Official E3 2011 Thread

[Pikminister]

I know what Hitman and Tomb Raider are.

I was saying that mostly action & shooter games have any chance these days. While other genres have had a hard time making any waves.

And I pointed out the irony of Square-Enix feeling humilliated at E3 because all they had were Western-oriented games to show at the event. They only had like one RPG game at E3. An exec from that company felt that his Japanese pride was hurt and tweeted about it.

Some S-E fans don't buy the whole theory that said company didn't have any more RPG games ready to show at E3 (They mention Kingdom Hearts) . And that the real reason behind that move, is that the industry is so focused in catering to western gamers, that Japanese makers simply lack the confidence to sell their games in this market.

Also, a report just came out today that proves that action and shooters are the dominant genres this generation. So that's bad news for game companies that deal with different genres that have nothing or little to do with shooters and action games.

[Dracarys]

'Action game' is such a broad term, can lump so many games into it.

[Pikminister]

Yep. That's how ESA's recent report handles genres.

According to that report, the best selling genres are action games (they represent 21.7%) , followed by Sports games (16.3%) and Shooters (15.9%)

[Member_of_STARS]

Well you see, I think you're bundling together traditional gamers with twitch gamers. They're not the same.

I meant most genres. There are a few niche ones where the fanbase seems to be loyal to certain values and elements (RPG-s would spring up my mind, and until two years ago, I would have said RTS aswell), but when it comes to the games you've highlighted in your last post (shooters and sports games, and they take up over half of the market as 3rd perspective shooters are usually seen as action titles, for example GTA), there is little substance left and the community seems fine with it. But your analysis on who they are and who they were is dead-wrong.

The ones you're complaining about, are twitch gamers a.k.a. CoD fanatics. For them, videogaming comes down to just one type of game: CoD or anything else that smells like CoD. Thus why Activision is presently trying to cash in on those damn lemmings. Because they buy anything with the CoD title on it. (just want to make it clear here that not all CoD gamers fit this description, so please don't hate).

Those "CoD" fanatics are the kind of people who actually migrate to anything which is currently popular. They move from COD to HALO to BF to anything which is embraced by the masses at that point. And that is a new breed on the PC front. Not even closely associated with---

They first started coming into the home console arena, soon after the PC gaming market started to slow (die) down. With no game companies supporting that market, these FPS fanatics found a new home on certain consoles (especially on one that starts with an X).

PC gaming market start to slow down in 2005-2006. FPS fanatics don't switch platforms. They don't even switch games. The "fanatics" you talk about stick to their chosen game until it dies to 500 players or less, or a really good sequel comes out. PC FPS fanatics are still spread across PC titles which were developed in 2007-08 or before. Infact, during my "stay" at Resident Evil forums since 2001 (before FPS multiplayer gaming hit big on home consoles), I have never seen a migration of any person who was previously a massive FPS "nerd" to the console crowd. However, I have seen new and old console gamers embrace all the popular FPS titles. You seem to be mislead by the way games are played on PC-s and consoles. The average lifespan for an AAA grade multiplayer title on PC-s is much longer. We're talking about close or over 1000 hours spent on a game. And migration to a new game takes place only when all or most requirements have been met.

And that's why presently the FPS/shooter amd similar genres are king. While other genres (especially RPG's) are barely hanging on to life. Trying to survive in a world dominated by these new type of casuals (because that's basically what they are... cuz not all casuals are the type that play mini-games. They also play popular games like CoD).

Not because they are ex PC FPS fanatics. Hah. If you think of the target audience which is influenced by repetitive sequels and hype-based PR, you know that "fanatics" and that do not mix, for any genre, for any platform. And as time moves on, I don't think the ones who made ATVI over 2 billion dollars are casuals anymore. Because they don't buy an entertainment platform and a bunch of 50 EUR sequels to a worn out series to play it 10 hours a week or less.

Anyway, my previous point was that even those type of gamers need to support the home console/traditional gaming market. Unless they think they can get their gaming fix on an iPad or android device.

Those kind of gamers will unfortunately adapt to anything and everything. They are the least "fanatical", unless we're talking about the current big hit and where the hype is. Brand loyalty based on certain specific key elements has seized to exist, and instead has been taken over by brand loyalty to a certain cool character or a certain cool... oh wait...

You can't stay loyal to something which has no longetivity. Consider how much gaming changes over the years. Those doomsday prohets may have been a bit too sensationalist, but the trend is noticable.