Please don't: We don't want to see these 10 trends in 2021 or at E3

Please don't

Great weather, nice people, only competent politicians: we think you will agree with us when we say that there is simply too much positivity in the world.

What, do you see it differently? Well, now we've maneuvered ourselves in a corner with this statement, now we're going to pull it off too. Accordingly, we hit the negative plastering and say: Please not, in relation to video games!

Table of contents

Page 1 Please not! - We don't want to see these gaming trends in 2021 or at E3 - Switch remasters, nerve celebrities and more 1.1 Switch remaster 1.2 Cross promo 1.3 Day one editions 1.4 Celebrity integration 1.5 Open World as standard Page 2 Please do not! - We don't want to see these gaming trends anymore in 2021 and at E3 - Open Worlds, Battle Royale and more 2.1 Early Access as permanent condition 2.2 Live service games 2.3 Crunch talk 2.4 Obligatory day-one patches 2.5 Battle Royale Page 3 Picture gallery for "Please don't: We want these 10 trends in 2021 and at E3…. Aufklappen We don't want to see the following ten things in the future. Therefore, dear publishers: If you present your new games, be it now at the digital one E3 2021 or some other way: then please make sure that you do without these annoying trends of the recent past.

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Switch-Remaster

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. Famcom Detective Club. Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. Please don't: We don't want to see these 10 trends in 2021 or at E3 (2) Source: Nintendo Destroy All Humans! : These and many other remakes and especially remasters will be released for the Nintendo Switch in the coming months. Yes, many of them will or already exist for other platforms. Nevertheless, the trend towards new editions on the Nintendo console is much more pronounced than with the competition, not least because Nintendo itself feeds it.

If all of the former Wii-U exclusive titles were on the hybrid console ported, and games from the PS2 and Gamecube era find a new home on it with impressive regularity. And then there are countless implementations of games for PS3 and Xbox 360, just think of Bioshock, XCOM 2, Burnout Paradise, Dragon's Dogma and many more.

It is already clear why that is. The hardware, which is easy to program, is ideal for this, the costs are low and the success of the console promises good sales figures. But now it's just too much of a good thing. Nostalgia is all well and good, but in view of the wave of remasters it quickly disappears that things are looking rather gloomy on the Switch with completely new games apart from the indies.

Cross-Promo

Please not : We don't want to see these 10 trends in 2021 or at E3 (3) Source: Sony We understand that the development of games costs money and that sponsoring and cross promotion are important tools for financing. However, in recent years these deals have grown strange. Sometimes there is more talk about the product, which is somehow distantly related to the game, than about the game itself. Or the advertising is so aggressively integrated into the game that it actually negatively affects the feel of the game.

Porsche advertises with Cyberpunk 2077. An overpriced gaming mouse advertises Cyberpunk 2077. Monster Energy Drink advertises Cyberpunk 2077, in Death Stranding he stands there in a cutscene in umpteen times full screen. A Mercedes finds its way as a kart in Mario Kart 8. Hello Kitty is celebrating its arrival as a decoration in Animal Crossing. Any half-baked films and series should tempt you to play Final Fantasy 15, plus an equally half-baked mobile game, which then also appears in the game itself.

That has something of the barker who presses his goods in the face and just really annoying. Call of Duty and Xbox Pringles and the Terminator in Gears 5 aren't going to make us like either the brand or the advertised game all of a sudden. And the fact that Uncharted hero Nathan Drake promoted Subway in an incredibly embarrassing way makes the end of his saga a little easier to digest.

Day One Editions

Please not: We don't want to see these 10 trends in 2021 or at E3 (4) Source: Square Enix "Buy now and get three cool hats and the Pups-Emoji for the avatar!" "Those who pre-order at Gamedüdelidü will receive three additional missions, as well as a toilet paper cover in the design of the game!" "You want to know what is included in which edition of our game? Then just download our super-simple 25-page PDF guide!"

Well, we're exaggerating, but just a little: Day One Editions are really a horror. Here is an exclusive extra, because a skin, if you have pre-ordered, sometimes also an edition that includes goodies for 200 euros, but not the game itself: What has been going on in recent years is really customer unfriendliness and potential for confusion hard to beat. One thing is only available at retailer A, but retailer B has a different little gimmick with it and at retailer C you can play exclusively three days earlier in multiplayer. If you really want to have all the content of a game, you have to invest a lot of research and, in the worst case, still not be successful.

A normal version and one with an artbook and three digital goodies for a few more euros: That is true not really necessary either, but it's okay. This deliberate confusion tactic to trigger the FOMO of the players, i.e. fear of missing out, the fear of missing something: that's just shabby.

Celebrity integration

Please don't: We do not want to see these 10 trends in 2021 and no longer at E3 (5) Source: Activision / Sledgehammer Games Games are games and films are films. So far logical. However, the more technology advances in gaming, the more the two areas overlap. Therefore, in all sorts of blockbusters, stars and starlets from Hollywood are now often used to boost sales. Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077, Kit Harington and Kevin Spacey in Call of Duty, Norman Reedus in Death Stranding, and Shaquille O'Neil in Shaq Fu; the list could go on and on for a long, long time.

The only problem is: A familiar face doesn't necessarily make a game better. And often enough you notice that so much budget has gone into celebrity salaries that savings have been made in other nooks and crannies.

The other way round it becomes ashamed when the Hollywood stars talk about the games in which they appear and obviously have no idea about them. Worse are only semi-well-known advertising faces that don't even have anything to do with the game at some point. This is a recurring thing, especially in German-speaking countries. But no, just because Barbara Schöneberger, Rebecca Mir or Ross Antony promise us on the cover that they will find any Shovelware title good, we still don't get it, thank you very much.

Open World as Standard

Please don't: We don't want to see these 10 trends in 2021 or at E3 (6) Source: Ubisoft Open worlds are actually something great. If there is a huge open area to explore freely, in many cases you can immerse yourself much deeper in the atmosphere of games. However, not absolutely every game needs an open world, and in recent years it has seemed like it would become a basic requirement for every new video game.

Ubisoft is a particular culprit here. The French even donned the once linear brand Ghost Recon in a corresponding costume and almost every new announcement carries a bold "Open World" in front of it. See Immortals: Fenyx Rising, The Crew, and Skull & Bones. But other manufacturers are not lagging behind, and if it is not a completely open world, then at least a semi-open one. Think of God of War or Metro Exodus.

As I said, that's not bad per se, but the other way round is also true: highlights are much more difficult to set in an open world. In other words, scripted moments that work precisely because they happen within a limited framework. In addition, with open worlds, the developers quickly fall into the design scheme of "walk around and collect everything that comes at your feet". If in 2021 no longer every second game comes with a huge map and collectibles, we will definitely be happy.

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