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Why? Because of polish.
Is polish bad? No, not at all. It's helpful when a game actually works, so you can properly enjoy its content (you know, the reason you bought a game in the first place). But, over time, polish has slowly risen on to a pedestal over all other aspects of development. That means less attention has been given to areas like creating new ideas or taking things in clever directions. You can easily see this transformation from generation to generation.
However, it feels like we've gotten to an extreme. Eventually, I just sort of stopped bothering with most modern games, and looking from the outside in, the whole system cycle turned into a blur. Numbers would change on the end of franchise names, but the games would stay the same. Even some new IPs would borrow so many elements from other titles that they looked just like sequels with different coats of paint. Sure, many of these games were spotless, but it's like we're getting the same big hits year after year. The developers are spending too much time on polishing existing ideas, and not enough on creating new ones.
Of course, rising budgets definitely play a role in this. It's difficult to take risks when a single title's failure threatens to starve your whole family. Of course, the problem is on the consumers’ side as well. To some people, if a game gets an average review of seven, it might as well be zero. There's a cost factor for the consumer as well, but it seems most gamers value near-spotless polish over something actually new or interesting. That stands for both new and existing IPs.
However, this is a problem that already has a solution. Over the last two years, digital titles on the console front have really started to shine. What used to be only smaller indie-like experiences focused on singular ideas are now becoming more and more ambitious. Even the mid-budget title gap which formed this generation is starting to be filled in from the digital end. For most people, that’s great. Unfortunately, I'm anti-digital, but that's a story for another day.
So what have I been doing the last seven years? I've turned to the past and have been focusing on anything pre-HD, from the Commodore 64 to the original Xbox. While my collection for older systems continues to grow, my amount of PlayStation 3 titles sites at a whopping eight.
I didn't completely ignore this generation, though. I found some entertainment on the Wii, and still use it fairly often. Why? Is it because I'm a giant Nintendo fanboy? Probably, but I'd like to think that's untrue, as I'm sitting here without a Wii U. Honestly, the real reason is mainly because the Wii just didn't follow the trend of other systems. Creativity was at its forefront, as well as the terrible motion controls.
Reflecting on this generation in recent months, I do regret not giving many titles a chance, and I've been making efforts to redeem myself by tackling some of the bigger hits. The cycle is finally winding down, so I’m a bit late, but I guess it’s better than never.