About the indie future, the repeat of the 1983 crisis, why Steam is a 'must die,' and a bit about OnLive with Desura
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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away…

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Actually, no. Just recently, right under our noses, games were being made in garages. Real, charismatic ones. They were created by small groups: 2-3 people was considered normal. Time went by, more and more consoles appeared, games multiplied and multiplied, there were already thousands of them...

And then, in 1983, the system collapsed. Completely. There were too many games, they were being sold everywhere, and their quality was below par. The reputation of video games was rapidly declining and culminated in the 1983 Video Game Crash.

Then we were saved by the Japanese. After several long years, they broke the stagnation with their NES. By centralizing the industry around one thing, they saved everyone.

25 years have passed…

The ball is now ruled by huge companies with dozens, if not hundreds, of employees. They create AAA games, technically perfect, perfect in every way… However, the further we go, the more it becomes clear — this is a dead end. “Crysis and company” have led the entire industry into a complete impasse. Here it is, the technical perfection, here is the photorealistic image and realistic physics!

Crysis pointed out the palm trees.

The starting gun was fired, and today the difference between modern shooters is hardly noticeable. Rather, a reverse process has begun, a process of degradation — Team Fortress 2, Borderlands. No, no, these are wonderful games, but they moved away from realism and seem to have led this line of development into a dead end as well.

Strategies and simulators, meanwhile, are holding on quite well. They are the most “complex” genres (MMOs will be considered later), and most likely they will hold on for a long time. But the simpler ones — arcades, puzzle games, quests — have not just cracked but have almost completely transitioned to the indie side several years ago. The arcade racing and (what irony!) fighting games are experiencing fierce battles between the