what's happening to the gaming industry

In my New Year's

article

with the results about video games, I said that 2023 was the best year in the history of computer games. In the article you could read a short review: 8 games that, in my subjective opinion, were the best of 2023. But in 2023, a little more than 8 games were released. More precisely, more than 14 thousand games were released, according to data from Steam, that is, almost 50 new games per day.

Even if I really wanted to, I couldn't physically play all of these games, let alone beat them. Not only will not a single person, but not even a single gaming site be able to keep up with so many games. Even the biggest sites in the industry can't afford an editorial team that can play 50 games a day to find and write about the ones that deserve attention. In reality, this is not even a tenth of the games. And not least because of these 50 games, 49 will turn out to be complete slag.

Compared to 2022, 2023 saw 2,000 more games released, and a whopping 5,000 more games than five years ago. There is no reason to assume that this growth will decrease in the near future. And games continue to be developed. As of early March 2024 alone, 3,300 games have already been released. This suggests that there will be at least as many games in 2024 as in 2023, if not more.

In this article, I want to talk about the great opportunity for independent AA games and indie developers to get ahead of big-budget AAA games, and about the scandal with a narrative consulting company.

❯ Diamond in a pile of trash

On the one hand, Steam represents a good opportunity for any developer who is willing to pay the $100 entry fee to release their game on the platform with virtually no restrictions. However, on the other hand, this is a problem for 99% of releases that have no chance of attracting attention, regardless of their quality. This problem could be solved by manually curating the platform, something Valve never intended to do.

To find a list of all new releases on Steam, you need to surf three web pages. Go to the Steam website. Click “New and Interesting” at the top of the site, select “New” in the middle of the left list, and a new page will open. Scroll down to find “Popular New Products.” Next to the section there is a “New Items” tab, click on it and you are almost there. Now click “All New” in the small blue box in the top right corner of this list. Only then will you truly see an unfiltered list of everything that has come out recently.

But you'll want to filter it because it now contains everything in all languages, including DLC and non-game apps. Most of them will be amateurish lame games, pornography, or just weird crap that you paid $100 to release and no one will ever see, let alone buy.

Logically, this is where algorithms should come into play to help identify worthwhile games, but based on the experience of hundreds of indie developers over the years, algorithms don't work. Of course, sometimes they work if there is enough buzz around a previously unknown game thanks to a viral trailer, a successful pre-release on Discord, or a popular YouTuber who made a video about the game, as was the case with conditional

Undertale

Among Us

And

Stardew Valley

There is no built-in mechanism for unknown but worthwhile games without any luck to get noticed in this rushing waterfall of releases. To promote your game, you need to hire a PR person who will tell streamers or gaming sites about the game. Valve, with its big money, could easily hire enough people to review the released games and identify the ones that are worthy of gamers' attention. Maybe someday they will do that. May be. Or maybe not.

❯ Your own niche

There are so many games being developed today that you can find any game about anything. For every taste and color. Think of any meme, and you can be sure that there is already a game about it.

How can indie developers and small-budget publishers thrive in such a crowded and unstable commercial environment? Instead of spending $200 million on promotion like big studios, indie developers should focus on the needs of gamers. Games that have nothing special, created without targeting the needs of different groups of gamers, risk going unnoticed. At the same time, games made for specific interests of different groups are a real chance for developers to attract attention. Indie video games of all sizes can find and build an audience, and can compete in the same markets as their AAA counterparts.

But you shouldn’t delay development too much. While you postpone the release, most likely, your idea will already be implemented. The story of Eric Barone single-handedly developing Stardew Valley in his basement for four years before it became an international sensation is no longer possible.

Over 50% of all Steam games never earn more than $1,000. More than 70% of all games released in recent years can be attributed to

hobby projects

, not supported by any video game publisher. Most games don't generate enough revenue to be sustainable. Even getting into the top 10% does not guarantee that the developer will be able to finance its activities only through its projects.

But indie games are the most fertile ground for experimentation in game development. While AAA developers can push game technology forward, their dependence on large investment corporations demanding return on investment does not always create an environment where experimentation is valued. It's like the difference between watching a Disney movie and an independent movie. A24: The first one may be more polished in terms of graphics, but the other may be more story-driven, interesting and atmospheric. From a design perspective, indie games have more freedom to make bold decisions. For example, the new Assassin's Creed game boasts cool visuals and spectacular combat mechanics, but it doesn't have the unique design and story of a tactical first-person shooter. Cruelty Squad from Consumer Softproducts.

Players want what indie games offer them: new experiences, boundary-pushing art, compelling storytelling that makes you think and reimagine the world. And AAA games from major studios can no longer fully satisfy such demands. In principle, everyone guessed the reasons for the “weakness” of AAA game developers. But recently this cause has acquired a face and a name.

❯ Sweet Baby Inc.

It's no secret that companies, studios and development teams are encouraged to participate in promoting the “agenda”. After all, this is a great way to get benefits and finance from large investment companies such as

BlackRock

And

Vanguard

, the two largest in the United States. They review the ESG data of the company and their products and determine whether it meets the standards.

All major studios make games relying solely on investment corporations. CFOs are looking for so-called “cheap money” that can be obtained through ESG investing in the form of various grants and tax deductions. For example, an investment company signs a contract with a developer, and now that developer must hire a director

DEI

(Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) and consulting firms for gender balance. This is where Sweet Baby Inc and hundreds of other consulting firms come into the picture.

ESG stands for environmental, social and corporate governance, a metric that corporations use to evaluate other companies with which to do business. Achieving a higher score on this spectrum opens up more opportunities for said developers, thereby creating a greater financial incentive. The more risk a development studio takes, the less likely BlackRock will be willing to invest.

CEO of BlackRock Lawrence Fink has said in the past that BlackRock will “enforce behavior” regarding diversity inclusion efforts, threatening to cut funding and compensation if partners don't meet certain quotas or metrics.

Sweet Baby Inc.according to their website, is a narrative consulting studio based in Montreal whose mission is “telling better, more empathetic stories while diversifying and enriching video games” Their goal is to “improve” games by championing diversity and inclusion, which aligns very closely with the ESG approach. They work on everything from character arcs, character introductions, narrative direction, and more.

The range of their cooperation with the game industry varies from indie games such as Goodbye Volcano Highto AAA blockbusters such as God of War: Ragnarok, Alan Wake 2 and Spiderman 2 from Insomniac Games.

And all the problems arise in the areas where Sweet Baby Inc. helped these projects. After all, they are the ones who provide consulting advice on the development of the narrative and the depiction of cut scenes, which ultimately affects the final product.

After

conflict employees of Sweet Baby Inc with the curator of Steam, a real revolt began in the gaming community, from which large game publishers simply cannot get away. The story became louder when Elon Musk reposted a post mentioning Gamergate 2.0, which attracted the attention of even more viewers to the scandal. Such publicity may help slow down wok.

And who knows, maybe they will start making good games without a agenda?!