Flood of Trends

After deciding not to watch The Game Awards last year I took time to sit down and give Keighley’s Summer Game Fest a chance. What followed was a slow descent into despair as I watched a lot of similar looking games showing flashy trailers and action packed scenes that felt soulless. A Game of Thrones RTS was announced with a big cinematic that showed nothing of how the game would actually play. There was an announcement of an arena shooter with an interesting portal concept, but had this been anything else it might’ve felt like it had a chance in the current market. Multiplayer shooters are a dime a dozen and the big heavy hitters are still here, holding on to their audience with an iron grip. No one will move to your multiplayer shooter unless there is something wildly unique about it. The concept with the portals doesn’t seem enough.

A small few actually looked very interesting and I’d say were the breakaway standouts of the showcase. One of them is Mina the Hollower. Created by Yacht Club games, of Shovel Knight fame, the game gives the same classic vibes the studio is known for. Another standout was MIO: Memories In Orbit. A game in the “metroidvania” subgenre of platformers has an eye-catching design and storyline. Another game worth mentioning, though not of my particular interest, was a muppets boxing game that looked exceptionally realistic, if the trailer is to be believed.

To keep this short, many of the games shown fall into either shooters or the “soulslike” subgenre that has become popular. Once they hit the market, and inevitably flop, we will end up seeing layoffs due to the inability of executives to see past the trends. Sadly, it’s likely that this is the nature of an oversaturated market. Much like in marketing there are clear leaders in the industry and those who only follow. The followers often target the leaders directly.