14 DAY TRIAL // 2014 ended under a cloud for the gaming industry, despite the fact that the first six months of the year seemed very promising and suggested that this would be a big year both in terms of critical reception for games and when it came to the adoption of current-gen consoles.
The problems that big launches had, from Assassin’s Creed Unity to Halo: The Master Chief Collection, many of them unresolved, and the fact that game sales are lower than many expected might pose a long-term problem for the hobby, and 2015 needs to be the year which shows how mature both companies and gamers can be.
In an ideal world, developers and publishers would be able to communicate and make sure that all games they launch are in solid shape before they appear, but the pressures of the market mean that’s not always possible.
The first thing that needs to happen in 2015 is for titles that have already received a delay, like The Witcher 3 or Battlefield: Hardline, to actually deliver the quality that gamers are expecting and to not need more than one patch to play as they should.
If this does not happen, the trust of players might be sufficiently shaken to lead to a downward spiral for sales of AAA releases all through the year.
Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and the problem of shifting generations
Everybody is focusing on the fact that both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 are selling better than the older consoles they replaced at the same moment during their lifetimes.
The problem is that their success does not translate in an 80 percent attach rate for new video games, which might mean that in the long term gamers are building smaller libraries and prefer to wait for price cuts for their favorite experiences.
This might be a consequence of the quality problems that have become apparent, but can also be a symptom that both Sony and Microsoft have delivered too many other entertainment apps which compete for the time of the player.
2015 needs to be a year when the platform holders and the publishers aim to make sure that players get more titles for their devices and have a good time playing them.
The current console generation cannot be a 10-year-long success story if software sales do not keep up or if gamers are more focused on watching Netflix on their Xbox One or their PS4 than on playing FIFA or Call of Duty.
