Why aren't US gamers buying video games anymore??

[rusty_shackleford]

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https://archive.is/Eg3dM

What could be causing this?

[Tinky Winky]

The game industry is pretty much dead as about 99% of new releases, from both AAA and indies, are derivative slop, and why would anyone even care about derivative slop when the originals exist?

[Jordy]

https://archive.is/Eg3dM

What could be causing this?

"In 2025, it was revealed that 63% of US consumers are racist, facist chuds."

[Tweed]

I don't get it! We checked all the boxes! It has men kissing each other, it has *******, it has deconstructionist themes and self-ironic humor! WHAT DO THEY WANT?!!!

[Fox1]

"Western" AAA games in particular are some of the worst, half-assed pieces of slop trash demanding money available today. A sign of the creative bankruptcy, corporate greed and communist university brainrot all coming together into a stew of hot brown sewage that nobody wants.

[Tweed]

Seventy bucks for six hours of writing so bad that you'd swear it was satirical parody and a game that looks and runs worse than something made ten years ago.

[Kolgrim]

In addition to what others have said you have to take into account how financially unstable younger generations are. Most can't even afford rent much less the new goyslop that gets churned out every few months.

[Valter]

Gamers don't buy games anymore, they buy battlepasses instead

[Roguey]

From my observation, the habits of the masses have changed so that any given person will buy one or a few Forever games and just keep playing those for years and years. Skyrim, Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4, Cyberpunk, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. If a new game doesn't do something really different or isn't an across-the-board improvement on an existing Forever game, they can't be bothered.

[J1M]

Better question: (why) is the non-US gamer buying modern audience games?

[The_Mask]

Why would you pay $100 for any Microsoft/Ubisoft/EA/Blizzard propaganda machine when you can pay $10 for Megabonk and have endless fun?

Why would you pay $40 for an indie game, when you can play RPG classics on your phone for $5?

I'm not a Zoomer or Alpha and I can totally get where they're coming from.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

There are hardly any western videogames releasing that appeal to me. WoW is the only high production value artbook fantasy RPG, and that's it. I guess there was Avowed and Veilguard but those don't look appealing at all and I have only heard bad things about them. So I have been playing Eastern games, but I don't know if those are tracked in these metrics.

My real life friends play Warframe or emulate old games like Conker's Bad Fur Day on their Steam Deck. My coworkers play old games like FF11 retail. I only know two people who bought a recent game: Elden Ring.

[J1M]

Industry is finding out that the broader audience isn't gamers. They are people who happen to play one specific game as a hobby. Similar to how grandpa likes sudoku, but that doesn't mean he wants to do other number puzzles and certainly isn't going to pay for a new type of number puzzle each month.

[Jordy]

Industry is finding out that the broader audience isn't gamers. They are people who happen to play one specific game as a hobby. Similar to how grandpa likes sudoku, but that doesn't mean he wants to do other number puzzles and certainly isn't going to pay for a new type of number puzzle each month.

he's literally me

[Vaako]

Either too woke, slop/movie game or just nothing new and the usual AAA multiplayer slop. And the aesthetics and character design looks worse, better graphics dont help if the game is badly optimized and has 3+ drm running in the background and the artstyle is ***. Yeah quite easy to only play older games then, even if you have to use emulators or play on freeshards.

[Steel-Knight]

There is so little now that's even worth a crap that you're basically taking a gamble buying anything, so I can't say I'm surprised that many people are no longer buying video games in the US now. Some particular sticking points include:

- Triple AAA games are now 70+$ on average. Many games fail to justify the price.

- Many games on the market these days are garbage. Fewer and fewer games are even worth your time nowadays.

- Large numbers of 60+$ "remasters" that are worse than the games they are "remakes" of, making them actually demasters. "Remasters" are also saturating the market.

- Little innovation in the modern gaming industry. There was more innovation two decades ago.

- A lot of games look and/or feel samey. Not much stands out for the average gamer with a few exceptions.

- Games are getting worse from a technical standpoint thanks to incompetent devs, leading to garbage optimization and lack of polish galore.

- Constant messaging. They care more about "the message" and pushing it on social media and in their games than putting out an actually decent product.

- etc. etc.

[rusty_shackleford]

someone post the calendar meme except with the year 2012

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[J1M]

Least overlooked thing in history.

As sensible of a statement as claiming 65+ men are an overlooked opportunity for growth in the cosmetics industry.

[rusty_shackleford]

- Triple AAA games are now 70+$ on average. Many games fail to justify the price.

I'd probably pay $70 for a AAAAAAAAA game

[Tangerine]

- Triple AAA games are now 70+$ on average. Many games fail to justify the price.

I'd probably pay $70 for a AAAAAAAAA game

[J1M]

I am way more time-sensitive than price sensitive. Any time I'm buying new hardware for a game I'm spending hundreds of dollars on it.

Where games lose me these days is when they fail to convey that the time I will need to spend on them to learn them will be returned in a meaningful way. I have very very little trust in game designers.