Retro over newer (AAA) games. Older games preferred over newer, trashier games.
With all the nonsense of games being trash people are playing older games, even "older" 2-10 year old games. With how broken AAA games have become, and how stale, everybody is now aiming for older games, especially without all the fake political nonsense. Who desires to pay $100-200 Canadian for Star Wars Outlaws & Dragon's Dogma 2 if you can simply play cheaper indie games like Rising World, HoloCure (for free), among other games. PalWorld & Helldivers 2 is $30 Canadian.
Older games are better.
You don't need a Youtuber to tell you the obvious, it however helps bring everybody back up to speed.
We've all sought out indie games, hence why we're all here for Rising World. I've attempted to branch away from Minecraft by playing Minetest, even if Minetest is viewed in a more fledgling state by others. (And a few certain idiots getting my thread locked because he holds grudges by defending fake people). People happily playing Terraria, Minecraft, Rising World, Palworld, HoloCure, etc. Many older games are appearing on Steam to which people are purchasing, such as Fallout New Vegas. Yes, I've listed PalWorld, but that's more on an indie side, not an age thing. Feel free to ignore that, it however shows people desired PalWorld over the broken and stagnated Pokemon game, something which also proves why people are playing older games.
Less people going to conventions, and I believe that. People are fed up of the fake crap. All you see is all the fake stuff, and when you call it out it's alleged "hate-speech", ones which gets threads locked after whining and moaning to moderators on various forums. Reddit is the worst for that, Steam is right behind. And no, nobody deserves to be banned for having a genuine conversation. Those who claim a game is dead deserve to be banned.
Prior to Visa, Mastercard, and American Express being removed from Japanese overseas gaming markets one was able to purchase various indie games via DLSite. One must now use proxy payments, such as 'DL-Pay', Webmoney, etc, to which one can enjoy tons of games. Various games can also be found on Itch.io. If there is a will, there is a way. No matter how much corporations censor and whine about reality people shall always find a way to their escapism. People were still creative in Soviet Russia making the most philosophical media, something Japan has taken the torch away from both Europe & Soviet Russia. Korea & China are now leaps and bounds over modern gaming. Everybody fled to foreign Asian gaming markets, Westerners doing everything they can to not let that happen. Censorship, Visa/MasterCard/American Express being pulled.
The "always online" bullcrap has ruined so many games to which people jump to other games, or even older ones.
Without going on a forum allowing others to dictate your thoughts when was the last time you've had genuine fun with a random game? Older games are better, and same with Indie games. If you know where to look on itch & dlsite you can still find highly obscure ones.
Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, Asteroid Shooter, among tons, and tons of other older games.
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To Long, Didn't Read:
Game developers are dishonest as they ever can be. They're intentionally stubborn, dishonest, and idiotic causing their games to follow. Instead of making their own proper unique games and perfecting them game developers are instead being lazy making cookie cutter games, as I've noted time and time again in this and other similar threads. Game developers enjoy being lazy desiring to milk other people's success instead of filling in voids, as Minecraft, PalWorld, and other games have done. Instead of making games people actually desire people are forced to go to more polished and completed games over fake-politically charged games, buggy games, incomplete games, and AAA games which is highly over-priced in the hundreds of dollars range ($100-300+). AAA games nearly cost as much as buying a new gaming console. Indie games are a fraction of that, and in the $30 Canadian range.
Don't be Fortnight, Don't be a Grand Theft Auto clone, don't make cookie cutter games (WW2 games are flawed this way), and simply make games which are truly unique and fun. Make games worth making, and fun games worth playing. Make actual REAL games. Make games out of pure passion and entertainment.