Re: Hot New Games Aren't

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>
Everybody loves new games. That's a truism of the industry; it's
something they depend on and market heavily. Don't miss out, they tell
is; buy the game now before everybody jumps ship to the next big
thing.
>
Except... apparently that truism isn't quite as true anymore. Steam's
Year in Review shows that only 15% of the total time spent on games
was spent on games released in 2024. More than a third of their time
was spent on games eight or more years old.
>
The thing is, new game SALES haven't really decreased. But people are
spending more time playing their older titles. And games that -just a
generation ago- would have been declared obsolete and ancient still
have quite a draw to them.
>
There are all sorts of reasons for this and, honestly, I think that
the sheer number of bots grinding games like TeamFortress and
CounterStrike for gambling tokens probably skews the numbers quite a
bit. But the popularity of SteamDeck, the huge influx of free or
highly-discounted older games, and the malicious monetization of
modern titles probably are all influential too.
>
I certainly have no gripe with this; I've been championing older games
for years! Go older games; strut your stuff! These new-fangled
releases ain't got nothin' on you!
>
Where do you stand? How many of the games that you played this year
were released in 2024, and how did that compare in playtime to any
older games you played?

The Newest games I purchased this year:
System Shock Remaster (about 2/3rds of the way through I stopped, will
pick up again at some point)

Mechwarrior5 Mercs (did I think about 4 missions, then I no longer had a
functional mech, since it's all swarms of enemy attacks vs single you)

CyberPunk2077 (Have not even opened it)

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered (have not played yet, gonna have to get in
the mood for those controls)



Games I actually played:
Black Desert Online
Star Trek Online
Star Wars: The Old Republic
City of Heroes
Grim Dawn
Borderlands 2+3

Xocyll