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Breadth in games combatting triple-A "content-churning"

In my latest Huffington Post UK piece, I posit that conservativeness at the top-spend end of video gaming has, thankfully, been off-set by increases in internet speeds and the rise of "bite-size" gaming formats such as mobile and PC.

When I sat down to write the article last week, I couldn't quite believe it when I turned up the facts for this paragraph:

"The bestselling games this Christmas are so entrenched in sequelisation as to border on ridiculousness. We have the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the 14th Elder Scrolls release since 1994; we have Battlefield 3, the 19th Battlefield product published since 2002; and, most obviously, we have Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the Vaz-baiting, industry-crushing super-game built on seven previous releases in the Call of Duty franchise since 2003."

Shocking. But not devastating. We aren't facing a true crisis in gaming creativity as we've managed to skirt the traditional publisher model thanks to increases in 'net speeds and the rise of digital distribution, and we've seen expansion away from reliance on the traditional, £40 game through the arrival of mobile gaming and the PC as an open platform.

So stop whining about shooting yet another man in the face: there's so much variety out there it's bewildering. Have a read.

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In this article

Battlefield 3

PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo 3DS

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PC, Nintendo DS

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About the Author
Patrick Garratt avatar

Patrick Garratt

Founder & Publisher (Former)

Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.

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