While I will admit, its quite the controversial topic at the end of the day, its my opinion, not yours.
For those that know me, you can say I play my fair share of video games. Not considering the collection of which I have amassed I can truthfully say I have played, possibly beaten, or at the very least quite familiar with every worth a damn game that has been released since the NES days. That being said I can easily say the video game market is at the highest point it has ever been. The industry is now recognized as being the powerhouse that it is and surpassing everyone's wildest expectations on sales and overall critical acclaim and success. It is now viewed as a form of art and entertainment rather than just wasted youth. The days of a handful of people making a game with little or no plot and simplistic gameplay and graphics has turned into mega companies working with multi-million budgets for a single title with hundreds of staff on hand.
To my point, why such games as Call of Duty and Battlefield will essentially change the industry, arguably for the worst is what I would like to discuss. The risk a company takes to make a game now days is huge, as not only do the budgets and expectations grow larger but the dependency on extreme amounts of sales grows. How many games can you say you have played lately that are relatively unheard of that turned out to be actually quite good and those that completely sucked. While I will admit the amount of horrible titles completely outweighs the good there are some gems. The issue I have with it is, because said game , which could even have good reviews and reception, doesn't sell extremely well, it could essentially be the breaking point for that company or franchise. These companies are literally shutting down simply due to inability to compete in such a saturated competition due to lack of sheer funds to advertise and a ever decreasing market of those who like such titles. Why is this? What games sell the most copies, which have the most players playing online? Shooters.
Now, I have a business mind myself and add no fault to the companies that make these games. They are juggernauts and in a sense you can view Activision and EA as the Walmart and Costco of the industry. They found what works and continues to bring in the money, so why not stick with it? No one wanted or expected to have Walmart become the giant that they are however how many of us shop there for their prices in most cases are the lowest, they have one close by or even the fact you can find just about anything there? FPS , mainly Call of Duty, are solid games. From a gamer's standpoint I try and be fair and open with the games I play, I try not to discriminate one simply because its not my forte' or my favorite genre however try and merit it for its success. I own both of the new shooters and will say each are well put together games with countless value due to replay-ability (mainly due to online) and are well worth their asking price.
What it all comes down to is this, over-saturation. These games are developed with near limitless budgets for not only creating the game but marketing. They are able to be the commercial on every channel, all throughout the day and partner with other major brands all the while becoming the most talked about gaming topic in news. Sure, one could argue they are mature rated and are for an older crowd only, but honestly, how many 12 year old's do you see online smack talking like a drunk sailor? Good job parents!
To put it into perspective, the months of October and November 2011 have had some of the biggest and best games being released. Such long awaited remakes of former game of the year titles and yet, even with their perfect scores, great reception, they don't even hold a candle to what is Call of Duty. Here is where the industry will suffer. Why would a company continue to sink years of development, millions of dollars and risk the chance of potentially losing money when they release a game (of phenomenal quality I might add) when these shooters will suck up the majority of sales? 60$ is quite the amount in today suffering economy so in most cases people can only afford one or a handful of games and when all their friends are playing or only talking about the new shooter, which do you think they will spend their money on, even if its just to be social. I'm not saying these games don't sell copies, for there are gamers that will buy their games, it comes down to the increasing cost to produce such titles. Eventually it will just come to the point that the risk vs. reward is simply not worth it. It's why these companies try and make a once single player only game into a sequel which now includes multi-player (examples being assassins creed, mass effect, dead space, bioshock , list goes on and on). It's as if they view it as "well, can't beat them so join them".
The Call of Duty model works, and again to no fault of the developers, it innovated and forever changed the way people play games. A multi-player component to where you level up, upgrade and can weigh your stats versus that of millions.... quite addicting. Knowing that you log on and will find a game.... of course. Ability to spend hours on end with no exact end to your grind to become higher level and higher ranked..... Gotcha! Reminds you of an MMORPG doesn't it? Which brings up a good comparison, when you mention PC gaming to the average consumer they can easily name one, maybe two games and usually somewhere in there is World of Warcraft or Starcraft. What would it be like to ask someone about a console and all you hear is "call of duty, battlefield and maybe mario".
Those with power simply want more power. Whats to stop Activision from charging more for their games, adding permanent monthly fees or even creating content on their own platform? Answer is, nothing, and why you ask? We will let them
Think about it, as a gamer, would you like to see your favorite franchises, video game characters, companies or even consoles to stop producing what it is you love? I don't but the 25 million + people (including myself) who bought Call of Duty will be the reason why they do.
