Gamers have too many decisions to make this time of the year

Oct 25, 2014 16:45 GMT  ·  By

Christmas is big for stores because those who celebrate it, the majority of customers in the Western world, tend to spend quite a lot of money in order to get presents for their friends, small tokens of appreciation for other social contacts, and they might even splurge on something big and expensive for themselves.

When I was young, kids never got video games under the tree because parents tended to be disconnected from the hobby and were busy offering more practical stuff, with ugly sweaters being a favorite for my mom and dad.

But these days, almost all my relatives who still expect a big gift for Christmas tend to focus on the video game world, either the hardware or the big releases of the fall season.

I have one young cousin who wants both an Xbox One and a PlayStation 4 (presumably games for them will follow at a later date) and is entirely uninterested in any other potential Christmas surprise.

The problem of congestion

The biggest problem with the fact that a lot of money changes hands in November and December is that major video games industry players, like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Activision, Ubisoft and others, tend to crowd their big releases in the Tuesdays and Thursdays of the period.

This means that often big titles do not get the exposure they need and a veritable arms race begins between the companies in order to give their big launches a better chance of generating huge sales.

At the same time, titles that do not have such big advertising budgets but include solid mechanics need to move away or rely on very dedicated fans bases.

Player decision overload

The industry can deal with the complications introduced by the Christmas shopping boom because it has money and employees, but the players, with their limited funds and their even smaller attention span, might be affected in even more ways.

With Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the new Assassin’s Creed, a new DLC for Battlefield 4, Civilization: Beyond Earth, Dragon Age: Inquisition and more available in short succession, it can be hard to decide which game to pick up and for how long to play it before moving to another.

Even worse, the big advertising campaigns tend to obscure actual quality and plenty of gamers will end up getting titles that demo well and look good in 30-second TV spots instead of those with which they might actually spend hundreds of fun hours.