Many children, teens, and adults nowadays play videogames. Whether it was a huge part of their childhood or they were recently introduced to the video game world, it can be agreed that there is a vast variety of videogames. The list is virtually endless containing role-playing games, cooking, shooting, battle royals, building, alternate reality, and story games. There are so many different platforms to play on too, including console, pc, and mobile to fit anyone’s situation. 

Videogames have been around since the ’50s, thought to have been invented by a Physicist named William Higinbotham. He invented a simple tennis game on a small analog computer. Now it’s safe to say that videogames have definitely changed over the years, they keep on evolving and evolving with the ever-expanding world of technology. They’ve gone from 8-by-8 pixels on a screen to extremely realistic visuals and animations. 

Some might say that the videogame industry is not what it used to be. It started with pure entertainment, then as technology evolved it morphed into an art form. Some people today feel as if videogame companies have become money hungry because of all the attention it’s getting with the new generations. Battle royals such as Warzone, PUBG, and the extremely popular Fortnite, advertise many perks and cool new outfits and weapons that you must pay for. This is relevant in almost any videogame you find nowadays whether it is an RPG or a simple shooter game. 

Mason Shepherd is a high school student and has been playing videogames for most of his life. He enjoys playing RPGs, melee fighting games, some shooter games, and open-world escapes.  When asked about how the videogame industry has changed, he replied: “Videogames used to be about art, a story, and sharing ideas. Now a lot of them have turned into a cash grab and greed. They used to feel like it was my own personal escape, my own little world. However, now the games feel like a flat setting.” When asked if he likes the change, he said: “No, even though everything is bound to change, this is an unhealthy change. The moment you start to put a value on art, it changes the feeling for me. Back then videogame creators of RPGs cared about the game but now since the companies have put a cost and only care about the money and not the possible story or the art, it makes the games feel hollow. The games I’ve played recently, I see a lot of missed opportunities for a great story, but completely butcher the chance because they want to make it all about the money.” 

Camryn Mitchell is also a high school student and has been playing videogames for most of her life too. When asked if she has noticed a change in videogames she said: “Yes, because ever since the battle royale thing came into play every videogame company used that as a profit. Like they tried to profit off of it and it worked. Games like Call of Duty used it to create Warzone and they profited off of that greatly.” When asked if she liked the new changes to videogames she replied: “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love videogames and I still play games like Call of Duty and I also play Warzone from time to time, but it doesn’t have the feel of old videogames. When it was more about entertainment and not profit ‘cause I grew up on videogames.”

Coming from the point of view of someone who has mainly played Minecraft growing up (an open-world building game,) and not many shooters or RPGs, I too have seen the change in the videogame industry. I grew up watching my brother and his friends playing Halo and Call of Duty, not having to worry about the cost of the next battle pass or the cost of some guns, you actually had to play and do good in the game to earn them. Nowadays you can just pay to win it seems. I play RPGs and some fighting games like Elderscrolls and ForHonor now. In games like those, there are tons of options to buy in-game currency and battle passes to get better, new armor, and fun new emotes, it’s almost impossible to earn those just by playing the game, no matter how good you are. I think that it is sad that videogames no longer feel like they’re made for entertainment or art. They’re just used for the companies to gain more and more money because our new generations are willing to pay for a “better” game experience. In reality, it’s just teaching new generations that you can pay for whatever you want, and that you don’t have to work for anything if you have the money.

Will the videogame industry ever go back to making art/entertainment instead of solely focusing on the profit? It can be concluded that there is a definite change in the industry. Some people might enjoy these changes, while others think it’s sad that videogames have come to this.