Do you think it has to do with kids not really wanting to tether to reality when playing games? Video games that look gamey can function as an escape, whereas reels/shorts/tiktok provide their reality-associated dopamine releases.
After all, the kids that spend time in front of screens generally either play games or brainrot.
I don't have a great hypothesis tbh, but I suspect it's unrelated to app usage. My kid isn't allowed anywhere near a mobile device, and we regulate tv/game time pretty tightly. I think it might have more to do with growing up in a world where lifelike computer-generated images are taken for granted versus being treated as a sign of progress.
Ah, actually great point! Realism has gotten so good nowadays that no one really says “Can it run CRISIS” anymore. Hence artistic direction and cultivating a vibe is now coveted.
Hell yeah! One of my friends keeps yapping on about graphics and it drives me nuts. He's like, "PowerWash Simulator 2 isn't as pretty as I thought" and it's like I just want to pressure wash buildings???
I'm so over the graphics arms race. Give me good mechanics and I'm in 100%.
From maybe age 8-22 me and my friends cared A LOT about graphics.
I’ve been playing mostly console games with my now 10 year old son since he was conscious, and he’s only mentioned graphics a few times, and never using those terms. I specifically recall while playing the latest Spider-Man on PS5 he commented on how realistic it looks — curiously this wasn’t a rave about the game, just a recognition. He cared more about the swinging mechanics.
More recently, when we played Switch 2, he ONLY cared about the online multiplayer and open world functions of MarioKart. Hasn’t mentioned or I believe even thought about how the game looks.
Similarly, he’s playing Grow a Garden and has never mentioned liking it despite how horrible it looks.
I think you nailed it — it’s a given today that games can look great. Similarly to movies — people used to talk about how great the VFX were, and would go see a movie just for the VFX. That hasn’t been the case for years.
Or look at VR. So much money has been spent developing AAA VR games, but the huge hit for Meta is Gorilla Tag, which is polygon city.
I’m rambling. But yeah. The youths don’t crave the graphics.
I love this point! But I wonder if there’s a threshold as to how bad a game can look that it deters players? And I wonder if frame rate matters more than graphics?
Some older games I can’t really play anymore, but I realise that’s due to a stuttering frame rate over how bad they look.
Great piece and something me and a fellow game developer have been talking about a lot recently.
The current generation has photorealistic games so the 'graphics' ceiling has been more or less been reached and they don't equate visual brilliance with better, as my generation did (am old, 52). I started with an Atari 2600 and a games "goodness" was inherently tied to the graphics arms race which is why seeing Dragon's Lair on a road trip aged 10 is still burned in my memory as both simultaneously over and underwhelming - incredible visuals, terrible "game" experience.
Hypercasual games have probably helped shatter the graphics myth too, easily available on mobile, designed to be instantly understandable, fun and addictive - they generally look like 'graphics' are the last thing the developer thought about. And honestly, that's probably a breath of fresh air games needed; a back to basics focus on finding the fun.
I think games like Vampire Survivors are the beneficiaries of that, it's the opposite of Dragon's Lair - it looks like ass but once it's got its fangs into you, it's game over man!
I couldn't say exactly when it began, but we are definitely in an era where game developers (typically indies) often target specific console generations for their art style. I find this exciting and it really opens up the potential for what games can be expected to look like (and helps push us away from expectations at all). One could probably attribute it equally to nostalgia and practicality. For a small team, it is a good option since fulfilling the graphical potential that modern game engines offer is unrealistic. From the consumer's point of view again we have nostalgia, but I have to believe there is something almost reassuring about a simplified presentation that doesn't require the visual scrutiny that modern AAA releases demand.
I've also found this while playing with my son. As long as the game concept is solid, mechanics wise, and the game captures their attention, graphics are accepted for what they are, even bad ones.
As kids, it's easier to fill in the "missing" details with their imagination. This is why we, many times, remember childhood titles having awesome graphics. It might be part nostalgia effect, but it's also the imagination lens through which we played those games.
Yet, I saw Junior's wonder and appreciating a lot of times beautiful scenes, be they cartoon like, 8-bit, drawn or just 3D. Like in the games I covered here, through a Gamer Dad angle. So one thing is certain:
Do you think it has to do with kids not really wanting to tether to reality when playing games? Video games that look gamey can function as an escape, whereas reels/shorts/tiktok provide their reality-associated dopamine releases.
After all, the kids that spend time in front of screens generally either play games or brainrot.
I don't have a great hypothesis tbh, but I suspect it's unrelated to app usage. My kid isn't allowed anywhere near a mobile device, and we regulate tv/game time pretty tightly. I think it might have more to do with growing up in a world where lifelike computer-generated images are taken for granted versus being treated as a sign of progress.
Ah, actually great point! Realism has gotten so good nowadays that no one really says “Can it run CRISIS” anymore. Hence artistic direction and cultivating a vibe is now coveted.
Hell yeah! One of my friends keeps yapping on about graphics and it drives me nuts. He's like, "PowerWash Simulator 2 isn't as pretty as I thought" and it's like I just want to pressure wash buildings???
I'm so over the graphics arms race. Give me good mechanics and I'm in 100%.
From maybe age 8-22 me and my friends cared A LOT about graphics.
I’ve been playing mostly console games with my now 10 year old son since he was conscious, and he’s only mentioned graphics a few times, and never using those terms. I specifically recall while playing the latest Spider-Man on PS5 he commented on how realistic it looks — curiously this wasn’t a rave about the game, just a recognition. He cared more about the swinging mechanics.
More recently, when we played Switch 2, he ONLY cared about the online multiplayer and open world functions of MarioKart. Hasn’t mentioned or I believe even thought about how the game looks.
Similarly, he’s playing Grow a Garden and has never mentioned liking it despite how horrible it looks.
I think you nailed it — it’s a given today that games can look great. Similarly to movies — people used to talk about how great the VFX were, and would go see a movie just for the VFX. That hasn’t been the case for years.
Or look at VR. So much money has been spent developing AAA VR games, but the huge hit for Meta is Gorilla Tag, which is polygon city.
I’m rambling. But yeah. The youths don’t crave the graphics.
You’re not just plugging him into omega strikers?
I love this point! But I wonder if there’s a threshold as to how bad a game can look that it deters players? And I wonder if frame rate matters more than graphics?
Some older games I can’t really play anymore, but I realise that’s due to a stuttering frame rate over how bad they look.
Oh yeah there’s definitely a threshold. Grow A Garden is surely well above that threshold on frame rate and performance, for instance.
Currently, I have a 3080! This year I am going to upgrade to a 5080 as well :)
Great piece and something me and a fellow game developer have been talking about a lot recently.
The current generation has photorealistic games so the 'graphics' ceiling has been more or less been reached and they don't equate visual brilliance with better, as my generation did (am old, 52). I started with an Atari 2600 and a games "goodness" was inherently tied to the graphics arms race which is why seeing Dragon's Lair on a road trip aged 10 is still burned in my memory as both simultaneously over and underwhelming - incredible visuals, terrible "game" experience.
Hypercasual games have probably helped shatter the graphics myth too, easily available on mobile, designed to be instantly understandable, fun and addictive - they generally look like 'graphics' are the last thing the developer thought about. And honestly, that's probably a breath of fresh air games needed; a back to basics focus on finding the fun.
I think games like Vampire Survivors are the beneficiaries of that, it's the opposite of Dragon's Lair - it looks like ass but once it's got its fangs into you, it's game over man!
I couldn't say exactly when it began, but we are definitely in an era where game developers (typically indies) often target specific console generations for their art style. I find this exciting and it really opens up the potential for what games can be expected to look like (and helps push us away from expectations at all). One could probably attribute it equally to nostalgia and practicality. For a small team, it is a good option since fulfilling the graphical potential that modern game engines offer is unrealistic. From the consumer's point of view again we have nostalgia, but I have to believe there is something almost reassuring about a simplified presentation that doesn't require the visual scrutiny that modern AAA releases demand.
I've also found this while playing with my son. As long as the game concept is solid, mechanics wise, and the game captures their attention, graphics are accepted for what they are, even bad ones.
As kids, it's easier to fill in the "missing" details with their imagination. This is why we, many times, remember childhood titles having awesome graphics. It might be part nostalgia effect, but it's also the imagination lens through which we played those games.
Yet, I saw Junior's wonder and appreciating a lot of times beautiful scenes, be they cartoon like, 8-bit, drawn or just 3D. Like in the games I covered here, through a Gamer Dad angle. So one thing is certain:
The beautiful doesn't pass unnoticed!