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With the 2010s coming to a close, we have had many dramatic changes to the gaming industry. We have all the fun moments: The Fortnite and Minecraft war, horrible games from reputable companies, and the worst of them all, microtransactions, amongst other moments that will either plague the gaming industry, or prop it up.
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Actually, maybe not. Regardless, let’s look at the important moments in the gaming industry.
Trending games are trendy…
Fortnite took the world by storm as many flocked the game to experience its Battle Royale mode and its unique art style. Seemingly overnight, the game became an icon, with dance moves from the game being a new staple in pop culture, and Fortnite now being considered an esports-worthy game. According to Business Insider, there are approximately 250 million players in Fortnite, and on Youtube, it is the second most viewed game on the platform, second only to Minecraft. Additionally, in 2016, the game Pokemon GO made everyone across the globe explore their surroundings in search of the classic Pokemon creatures we have come to love, with an average monthly player activity reaching 147 million players.
Gambling… I mean, Loot Boxes
Even if you aren’t involved with gaming, you may have heard about microtransactions, or its more commonly criticized feature: Loot Boxes. Corporations like Electronic Arts (EA) have tried defending their rampant use of Loot Boxes, but pretty much the entire consumer base has been adamantly against the use of Loot Boxes, arguing that Loot Boxes lock out a big part of the game, and promotes gambling to children. Whether you are in favor or against Loot Boxes, it has caused much debate, and even it getting banned in countries like Belgium. Part of the controversy is that people can spend real money to buy Loot Boxes, which could have something that is of value to the consumer, and children are susceptible to clicking the BUY 10 LOOT BOXES FOR $29.99 without really thinking about the consequences.
Biggest hits…! And flops…
Now we reached the fun part! These games really influenced how we perceive the gaming industry. If not for these games and their innovations, emotional story-telling, and especially their mistakes, we would not progress at such a rapid pace this past decade!
Disclaimer: These games are in no particular order.
Biggest Hits!
- Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
- Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011)
- Dark Souls (2011)
- Mass Effect 2 (2010)
- Overwatch (2016)
- Celeste (2018)
- Last Of Us (2013)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
- God of War (2018)
- Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild (2017)
These games combined technical execution, immersive story-telling and most importantly, replayability quality to become the standard we, as consumers, expect from gaming corporations. Alas, not all games have been received positively. Next are games that we try to ignore, since their very existence brings us a harsh reality: The greed some Gaming corporations have, and their carelessness when making these games, and how artistic expression can sometimes go too far. Sometimes, we wonder how these games ever got approved, published or even sold.
Disclaimer 2 (Electric Boogaloo): These games are still in no particular order.
Biggest flops
- No Man’s Sky (2016)
- Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)
- Fallout 76 (2018)
- Aliens: Colonial Marines (2013)
- Sonic Boom Series (2014-2015)
- Call of Duty Black Ops 4 (2018)
- Anthem (2018)
- Ride to Hell: Retribution (2013)
- Postal III (2011)
- Hatred (2015)
There are so many games that could have been on both lists, but in the essence of time, I added what I thought were the absolute important games of the decade, both good and bad. If you have any other suggestions on what should be on each list, please let me know!
I agree with much of the lists that were created here. Although, I have not personally played many of them, I did hear a lot of news and reviews about many of these games. But one thing about the flops is that while No Man’s Sky was a flop at it’s release, it has greatly improved with many updates and now many people think that it is a great game.
I agree! Although No Man’s Sky really dropped the ball at the beginning of it’s release, they have really worked hard to accomplish the promises it made. My reasoning was that since No Man’s Sky released with little to no content, and has disappointed many fans who were looking forward to the game, it was a major failure and a PR nightmare. Thankfully, they have worked hard to add the content they promised, and slowly they have regained their reputation!
I agree! My reasoning was that since No Man’s Sky released with so little content and disappointed many fans who were expecting the promises Hello Games had made, it deserved a spot in the biggest flops of the list. However, unlike some of the games on the list, Hello Games have worked extremely hard to redeem themselves, and so far, they have not disappointed. I hope that some of the other games on the flops list, like Star Wars BF II and Fallout 76 can redeem themselves like No Man’s Sky did.
The gaming scene is also interesting to me because of its constant fluctuations. Video games can go from being all the gaming community can talk about, to suddenly being the worst game in the market. I think this speaks to the attention spans of the current generations. A good example of this is APEX legends, which was a very popular game for a few weeks at the most. Most people thought that it was going to overtake Fortnite, but very soon after it withered away.
I am not a big gamer, but just as everyone else on the face of the world I played fortnite, so I appreciated the graphics and ad at the top. I also thought that start wars battlefront was not even close to the hype that it was supposed to have.
I agree with most of the list that you created but I want to point out that although fallout 76 is considered a bad game, I do not think it was one of the biggest flops. My reasoning for this is that the concept of it was new and, in my opinion, the idea was fantastic but the execution was very poor. The benefit of this game is that it marks the split between Bethesda and Obsidian games and birthed the game Outerworlds.
I agree with much of what the article is referring to, but I think the greatest games of the decade were not inclusive of the mobile gaming scene. Many people can recall from their childhood playing games such as Temple Run, Flappy Bird, and Cut The Rope. These kinds of popular games should be included on the greatest hits list because more people played them than did the games currently on the list.
I found it funny how EA has gotten themselves into legal trouble with their loot boxes. Thankfully, games like Forza Motorsport 7 have removed them ENTIRELY since its launch back in 2017. This was a welcome change, as it allows more fairness. Furthermore, Fortnite eSports has really become a joke due to Epic’s lack of communication, or care for that matter. One example of this is the omission of an FOV slider, which is utterly infuriating…
Like Jackson Habala said earlier, some of the games on the flop list have redeemed themselves. Star Wars Battlefront II (SWBF2) is among one of them. Previously, Battlefront II was plagued with microtransactions which gave players who purchased them a significant advantage. However, future updates revived the game because all the microtransactions, except for cosmetics, were removed. As of right now, there are no more loot boxes, all the heroes are free, and all of the future heroes and updates will be free. A lot of people are also content with the updates, especially with the clone wars update, so now many people are happy with the game.