This is the Golden Age of Video Games

This generation, right now, is the golden era of video games
All the learning, design and innovation that came before has been
leading up to what we have been lucky enough to experience over the last
3-5 years. This is not to take away from what earlier game creators
accomplished - obviously when one looks back through the history of our
pastime there are hundreds of incredible experiences.


Regardless, I believe we are currently experiencing a "perfect storm"
of blockbuster AAA experiences, mass-market adoption via social &
mobile, smaller digitally-distributed releases, and finally a thriving
community of wildly experimental "art game" creators.


There is more variety in the video game industry now than ever
before, giving game makers (and game players) far more options and
flexibility. A team of one can make Dwarf Fortress and make it his
living. A team of 12 can make Infinity Blade or Shank and succeed. A
team of 200 can produce titles like Uncharted 3. All are viable.


The video game industry as it exists today supports and rewards the
creators of Uncharted 3, Super Meat Boy, Farmville, and Dear Esther.
This is incredible and unprecedented.


Let's go down the list:





Mass-Market AAA Titles





The success of AAA titles is largely self-explanatory. Put simply,
the gigantic, big-budget tentpole games, the equivalent of the movie
industry's summer blockbusters, have gotten suitably bigger and badder.


Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Uncharted... these franchises now
have previously unheard-of budgets, but rake in a correspondingly
unheard-of amount of money. They represent a scale of sophistication
(from a production standpoint) that was never possible before. It is
possible NOW, thanks to the power of the hardware and the maturity of
the industry.


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cost a rumored $50+ million to
develop, with a rumored launch marketing budget of $200+ million. But
the title would go on to gross $775 million globally in its first five
days of release, and cruise past $1 billion in revenue.


In short, the biggest games are bigger.





The XBLA/PSN Middle Ground





The rise of Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Wii Ware, and DSi
Ware has given rise to an entire video game category that quite
literally didn't (coudn't!) exist just five short years ago.


Think about Alien Hominid, released on the PS2 and GameCube in 2004.
How much of an ordeal it was for developer The Behemoth to create and
distribute the game, and how much of a special treat it was for core
gamers at the time? It cost $20, too. Now compare that experience to
what is released on XBLA/PSN every single week in 2012. Shadow Complex, Super Meat Boy, Warp, Rochard... games like this didn't have a home, before this generation.


These are professionally produced titles, with real budgets and real
teams & talent. But their much smaller focus & ease of
distribution still allow them to get into the hands of players for just
$10-$15. And digital distribution means that gamers can continue to find
the titles on Steam and other platforms for years to come, giving these
niche releases a much longer sales tale. No limited print runs!





Experimental Success Stories





The rise of the internet as not just a distribution method but also a publicity and payment mechanism
has given rise to a new wave of video game auteurs (for lack of a
better term). You say that Cortex Command, Samorost and Dwarf Fortress
are too weird or unpolished or experimental for you? The point is... that's OK.


These games aren't for everyone. Heck, they aren't for most people.
But by making a small, core group of people happy, extreme indie
developers are able to produce a wholly unique product - the exact,
uncompromising product they want to make. And they are able to
financially support themselves by doing it.


Uncharted 3 has a team of perhaps 200 and sells millions of copies. Dwarf Fortress has a team of ONE and
has (maybe) 1000 donators. Both models have proven to be completely
viable. The last five years have proven that very very small teams can
make a title for an extremely small niche, and still succeed.





Mass Market & Mainstream Acceptance





Are FarmVille and Zynga's other hit social games bad for the
industry? Maybe. That's a topic for another day. One thing that can't be
denied is that the rise of social games and friendly platforms like the
Wii have gotten literally millions of people playing (and spending
money on) video games for the first time in their lives. This is
undeniably a positive development.


I grew up with my mom and three sisters. I was the gamer in the
family – not them. Now we're grown up and all have households of our
own. ALL of my sisters (and my mom) have Wiis in their house, and they
all play Words with Friends on their smartphones. That's five Wiis in my
family. A family that never expressed anything more than a passing
interest in games, prior to this generation. What more needs to be said?





Too Long; Didn't Read - aka The Resurgance of Long-Dead Ideals


This generation has seen the resurgence of the point & click
adventure games, 2D platformers, twin-stick shooters (heck the
resurgence of the high score in general), and virtually everything else
that the video game industry was in danger of losing entirely.


This happened at the same time that big AAA titles became
even bigger spectacles. The same time that indie titles became even more
experimental and financially viable. The same time that more people
across all demographics began playing games than ever before.


There have been some bumps along the way (charging for on-disk DLC,
aggressive DRM), and there are some signs that this Golden Age may be
waning (struggling Japanese devs, neutering the used games business).
But still... gamers everywhere need to reflect back on just how good we have had it this generation.


We currently enjoy an atmosphere where gamers can be equally excited
about Minecraft, Call of Duty, I Am Alive, Dear Esther and Angry Birds
on Facebook. And they all exist in a different viable, thriving video
game category.


Appreciate it!