10 Reasons The Video Game Industry Is Heading For Another Crash

This goes for both software and hardware. Yes, doing something new is hard, but Microsoft has only just accepted that no one wants a Kinect, after five years of trying to justify it. The big innovations this generation - like Twitch and voice commands - don’t really do much for the average gamer, and even less for anyone who's followed the industry for years. 

When it comes to games, Activision has been releasing the same FPS for over ten years. The Halo, Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed franchises have been doing the same thing as well. And when they do innovate, most people hate it (AC: Revelations' tower-defence, anyone?). 

However, when something truly new like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning comes along - with none of the PR clout necessary to make it stand out - they expect it to have the same kind of sales that established series' have, and use that lack of follow-through as justification to fall back on what's dependably bankable and formulaic.

The lack of innovation means there is little to choose between consoles or games. Why buy the next Call of Duty when it is the same as the last, or why buy an Xbox and PlayStation when there's no difference between them? Without innovation and the competition it brings, across a long enough timeline, sales can only drop.

Worse still, when it comes to established single-player franchises, the height of innovation seems to be adding a multiplayer mode. Which brings us to...