There is a lot of doom and gloom in the gaming industry. Which is a shame. The video game industry is my favorite. I love all forms of games, carts, disc, digital. Games are awesome. However, with every decision Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo make, the optimism just gets sucked out of the air. It didn’t used to be that way. Even with regards to digital, us physical gamers used to be excited. Here’s 5 things that used to seem exciting.

#1 Patches

Then: It is crazy to think about patches being a plus these days. Now a days, day one downloads are the bane of gamers. There’s nothing worse than getting home, popping in your new game, and then needing a day 1 update that eats away the rest of your night. These days, I actively look for games that don’t need updates.

However, updates used to be blessings. I’ll use Turok: Rage Wars as an example. Turok: Rage Wars was a First Person Shooter on the N64. It had a game breaking glitch that prevented players from beating the game. What was the solution? Players had to mail away their black cart copy with the bug in order to get a gray cart with the patch. Of course, this wasn’t the first game to feature progress stopping glitches, nor would it be the last.

With consoles gaining internet capabilities, mailing your game away became obsolete. Now companies could just push an update through to fix glitches. Obviously, this was viewed as an improvement. As a physical collector, I appreciate the history of those pre-internet processes. Both versions of those games exist. That’s pretty cool. But I’m glad I don’t have to mail my games away.

Now: Don’t get me wrong. Updates are still great. However, they have led to bad things. A. Eventually, when consoles or servers or etc go down, you won’t be able to access those updates and your game will be the same as those N64 carts- unfixable. B. Lazy developers. Like I said, there were shameless cash grabs, sloppy code, and bad programmers as long as games have existed. But as money as flown into the industy and shareholders pressure companies on meeting deadlines, games release as buggy unplayable messes or even just needing silly updates all the time.

Mouse: P.I. for Hire made news last week for needing an update that added the ability to replay levels. Seriously guys? Why not just include that in the base game?

One way people are circumventing this is waiting for game of the year editions. Cyberpunk 2077 was a game that was infamously rushed out and hated upon release. It took awhile, but CD Projekt Red didn’t abandon it. They patched it and fixed it. If you’re like me, you don’t want a game that needs update after update. I’m just going to grab Cyberpunk 2077: The Ultimate Edition that includes all the patches on the disc.

Patches as a concept is still great. So many games have been saved by patches. And so many old games could have benefited from it. I just wish more games would be shipped out finished and not use day 1 patches as excuses.

#2 Indie Games

Then: I still have to say patches were the most exciting part of the internet future, but Indies might be the best part of it.  The barrier of entry for indie companies was too great for small studios to enter the ring. Most indie companies didn’t have the resources to compete, nor could they produce at the rate publishers wanted them to. As a result before the digital era of consoles, indie games were way less plentiful.

Now, getting to bypass the physical distribution chain meant indie studios could actually bring their games to life. So many physical collectors swear to never buy digital, but even the most hardcore collectors will make exceptions for indie companies. That’s because were gamers. We love gaming.

Indie got a huge boost in players as corporate greed infiltrated gaming. Microtransactions, FPS Slop, and dying genres, turned off a vast number of gamers. A lot of us found refuge in indie games. I know for me personally 3D Platformers had all but shriveled up post 2010. However, around 2017, 3D Platformers experienced a revival. A Hat in Time, Yooka Laylee, Skylar and Plux and so many more games revived my favorite genre.

Now: Honestly, it is hard to say indies are bad now compared to the other aspects we deal with now. I love that anybody can make a game. However, anybody can make a game. Indie suffers from some the same problems as AAA games like quality control and chasing trends. Remember those are the same problems that led to the video game crash of the 80s. In general, we are a lot smarter and more aware of the medium than we were in the 80s. Untimely, I’m happy with indies.

#3 Demos

Then: If you’re like me, demos meant trying a game at your friend’s house. And for the generation before me, it was renting carts at Blockbuster.

Xbox had a bunch of demo discs back in the day which was very cool. I dont remember demos for other consoles. But I did play Banjo Kazooie at a McDonalds once. Of course Kiosks were set up at places like Walmart where gamers could test games. This led to some really cool Not For Resale N64 carts.

Now: Honestly, demos kind of missed me. I played a couple during the 360 era, but not too many. Now a days, I see demos praised. Game prices are increasing with potentially no end in sight. Microtransactions, battle passes, and DLCs mean companies are taking you for every penny. Its kind of nice demos allow players to play some games to some extent for free. And they offer a great Try-Before-You-Buy model. No complaints for demos.

#4 DLCs

Then: Call me a summer child living in a fairy tale, but I thought DLC was awesome when it came out. You want more Ratchet and Clank? Here give us $50 bucks for a sequel. Or even worse, maybe your favorite game never got a sequel.

Yeah, those fears were allieviated with DLC, or Downloadable Content for long. If youre like me, there’s just some games you never want to end. DLC made those wants feel like a reality.

Some of the earliest ones I remember were Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Shivering Isles. I would walk by their Game of the Year editions with all the DLCs on them and just dream about exploring new missions, modes, weapons, etc etc in these worlds we’ve come to love.

DLC, to me at least, was a great way to breathe life into your favorite games. They gave you a reason to return to these worlds. In the moment, DLC was definitely my favorite part of the digital future.

Now: I remember being obsessed with Buoshock Infinite to the point that buying the Season Pass wasn’t even a question. But backlash for DLC was already being to form. Season Pass brought about two major concerns A. Games were being developed with DLC in mind. They were intentionally holding back content so they could charge you $10 or $20 more. It became a philosophical shift in the system. It became the expectation. It became the standard. B. Season passes were ordered sometimes before trailers and announcements were made. You just had to trust you were going to want and like it.

Over time, I stopped getting excited for DLC. I learned to just wait for Game of the Year editions. Which, too be fair, buying 360 game rereleases with all the bonus content on the disc felt some of the best value in gaming. But yeah, at some point, I realized DLC had lost its charm. Now it was just an excuse to take more money from me or release unfinished games for the sake of downloaded content.

#5 Convenience

Then: Downloads were a game changer. Long gone were the days of standing out in a line, risking human interaction, to get a game day one. Now you can just download that sucker from the convenience of your home. Yeah, there’s just no getting around this one. The convenience of being able to download all the above points was just to big to ignore. No cases cluttering your shelves [seriously, who would want to physically own their stuff…], no more wasting gas driving down to the local shop.  At least, that’s how it seemed.

Now: I won’t lie. It is still convenient. But digital downloads are no longer the be all end all they were made out to be. I can’t speak for everyone, but I literally downloaded Sims 4 on my Xbox One. I was excited to play it with my wife as its one of her favorite games. Well, after an hour of waiting for the download to finish, we gave up and went to play and just played it the next night.

Sure it was convenient to not have to leave the house, or hop on Amazon, or whatever, but the fact is simple. Internet around the world is not universal. Where I live, I dread the days of 200+ GB downloads. I know consoles have started allowing 48 hour pre order downloads. Maybe this will remedy future problems. But games are getting so big, who knows.

So there you have it. Around the 360 era, a digital future seemed exciting. We looked to how this was going to change gaming with starry eyes. But corporate greed and lazy studios have really defiled all these things to where that future looks unrecognizable. Good things obviously came from it like demos and indie games. But seeing how companies have butchered DLCs and patches just steals the joy of buying new games.

Let me know how you felt about the changing landscape of gaming during this time. How do you feel about the all digital future? Let me know down below.

Thank you for reading and have a great day.