Do KU students still trust video game developers to develop new and engaging concepts?

Nobody can deny that we are living in the golden age of video game production. During the first pandemic, the revenues of the games industry were larger than both the film and music industries. 

With the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, there has been discussion in the gaming community as to whether the market is over-saturated and whether video game developers are still coming up with new and engaging concepts. 

Lexi Cooper, an illustration student said: “I think because there are more developers there is more competition to be different or do better.

“For example, there are so many one-person shooter games, each one tries to do better in some way and be different, art styles changing and there’s more variety in the market to fit different tastes, so I think it improves my faith in developers.”  

According to SteamSpy, 251 games are released each month. However, the gaming industry has suffered from a lack of originality because of remakes, remasters, and repetitive games. 

Uddham Singh, Forensic Science student said: “Some video game companies drop games that shouldn’t be released because they are not ready to be released. They charge a high amount for video games and how undeveloped some of them are.

“For example, Ubisoft is a big one. They let us down with Assassin’s Creed. I think after Brotherhood every other game has been horrendous.” 

Small evolutions of proven successful game formulas have always made a profit. This can be seen with the most popular first-person shooter franchise of all time, Call of Duty, which has a total of 36 titles.

Younes Nahar, Sport Science and Coaching student said: “When a new game comes out you’re excited and feel good about yourself. But if they just remake an old game and with a few new features, I’m not going to be as enthusiastic.

“Call of Duty is the perfect example. They could have had one really good game but the newer releases are not as good as the previous one.

“What’s the point of me buying the new ones if it’s not going to get any better?”

The digitisation of games has opened up a whole new world full of endless possibilities. But in turn, this has allowed for remakes with only slight alterations to appear on the market.