Gaming’s Future Lies In Repetition

This afternoon I came across the newest issue of Game Informer. Inside they had a run-down of what they believed were the 50 best titles shown off at this year’s E3 convention. It was packed full of the industry’s best and brightest. But while reading the article, I noticed a rather disturbing pattern. Of the top 20 games shown off, 18 of them are either spin-offs or sequels to popular games. Hell, the entire list only has 14 games that are new properties (including a new the Star Trek game and new Spider Man title.)

I knew that sequels and spin-offs have been plaguing the industry for years, but never like this. I’m not denying that Bioshock Infinite, Batman: Arkham City, and Battlefield 3 look like great games. The titles are very exciting. It’s just…why do these have to be sequels? Is this where the future of gaming lies; dragging out the same characters, environments, and gameplay year after year, with only a few changes made to try and add some variety?

I wanted to see what was in store for videogames in the future (spurred on by our Weekly Nuke topic) so I decided to try out a new “journalistic tool” I kind of made. Think of it as a device that propels the user forward in time, a machine used to take someone to future events. Yes, I may have gotten the design from Calvin and Hobbes, and I may have been drunk while using it, but the results I got from it cannot lie. Ladies and gents, I have seen the future of gaming, and, yes, it does lie in sequels and spin-offs.

In the future, the most popular games will all come from the same franchise. Specifically, the Desmond Steele series. Oh, right, the first DS game won’t come out for a few years, so I have time to prepare you.

Desmond Steele is everything you could want in a generic videogame hero; five-o-clock shadow covering a square jaw, vaguely Great Britain-esque accent, grizzled demeanor, quick wit, and a body that would make the female of any species melt. Think Bond-era Sean Connery waking up from a week-long drinking binge.

His first title, out on the PS4, will be Desperation, a gritty crime drama set in space. Basically Mass Effect and LA Noire had a mentally challenged baby. Good, but not great, it gets critically panned, but the fans fall in love with it. It does huge in sales backed by a campaign that includes various TV commercials, a two-hour development special on G4, a limited time only Jones Soda flavor, and the blessings of Jimmy Fallon.

As the years go on, Desperation keeps getting sequels. The public can do nothing but eat it up. This leads most major game devs to decide to make their own games starring Desmond Steele. Square Enix makes an RPG starring Steele set in a mystical world consumed by darkness. PopCap makes a jovial puzzle game where you control Steele, who has to push colored boxes around until he can make a path to give a cake to his girlfriend Cassandra. And these titles still find ways to make money.

Soon, you can’t find a triple-A title that doesn’t have Steele in it: beat-em-ups, 8-bit side-scrolling shooters, racing sims, more FPSs than necessary, a Super Smash Bros.-like fighting title, a Zynga game for Google+. The industry is flooded with these games. Hell, even E3 has nothing but Desmond Steele games. Smaller developers come out with amazing, mind-blowing titles that only a few people even see, let alone play, due to the Desmond Steele brand taking over everything. I would like to tell you what happens after that…but I think you people should be spared of such gruesome details.

There’s still hope left for those not in the majority, who like the Super Meat Boys and Octodads that get released. The games trying to make sure their sequels aren’t boilerplate remakes of older ideas, like Bioshock Infinite, are also a big step forward.

I have presented you my findings from the future of gaming. Whether the future I’ve shared with you is guaranteed or not, I think we all need to take some time and appreciate the little games that deserve your attention. Soon enough, they may be all that we have left to remember of a once-great industry.