3/15/26
Recent new about the game Highguard has me thinking, again, about the games industry, and the way that we interact with media in general.
Highguard released in late January, and shut down on March 12th - another free live service game that couldn't attract an audience. It's far from the only one to experience this fate, it's somewhat
of a trend for companies to expect that if they pour funding into live services, that they can all achieve the success of games like Fortnite.
The more games come out always-online, with kernel-level anti-cheat requirements, the more and more I've stopped caring about what's coming out anymore. I used to watch E3, all the way through,
with hype and anticipation. These days even when I do happen to see a new game trailer on Youtube, I can't help but not care anymore in most cases. I've lost the misguided idea I used to have
that videogame development companies (specifically the companies, not the devs) actually care about their games, or the people who love them. Not to say that new games don't come out that are worth your time,
but I consistently find myself pouring more of my time into older titles now.
I call it patient gaming, personally. I just... wait a few years. Instead of paying full price for new games, that could be incomplete, or shut down after a month, I play a few years behind with few exceptions.
In 2025, I played the original Baldur's Gate, and Pillars of Eternity. I invested a lot of time speedrunning A Hat in Time, which is 9 years old now. I replayed Dark Souls 2, and almost did everything possible in
the original Hollow Knight. In the last three or four years, I've found a love for the classic ps1 Resident Evil games, that I was a bit too young for when they were new. By the time I get to games now,
they're complete. They have patches that fix any bugs that might have been around, DLC content is released, and often the price is discounted. It genuinely feels like there's so much out there that is worth my time,
that I never got around to, that I know I'll love once I actually find the time.
I don't have a concise thesis, and I'm certainly not going to try and tell other adults how to spend their time, or how to spend their money. Yet I can't help but feel bad for the people pursuing
the "latest and greatest". Chasing 4k and photorealistic graphics in new releases, missing out on some of the best games of all time just because they are old - all while spending far more money on gaming
than I do.