Since 2020, there’s been a huge global increase in retro gaming. Instead of playing new titles released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, it seems as though players are now much more interested in revisiting the past. This is especially true when it comes to Gen Z and Millenials, who are currently driving the retro gaming market at lightning speed. If anyone believes that “things were better in the past”, it applies to these two generations: but why exactly are they so hooked on nostalgia?
Why Retro Gaming Has Made a Huge Comeback
Within the wider gaming industry, the “retro” market is one of the most profitable. This has always been the case — even back during the early 2000s, people were still obsessed with arcade games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong from the ‘80s – but it’s fair to say that the demand for old-school games has now reached a scary new height. Instead of looking forward to new games released by today’s studios, players are looking to the past to get their gaming fix. Here’s why:
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, many gamers found comfort in retro games
- A large number of ‘classic’ games are now accessible again because they’ve been re-released on console and PC
- People get to re-live their younger years when they play games they used to love
- Older games have iconic storylines and more memorable characters
- It’s widely accepted that the quality of newer games is much lower than in the past
Not to mention, there’s a certain charm and simplicity to retro games that you simply can’t recreate today. This can be attributed to the fact that during the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, the gaming industry was just getting started out, which meant that only the best (and most passionate) developers were working in the industry. Plus, overall standards were much higher, as once a game was released, there was no going back. In other words, it had to be perfect. You couldn’t fix any of the problems via update patches due to none of the games being online-based, so all of the developers worked around the clock to make sure the games they put together were as timeless as possible.
When you combine all of these factors together it makes perfect sense why retro gaming has made a huge comeback. Simply put, people don’t like what modern games are serving up. The numbers support this, too, with Kotaku reporting that 60% of playtime in 2023 was spent on games that were released six years ago. Therefore, we can pinpoint the late 2010s as when gaming started to fall off in terms of output quality, as most players today are only interested in the games that were released before then.
Interestingly, since the start of the 2020s, sweepstakes casino analyst site sweepstakecasinobonuses.com has identified a significant increase in the number of retro-themed slots across most of the major casino sites. Rather than play online slot games with ultra-fast tumbling reels and non-stop multipliers, many players are much happier playing the simple 3-reel slots from the past (the type you would find in classic Las Vegas casinos and bars). This is why the casino part of the industry is also going through a ‘retro’ stage.
YouTube has also realized that there’s a strong demand for retro gaming, with the platform recently reporting that “There were over 1000 times more uploads of videos related to retro gaming in the first half of this year than there were for the same period in 2007.” And on Twitch, the ‘Retro’ category currently has 1.6 million (yep, million) followers.
Even Gen Z’s favorite social media platform TikTok has become obsessed with retro games. On the platform #retrogaming videos have over 6 billion views and close to 1 million uploads. What this tells us is that players aren’t just desperate to play old games from the past — they also want to watch streamers play them, too.
Nostalgia Is Currently Dominating the Industry — And It Looks Set to Stay That Way
When you look at the current gaming industry, almost everything is driven by some type of nostalgic influence. This is why many of today’s games — from STAR WARS™: Battlefront Classic Collection to Resident Evil 4 Remake — are remasters or updates of old titles. It’s also why subscription-based services like PlayStation Plus opt to keep their game libraries stacked with ‘classics’ from the past (just recently, PS Plus added tons of legendary PS1, PS2, and PS3 games to its ever-growing catalog). Game companies know that nostalgia is where the money is at, which is why remasters and remakes have been flooding the market for years.
What’s clear to see is that gamers can rely on games from the past, which is why this trend looks set to stay. What they can’t rely on, though, is the quality of the newer games that have been released since 2020. There’s been a major decrease in quality by what were once great companies, and there are several reasons why this is:
- Games are a lot more expensive to buy and make
- Modern games are dominated by DLC and microtransactions
- Developers are working towards fierce deadlines and don’t have as much time to work on games like they did in the past
Now, $70 is the new ‘normal’ when it comes to the latest releases. For some people, it’s no problem. However, the vast majority of gamers don’t want to spend that amount of money on a game they know they might not like, especially when games only used to be $30 not that long ago.
DLC and microtransactions are also a major problem. In the past, when games were released, they were released in their complete form. The issue today is that games are no longer complete and require players to purchase additional in-game DLC and microtransactions if they want to experience every possible feature. For example, many first-person shooters offer certain weapons that can only be accessed by purchasing the DLC. And the end goal isn’t to improve the user experience — it’s simply so that game companies can make more money.
Finally, you also have the game industry’s “crunch” controversy. For years, it’s been well known that developers are forced to work to harsh deadlines that are sometimes unachievable. On top of this, they have to work crazy amounts of overtime that lead to burnout and poorer quality output, as the end product is essentially rushed and not ready to be released across major platforms. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the key reasons behind the modern gaming slump.
Summary
The retro gaming comeback looks set to continue over the coming decade as more people than ever, particularly Gen Z’ers and Millennials, dive into old games from the past. Whether this nostalgic trend will start to experience a dip after the current decade ends remains to be seen, as it will largely depend on whether the market demand is still there and if game companies are able to start producing better games. One lesson that can be learnt from the ‘classic’ gaming revival, though, is that the best releases are those that can still be played 10, 20, or even 30 years after their original release and still feel the same.