As Mass Effect 3 turns 11 are people investing in new games?

On the 6th of March 2012 the third game in the Mass Effect trilogy was released, this was during the peak of Bioware (the game's developer) and was the concluding part of the stories YOU, as a player, had developed since the initial Mass Effect game back in 2007. Initially coming out to a bit of a mixed review the game is now well-received by many players and holds a very respectable 89% on Metacritic. I myself am a Mass Effect player and happily purchased the Mass Effect Legendary edition when it was released back in May 2021. In fact, one of the reasons I’m writing this article is because I’m currently on my 8th playthrough of the Mass Effect Trilogy (the second on the Legendary edition) and on my Xbox Series X console no less. 

That then got me thinking, are people really investing in new games anymore?

Recently our contributor Gregg wrote about how he sees the new breed of consoles to be failures when you compare them to their previous incarnations. (https://www.itkmagazine.com/articles/are-the-ps5-and-xbox-series-xs-failures) But I’m wondering if new machines are no longer inviting not because of the leaps and bounds in technology not being that great anymore, but because people are just continuing to play some of the old games in their game library. 

The realm of PC gaming is one that's had the ability to be, somewhat, backwards compatible for a long time now. I still have games in my collection that I played as a kid (Roller Coaster Tycoon came out in 1999) and with a patch or two, work fine on my current PC. And yes, I have played it recently. 

When I purchased the Series X I didn't actively think that I wouldn't be able to play the games I already had on my Xbox One, because I can. They all work and install perfectly, much like my experience with PC gaming. So I no longer have to think “best keep my old console to play Xcom 2” because it works. In fact, a quick look at the Xbox Game Pass Games you will see some games that came out for the Original Xbox as well as some popular titles for the Xbox 360, this is also the case for PlayStation. 

This all means, I DONT have to purchase and buy the latest titles. Now I am a fussy Gamer, quite a few games that others play to death, such as Halo, Fallout, I’m not actually that bothered by. So I thought I might be just an isolated case, but after asking my Immediate family what they play I no longer think I’m alone. 

My Daughter (Female, 15) continually plays both Minecraft (originally released in 2011) and Roblox (originally released in 2006) and rarely ventures into new game territory. She has played the New Zelda and Mario Kart, but these last a month or two before she goes back to playing the other two. My Partner, Bev, constantly flits between Final Fantasy XI and the Tomb Raider series. And then my Brother Richard doesn't seem to play anything but Destiny 2, and even that is 5 years old. 

According to NewZoo.com 7 out of the top 10 games currently played on steam are more than 5 years old while on both Playstation and Xbox you have 3 out of the top 5 games being played that are 5 years+. It could be that Covid is having an influence on this, with a lot of huge titles initially delayed due to the pandemic, but even the folks working here aren't playing new(er) titles. Anyway, we can always go back to Skyrim.