As the title suggests, this year has been phenomenal for gaming, not just in the quantity of the video games but the quality as well. With the year starting off with a great hit in the ‘Dead Space Remake’ to the most recent release at the time of writing in ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’. We gamers have been spoiled immensely.
The question I must ask though is, will it happen again? Will 2024 also deliver a flow of high-quality games or has 2023 been a brief glimpse into what could be? I don’t think the answer is quite as simple as yes or no, unfortunately. I believe that this rare occurrence of so many high-quality games coming out all within a brief period together is nothing but a coincidence.
The job of a game developer is incredibly difficult. Whilst some on Twitter, I’m not calling it ‘X’, can claim to be an “expert” and tell you how easy it is, it really isn’t. It never will be, if anything it’s going to get tougher and tougher as gaming grows.
In 2011 the biggest game release was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and at the time it was considered a wonder, not because it was a revolution in the genre, but because the sheer amount of content packed into a game that is only 12GB in size. For companies to keep competing games must keep getting bigger. The most recent game that has taken the internet by storm, Baldurs Gate 3, is over 120GB. This is a lot of content for a game, but why is that?
I’ll tell you why! The game has been in development for 7 years. That is a long time for a game to be in development, especially in the current climate of game releases. Other AAA companies will try and produce their games within a few years to be able to ship it and then work on their next project.
A good example of this is the franchise Pokémon, they try and get a new mainline game out within at least 3 years of their last one. This has come at the cost of their reputation with hardcore fans, claiming the games lack quality and care that they expect from the high grossing franchise of all time. Though despite this, their recent instalment sold over 22 million copies. Which is exactly why this horrible cycle keeps repeating itself. It is safe to say that they are valuing quantity of quality, which is exactly why another year like this may not happen for a long time.
Now, what am I trying to say? Am I saying that 2024 is going to be ‘doom and gloom’ for gaming? No. Not in the slightest. I believe there will be some excellent game releases next year, one I am particularly excited for is Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, the highly anticipated sequel to 2020’s Final Fantasy VII remake.
What I am trying to say is that I do not think it is healthy for anyone to set high expectations every year simply because the stars aligned this year. I believe we as gamers should take the highs when they come and embrace them for what they are and the effort that was put into them.
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