There are over 70 000 games on Steam, hundreds of current gen games for console, thousands of last-gen games, and an unknown, but massive number of games released across the history of the medium. So, if you feel like you have nothing to play because the release calendar is looking sparse, you only have to look back for the masterpieces you’ve missed.
There Are More Games Than You Can Imagine
I’ve thrown a few numbers out there already, but take any successful console, and you’ll find thousands of games that were made for it. The PlayStation 3 has something like just over five thousand titles, the PS2 isn’t far off that number, and those are just two notable systems. Even if you canceled out all cross-platform duplicates of games, you’d still have more games than any one person could play in a lifetime.
If we apply Sturgeon’s Law (that 90% of everything is crud), that still leaves you with more games than you could ever play. Even if you just narrowed it down to the best ten percent of the handful of genres you like, you almost certainly haven’t played them all, and most people aren’t that narrow in their focus.
My point is that there are a lot of games, and unless you’re some sort of immortal gaming vampire, you definitely haven’t played even all the best ones.
Great Games Never Expire
One part of the reason the claim that “there’s nothing to play” irks me so much is that the people saying it are only interested in new games. There’s this general sense that older games are obsolete in some way, and that newer games are better simply by virtue of being new. You might think this only applies to games with graphics or mechanics that nowadays gamers can’t tolerate anymore, but there are plenty of people who aren’t even interested in playing games from last year.
My personal suspicion, at least for some folks, is that it’s not really about video games, but about the social experience of gaming. So, since no one is actively talking or engaging with games outside the current hype cycle, they aren’t interested in playing. If, however, you are interested in video games for their own inherent qualities (madness, I know), then you need to shake the idea that video games have some sort of expiration date.
Just like classic movies are still just as valid, entertaining, and important as modern films, so games don’t lose their luster just by being older. There are many older games worth experiencing, and just as many that have yet to be surpassed. Which brings me to my next point.
Newer Does Not Mean Better
Not only are older games not lesser by virtue of their age, in many cases they represent the pinnacle of their genre. It’s easy to think that a new game must be better than what came before, like each iPhone having slightly better specifications. However, that’s not how the creative arts work, and I’d even argue that a lot of the designs and features driven by the needs of shareholders have made modern games worse for players. I know I’d much rather play Assassin’s Creed II than Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. I’d much rather play Diablo II than Diablo IV. The original Deus Ex still hasn’t been surpassed, not even by its own sequels. Some of which are also incredibly good games.
The art of making games has definitely advanced, and game developers can now do things that were impossible before. A game like Baldur’s Gate III could not be done within the technical confines of Baldur’s Gate II‘s era, as one example. That said, you’ll find the vast majority of the best games of all time in the past, not the recent past or near future.
Focusing on Older Games Saves You a Fortune
While I don’t think video games become worth any less as time goes by, market forces have determined that older games do get cheaper. That’s great for gamers, because it means instead of blowing between $60 and $120 on a brand-new game, you can buy a dozen classic games instead. I’ve argued that buying games at launch doesn’t make sense before, but the corollary to that is that older games that have come down in price make the most sense to buy. You’re still getting to experience top-notch titles, just not at egregious top-notch title prices. It may even save you money by not needing the latest hardware to play these games at their best.
Finding the Best Gems Is Easy These Days
Even if you have the latest console or PC hardware, that doesn’t mean older games are out of reach either. Emulation, backwards compatibility, and even game streaming have made it easy to find and access older games without much hassle. I’m playing classic games I missed on the original Xbox and Xbox 360 now, thanks to my Xbox Series S.
Dedicated storefronts like GoG ensure that older classic games remain playable on PC, and both Sony and Nintendo have subscription services that include a huge number of their best games over the years. So stop saying you have nothing to play, cue up some best game lists or YouTube gaming retrospectives, and prepare to experience the best games known to man or beast.
