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Jul 17Liked by Neil Paine

I don't play video games, but my son has played the early release and says it is an amazing achievement. "Very un-EA like" he says to a roar of applause wherever he goes.

When I listen to NHL fans say NHL14 was the peak - followed by a massive drop-off - that tells you everything. Not many things are considered the "best" 10 years ago. You hear that for something a year or two ago or 20 to 30 years ago as nostalgia...but 10 is a real number and very troubling.

I believe the massive drop-off in releases applies to video games generally as well and follows a similar timeline. It used to be there were 5 or 6 releases every year that my kids wanted and each drew rave reviews. Now it's Minecraft (still), another Spiderman or a Lego Star Wars reconnect with friends while waiting for GTA 6 "maybe" in 2025. I did love watching them play Red Dead Redemption 2. Beautiful game. So it's still possible.

The decline of video games in the presence of ever improving technology is a fascinating business case.

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I'd take Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast over almost anything released post 2008.

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author

I thought about including the individual sports (and maybe even racing games) as well, but that was a can of worms I didn't really want to open at the moment!

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I can imagine!

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