And you need a >$300 video card to even play the games 😂

AAA gaming is dead for me, but indie games are at its best.

Ye. There's a reason why we're seeing fewer games these days.

I wrote more in my other comment, but I don't think we are at the end of gaming. I think we have simultaneously some of the best and some of the worst practices in gaming right now.

You can buy a game for $100 and spend $20 to buy a fucking pixel hat, but you can also spend $10 and get an amazing experience that a guy put together in his spare time over the past 12 years. There's been multiple game releases this year alone that would probably make my top 10 of all time list, none of which are ridldles with microtransactions.

I wish I could say that the exploitative business practices would go away, but we know they won't. I just hope the good practices don't go away as well.

That's why I pretty much exclusively play indie games these days. A small studio with less than half a dozen people aren't going to fuck over their customers with lootboxes and bullshit. If they make an expansion for a game it is a proper expansion for it.

AAA industry is pure garbage these days though, nothing worth playing in that slick, graphically detailed but gameplay bankrupt side of the industry.

Even sooner that microtransaction. With expansion packs for me. They understand that there is no need to sell you a full game and they can make you pay +60$ for everything called an "expansion".

The so-called "Xbox 360" days (2004-2012?) so much socializing back then.

For me personally late Super Famicom to late PS1 was about my peak, but that is probably because I am really partial to JRPGs. Things like FFVI, Chrono Trigger, the PS1 FF games are all hard to top.

However, I think right now has its merits too. Yes we have some of the worst examples of exploitative business practices like in the OP, especially in the free to play realm. Microtransactions, premium currencies, time-limited battle passes with premium tracks, all that bullshit. It's all tuned to prey on vulnerable tendancies of people.

However, there are titles that aren't exploitative. Baldur's Gate 3 is a phenomenal example of that. The big "prestige single player games" that Sony has kind of made their thing generally don't bother me either, they give exactly what is advertised and don't really nickle/dime you past that.

It has also never been a better time for indy development and publishing. One-two people studios have the tools to create and publish really impressive games. There's a wider variety of games available now for every possible taste than ever before. I love factory games and there is a wealth of them coming out recently. Incidentally, I still recommend Dyson Sphere Program in that genre.

It's Call of Duty for phones. And this is actually made by Activision with Timi

Additional tiers are a complete waste since not everyone has the time to grind.

How does Genshin have culture. It can't even run on a potato phone

This. It's about time gamers realize this horrible reality we can't escape from no matter how we vote our wallets UNLESS capitalism is abolished.