Oh yeah? Then why do we get less and less for the same price or even a higher price while we live in a throwaway society where people prefer quantity over quality?
The prices increases and the content is getting smaller, no matter what. This is caused by so many factors, packaging getting smaller for the same or even higher prices.
So, if my way of thinking creates what you say, then why is this happening right now while most people choose quantity over quality?
But I think we should leave this discussion for what it is. I choose rather quality over quantity.
Hey,
I think it's not like that at all - players want quality, but there are more factors.
To quote Judy:
"People buy shit not because they are lazy, but because they are poor."
I believe that's one of the possible views.
I think that the lifecycle of a game, and why it may become (feel) smaller and more expensive is like this:
- a small company with a small dedicated team makes a small game
- it's a big success, they get a lot of money
- management decides to grow bigger, add new content like patches, DLCs,... - support the game in the long run
- some devs leave because they are tired or don't see a value in that
- the company hires new people, grows bigger, the initial idea gets partially lost or changed
- players are unhappy with the changes (they aren't happy with any changes), call it a drop in quality and not worth their money
So, some games grow much greater technically (more players, more (multiplayer) features, better graphics, better performance,...), but don't survive well in other aspects - on the dev side (switch of too many developers, change of vision,..) or player side (change of HW/SW, cultural change, expectations based on other games,...)
I think that's pretty much the case for like:
- Starcraft 2 (bad balance, not enough interesting content)
- Assassin's Creed (devs may still find it cool, milked to eternity)
- Hearthstone (uninspired, bad balance, milked to eternity),
- WoW (devs may still find it cool, uninspired, milked to eternity),
- LoL (uninspired, bad balance, milked to eternity)
So, I don't think it's 100% about capitalism, greed, inflation, etc...
As mentioned, e.g.: big AAA RPGs are too expensive and so need to succeed, otherwise it's a big problem - that's why I believe Ubisoft continues with Assassin's Creed - because it has its loyal player base, it generates money they need to survive, and new players come in for the modern features like customization, PoIs, cool explosive projectiles, new stealth mechanics, etc...
I think that devs want to make great games, but there are many BUTs in the way, including new colleagues who eat their lunches