I'd say they tried to declare PCs obsolete because consoles are much easier to control, so they could destroy indie developers and squeeze customers for every penny they have to spend...
That's what I meant with 'pushing their interest'. Consoles are easier to use which means you reach a wider customer range which means more money. At the same time you attract more casual gamers to the now broader customer base which means you can (and have to) simplify things to make the majority (which is now the casual console gamers) happy which goes on costs of quality and variety which is fine for the producers as it means less money spend and less good for developers which want to make more a 'game for gamers' and not a 'game from producers which give a damn except for their shareholders;.
Besides watering down game content to more simple, sweatshop friendly formulas, did they also made the broader game audience more receptive to their dictate of release prices from 40 to 60 Dollars as the broader customer base are now more parents which just want to hush their spoiled, troll kids and don't care to wonder if the price might be appropiate for the new title.
Popular counter argument is of course that modern titles do need MUCH larger budgets to cover the costs which is just true to some degree. Because the arket gets flooded with quantity they spend quite a chunk of the budget in the PR department which helps to push those 'spearhead' titles to push their sales and turning the sheep (not weresheeps;) part of the casual gamers to bleat unisono which games are cool/desirable/hip etc. and which are not.
In return that shaped broad mass then works in favor of the big distributors to legitimate their decisions byusing their arguments and accepting their values, that only a title which cost damn much money and has a PR department like a political rally campaign can be good, etc.
Some words of reassurance...
Even those big sweatshop players will never disappear is there at least some points which are reassuring.
- One of the main reasons why and how they were able to attract so many new players aboard for years are graphics as vision is our main sense. Even graphics are overrated in importance, since the graphic craze started with Voodoo and ATI years ago were they the main selling point. Now were graphics reached a point were they all cook with water now again is the edge of graphic over everything alone becoming more dull and games need more then this one point to sell.
That's the time of indies getting back their share of the market by offering besides the mass ware fromthe big ones alternative products which can shine through innovation and/or combining known aspects in a new way.
More games again from gamers for gamers.
- New financing institutions like Kickstarter do help as well in that shifting process as the gamers as well can put to some degree their weight into the process of allowing smaller, independent companies to make their games they want and not bossed around from the big money bags of the corporations.
There will be of course ever some people naive enough to believe because they spend a few dozen to few hundred bucks they can and should have everything their way, but backing is not being a shareholder. This is more of a grassroot approach people. So less trolling and more constructive input as we should believe more in freedom of the artist(s) and not in sweatshops with input through whining or whipping.
Ok, that was a more detailed explination as I shortened in my former statement with the industry 'puhing their interest'.
But I think it was helpful to let that out even it was a biiit longer
