The change in player habits also changes the gaming world

The change in player habits also changes the gaming world

By admin, Aralık 11, 2024

The change in player habits also changes the gaming world





The change in player habits also changes the gaming world




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The gaming world has entered a serious transformation process in recent years. The competitive field, which has been shaped for years through game consoles and games specific to these consoles, has suddenly become Signing up for services such as Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. In parallel, the rise of Steam and PC gaming has created a new reality in which consoles are no longer the determinant. In these days when the gaming industry is trying to adapt to this new era, a new change awaits the industry for which it is even more unprepared. Because it seems that in recent years, not only the field of competition, The user base has also changed.

While Average Game Playing Time Is Decreasing, Game Watching Time Is Increasing

Research and analysis company MIDiA Researchrecently published a remarkable report. According to this report, while the time players spend playing games decreases, The time they spend watching game-related content is increasing. According to this 17-page report, the average gamer devotes approximately 16 hours a week to this hobby. While only 7.4 hours of this time is spent playing games, the time spent watching game videos reaches 8.5 hours.

MIDiA says that they interviewed players of different age groups from different countries in the research. So young people Twitch ve YouTube The fact that they spend long periods of time on platforms such as these is not enough alone to explain this change. Of course, this is an important factor, but on the other hand, we can say that economic reasons are also quite effective in this change. Because in recent years While game prices are increasing Purchasing power (especially in AAA and AA games) is decreasing in many countries of the world. This creates a reality where players with limited means are content to follow the games they want to buy but cannot through broadcasts, trailers and gameplay videos.




The change in player habits also changes the gaming world




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Platforms such as Twitch and YouTube were until recently seen by gaming companies as advertising tools that had a positive impact on sales. However, at the point we have reached today, These broadcasts are a rival for game companies, stealing players’ time.and has turned into a potential source of income. So much so that studios have started to think about how they can bring these broadcasts in-house instead of leaving them to external platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. As a matter of fact, we started to see the first examples of this. One of the first examples of this was that Nintendo did not allow any videos about its games to be shared and limited these broadcasts to its own approved platforms. This attempt may not have been successful, but we may see similar strategies put into effect in the near future.

Increasing Gaming Costs Have Brought the Industry to the Brink

As we mentioned above, one of the most important reasons for this change is that games are becoming more and more expensive. This is directly linked to the increasing costs of making games. Speaking to Eurogamer recently eski PlayStation patronu Shawn Laydensays that the cost of making games increases exponentially with each generation. The game, which was made for 1 million on PlayStation, is made for 2 million on PS2 and 8 million on PS4. Shawn Layden says that during his last tenure at Sony, the cost of making a fully-fledged game for PS4 reached 150 million. According to Layden, this figure doubles with each generation. The cost of making a AAA game on PS5 reaches $300-350 million should be. As a matter of fact, rumors about recently released AAA games also point to similar figures.




The change in player habits also changes the gaming world




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As Layden points out, it is not possible to sustain this in the long term. Even with today’s budgets Studios are struggling to get a return on their investments. That’s why even the strongest studios fall into financial crisis when a big game they release doesn’t take off. This being the case, it is not possible to move on to the next generation and make games that cost 450-500 million dollars. Because Game prices have now reached or even exceeded their natural limits. If game prices are increased even further, this time sales figures will decrease and at the end of the day, loss will be inevitable. Layden says the gaming world must adapt to this new reality.

Shorter Games May Become Standard

At this point, one of the suggestions Layden puts forward is to make shorter games. Arguing that making 100-hour games is financially wrong The former PlayStation boss thinks it’s unreasonable to spend millions of dollars on a final level that no one will play when 50 percent of players don’t make it past half the game. The available data also supports Layden in this regard. Because many players leave these games unfinished. As a result of the change we mentioned above, the number of players who play games longer than 20 hours from start to finish is gradually decreasing. This being the case, the fact that studios spend 300-350 million dollars on oversized games hurts the player at the end of the day. Because as the cost increases, the prices also increase. On the other hand, game studios are starting to take less risks with new games.

If Layden’s predictions about gaming costs are correct, it means consoles won’t make a significant breakthrough anytime soon – anyway. Layden says that on the hardware side, consoles are now approaching the upper limit. This better explains why companies such as Sony and Microsoft have recently started to put consoles in the background and prioritize subscription-based services.






Source

https://www.midiaresearch.com/reports/the-case-for-in-game-video-platforms-closing-the-direct-to-consumer-gap


https://www.eurogamer.net/there-comes-a-time-when-we-all-declare-the-war-is-over-former-playstation-studios-boss-shawn-layden-on-the-future-of-video-game-consoles


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNPk_arv_Ko&t=15s