Gaming is a visual medium, hence graphics are naturally a huge part of the experience. Since the 1990s and the widespread adoption of 3D graphics, the race to photorealism has been well underway. You can argue that we already achieved it years ago — for some, it was in Red Dead Redemption 2; for others, maybe in Crysis or even Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

While we, as gamers, can agree that the best-looking games can work only when supported by a solid narrative, enticing gameplay, and innovative game mechanics, AAA publishers are often not on the same page. Many companies bank on photorealism alone to create hype and consequently, sales for their next big title, ignoring the other pillars of what makes a good game. This is why we're seeing multiple "next-gen" games with realistic graphics fail at the gaming box office.

5 Engaging gameplay is getting harder to find

Where did the fun go?

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that gaming has become more of a chore in recent years. Where once we longed for an extra 30 minutes to play 8-bit side-scrollers, RTS, and simulation games, finishing a game today feels like a deliverable to be completed to signify some mental achievement. Many of the most popular titles released in the last few years had franchise backing, nostalgia push, or tried-and-tested gameplay loops going for them instead of fun gameplay.

Many AAA games become repetitive soon after you're done with the first few hours — The Division 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, and No Man's Sky come to mind. That said, these titles sold really well (even No Man's Sky), but games like Concord, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Skull and Bones, and Alone in the Dark fell way short of sales expectations, prompting shutdowns and layoffs.

These last few examples had enormous budgets, franchise appeal, and nostalgia going for them. Still, they couldn't satisfy gamers due to lazy mechanics, over-reliance on live-service elements, and poor marketing. The gradual transformation of the video games business from a creativity-driven medium to one controlled by shareholder interests and corporate diktats looks like it's reached its final form.

4 Innovation in games is declining

It seems like no one's trying new things anymore

There used to be a time when almost every year, a revolutionary new game came out with a remarkable story, unheard-of gameplay mechanics, or even a whole new genre. Games like Half-Life 2, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Deus Ex, and Mass Effect set new standards in the industry, whether it was pushing the boundaries of realism, immersive gameplay, or landmark narratives.

Of late, we're seeing a flurry of sequels, remasters, and remakes flood the industry, with many turning out to be unremarkable. If it isn't yet another battle royale title, we get treated to yet another live service game. Yearly releases from franchises like FIFA, Madden, Call of Duty, and Battlefield rarely bring anything new to the table, recycling stale gameplay elements and tropes every year for another shot at your hard-earned money. They might look good, but that's far from enough.

Whatever the reasons for this state of affairs — higher development costs than ever before forcing publishers to play it safe, great ideas and games being rewarded with studio closures, or lack of player reception — we're going through a tough time in the video games industry. Outside of a handful of phenomenal titles every year keeping everything together, it has been a nothingburger of late.

3 Good narratives are the exceptions instead of the norm

What's in a story? Turns out, a lot

Storytelling has to be at the center of every game; there's no way around it. Players fill in the gaps with their imaginations even in games where a traditional narrative is absent, such as battle royale titles. A solid narrative used to be one of the primary pillars when developing a video game idea, but more and more games these days gladly skip over it in favor of next-gen visuals.

The Callisto Protocol and Anthem delivered incredible graphics, but their narratives lacked any depth or lasting impact, resulting in underwhelming commercials. Forspoken and Bright Memory: Infinite were equally praised for their realistic visuals, but the lack of a cohesive story made them meet the same fate. Similarly, Battlefield 2042, CrossfireX, and Redfall might have looked pretty but didn't bring anything new to the table.

Single-player games with compelling narratives are still huge crowd-pullers, as seen from the massive success of Elden Ring, The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, God of War, and Cyberpunk 2077. The industry needs to revive the lost focus on a good story to avoid future commercial failures.

2 Money-grubbing tactics are sucking the life out of games

We've lost a lot of what made gaming great

If the decline of strong narrative and innovative gameplay wasn't enough, modern games are also riddled with micro-transactions, overpriced expansions, and battle passes. These strategies are designed to extract as much money from gamers as possible over the lifetime of the game, irrespective of whether it damages the players' trust or the game's reputation.

Whether it's cosmetics, locked characters, more cars, additional maps, or entire game modes, paywalls have led to a culture of squeezing every last penny from the community. The whole idea behind a lot of modern games is to create a passable gameplay loop and then monetize every single aspect of the experience. The loop is often realized in the form of a grind-fest that forces players to pay to accelerate progression.

These scummy tactics are indicative of the overall direction that the larger industry is taking. Barring a few studios and publishers, video games are now money-minded businesses concerned with profits alone, and creating fulfilling experiences has fallen far down on the priority list.

1 The lopsided focus on "next-gen" visuals without optimization

If it doesn't run well, nothing else matters

The goal of creating the next "next-gen" game is commendable, but without an equal weightage on optimizing the game for a variety of hardware, it tends to fall flat. Consider the case of Cyberpunk 2077, which suffered from horrible performance on consoles and PC alike and couldn't shake the criticism off until multiple fixes years later. CD Projekt Red managed to turn things around, but it could have easily become a commercial flop had things not gone their way.

Even Gotham Knights, despite selling well on release, is rumored to have failed to meet sales expectations. The title was praised for its realistic character designs and atmospheric environments. Still, the initial reception of the game was riddled with complaints about crippled and inconsistent performance on both consoles and PC. The game was later fixed and now runs smoothly, but the initial performance debacle undoubtedly hurt its sales.

With modern GPUs relying heavily on upscaling to achieve playable framerates, developers seem to be adopting a lackadaisical approach towards optimization. This inevitably pushes a large portion of the potential player base out of reach of enjoying the game, as most gamers don't have access to high-end hardware that can brute-force the game into submission.

Will the publishers take heed and course-correct?

The overall decline in the quality of big-budget titles, colossal commercial failures and studio closures, and the ever-present success of indie games should prompt AAA publishers to improve the state of affairs. Whether that actually happens will depend on multiple variables that we can't predict at this point.

As gamers, we can be more careful with the titles we support with our money and appreciate the games that excel in writing, gameplay, and performance optimization. As the revenues flow away from titles with broken launches, stale mechanics, and generic narratives, shareholder-driven companies will automatically look toward success stories for inspiration.