Is Video Gaming Dead?

This question is thrown around a lot by people who are not that enveloped in the PR Media aspect of Video Games.

And the question comes up because as a certain point in any "Gamer's" life they come to the realization during one of their gaming sessions where they realize they are no longer having fun, or rather as much fun as they used to with this game, or gaming as a whole.

Whether that’s because they have lost interest in a specific title or gaming as a whole. Maybe they not find themselves with other things in their lives that take priority so their gaming sessions no longer are the same immersive experience that the gamer is looking for.

So is Gaming Dead? Some people think so, but it depends on how you look at it honestly.

An Article written by Cyrus Sanati on Fortune.com claimed that gaming is dead as an industry.

The article does mention how “The Video Game industry is maturing - fast.” but then goes on to explain how the “Gamer” themself is a “Blessing and a curse for the industry” It continues “It is a blessing in that as they age, their pockets get deeper, so they potentially have more money to spend on their hobby… But it is also a curse, because the industry it stuck in a time warp.”

Well what does this mean exactly?

Cyrus goes on to tell us that these “Content makers, who are [aging] gamers themselves, have become lazy.... They have failed to innovate on both the hardware and content side of the business, alienating potential young consumers while angering older gamers who crave something newer than just another Call of Duty.”

Now I would have to agree with Cyrus on this. As a gamer myself I know that I am not going to be interested in something that doesn’t speak to me. And by the 5th, 6th, or even in some cases 7th iteration of a game. It is no longer speaking to me.

The “International Podcast” over on ACG had a very interest conversation on Video Game Identity on one of their episodes.They were speaking specifically of Dead rising 4 and how certain Core Gameplay Elements and Story Elements that made the first few titles such a memorable experience, are nowhere to be found. Once a game is at that point it is no longer interesting to the player. Thus the Content Creator just cannibalize their own game, and drove off the existing playerbase.

But that’s the industry side. To get a better look at how the actual Consumer market is for these games we will turn to the “Entertainment Software Association’s” “Sales, Demographic and Usage Data” about the computer and video game industry.

In their 2015 information They show 51% of U.S households own a dedicated game console. Meanwhile in 2016 they report only 48%.

So why the drop in Console Owners? We can’t say that this indicated a shift to PC gaming or that it means that they have just given up on gaming because they also indicated 63% of U.S households as having at least one person who plays video games at least 3 or more hours per week.

But the interesting statistic if that the 2016 information shows 65% of U.S households own a device used to play video games. So this could show us a shift to PC gaming or Even Mobile gaming as a primary platform.But they do show a slight drop in "Gamers" overall. Last year they indicated at least 2 "Gamers" in the U.S Game playing household, and this year that dropped down to 1.7.

Now granted this number could be skewed by the Gaming populace growing up and possible adding another household to the equation.Granted the “aging gamer” stereotype is not supported in the ESA’s information as we saw in the Fortune.com article. Between 2015 and 2016 the Average age of a gamer did not change. It remained at 35 through the year. Meanwhile Cyrus’s Fortune.com article shows the average age of a gamer as being 37 in the year 2015.

So take that with a grain of salt if you will.

But with that information how can we now look at the question, “Are video games dying?”

Well looking at games published in 2015 according to Game.Co.Uk there are over 30 NEW titles released. And that’s not including sequels or annual games either. So I would definitely say no on that front.

In Jane McGonigal’s book “Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change The World’ she explains: “The Truth is this: in today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They us bringing is together in ways that reality is not”

I agree One-Hundred percent with this statement. If you read her book she goes on to explain many more benefits of gaming, but also how to improve IRL (In Real Life). I would recommend giving it a few moments of your time.

Real benefits aside though I think Fortune.coms article sums it up quite nicely when it said. “It would be nice to see some real innovation in the core gaming product, as well as some fresh content aimed at a young subset of the population.

Any feedback on the writing of this article would be appreciated. Thank you for reading if you made it this far.

I think that I see that the authors are making some good points here. Some gamers just like COD. I personally think it's rotten to the core.

What I would say is...the Golden Age of gaming is definitely dead. The big impact games of the 90s and early 2000s, are conceivably not here to stay. But I would say I still play a good gem of a game, every month or so.

I disagree that developers are getting lazy, but I would say video games are just a reflection of the sign of the times.

If we perceive things negatively, then that's the kind of "art" we'll get. Same with positive thinking, and I firmly believe that.

i can see you've put effort into the post but can't find a single convincing argument in it to suggest video gaming is either dead or dying. it feels like a bit of a non-sequitur. a commentary on a lack of innovation from parts of the industry with the conclusion that video gaming is dead. the former does not prove the latter.

the fortune article you cite is from june 2015 and doesn't suggest gaming is dead as an industry as you claimed. and i think you've cherry picked the wrong quotation to add weight to your argument - the drop in sales it claims from $17 billion in 2010 to $15 billion in 2014 better helps suggest a decline than the quotes on lack of innovation you've used - but in no way indicates or suggests that the industry is dead or dying

Funny, people always tell me PC gaming is dead but guess what, we are seeing more and more gamers joining PC more then ever before since PS4/Xbox 360 arrival and PC gaming is the ultimate platform of gaming. I'm not bragging about PC being the best of the best but the truth is, it's all true!

Games used to be for the enthusiasts, and now they have grown into a niche, because the major crowd is made of people who had never experienced 4th or 5th generation titles, for example, and were brought in by DVD/Blu-ray and multimedia features.

Playstation used to be a synonym of Nintendo in the 90s, and they're now targeting the western audience and selling big on the US, when the Saturn used to sell more in Japan due to its games. It seems to me that Japan is now the place where gaming goes to die, in terms of broader appeal, helped by mobile games and their dedicated consoles being detached from their roots.

I wouldn't be surprised if the country where console gaming was launched to success would now go through a crisis in the same market for the US to kickstart a new wave of successful products. In other words, the Playstation would be the new Atari, and Microsoft the new SEGA, perhaps, when looking at the 80s.

One thing is sure, physical copy are almost dead where I live.

Toy's R Us is shrinking their gaming section, Best Buy almost have nothing to sell, EB games almost 90% of the surface of the store is now dedicated to collectable, table games, cloths etc than actual games and consol...

So yeah I can understand the feeling of video games dying.

Yeah, in opposite land.

Not really.

I like buying a game or two on my updated P.C. D00M on P.C. is heavenly

However, you only get the most out the platform from bigger games, if you like flickering through mods and settings for hours. That to me is the opposite of gaming. I want to spend that time playing the game, not checking a download list.

What is "the ultimate" is down to preference, and no truth comes from stating P.C. is the best. That's just fanboi BS and you should rise above that shit.

From a personal stance, other than the latest Owlboy I don't really care about my P.C. as of today.

As someone who likes things being convenient, I choose handhelds as the "ultimate" platform, followed with console platforms. And assume Switch will keep my opinion the same.

P.C. has a lot of options, but in that is also a big waste of time for those who want to get straight to the meat of gaming!

I'd state P.C. is the most customisable platform. "Best" is debatable.

As for the main thread topic, @axeontwitch I didn't read it all but seems like another excuse to state gaming is dead when its never been stronger. Not sure if this is a Bot thread though so will take it as gibberish.

Is video gaming dead? are you high or on something you would like to share with the group.

But what you are describing is not video game is dead for all, but a question most will get to in their life and growth as a human being. And that is a question only that individual can answer.

As long as there are computers we'll use them for fun. So a meaningless argument with no basis in reality...

I think true "gamers" are gone. People who call themselves "gamers" are just young people who hangout with friends in the internet. They know nothing about games, they can't accept difficult challenges, they love silly games like far cry 3, but they play games because graphics are realistic and characters move like movies.

Is video gaming dead? only when the entire videogame universe dies, At least go out with you favorite game franchise.

Pewdiepie made 12 million dollars last year by just playing video games... No, video gaming is far from dying.

I'd actually argue that video games are going through something of a renaissance at the moment.

So video games are dying because you've recently realized that you have had bad taste in games?

Cool story.

Meanwhile I'm playing fun games and discovering new types of games that I enjoy as well.

You stay in the moapy corner, i'll be having fun.

Its just rumours basically. Back and forth.

Gaming isn't dead, but deep complex immersive games are. Gaming has more people than ever playing, but that means more money to be made so corporations focus on the lowest common denominator instead of gamers which is why we went from masterpiece games like Dragon Age Origins to dumb games like Dragon Age Inquisition. Still get good ones rarely though, like Witcher 3 and the recent revival of CRPG's. MMO genre was hit the hardest because that whole genre is dead now.

Yes. Completely dead. Time to move on....

I really don't agree with the view. Personally, I feel that video gaming cannot die. It is coming up with new ideas and are becoming really interesting. I also think that once in the life everyone gets bored they just need to change the game nothing else. Long live video gaming....

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Gaming is bigger than it has ever been, especially with mobiles and social media games. It might not be your taste and it might be, that you think the quality of gameplay and innovation sank, but gaming itself is bigger than it ever was.

Everyone already said what I would've said. Videogaming is far from dead and it's never been stronger. Now it's even becoming more socially acceptable among peers.

Have you been drinking when you made this thread?

Gaming isn't dead at all. It's just that video game consoles are dying.

What are you on?

Consoles are not dying just like gaming isn't dying.

Video games are not dying. You are just getting older and losing interest.

This gen has been awesome. It is not my fault you lost the ability to enjoy games.

Not dead your just getting older. But crap ports and performance killing them on there own.

On the side of statistics and facts, in this case. What else? I have been claiming that video game consoles are getting increasingly irrelevant on this very forum for the past 10 years or so, and definately since the release of the Wii - for me, personally, that's certainly been the case. All figures that I can find back it up. I've also held the strong belief that they are actually going to go away since about the beginning of 2012. It's all happening for the reasons that I've been saying all of this time, except that I overlooked the key role that Steam, specifically, would play in shaping the future.

You're very much welcome to go ahead and try to prove your case, though!

First you claimed that consoles are dying so burden of proof is on you mate.

But to be fair i think you are one of those wishful thinkers who have a pc and think it's the best thing since the wheel and nothing can beat it.

When in fact consoles for many are the main gaming platform and sales that not only are double, triple and quadruple the sales on pc, prove that.

But you keep dreaming mate, maybe one day , maybe one day.

I am wishful for a future without video game consoles - yup! I have no intentions of hiding that. :)

You just need to check my previous posts on here and I'm sure you're going to find all the proof you need.

That is not going to happen anytime soon.

Consoles are with it´s ease of gaming and price, a lot of people's main gaming platform. Plus for developers it´s a lot easier to develop for one hardware platform then PC where there is hundreds and thousands of builds.

That´s why we pc folks get shitty console ports , the developer makes the game for consoles and then send it of to some shitty outsourced 3rd party developer who transfers that to pc.

Nope. The PC has reestablished itself as the primary target for development since years now and there are no advantages whatsoever to video game consoles anymore - all advantages without exception are gone. Poof!

with college work and a girlfriend sometimes it feels like its dying XD but then i realize whenever im home im generally walking around playing a handheld game and when im in my room ill play ps4 or PC games. I think it isn't dying but sometimes people cant play as much. there have been some really awesome games out lately too.

That is again wishful thinking from you.

You can never remove the fact that with pc there are so many builds that while you can have it working on one set of hardware, it will break on another.

Just look at Dishonored 2 and Watch Dogs 2, both games worked fine on mine, and many others systems but all you hear is people bitch and whine because on their shitty build there was problems galore.

Also not to mention the whole FPS debate which are made in hell and means absolutely nothing.

If you still are in doubt , take a look at total game sales so far this year , even Ps3 has sold more than pc.

So while it´s not inclusive or digital sales on any platform, the numbers prove that consoles are not even close to being out of the picture.

I said it's wishful thinking. That doesn't disregard the evidence in favour of it. You like kicking in open doors much?

Go ahead and share the statistics with us then. What makes your thinking anything but wishful?

Hmm, You say it's wishful thinking but also claim there is evidence to back it up. What evidence are you referring to ? the decrease in pc sales in 2016 by almost 7% ? the console game sales that as far as physical copies go , destroy the pc sales. Even an old console outsells pc.

Also how is the fact that there are huge problems with pc because of all different system builds gone? Consoles have one build which means that the developer only have to focus on that and to make it work on that. While if they solely focused on pc, had to have dozens of builds on hand and spend time on bug fixes.

But let´s see what the future brings, right now consoles are healthy and still the main gaming platform.

You were going to show evidence pointing in the opposite direction of video game consoles' increased irrelevancy/obsolescence, here (and not just say that video game consoles and games still sell - duh!):

PlayStation on PC - right here, right now: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstationnow/

Xbox on PC - right here, right now: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/windows-10

Worldwide device ownership (2014): http://media.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2014/news/dfc-worldwide-gamers.jpg

Video game console sales on a steady decline year after year (all platforms except the PS4 and Xbox One here are now dead) (2016): https://www.statista.com/statistics/276768/global-unit-sales-of-video-game-consoles/

Digital game sales are the norm on PC (so you can't compare retail sales of PC games with retail sales of console games) (2014): http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/digital-sales-make-up-92-of-global-game-revenues/034551

Video game console market back to 1990 levels in 2014 in Japan - a very important market, especially historically (2015): http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-07-japans-console-and-handheld-physical-game-sales-at-lowest-point-for-24-years

Game over for Sony in Japan (2014): http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/12/console-gaming-is-dead-in-japan.aspx

Nintendo kills off it's long running 3DS-line and also the Wii-line (2016): http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/16/nintendo-president-nx-is-not-the-successor-to-the-wii-u-nor-to-the-3ds

No PS5 is planned (2016): http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/20/shuhei-yoshida-reportedly-unsure-if-there-will-be-a-ps5

... and no PS VITA 2 either (2015): http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/27/yoshida-handheld-climate-not-healthy-playstation-vita-2

Revenue on PC is higher than on all of the video game consoles combined (2014): http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/04/28/as-global-pc-game-revenue-surpasses-consoles-how-long-should-console-makers-keep-fighting/#1e7dbed6f696

PC is the main platform, has tons of more gamers, development is easier, licensing is not an issue and video game consoles are far behind the PC, less and less relevant and will never catch up (2014): http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/console-gaming-is-dead-everything-good-is-happening-on-pc-right-now-1260344

Conflate all of these statistics, facts and arguments and the picture should become crystal clear. Any questions? Or if would you like to contest any of this - be my guest. :) I'll be happy to show you where you're mixed up.

Some nice articles there but you seem to miss it´s point. Also you have articles that are 2-3-4 years old. A lot of things change in those years. not to mention that pc sales can´t be tied directly to gaming, remember pc´s can be used for work as well.

Is pc gaming dying , of course not and neither is console gaming.

If you want to compare games as i see the one in forbes does, take GTA V , why do you think it took them so long to release it on pc? why do you think RDR is our for next-gen consoles but not for Pc? and RDR2 .

Last nail in your argument

Yes, that is without digital pc sales, but so is the console ,

And if we compare pc sales globally to console, it is key to remember that 17billion is from F2P games, meaning that while consoles only sold for 25.1 billion compared to pc´s 32 , 17 of those is from F2P, meaning pc sales are actually equal to console.

So if we look at total game sales it´s close to 100billion and will surpass that in 2017, with profits shared almost 50/50 i think it's clear that both PC and Console are very much alive and neither platform is dying and nothing seem to change that in the future.

Also as to the article "no PS5" , well probably not, but as the Pro shows, they will just upgrade the hardware and make new 4´s with fancy names.

Where are you pulling that data from? And what do the numbers represent? Last nail? What are you talking about? You are simply making up your own projections out of thin air.

What does it matter what kind of games the revenue comes from on PC? They're not counting productivity software, for sure.

Yeah, releasing upgraded variants of the same console like Sony and Microsoft are doing is not a smart move. They're challenging the whole concept of video game consoles by doing so, and quite possibly alienating early adopters of the PS4 and Xbox One respectively.

The eldest article I linked is from 2014. Rockstar are one of very, very few stubborn developers who still try to insist on console exclusivity - timed exclusivity in the case of GTA V, but that's also an old example. But it doesn't matter. The hardware is becoming irrelevant as I've shown. PC isn't dying, for sure, but video game consoles are.

Conflate all of these statistics, facts and arguments in the articles I linked and the picture should become crystal clear.

The numbers are from VGchartz, quite easy to find.

And as to the total sales

This is 2015 numbers.

And why it matters, because it matters what source the revenue it comes from, if you want to argue you need to have the facts and not just take numbers out of the blue and attempt to form an argument that has no basis. So when a lot of revenue comes from a source that has almost no expense like F2P games payable content, you could also use your numbers to argue that pc gaming is going away from single player games and all going either multiplayer or F2P , since with less expense bigger profit. Where console gaming get its sales from the games on console, meaning all games, inclusive of Single player games.

Why is releasing a upgraded version of the same console a bad move? they are not challenging anything, they are still keeping it to one hardware set, which means it keeps it easy to develop for tag. And also to be fair there are no real reason to spend millions on R&D for a new console when all it needs is a upgrade on the hardware.

It may niggle a few people mostly the younger generation set in their ways of fanhood, but most people will jump on it with joy.

Rockstar may for you be set in their ways, but they still made more sales than any other console and pc game ever did , GTA V so far is close to 65 million total sales, a huge part of that on consoles. So for me that shows sound business sense.

Gaming isn't dying, neither or consoles, or any other medium for that matter (almost half a million consoles were sold this week FYI.) The answer to the question is simple. Just follow the numbers. If billions of dollars are changing hands annually, it's not likely that an entity is dying.

No, gaming isn't dying. It seems to be doing quite well from what I can see, same with consoles as well.

@Jacanuk said:

@doubutsuteki said:

@Jacanuk said:

@doubutsuteki said:

You were going to show me evidence pointing in the opposite direction of video game consoles's increased irrelevancy/obsolescence, here:

PlayStation on PC - right here, right now: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstationnow/

Xbox on PC - right here, right now: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/windows-10

Worldwide device ownership: http://media.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2014/news/dfc-worldwide-gamers.jpg

Video game console market shrinking (all platforms except the PS4 and Xbox One here are now dead): https://www.statista.com/statistics/276768/global-unit-sales-of-video-game-consoles/

Digital game sales are the norm on PC, so you can't compare retail sales of PC games with retail sales of console games: http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/digital-sales-make-up-92-of-global-game-revenues/034551

Video game console market back to 1990 levels in 2014: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-07-japans-console-and-handheld-physical-game-sales-at-lowest-point-for-24-years

Game over for Sony in Japan (2014): http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/12/console-gaming-is-dead-in-japan.aspx

Nintendo kills off it's long running 3DS-line and also the Wii-line: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/16/nintendo-president-nx-is-not-the-successor-to-the-wii-u-nor-to-the-3ds

No PS5 is planned: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/20/shuhei-yoshida-reportedly-unsure-if-there-will-be-a-ps5

... and no PS VITA 2 either: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/27/yoshida-handheld-climate-not-healthy-playstation-vita-2

Revenue on PC is higher than all of the video game consoles combined: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/04/28/as-global-pc-game-revenue-surpasses-consoles-how-long-should-console-makers-keep-fighting/#1e7dbed6f696

PC is the main platform, development is easier, licensing is not an issue and video game consoles are far behind the PC, less and less relevant and will never catch up: http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/console-gaming-is-dead-everything-good-is-happening-on-pc-right-now-1260344

Some nice articles there but you seem to miss it´s point. Also you have articles that are 2-3-4 years old. A lot of things change in those years. not to mention that pc sales can´t be tied directly to gaming, remember pc´s can be used for work as well.

Is pc gaming dying , of course not and neither is console gaming.

If you want to compare games as i see the one in forbes does, take GTA V , why do you think it took them so long to release it on pc? why do you think RDR is our for next-gen consoles but not for Pc? and RDR2 .

Last nail in your argument

PS4	5,084,531	(+22%)	297,489,827
XOne	2,511,835	(+31%)	151,454,899
PC	557,915	(-24%)	N/A

Yes, that is without digital pc sales, but so is the console ,

And if we compare pc sales globally to console, it is key to remember that 17billion is from F2P games, meaning that while consoles only sold for 25.1 billion compared to pc´s 32 , 17 of those is from F2P, meaning pc sales are actually equal to console.

So if we look at total game sales it´s close to 100billion and will surpass that in 2017, with profits shared almost 50/50 i think it's clear that both PC and Console are very much alive and neither platform is dying and nothing seem to change that in the future.

Also as to the article "no PS5" , well probably not, but as the Pro shows, they will just upgrade the hardware and make new 4´s with fancy names.

Where are you pulling that data from? And what do the numbers represent? Last nail? What are you talking about? You are simply making up your own projections out of thin air.

What does it matter what kind of games the revenue comes from on PC? They're not counting productivity software, for sure.

Yeah, releasing upgraded variants of the same console like Sony and Microsoft are doing is not a smart move. They're challenging the whole concept of video game consoles by doing so, and quite possibly alienating early adopters of the PS4 and Xbox One respectively.

The eldest article I linked is from 2014. Rockstar are one of very, very few stubborn developers who still try to insist on console exclusivity - timed exclusivity in the case of GTA V, but that's also an old example. But it doesn't matter. The hardware is becoming irrelevant as I've shown.

The numbers are from VGchartz, quite easy to find.

And as to the total sales

This is 2015 numbers.

And why it matters, because it matters what source the revenue it comes from, if you want to argue you need to have the facts and not just take numbers out of the blue and attempt to form an argument that has no basis. So when a lot of revenue comes from a source that has almost no expense like F2P games payable content, you could also use your numbers to argue that pc gaming is going away from single player games and all going either multiplayer or F2P , since with less expense bigger profit. Where console gaming get its sales from the games on console, meaning all games, inclusive of Single player games.

Why is releasing a upgraded version of the same console a bad move? they are not challenging anything, they are still keeping it to one hardware set, which means it keeps it easy to develop for tag. And also to be fair there are no real reason to spend millions on R&D for a new console when all it needs is a upgrade on the hardware.

It may niggle a few people mostly the younger generation set in their ways of fanhood, but most people will jump on it with joy.

Rockstar may for you be set in their ways, but they still made more sales than any other console and pc game ever did , GTA V so far is close to 65 million total sales, a huge part of that on consoles. So for me that shows sound business sense.

VGChartz doesn't count digital sales, just retail. I've checked it before for GTA V, as I had a discussion earlier this year with a guy who also tried to play that GTA V sales card, which is quite irrelevant in the larger scheme of things.

Do those 2015 numbers suggest to you that video game consoles are a source of 3-4 times the revenue as PC, as you suggested just a while ago? To me it shows that the gap is only widening between PC and video game consoles in favour of PC:s.

Yeah, they're challenging the concept of video game consoles, because up until now video game consoles have always had fixed specifications. Have they not? It's true that there is no need to spend money on developing hardware. So it's no wonder that Sony and Microsoft are both making their games playable on standard PC:s instead of these new locked down shit boxes that they still expect people to still buy - but, hey, gotta keep up the illusion of the industry not crashing for the existing video game console owners out there, I guess. Most people should have no problem understanding that PC:s are the future.

GTA V is an old game by now - and has sold the bulk of it's copies on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (although is performing quite well on PC, too, for the record). You're talking about the recent past though, and not the future.

That must be why the big three are cannibalizing sales of their own platforms instead of making headway on PC:s, tablets and smartphones: https://www.statista.com/statistics/276768/global-unit-sales-of-video-game-consoles/

@doubutsuteki: Sure thing there bub. :P

Yeah, it's a sure thing as evidenced by sales data.

What are you trying to prove with that link? and if you are trying to claim that the decrease is because pc is outselling console on the game market, then you are clearly not looking at the numbers correctly.

And don't even start on smartphones , that is a whole other ballgame.

@doubutsuteki: Alrighty then. :P

What I'm trying to prove? Well how about what I just said. What else?

That link proves absolutely nothing.

But good luck on your dream that consoles are dying.