Modern games can no longer compete with retro games.

[hstone32]

Has it been literal decades since you last dusted off your (hopefully not all gross and yellow) SNES? Can you still recall which unlabeled cardboard box in the attic contains your old Atari? Allow me to update you on what's been happening in the years since you last powered on those old machines:

• hobbyists and engineers have made huge leaps and bounds in understanding and documenting the hardware and software design of many retro consoles and games. Console modding techniques have been refined and optimized. People have found ways to greatly improve upon OEM hardware performance, way past what even the original hardware designers thought possible. A new lease on life has been extended to many games with game-breaking bugs or poor performance.
• FPGA based hardware emulation is rapidly approaching a level of perfect parity for many different consoles, including several once thought of as impossible to emulate. Several FPGA based consoles have been released to wild success, despite all the global supply and trade woes we've been experiencing. 2026 is rapidly shaping up to be the definitive year of FPGA gaming. These consoles allow for flawless OEM experiences for all those who missed out on the original hardware back when it was still being manufactured.
• Riding on the coattails of FPGA gaming's rise in popularity, we've also been seeing something of an increase in homebrew gaming. Of particular note, is the upcoming release of a very promising looking game development engine for Nintendo 64. 
• After market sales of physical games media has exploded. While this has had the unfortunate, yet inevitable effect of massively spiking physical media prices, it has had the beneficial effect of attracting many more entrants to the market. I've personally seen several new game stores pop up in my local area alone. It's become easier than ever before to buy physical copies of old games in-person, without the risk of shady ebay scams. Now is also a really good time to sell, because at this moment, many of your physical games are probably worth more than they ever have been before, even at the time of their active production.

Yes, now is a great time to be a retro gamer, or to start being one. As I watch my personal cartridge and disc collection grow, I can't help but think: How can modern gaming possible compete with retro gaming? The library of recent releases seems to get smaller and smaller every year as development times and costs increase exponentially. Meanwhile, the vast library of retro games only increases as time marches on. There are so many great games to revisit, or discover for the first time. So many hidden gems that hold up well even by today's standards. Games that were created back in an age long past where developers had so many limitations that they could only laser-focus their attention on one thing only: making the game fun.

Why would I ever buy a modern game when there are still so many retro games I have yet to experience? Sure, I love vintage story, and I still buy the occasional indie metroidvania or roguelike. For the most part though, trailers no longer make me excited, and I no longer derive enjoyment from browsing Steam's store page. In short, the magic of a brand new game is now lost, greatly outdone by the magic of discovering an old game.

 

[LadyWYT]

8 hours ago, hstone32 said:

How can modern gaming possible compete with retro gaming?

The same way it always has: product quality. There's no reason to buy RPG #1 if it offers almost the exact kind of thing that RPG #2 offers, however, if RPG #1 has a well-written story or good performance and RPG #2 does not, well, guess which game customers are more likely to buy. Likewise, while graphics aren't everything, they do make a difference, so a game with gorgeous modern graphics that performs well on the code side and has well-designed story/mechanics will probably be more attractive than a retro game that has limits on what resources it has to work with.

I think the main problem with a lot of modern games is that they've become too much of a corporate product built to make money, rather than labors of love created by people making games they wanted to actually play themselves. There's nothing wrong with making money, mind you, but the problem of placing profit as the sole priority means that whoever is responsible for the game's development(that is, who actually funds it) is going to be very averse to taking risks and will prefer to stick to what's known to make money. Oftentimes, that means that there's no innovation or creativity, and games end up getting sequel after sequel with only superficial changes at best. When enough companies opt to play it safe, it also means that games end up very similar to each other, since they're all using the safest designs possible in an attempt to maximize profit. That, plus lack of competition can also easily lead to companies cutting corners and offering customers inferior products for more money, much like a beloved restaurant turning to prepackaged frozen food rather than fresh made in-house.

That being said, when markets start stagnating like that, that's the prime time for new talent to come onto the scene, and that's primarily why so many indie devs are doing quite well today while a lot of the old iconic names are struggling to stay relevant.

[Fizzlebop]

I feel there is a cyclic wave in the industry where game quality is a focus of round three.

Enhance graphics, remove difficulty to increase monetization, renewed focus on game quality.

I also remember used beta and the early days of early access. When a constant back and forth with the community was an unwritten principle that development was based on.

Minecraft beta was a ton of fun and had a special place in my heart unti Microsoft acquired it and started to branch out a little differently than I had hoped. 

I am really hoping that some aces abandoning no compete clauses will create a resurgence indie development. That where the real gameplay innovations occur anyway. 

My rambling 3 cents