I can't wait until these companies realize that console exclusives severely cut into their profits and kill the practice off. Do they really think making something a console exclusive will "force" people's hand into buying a ~$800 console? It makes me purposefully wait until things come out on Steam at a 60% discount.
And (maybe this isn't recent, but I've played a handful of games recently with this design choice) this obsession with having ~3 different 'Interact' keys. There's one button to interact with things but only certain things, there's another button to pick up/take things but only certain things, and another button to confirm/interact with other things. Wtf? Why do I have to spam E/F/Mouse1 because they have to program 30 individual item interaction types or some shit? Why can't it just be 'Press E to talk/interact/take/hold item" anymore? I think Red Dead Redemption 2 or Witcher 3 had something like this and I couldn't make it more than an hour in to either game because it's so cumbersome fighting against enemies AND the game's controls at the same time.
It's really no surprise why AAA games are selling less and less and live service games are being shut down. No one wants any of this shit these companies are trying to push. No one wants a live service game. People want a completed project. I don't have the time to wait 4 years in the hopes that a game will get good, especially when the game's first iteration isn't good. Companies are hoping IP recognition will keep people hooked for the journey - I can't tell you how fast I uninstalled Diablo 4 after the string of initial nerfs and never looked back. I still play D2 regularly.
These companies saw a couple games labeled as "live service" earn huge money and said "We do same thing, get lot money." People don't want "expansive, sprawling, never-ending" worlds in EVERY single game. Give me a finite space for once, again. I'll take branching paths, I'll take some dead ends, I very much want secret areas to explore..but that doesn't mean I want to run for 45 minutes across a barren, empty, completely lifeless field for the sake of an "open world." When I go outside, the world feels populated. These games are never populated (because of course everything has to be set in a post-apocalyptic world where everyone is dead..except you), never feel lived in, and never feel alive anymore. "Oh here's some ancient ruins." Cool, but like..so everyone and everything except 1 flock of birds and a rogue outpost of 4 NPCs is dead? In EVERY single game world?
I've started playing Civ6 lately and been having a lot of fun with it. Pretty difficult game for a newbie, and just as difficult to find beginner guides that don't also delve into very complex systems, a lot of which need tons of micromanagement.
