What We Hope To See In Gaming For 2018

It's here, it's finally the New Year. Time for a fresh start, new beginnings, and hopeless resolutions that I can never seem to keep. 2017 brought with it a lot of heartwarming news, tragedy, and everything in between and the gaming community has often been seen as a haven for many to get away from it all. That being said, the gaming industry also had their ups and downs - but it does give us a good roadmap for how the industry is evolving, and what we'd like to see in the future.

One huge topic of discussion this past year was that of Microtransactions. This one word seems to trigger both sides of the spectrum with some being furious that this rising trend seems to be taking over, and others that don't see what the issue is. For me, the loot box system can be fun - a game within a game, almost, but only if what's in them can be earned organically. With Overwatch, it's actually a reason I keep going back despite all of the attack Hanzo mains - I want those event skins and loot boxes is how you get them. I've never spent IRL money, and never felt the need to.

However, other companies, most notably EA, have taken a more "pay-to-win" response to this trend. Whereas Overwatch crates only house cosmetic items, making them purely voluntary, EA's most recent title - Star Wars Battlefront II - opened up the gaming industry to a huge shift in perspective. During the beta, players noticed that there were loot crates that locked characters that should be available in the base game. There were also buffs locked behind those paywall that granted bonuses to players that they could use in the multiplayer portion of the game. Essentially, for those willing to shell out more cash for a title - they could pay for an advantage in multiplayer. Pay for easier leveling, pay for bonuses, ultimately - pay to win.

Bungie ran into this same critique as well when many of their post-campaign content was locked behind a paywall once the new expansion pack hit, even those that were already available pre-Curse of Osiris. It also came to light that many of the holiday-exclusive content, approximately 60%, was completely locked away in the Eververse store and could only be used once paid for with actual money. This means that those holiday incentives, many of them could not be earned via simply playing - which is how it should be.

Loot crates started out as an incentive bases mechanic in-games. A smart one, gamers love to compete. Business is business, however, and profit needs to be made to ensure future titles alongside our favourite gameplay experiences. Because of that, however, loot boxes, crates, etc have evolved from a motivational tactic to a cheap way to hit that bottom line faster. In 2018, we'd like to see this trend devolve.

WHY

Because now it's at a point where it is hurting the community. EA closed Visceral Games down, and deconstructed their expansive linear, Star Wars game because "No one wants single-player games anymore" and they wanted to focus on online experiences because they are mictrotransaction friendly. Studios are now being shut down because of this trend, anticipated games are being shunned because of this trend. Many huge names in the industry have spoken up against EA's philosophy, with even the Game Awards hosting a huge clap back of their own, so we hope to see that fight back continue in 2018 and to see this be the year of thriving single-player stories that are so stunning, EA can't help but to scratch their heads.

As an additional note - Please, please, please give me Dragon Age 4, BioWare. I have a lying Elf to catch ...