Is the October video game release schedule really overcrowded? | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

What do the following games have in common?

Animal Crossing: City Folk, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, Call of Duty: World at War, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Left4Dead, LittleBigPlanet, Mirror’s Edge, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Need for Speed: Undercover, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, Resistance 2, Shaun White Snowboarding, Sonic Unleashed, Tomb Raider: Underworld, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2009.

All of them, along with another 70 games, came out within four weeks of each other in October and November 2008.

So when I hear people talk about how congested this October is for video games, I shake my head, pick up my newspaper and mutter “Congested? Pah! You kids don’t know the meaning of the word!”

Of course, that was a different world. A time when Zelda games took 20 hours to complete and not 200, and when a lifespan of a game was measured in weeks, not years. It was also a time before the indie game boom, which has resulted in hundreds – sometimes thousands - of games launching on services like Steam on a weekly basis.

It was also an era when you primarily bought games in boxes from physical shops.

The digital age of video games is undoubtedly a good thing for hundreds of well documented reasons. But back in 2008 there were hundreds of places where you bought video games. Today, it’s really four digital stores. And Amazon.

There is an infinite shelf space on these digital stores, but that also means the competition is fierce. Everyone is fighting for attention in a place where there isn't much space to shine.

The release slate this October is busy. There’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Forza Motorsport, Spider-Man 2, Super Mario