The game industry at this point in time is not really one industry. There is very little cross over in markets between AAA corporations releasing 15 games a year 9 of which are the yearly title of their series, app developers pumping out a new game for their contract every week with predatory micro transactions and passion games that took a single person 6 years to get right. Each market is moving in very different directions. I want to focus a little on each. First the AAA titles. Many developers are finding that following trends and releasing the same game every year is growing tiring on the player base. The recent Assassins Creed games are a long shot from their first few ancestors. The developers are driving change and that is a good thing. Many genres are stale and need a fresh pump of life that a yearly title is not going to give anymore. With the introduction of the battle royal genre a few years ago every shooter found a way to make their most recent game interesting and new. This was great for now but even that will die out. These AAA companies need to find a new design that they can adapt into their franchises to bring life into the gaming world again.
The app developers are going to crash soon. With this newest generation being more and more aware of adds, micro transactions, technology in general, and these tactics to draw out their money, app developers will be getting less and less money to keep up their current course. Something is going to give and it won’t be pretty when it does. App gaming is going to need to change to be something else, it could possibly be these AAA companies porting their games over to mobile with separate servers that saves both AAA companies and mobile gaming. It may be that mobile gaming is going back to what it was in the early days of smartphones, simple idle games that take a couple minutes to do something that has little consequence to keep the player from having to commit too much time. Fun ideas that give the players something to think about in the slow times of their days.
On the complete opposite side of things, Indie games are in a great spot in terms of fans, interest and growth. Indie games in the last few years have shown great promise and even outclassed many AAA titles. Mostly being lower priced, with passionate teams, great community support, and a love for gaming and not money, these games are showing what games really should and could be. I worry that too many people are seeing these indie games are so successful and are going to either, create a quick cash grab that looks like a decent indie game but is made by a AAA company looking to encroach on the market or normal people will dedicate their lives to creating the next Hollow Knight without the skills, means or time to do so and get themselves hurt. Either way there is a bright future for indie games.