8 Reasons The Video Game Industry Is Headed For Disaster (Again)
6. Follow The Leader
There's nought wrong with taking inspiration from other success stories, but when imitation becomes as shameless as that seen with the Battle Royale phenomenon, it's tough not to accuse certain major players of creative bankruptcy.
In truth, that's rarely the reality. The reason for triple-A heavy hitters like Call of Duty and Battlefield shoehorning in their own take on PUBG and Fortnite comes down to faceless investors noting their unparalleled success and questioning why the multi-million dollar corporations they have stakes in aren't following suit.
The result, as if the writing wasn't already on the wall, is a sea of derivative safe bets reluctant to push the genre further with forward-thinking ideas. Activision and EA both have the financial clout to invest in innovation, but why would they bother, when a by-the-numbers knock-off generates a healthy cash flow all the same?
Like most fads, it'll be milked dry until stagnancy creeps in and tossed to the curb in favour of the next best thing to come around.