As this year's holiday releases have started, including Microsoft and Sony's motion sensing add-ons and the latest, newest Kotick money maker COD game, I'm left wondering whether gaming has already reached its apex and is now in a slow, incessant decline. 
 
To focus for a moment on FPS games, Bungie has left Halo for good with Reach, easily the best Halo game made, and every other shooter game tries to mimic Modern Warfare 2.  It built on what Call of Duty 4 had done and may have set the high water mark for shooters, for good.  Between the persistent upgrades online and Spec Ops, nothing has come close since its release and even the recent Black Ops has left many people wanting.   
 
I'm hopeful that Bungie and Respawn will give us something that ups the ante, though I remain cynical. 
 
More thoughts on different game types, and my opinion on Kinect and Move (donde están los killer apps?) next time.

As this year's holiday releases have started, including Microsoft and Sony's motion sensing add-ons and the latest, newest Kotick money maker COD game, I'm left wondering whether gaming has already reached its apex and is now in a slow, incessant decline. 
 
To focus for a moment on FPS games, Bungie has left Halo for good with Reach, easily the best Halo game made, and every other shooter game tries to mimic Modern Warfare 2.  It built on what Call of Duty 4 had done and may have set the high water mark for shooters, for good.  Between the persistent upgrades online and Spec Ops, nothing has come close since its release and even the recent Black Ops has left many people wanting.   
 
I'm hopeful that Bungie and Respawn will give us something that ups the ante, though I remain cynical. 
 
More thoughts on different game types, and my opinion on Kinect and Move (donde están los killer apps?) next time.

Things felt the same around 1994 in some ways when there were tons of shitty FMV games and countless fighting game clones and countless Sonic ripoff platformers.
 
Not saying things are that similar but there were similar aspects.

That's cool, I'm just gonna be over here on pc playing Amnesia and minecraft.

The industry is not even close to stagnation let alone decline. Every year video games make more money than the last (this may not be true for 2008). New developers are still opening up and new consumers are entering the market with fewer past consumers leaving it. All of this points to an industry that is still growing.  
Throw into this that the industry is more or less driven by tech and the fact that the tech is always expanding/developing and you have an industry that is more or less going to continue to grow.  
As for the fact that most games are ripping off another game, thats true for almost any industry on earth. 90% of products available today are not at all revolutionary, most are exactly the same as whats come before, some are the same idea as whats come before but have been improved in some way and others (tho very very few) are completely new. 

" That's cool, I'm just gonna be over here on pc playing Amnesia and minecraft. "

This is also the same year Mass Effect 2 came out.  Red Dead Redemption. Minecraft. Even something like Super Meat Boy or Bayonetta, while more niche, are incredibly entries into gaming. And that's just my own personal favorites list.   
 
The shooter market is oversaturated and derivative because it's the pop-culture of gaming. Go play some stuff that isn't about running around shooting dudes. Go pick up Kirby's Epic Yarn, or Civ 5, or GT5 when it comes out, or any other countless games.  Innovation exists and is happening. It's a pretty great time to be a gamer. We are spoiled for amazing choice.

Decline?  
 
Aww hell no!

" This is also the same year Mass Effect 2 came out.  Red Dead Redemption. Minecraft. Even something like Super Meat Boy or Bayonetta, while more niche, are incredibly entries into gaming. And that's just my own personal favorites list.    The shooter market is oversaturated and derivative because it's the pop-culture of gaming. Go play some stuff that isn't about running around shooting dudes. Go pick up Kirby's Epic Yarn, or Civ 5, or GT5 when it comes out, or any other countless games.  Innovation exists and is happening. It's a pretty great time to be a gamer. We are spoiled for amazing choice. "

Don't worry, the industry will be saved with motion controls.  
 
You know i'm being sarcastic right?

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Dead Rising 2
Red Dead Redemption
Mass Effect 2
Bayonetta
Vanquish
Heavy Rain
Minecraft
God of War 3
Super Street Fighter 4
Battlefield Bad Company 2
 
 
 
I agree with the OP. This is clearly the worst year of gaming we've had in a long time, it's obviously in a downward spiral.

Video games get better every year.  One day the new consoles will come out, and it will start up all over again with big new titles.  I don't see why it's dieing just because Call of Duty isn't fresh anymore.

Didn't we all forget Fallout New Vegas? Fallout 3 did bring innovation to the FPS / RPG genre. Fallout New Vegas added on to that innovation as well. There's all kinds of innovations into each genre and it will continue to improve. It's like art and music. Though it came out centuries ago, it's still around with so much improvement that seems to astonish everyone. 

To me, the rise of downloadable games offsets any increase in samey FPS games and motion controls.

"

Don't worry, the industry will be saved with motion controls.  
 
You know i'm being sarcastic right?

"

Let's hear Pach on this one: 
 

" As this year's holiday releases have started, including Microsoft and Sony's motion sensing add-ons and the latest, newest Kotick money maker COD game, I'm left wondering whether gaming has already reached its apex and is now in a slow, incessant decline.  To focus for a moment on FPS games, Bungie has left Halo for good with Reach, easily the best Halo game made, and every other shooter game tries to mimic Modern Warfare 2.  It built on what Call of Duty 4 had done and may have set the high water mark for shooters, for good.  Between the persistent upgrades online and Spec Ops, nothing has come close since its release and even the recent Black Ops has left many people wanting.    I'm hopeful that Bungie and Respawn will give us something that ups the ante, though I remain cynical.  More thoughts on different game types, and my opinion on Kinect and Move (donde están los killer apps?) next time. "

"Super Mario Galaxy 2 Dead Rising 2 Red Dead Redemption Mass Effect 2 Bayonetta Vanquish Heavy Rain Minecraft God of War 3 Super Street Fighter 4 Battlefield Bad Company 2    I agree with the OP. This is clearly the worst year of gaming we've had in a long time, it's obviously in a downward spiral. "

" Super Mario Galaxy 2 Dead Rising 2 Red Dead Redemption Mass Effect 2 Bayonetta Vanquish Heavy Rain Minecraft God of War 3 Super Street Fighter 4 Battlefield Bad Company 2    I agree with the OP. This is clearly the worst year of gaming we've had in a long time, it's obviously in a downward spiral. "

 Decline and Fall of the Gaming Industry?
 
2010 has been a great year for gaming, as above;
 
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Dead Rising 2
Red Dead Redemption
Mass Effect 2
Vanquish
Heavy Rain
Minecraft
Super Street Fighter 4
Battlefield Bad Company 2 
 
Are just a few, move and kinect are just coming in sure they are a bit gimmicky but decline? hell no.

" @Landon said:

"Super Mario Galaxy 2 Dead Rising 2 Red Dead Redemption Mass Effect 2 Bayonetta Vanquish Heavy Rain Minecraft God of War 3 Super Street Fighter 4 Battlefield Bad Company 2    I agree with the OP. This is clearly the worst year of gaming we've had in a long time, it's obviously in a downward spiral. "

Civilization 5? "

are people having fun? yes. 
 
what else matters.

 Bungie has left Halo for good with Reach, easily the best Halo game made  

You're just being cynical for the sake of being cynical. Black Ops isn't just the "Kotick money maker" you're making it out to be. Modern Warfare 2 was a near complete disaster. Not a bad game by any means, but it seems nearly everyone on Giantbomb are oblivious to it's flaws. Modern Warfare 2 was broken, buggy, and woefully unbalance mess of a multi-player experience. Ifinity Infinity Ward even confirmed the game wasn't beta tested. Not to mention it had an extremely short campaign, even by FPS standards. It took me about 4 hours to finish it. Most expansion packs I've played were longer than that. Spec-Ops was secks though.
 
Black Ops though, is fantastic. It's what Modern Warfare 2 should've been from the start. It was completely polished, provided well designed maps, and well balance design. It's single-player had a far more cohesive storyline and better pacing than Modern Warfare 2. Not to mention it was was two or three hours longer than MW2. Treyarch are known to be much more community friendly than Infinity Ward. Black Ops is a fantastic game, and it frustrates me that critics are giving more praise to MW2 than Black Ops. It sad to see that they're blinded by hype sometimes. I'm not saying they're being bribed (They aren't), but like I said, they're sometimes blinded by hype.
 
@Gellrock said:

" @zymase said:

 Bungie has left Halo for good with Reach, easily the best Halo game made  

Halo: Combat Evolved > Halo 2 > Reach > Halo 3 > ODST > Halo Wars  Halo one was the best game in this series. Halo 2 was great and it was here where the online shined. Reach was better than Halo 3 I'll give you that, but you can't say it's easily the best Halo game ever made especially when it borrows so much from other shooter franchises.  back to the post, this year was amazing, if I didn't have school to pay for I would have bought many more games than the ones I did buy including: Mass Effect 2 Red Dead Redemption Starcraft 2 Civilization V Call of Duty: Black Ops and Rockband 3 "

To everyone who read this as a bash on 2010 releases, my original post didn't say anything about that.  I simply posted, and think, that gaming as an industry is past its pinnacle.   
 
Yes, this year has seen a lot of great releases, including several I own and enjoy:  Civilization V, Red Dead Redemption, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and the surprising Kirby's Epic Yarn.  As an industry though, I think video games are more about either mimicking what successful games have done and releasing perennial rehashes to pacify stockholders.  Real, genuine, creative ideas seem fewer and far between as developers are pushed more to justify bottom end than to  push creative envelopes. 

I still wish to play Half Life 2 and its following episodes. Dreams still remain true.
 
What are they now and what will they become? These FPS video games. Are they for multiplayer type Madden players who seek a once a year bump or is there something more there. Where's the money? Where's my niche as a developer? How do they continue to attract more money?
 
So many questions.

As an industry though, I think video games are more about either mimicking what successful games have done and releasing perennial rehashes to pacify stockholders.  Real, genuine, creative ideas seem fewer and far between as developers are pushed more to justify bottom end than to  push creative envelopes.

Game copies mimic other games because its what sells. It happens in every facet of business imaginable. It'll take more than a year or two of sub-par FPS's to bring down the industry.

" Let's hear Pach on this one: 
 

Video Games | Pach-Attack! | Episode 140

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

"

" @zymase said:

As an industry though, I think video games are more about either mimicking what successful games have done and releasing perennial rehashes to pacify stockholders.  Real, genuine, creative ideas seem fewer and far between as developers are pushed more to justify bottom end than to  push creative envelopes.

Well if you're going to argue that point I might say the pinnacle of all game design was 1996 or so.  Then we had a large variety of titles and innovation was pretty commonplace. "

2007- september, Halo 3 is "The biggest launch game in history"
2008- march, GTA 4 is "the biggest launch game in history" breaking Halo 3's record
2009- november, MW2 is "the biggest launch game in history" beating GTA 4's launch numbers
2010- november, Black Ops is "the biggest launch game in history" surpassing sales for MW2 (supposed) 
 
seems like the opposite of decline, at least for the last 3 years....

COD series >> your favorite game

Talking about COD/Halo in relation to motion controls as symbolic of the industry as a whole = lol. You should try different genres, platforms, indie games, European/Japanese-developed games - anything to widen your understanding of what games are.
Edit: Ok based on what you've written elsewhere your thesis isn't as ridiculous as it at first seemed. I would suggest looking at games developed in other regions and indies for creative ideas, because you're unlikely to seem them in an increasingly corporate Anglo-American development culture. Only a few very privileged developers have a chance of releasing something truly innovative.

" 2007- september, Halo 3 is "The biggest launch game in history" 2008- march, GTA 4 is "the biggest launch game in history" breaking Halo 3's record 2009- november, MW2 is "the biggest launch game in history" beating GTA 4's launch numbers2010- november, Black Ops is "the biggest launch game in history" surpassing sales for MW2 (supposed)   seems like the opposite of decline, at least for the last 3 years.... "

Eh everyone says that every year. Games in general are better than ever, I'd say. Great examples of design all year round. Plus a lot of cool tech.  
 
Plus, even if one year was bad, that wouldn't necessarily indicate a decline, perhaps the next year would be much better. It's not like games have been getting progressively worse. Some do, some improve. 

If you mean in quality, I agree. But you gotta take into account the nostalgia factor. Games will never be as good as the used to be for me.  As far as media coverage and gaming becoming the "norm", it's increasing. Look how well Halo and CoD sell.

no, i don't think there will be a decline in the video game industry. the industry is just growing and trying new things, like motion controls. if it sells good then we are going to have motion controls, sadly.