A sign of a stagnating games industry?

One could almost think that the video game industry is running out of ideas when you look at the release lists of the last few months. Big titles were there: “Dead Space”, “The Last of Us Part I” or “Resident Evil 4”. What they all have in common is that they appeared years ago. They’re remakes of games that gave new impetus back when they first came out.

In 2013, “The Last of Us” told a gripping story like hardly any game before. 2008’s “Dead Space” took horror in space to a new level – complete with detachable limbs. And “Resident Evil 4” revolutionized the third-person genre in 2005. All three games received top ratings and were crowd favorites.

Of course, the list doesn’t end there: There would also be “Final Fantasy 7”, “Demon’s Souls” or “The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening”. So why is it that the video game industry is digging so hard at its old games and re-launching them? Is it really because there are no more new ideas?

It probably depends on which benchmark you use.

First, arguably the two most important reasons major video game studios are so keen to re-list their own games: They know they’re going to sell. “Resident Evil 4 Remake” alone has changed in the first two days since its release already sold three million copies.

As video games become more expensive to produce, it makes sense that studios will want to take fewer risks. Developing new IPs takes time and a lot of resources – and there is always the risk that the new concept will simply not go down well. The publisher Square Enix had to find out about this recently with “Forspoken”. The The studio behind the game has since been dissolved.

Therefore, the question is more likely to be found in the audience: why does it like to buy remakes so much? The number 37.4 can give an answer. That’s loud the game association the average age of people playing video games in Germany in 2021. In 2016 it was still 35 years. So the players are getting older with their medium. They grew up with it – and love the games they used to play.

So nostalgia plays an important role. Many want to play the games of their childhood or youth again, but on a modern platform with highly polished graphics and updated game mechanics. It’s a solvent audience that the studios can count on.

But do remakes and new ideas have to be mutually exclusive? Not necessarily, as the “Resident Evil 4 Remake” shows impressively. Sure, it’s fundamentally the same game. That’s what it has to be to satisfy the fans of the first hour. At the same time, however, it has to offer something new in order not to scare off the modern audience.

This makes the game very clever and is probably the prime example of what a very good remake should look like. So they can also be a way to show what progress the industry has made. They are often a summary of what happened. Graphically, game mechanics, staging or in relation to artificial intelligence.

“Resident Evil 4 Remake” strikes the perfect balance between these two poles. It’s a modern game that also distances itself somewhat from its then “hero saves the naive woman” story through clever nuances. So it is a game of the present time.

Nevertheless, it is clear that remakes are not the games in which completely new game mechanics are established. But for years now, AAA video games have hardly been experimental projects that fundamentally change the way we play. Indie studios are bringing the new impetus, albeit on a smaller scale and less high-tech.

In general, the selection of games is bigger than ever. Thousands of games appear every year on a number of platforms, which are becoming more and more diverse in their orientation. If you don’t feel like remakes, you will find enough other games for your own taste. However, whether they are more innovative is another question.

This brings us to what is probably the most sobering answer to the question of whether the industry is running out of ideas: most of it has simply been grazed. Current technologies in consoles and PCs rely primarily on graphical improvements such as ray tracing. Gone are the days of the first 3D games or motion controls that fundamentally changed the way we play. Today, new ideas are smaller and more cautious – and revolve more around technology than the games themselves.

Today it’s about repeating well-known games, genres and game mechanics – only prettier, faster and bigger. This is also a sign that the video game industry has become absolutely mainstream. After all, it doesn’t look any different in the film industry, which is flooded with sequels and reboots.

So remakes are less a sign of dying ideas and more of an aging audience eager to play games from the past again. They are a sign of a market that is becoming ever broader and more commercial. And if a good game like “Resident Evil 4 Remake” comes out of it, that’s probably tolerable.