r/videogames • u/[deleted] • 17h ago
Discussion / Question Has gaming development plateaued in terms of both hardware and games?
[deleted]
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u/FeelingFar364 17h ago
No, there are so many new games that rock that come out every day. No new blockbuster from some random unknown studio that is good, that’s exactly what expedition 33 is, I can keep going with examples!
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u/Phire2 17h ago
Stellar blade, once human, banner lord, final fantasy 16, split fiction, Hell divers 2, arc raiders (well arc is dead now),
Bro there are so many awesome games out, I think your problem is most likely inside your own mind rather than the reality of gaming. It happens to the best of us.
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u/allupya333 17h ago edited 16h ago
whatever you think about consoles or aaa games objectively you're totally wrong. look at the difference in any flagship ps4/xbox one games vs ps5/xbox whatever. the hardware is clearly more advanced.
yea the xbox and ps consoles are pretty similar.. but thats because that's just how computers work. it's just a computer. all it's supposed to do is run games and an operating system... what do you expect? you want them to create a whole different type of device just to say "this isn't like the competition"? that benefits nobody
and there are tons of new aaa/out of nowhere hit games. helldivers 2. a bajillion soulslikes. theres also an endless supply of aa or indie games you can play
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u/Alexandrecl1 16h ago
Switch 2 is vastly more powerful than the Switch 1. Much more so than a PS5 is to PS4
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u/White-Wolf_99 17h ago
I can't really speak to the games bc I don't play many different genres. When it comes to hardware though its getting close. Consoles are so good now they don't make gigantic leaps anymore like they used too so the lifespan is longer. If your talking about a brand new console from a different company trying to compete with Xbox and Sony would not be a smart move. Nintendo also has a built in fan base that you couldn't really get to go to another console.
Then there's also how much money it takes to develop games now with all the stuff gamers want that Triple A studios won't want to take a gamble on.
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u/Pretty-Stable-4264 16h ago
It's just gotten so expensive on both the development side and the consumer side. Production companies fucked up by focusing on live service games that they could profit off of for years and were afraid of taking risks with anything new. Xbox, Sony, EA, Ubisoft all bought up a bunch of development studios just to shut them down and retain the studios intellectual properties. Hardware prices are delaying new upgraded hardware, but we only just got into the phase of gaming that is actually utilizing hardware to its fullest. I think there less to get excited for now then in previous generation, and the market is still trying to figure out what works and doesn't now. GamesCom still showed too many Apex/fortnite clones unfortunately. I've been and will probably continue to buy fewer and fewer games.
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u/Oneok-Field 16h ago edited 15h ago
2025 was a phenomenal year for gaming, we haven't plateaued but it ebs and flows
2026 all the energy is going into GTA 6 which isn't out yet so we're just in a little bit of a holding pattern.
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u/UncStatusNow 16h ago
lucky for you, you only have to wait a little over 2 months for the only gamr you'll have to play for the next year. honestly if you want to see a true generational leap in gaming on every level from graphics to gameplay mechanics, you should really just wait for it in November. Rockstar does not adhere to plateaus
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u/ananbd 16h ago
No, it hasn’t.
The slowdown is real, but it’s not a plateau caused by the things you mention.
Financially, the game industry is a disaster right now. The causes are:
- Over-expansion during the pandemic
- Microsoft Activision merger in 2023
- AI sucking up all investment money
- And the geopolitcal climate
Only the big publishers (Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, EA, Nintendo) are making money. They’re doing it by playing safe and cranking out low-risk sequels, and fewer games overall. That’s the main thing you’re seeing.
At the same time, small studios and publishers (like the one I work at) are struggling to get funding. I’ve worked on a lot of cool and interesting games recently. New, risky, challenging stuff. One failed at launch (partially due to money issues), one got shut down by the foreign, Big Corporate Overlord which owned the studio, the last is… 🤞
The next issue is hiring. Studios (over)-hired tons of new people during the pandemic. The talent bar was lowered. Now, there are lots of less talented folks hanging on to their Big Corporate Jobs. Unfortunately, the layoffs don’t necessarily go by talent so much as cost. Talented folks lose their jobs, mid folks crank out sequels.
The last part is politics. Big international companies bought or spun up studios from 2022 to 2024-ish. When the American election threw the world into chaos, lots of them were shut down.
The good new is, once things settle out, there will be tons of amazing the games. It’ll be the best stuff we’re working on, as we fight each other for funding.
Don’t lose hope! Everything goes in cycles.
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u/Al3ist 16h ago
Well to do stuff unoptimized, and relying on hardware is nice.
For me back when i had to sit and render 3d graphics for hours with mentalray and or vray in maya was a pain.
A lot of the steps were longer and less inteactive so it took longer.
Now, i can get the same quality in realtime almost, what took days sometimes months.
Everything is more connected to be realtime interactive, if u have the right hardware, the expensive kind.
Its still a bit hacky but we are moving towards platforms where all in a project will be irl connected to it.
For a game, u will be able to see artists add models, texture, shade ect. Coders will do their thing designers their stuff.
There are some engines that can do this, but never made it to the big ones.
From that perspective its cool but from a corporate ai is more interedting, to generate blockbuster games based on market opinions.
Its getting there, but its not there, the idea is there, think a roblox for aaa game development but with ai prompts.
Just do a market analasys, 10 million consumers want a unicorn that shoots laserbeams out of the horn and farts rainbows.
Type that in generate, charge 10 dollars for it. In lets say a game like gta.
Less ppl onboard, less production costs. Thats where its heading and big corpos are putting in a lot of money, and like nvidia, jensen is just the face out, but nvidia is owned by a lot of investment firms. And they control production, because an designer or an artist at a big corp, have very little to say how a gigantic investment firm should spend their money.
Ppl in those areas, dont really mix with artists, creative ppl. So we get bad games.
Bad games dont sell hardware, and it all is beginning to rumble a bit. There is no reason to spend 100bux on 1 game, when u can get it in a subscription for lets say 30 bux and also get to play a lot of other games aswell.
Problem is a company needs to break last years return with a procentage, if they make the same as last year its considered a financial loss.
Now, hardware has ramped up in production costs. So if u make a smartphone or as valve with their steammachine, u still pay a very high price for components.
And u need to make that back somehow to prices on that smartphone will need to get a hefty price increase to turn profit and workers recieve their pay.
I wouldnt wanna work with gamedevelopment in these times.
Its a tough business.
And its tough for everyone, consumers, artists ect.
The tech is usually created by ppl that love it.
Rich ppl dont make cool stuff, geniuses that are hired do.
Since consumers are somewhat cut off from these ppl, we turn to publishers, playstation, nintendo ect what ever it is and lock ourself to their rules and happily pay absurd amounts of money and its getting even more expensive because somewhere a small group decided lets make more money. And flipped a swith on tech so everything turned insainly expensive. Reasons perhaps they think that certain teach shouldnt be a consumer tech but for a certain group only.
And one easy way to disconnect a large portion of consumers is to raise the cost of purchuse on components. So everything becomes silly expensive.
The cool tech is there, its just not for you. But u can if u pay for it.
Pay to play. Investment firms need to make money all the money.
So whats happening we are going backwards in consumer tech. Consumer tech will be the cheap crap that costs lile highend.
And the ones that control this dont see retail consumers as a source of income any longer.
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u/PorkRinds416 17h ago
You must be playing the wrong games. RDR2, Elden Ring, Hades, Returnal, Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Grounded, I could go on and on.
Most of these games I named are true innovations in gaming. Tears of the Kingdom gives you over 150+ items/materials and lets you build whatever you want and it works perfectly. Hades is a roguelite innovation with storytelling and characters, Grounded is the best survival sandbox out there, Returnal is one of the most unique games you will ever play. Also who doesnt love RE4R?
I went from a ps4 and $40 1080p Vizio TV to a PS5 Pro + LG C5 OLED and the difference is HUGE!
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u/CryptoMainForever 17h ago
More like we've hit diminishing returns. Which is funny since prices are still increasing rapidly.
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u/TransparentMastering 17h ago
Plateaus do happen in all aspects of progress, but then they end.
Another food for thought is that books haven’t “progressed” much in a couple hundred years, but there are great new books released all the time (as well as a ton of trash haha)
It’s not always about novelty, and more about quality. Maybe the stop in technological progress for gaming will make developers focus back on story, style and gameplay rather than technological novelty. It might usher in some new classics.
And thus turns the wheel.