If you haven’t caught wind of developer Red Barrels’ newest creation, you might want to sit down before venturing on. The company has taken to Kickstarter to offer the gaming world something we never thought would ever be possible; adult diapers strictly for gamers. Call it lazy, creatively efficient, or just downright sad; either way, it’s not a good look. What else is wrong with the game industry? Let’s dive right into the five worst trends polluting our enjoyment of our favorite hobby.
Co-branding
There’s nothing worse than when a gaming company teams up with a snack company to make a hot mess of things. Taco Bell and their annoying PlayStation VR commercials, Call of Duty in just about any and all means of extending its brand, Master Chief and the Doritos, and we can’t forget the Burger King games. I’m all for diversifying your brand, but stop making us look like those dumb kids in the Taco Bell commercials.
DLC
The ongoing debate surrounding DLC will never end. In its early stages, it was fantastic – offering gamers a way to extend their gameplay in more bite-sized chunks than an expansion pack. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case as of late. Enter Destiny , the motherload of all DLC abusers with its premium priced expansions AND a load of in-game microtransactions. Gamers can’t help but feel skeptical about the DLC tag anytime it pops up.
The Almighty Review Score
There’s nothing that sparks more heated debate than the almighty review score. You would think the reviewer ran over everybody’s dog by the chaos that ensues with a simple number associated with game commentary. It’s time to do away with the review score or with the brutal backlash from sectors of the community. It’s time for some constructive, spirited debate over review content instead.
Massive Day-One Patches
The day-one patch seems to be a trend sweeping through the gaming industry. This bad practice leads to publishers pushing developers harder to finish products in a quicker amount of time with the patch as their safety net. However, more often than not, gamers are sold incomplete products with equally incomplete patches that, more often than not, haven’t been properly play-tested.
PC Delay and Port Garbage
We’ve seen it for years and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better in the near future. PC gamers are consistently shown less love than their console counterparts with delayed and limited product launches. Additionally, it seems more and more PC ports are bug-stricken, flimsy, and downright poorly done. It’s time to get this one right.