Topic: Retro Gaming is never going to move beyond the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox era.

I have been thinking about this for a while and I honestly think, with the ways gaming has been changing since the PS3 and Xbox 360 we aren't, in 20 years, going to be looking back and having a retro crowd for those and current systems the was we do for older content. I am going to try and keep this from being a wall of text but...

With the way gaming has become more and more digital, with DLCs, online multi-player, patches, updates, etc - 20 years down the road, if you pick up an original copy of, say Fallout New Vegas, on 360 - you're only gonna get the original, buggy, unpatched, DLCless version of the game. Basically an unfinished product. And that is one example. Download only games that get removed from various electronic shops, and never reposted elsewhere, will just be gone forever - unless you happen to find original hardware with the game. It's already happening. I have the Scott Pilgrim VS the World game that Ubisoft did a while back on PS3. If I were to delete it, or my PS3 broke, it is just gone. It's no longer on shops and because Ubisoft lost the license, they cannot port it.

We aren't going to really have flea markets full of old PS4 and Switch games. Because, as things appear now, most of those games will be worthless without the online infrastructure to back them up. And since it seems likely there wont be any long term "retro" servers likely supported (at least looking at current precedents)

But maybe I am wrong. What do you think retro gaming is gonna look like in 20 or 30 years?

And on the topic, retro game cartridges and systems don't last forever. I wonder how much longer those old Atari and NES carts are going to last?

@Heavyarms55
NOTHING is Eternal in the Universe.
Things will be rotten someday.
Universe will be destroyed someday.
But, for me as a collector, i'm so lucky still able to find and play Retro games (PS1, PS2, Gamecube, Wii, NDS, GBA).
You know, i already owned an Original Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix PS1 Japan lately and it still FRESH like Never aging ! (The games was released on year 2000, so it was 18 years ago from now).
And my used PS2 Slim SCPH-70000 bought on year 2017 still able to play PS2 & PS1 games like New.
Thanks to my friend that can ordering Retro games from Ebay and Playasia.

Anyway, they secret for Long lasting is keep your collection safely and tidily. Make sure you buy High quality used games from Ebay / Flea market. Store them properly and try to play them frequently while last. Retro gaming will be same fun as Modern gaming if you take care of them.

Are the PS2/GC/Xbox considered retro now?

As evidence number 1, posted above, people will refuse to look at anything with more than 3 polygons as retro.

It doesn't matter if it's old, or severely outdated.

@Yosheel I wasn't implying anything by the question, I'm genuinely curious if people find those consoles retro. Not like I posted "lmao 3d consoles will never b retro"

There's also the issue of games that come bundled... but one of the games is only as available as a digital voucher. A good example I'd say is the Sly Collection for the Vita. The PS3 version has the 3 games on disk, but the Vita has only 1 and 2 with 3 as a code. Buying a copy could mean the code was used already or expired, and a standalone version isn't sold at PSN, only the entire collection (which costs about 15 USD).

@Vinny there's people in this same forum that refuse to see the N64 as retro.

The gamecube is like 15 years old by now. Maybe more.

Well... some retro gaming forums do have a certain "cut off" point for retro discussion. So I thought there might be a certain consensus about what is considered retro or not, but seems like I was wrong.
It could be kinda confusing. If someone doesn't think the N64/PS1/Sat are retro for having 3D graphics, how would they feel about the GBA, which is a 2D platform closer to the SNES but actually much newer than those consoles?

Years ago, when the Wii U was released, I posed the question whether the Wii was then "retro". Last week, ubiSoft announced Just Dance 2019 for the Wii. So you may be onto something, lol!

I personally still think of PS360 as modern consoles (Wii kind of has one foot in gen 6 and one in gen 7), but they are all totally retro. There are teenagers alive today who were born the same year as those consoles.

That said, I don't think we will see the obsessive collectors for much past gen 6 due to all the reasons already laid out in above posts.

is the ps6 out yet?

Games will always become retro, regardless of whether you can connect to the internet to get a day 1 update. Games will just continue to get remasters or straight ports on whatever modern consoles exist if they're still good and popular. It doesn't matter if you can't get an NES and Megaman 1-6. You can download the Legacy collection with virtually the same games on every modern console and PC. Some things might be harder to get ahold of like popular movie games ala Goldeneye or Turtles in Time, but I don't think we've seen the last of either. Money finds a way to get companies to collab for our wallets.

I mean, you may not be able to download all the DLC and updates but games like Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are still perfectly playable out of the box. I can see people still wanting to play them even without an online infrastructure.

Most of the games I like and I am interested in on Switch, on PS4, and on PS3 don't need rely that much on online infrastructure and are enjoyable in their original state too (I mean without patches). There are also GOTY editions, Special editions and other similar things that are new, complete and fixed versions of games that at first may have needed patches. So you can also find the problem solved this way in some cases. Many other games just have this kind of problem and it will never be fixed, often because they are just meant to be played online and they will not work without their servers. I think I'm just fortunate that I have no interest at all about those games usually. I'm sure it is already a big problem and probably companies wold like to get things even worse in the future in that regard (it is an advantage for them they have more control over players that way) but I am rather picky, and there are many games that I don't like, and usually games of this type are amongst the ones that I just don't like, so I don't feel like it is spoiling games that I care about. I am just sad thinking that if games were made in a different way maybe there would be more games that I could like and enjoy.

I feel like retro gaming can move into digital heavy consoles...but it will be a grey area. More iso (and whatever the various digital store front formats are...I don't mod consoles anymore so I don't keep up with that stuff.) downloads and collections released by publishers. Isos were pushed quite ardently for the ps1 and newer eras anyway, so I suspect it will only gain in popularity.

@Vinny
"Are the PS2/GC/Xbox considered retro now?"
Of course.
It was since early of 2000 era.

I only consider consoles from Gamecube/Xbox and before as retro consoles, but that's only because I was born in 2000 and that's just how I've always thought of "Retro Gaming". Realistically the Wii would probably count as retro too, but it doesn't feel that long ago that the Wii was relevant to me.

I think emulators will keep retro gaming alive, they worked well for really old consoles but I think they work even better for newer consoles. They can support all games, even special edition or digital only games along with all DLC and updates. And of course 3D games are more common these days and are easier to add graphical improvements, so they transition well to modern TVs and monitors most of the time. Sadly emulators are kind of a grey area due to where people find the games themselves but an official way to get them could fix this...which is why I'm disappointed in the virtual console is gone for now.

As for physical games and the original hardware, to me it seems too expensive for what it is. A lot of these things only last so long anyway, I don't understand why people pay hundreds for an old cartridge which might not last for decades. I feel like nostalgia is probably a big factor for collectors but I've revisited so many games that I loved as a child and have been so disappointed. So many games don't hold up for various reasons and it's a big reason why I leave so many older games as memories.

We'll probably see remasters and ports for the games we've seen in the past decade or so, and NES/SNES mini-like consoles for the rest.

Back to the original question....

I'd argue that a lot of what makes "retro gaming" a thing, especially in the mainstream, has little to do with flea markets. For the super obsessed niche part of the market sure. But most consumers don't live in that bubble. Paradoxically most of the reason "retro gaming" is a big as it is today is because of these very things the more dedicated "retro gamers" worry about with the modern consoles.

Think about it. Would there be even close to the level of interest in 8 & 16 bit consoles today from people who were born in the 90s if the VC hadn't existed? Would there be as much interest in 2D platformers at all today if it wasn't for lower budget downloadable games? The things you worry about are the same things that kept retro gaming alive

@Vinny I would say they are on the cusp of being considered retro. I teach middle school, but I was a middle school student when I was playing those systems. And we are almost a full two hardware generations past them.

There are segments of the market that will be able to progress past that point, PC gaming being the biggest (especially with services like Good Old Games specializing in it). However, the consoles that have adopted an online infrastructure (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360) and beyond will never truly be able to capture the experience fully. Even the original Xbox suffers due to this since the biggest appeal of games like Halo 2 was the online multiplayer experience which is essentially gone.

That isn't to say parts cannot be preserved, but the without the online infrastructure future generations will never fully experience the system the way someone can with a Gamecube or N64. A good example is the biggest draw to me and my wife for Xbox 360 was 1 vs 100 online. That experience is completely gone never to return. Another would be Phantasy Star Universe on 360. While you can play and enjoy the single player game, the online servers have been gone for years and eventually the expansion for 360 will die with the 360 Live Servers.

That isn't to say that there are not parts to preserve, just that the culture and community experience of the time will be lost eventually. I fear as we progress further into a digital media world, there will be more than just the Gaming community facing this reality. Already some of Film, Television, and Music history has been lost due to arcane and overly restrictive copyright laws, and it will only get worse as physical media slowly disappears.