANT it to be a constant in the universe does not mean it is. The gaming industry has died and been reborn twice over since the 1980s already, and is long overdue for another such resurrection.

[Cosmo811]

Guys, read the article. It's not how the title sounds. She's saying that video games MAY start dying IF they don't change their direction as, in her opinion, they are starting to become irrelevant as people become more interested in what's actually happening in the world. At least give her a chance.