9 Disturbing Video Game Trends That Need To Stop
4. "Asset Flipping"
Coined by internet games critic Jim Sterling, asset flipping is the art of buying pre-made game assets from developers on the Unity game engine, throwing them all together in an abrasive mish-mash of ugly, obnoxious game design and selling it for cash.
It's basically the Frankenstein's monster of the gaming industry; resulting in soulless, effortless games devoid of any consistent art style, creativity or engaging gameplay. This results in a drag-and-drop form of game development, with flippers throwing a whole bunch of unrelated content into a store-bought map, slapping a price tag on it and calling it a day.
What might have started out as a useful tool for young game developers to hone their skills has quickly devolved into a lazy free-for-all for anybody who wants to make a quick buck, and has rapidly spread across Steam like a nasty rash. So many people can 'make a game' these days that 40% of Steam's entire game library was released in 2016 alone, which is an insane number.
Hopefully, the recent axing of Steam Greenlight by Valve will get this irritating trend under control, but people always seem to find a way.