What's the most influential game of the generation?

[Deleted member 30569]

This generation, I would personally argue games like Overwatch and Rocket League are the most influential. Games as a service are the big thing a lot of publishers are aiming for this generation and early successes of games like them no doubt made the whole prospect a lot more enticing

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This is the best post in this thread so far. On point.

Anyone saying Breath of the Wild is misunderstanding "critically acclaimed" with "influential."

Last gen, it was Dark Souls imo.

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No. A very easy argument could be made that, for example, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a much more influential game than Dark Souls.

 

[z0m3le]

Same as last gen. GTA, and there is not really a debate, developers have been chasing GTA and it's open world formula since the 6th gen. Publishers have chased it right to their death and now they are chasing games as a service because of GTA Online (the biggest component of GTA5) this includes micro transactions.

Hopefully other games will have large impacts, hoping to see open world games adopt the open air design of breath of the wild for instance.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

GTA 5 for re-igniting the industry's obsession with open world games (quality of the actual gameplay experience be damned). It also cemented the popularity of the 7th gen remastering trend that The Last of Us Remastered kicked off.

Mobile gaming in general for inventing the alternative currency systems, F2P mechanics and gacha mechanics that almost every game uses now (including GTA 5 itself).

Overwatch for popularizing the loot box craze in paid games.

PUBG for popularizing the Battle Royale form of gameplay that everyone in this copycat industry is now desperately chasing.

Otherwise, Gen 8 is nothing but a straightforward continuation of Gen 7 (quite literally to the point where a huge chunk of its collective library consists of port ups of Gen 7 games).

 

[Gonzalez]

Probably the Souls games do to the heavy load of non-hand holdy deep player single player games.

 

[Bennibop]

Destiny and PUBG seems to have influenced things for multiplayer and Witcher 3 for single player open world and Last of Us for story telling.

**BotW has not been out long enough to influence anything.**

 

[Gxgear]

It's clearly Overwatch and its loot box tripe.

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I second this. OW has fundamentally changed the way we consume video games. PUBG is a subgenres of shooters hitting critical mass.

 

[Deleted member 37739]

True, but at the same time, starting from Skyrim open world design, a lot of series tried to push the open world structure and we got a lot of open world games trying to replicate Skyrim success.
You should thank the press and the average gamer for the "benchmark comparison", when they compare every game with Dark Souls.

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The open-world philosophy of Skyrim was already well-established in forerunners like Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3. Skyrim certainly expanded the breadth of this, but didn't really redefine the approach (not that I can think of anyway). Morrowind was way more influential in the early days and in modern open-world design GTA IV and V have probably had a more significant impact.

The game design influences of Dark Souls have leech into just about everything, even beyond its own narrow genre, games like TW3 expanded more meaningfully on open-world design in a fantasy setting by adding things like large underwater sections and seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor environments.

 

[Havok]

It's definitely all of the majorly successful games as a service games; Overwatch/Destiny/GTA5/Rocket Leage/PUBG and now Fortnite all have a big part in this.

Last gen was probably Skyrim

 

[Edgar]

I am perhaps missing something but what exactly did Witcher 3 do that is revolutionary, distrinct or special that warrant it to influence other games? It is, as far as I've seen, by the numbers, generic and cookie cutter in terms of gameplay design and style.

I would say BOTW has already influenced other games and will continue to have a strong influence on games to come. We already see Assassin's Creed Origins being influence by BOTW. What future open world game will not have at least some form of verticle tranversal, true environment interaction, less icons and waypoints, and fewer hand holding? Like it or not, gamer's expectation from open world games have changed with BOTW's release. I don't see anything that Witcher 3 did that will change gaming design as BOTW has done.

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Ubisoft developers , Bioware developers even Nier A and BOTW devs said they were inspired by witcher 3 from open world and side quest stand point. I will throw in Horizon ZD due to its structure , and AC O you can see it from the get go how side content is done and just more organic approach to open world .
And lol you are saying a game from 2017 is influenced by a game from same year but not a game from 2015? How does logic work?

 

[Raven117]

Destiny and Overwatch.

2nd place:" Witcher 3. The way it did side quests (while not revolutionary) and story, is more easily copied than something like BotW. Hopefully BotW's open world design philosophy will creep into other games. (It doesn't need all the physics or climbing).

 

[Anubseth]

I am perhaps missing something but what exactly did Witcher 3 do that is revolutionary, distrinct or special that warrant it to influence other games? It is, as far as I've seen, by the numbers, generic and cookie cutter in terms of gameplay design and style.

I would say BOTW has already influenced other games and will continue to have a strong influence on games to come. We already see Assassin's Creed Origins being influence by BOTW. What future open world game will not have at least some form of verticle tranversal, true environment interaction, less icons and waypoints, and fewer hand holding? Like it or not, gamer's expectation from open world games have changed with BOTW's release. I don't see anything that Witcher 3 did that will change gaming design as BOTW has done.

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AC came out 7 months after BOTW, Zelda had no influence on that game. Actually, thinking about this, I would say that they are both different excellent view on open-world 3rd person exploration/adventure games. Whoever was the first game ofthis type this gen, or one of the last few of last gen, is the real answer.

OW is a good answer as well, I may even put DotA 1 too.

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

Anyone saying Breath of the Wild is misunderstanding "critically acclaimed" with "influential."

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And you're misunderstanding "inspired copycats" with "influential".
Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild will be deconstructed by game designers for years to come.

 

[fiendcode]

Pokémon Go

 

[SupremeWu]

Witcher 3

 

[Miamiwesker]

Whatever is most responsible for games as a service.

 

[Jobbs]

Most influential as in the most influence on gaming? Easy. PUBG. It rapidly became one of the biggest games on the planet, and rapidly made everything about BR -- which prompted the existence of Fortnite BR, which also went on to rapidly become on of the biggest games on the planet. At E3 we'll see more major BRs announced.

 

[butman]

Monster Hunter World

 

[Ryukori]

Overwatch for loot boxes. PUBG for the battle royale genre.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I think there's a few, not just one.

Open world RPG: Witcher 3. So many recent RPGs are being influenced by Witcher 3's world building, side quests, and general design. Hell, two of this gen's biggest console exclusives (Horizon and Zelda) borrowed heavily from Witcher 3.

Multiplayer: Overwatch (for all the wrong reasons). Loot boxes have spread EVERYWHERE, and it's all thanks to Overwatch.

Multiplayer PUBG. No one can deny the impact of BR on gaming today. I've never gotten into it, but everyone and their brother is playing either PUBG or Fortnite. It's kind of impressive to see honestly.

 

[Deleted member 37739]

And you're misunderstanding "inspired copycats" with "influential".
Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild will be deconstructed by game designers for years to come.

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"Inspiring copycats" is a form of influence. People might well deconstruct a game at length, for years to come, it does necessarily mean that those design choices will influence their own projects. It's too soon to tell what impact BotW will have on the industry.

 

[LordofPwn]

Destiny. it kicked off the whole games as a service thing. Overwatch didn't invent loot boxes either, they just found a way to make them very popular. you can blame mobile games for loot boxes. and PUBG was like the third or fourth attempt at a "last man standing" game.

Pokemon Go was also not the first ARG mobile game. it was just a combination of an interesting concept + recognizable IP that said concept fit with. it's partly why fortnite is so popular.

 

[Soony Xbone Uhh]

Overwatch, PUGB and Fortnite
Most influential game last gen was Minecraft if you want to count it as a late gen release.

 

[z0m3le]

Seriously amazed that developers for years have been saying that they are chasing Rockstar sales, GTA5 and gta online are the biggest game of the generation and has pretty much been the driving force of games as a service, on its way to sell 100M copies, outselling every game last year? (15M) and still there is a debate in this thread. I mean seriously go ask any publisher who isn't Nintendo, if they would trade their biggest IP for GTA.

 

[Shaundakahl]

The most influential game of last generation was Minecraft.

Its meteoric success has not only ushered in a genre into mainstream success and created hundreds of copy cats (successful and not), it also permitted an explosion of YouTubers and been widely adopted by the whole family, all demographics.

This generation belongs to pubg, or maybe even DayZ.

 

[Becks']

Multiplayer: Destiny (social interactivity) , Overwatch (monetization)
Single player: The Witcher 3

I think F2P blockbusters like League of Legends or Clash of Clans can be also considered to be influential because of their enormous earnings that had an impact on AAA publishers.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Battle Royal and E-sports.

Specifically, PUBG, Fortnite for BR.

Rocket League and Overwatch for esports.

These are games that are driving Million + youtube views, give life to streamers and fill stadiums with live tournaments.

Traditional gaming is still strong but isn't driving nearly as much new growth.

 

[NotLiquid]

The generation ain't over yet. There'll only be a proper answer to this question once we go into the next and can re-evaluate how we got to where the industry is then.

Though at a cursory glance right now it's probably a tie between Overwatch and PUBG. What defines this generation insofar has been very broad and you can't really boil down an entire generation to just one game this time around. It was pretty easy to pick out previous ones (games like Super Mario 64, Modern Warfare, etc.) but everything in this generation has been a slow boil that kind of came to a head when Overwatch finally released.

 

[Prine]

PUBG & Witcher 3

 

[Luxorek]

Singleplayer: The Witcher 3 - so far influenced AC:O, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mass Effect: Andromeda. I do believe Aonuma mentioned they played TW3 for research among other games during development of BotW. But it's not only the game itself, but CDPR model of doing business that is influential.

Multiplayer: Don't know what to pick to be honest. PUBG for its battle royale mode? Overwatch for lootboxes? [though tbh, I think Valve and CS:GO started the whole skin game]. Destiny for kicking off the race for every big publisher to have their own open-world MMO FPS or TPS?

 

[Aeriscloud]

I don't really think it's fair to say Fortnite at all, despite how popular it is, since it itself changed and was inspired by something else.

I would probably say Overwatch or TW3 though.

 

[Deleted member 30569]

And you're misunderstanding "inspired copycats" with "influential".
Dark Souls and Breath of the Wild will be deconstructed by game designers for years to come.

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I'm not misunderstanding anything. Thanks for playing, try again.

Breath of the Wild is an excellent video game. But it's is known for being just that -- an excellent game. Overwatch, Rocket League, PUBG, and others are not only great games, but they're driving a very significant portion of the video game business in a certain direction (namely, Games as a Service), and are arguably driving game design and philosophy much more than BotW can dream of, at this point.

Same for Dark Souls. It's a great game. But Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare elevated the movement started by Halo during gen 6 and took it into serious overdrive during last gen. (Reign of First Person Shooters for essentially all of last gen; a large focus on online-driven competitive multiplayer; etc.)

 

[Sgt. Demblant]

"Inspiring copycats" is a form of influence. People might well deconstruct a game at length, for years to come, it does necessarily mean that those design choices will influence their own projects. It's too soon to tell what impact BotW will have on the industry.

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As I mentioned in my first post in this thread, I do agree that it's too early to tell about BotW.
But in the case of Dark Souls, while it did inspire some copycats, its influence was much more profound and widespread than that, which is why Dark Souls comparisons have become a meme. I don't think any game from last gen quite reached that level.

I think open world game design will take a lot from BotW in the next few years but we'll see.

Edit:

I'm not misunderstanding anything. Thanks for playing, try again.

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If you take offense to that wording, you're the one that started it. There's no reason to be that unpleasant in a thread like this one. That doesn't really make anyone want to engage in a conversation with you.

 

[Aokiji]

This gen, I'd say it's the Witcher 3

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Agreed. If you set the new standard, you deserve that title. PUBG May get a nod if CoD & RDR2 do indeed add BR modes

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Destiny by far is the most influential. Whether or not the game's sequel has died out for a variety of reasons the game has done so much to influence so many other games.

 

[JohnnyMoses]

Definitely PUBG.

 

[bbq of doom]

PUBG and Overwatch. I almost added Fortnite to this, but chose against it mainly because it's clearly not where it is now without cribbing from PUBG.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

It's a bit early to say but these are probably very influential games:
- Battlefront 2 teaching publishers to not get too greedy with lootboxes.
- PUBG for the new multiplayer hotness. Pretty sure every big game will get a battle royal mode in the future.
- And a more general reach that I hope continues: Japanese developers returning to their roots/doing their own thing and being successful with it like Monster Hunter World, Nier Automata and Resident Evil 7.

 

[misho8723]

Witcher 3 for sidequests/side activities and more realistic approach to level design in a open-world game
And probably Overwatch for other stuff

P.S. I don't see how in previous generation Dark Souls influenced other games in a major role.. some new hard, mostly indie games came out but other than the games from Deck13 Interactive (Lords of the Fallen, Surge) and the combat systems in some games (ACO, Witcher 2+3) I don't see any DS or Bloodborne influences in other games

 

[ethomaz]

Destiny.

It changed who you play games forever... every game after Destiny wants to be Destiny... sad Bungie did a serious lackluster sequel... it is better to play the 2014 Destiny even today.

Gran Turismo Sport

It envolved the online racing to a level never saw before... others racing games now (except maybe iRacing) have a huge gap to catch up.

 

[boi]

If we go by the Twitch benchmark its Fortnite/PUBG.

 

[z0m3le]

For people saying PUBG isn't the first, it's been 1 developer (player unknown) in all the past mods, including the first. He now has control of the genre, and giving credit to his game (PUBG) just feels right IMO

The answer is still GTA5, which beat destiny to market by 6 months and outsold destiny many times over.

 

[Deleted member 4541]

I say Overwatch.

Lootboxes aside, I think the level playing field & multiplayer only aspects of Overwatch had some impact on Fortnite & PUBG. Certainly not a gameplay impact, or design influences -- but the fact that OW was so successful at those two things couldn't have hurt the thought process for BR modes.

Spoiler

Real answer: Bloodborne

 

[Deleted member 30569]

Edit:

If you take offense to that wording, you're the one that started it. There's no reason to be that unpleasant in a thread like this one. That doesn't really make anyone want to engage in a conversation with you.

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I engage with plenty of people in this forum with no issue.

I replied to you with a counterargument, and added something about Breath of the Wild which wasn't even a direct response to you. You responded to me, and I took an issue with your wording (which had unnecessary and uncalled-for snark in it), so I replied in kind. And here we are, but I recommend we end this staring contest right here.

I've found your counterarguments so far to be unconvincing, so we'll just have to be civilized and respectful to each other, and agree to disagree. And move on.

 

[Bronx-Man]

I have no idea how anyone can argue any game but Destiny. Every fucking studio is tripping over themselves to turn their AAA projects into an open-world multiplayer shooter with GaaS crap and lootboxes. Entire studios have been shut down because of how corporate overlords want their own Destiny.

 

[mutantmagnet]

Destiny this gen. The biggest games are shifted heavily to gaas.


BOTW will be the influence for next gen.

 

[Deleted member 32374]

Upon more thought, I'd like to nominate DayZ as a stealth canidate (the standalone game). PUBG and therefore Forenite are it's ancestors.

 

[freakybj]

PUBG since we'll more than likely see AAA publishers scramble to include Battle Royale modes in their franchises to cash in on the wave.

 

[Mashing]

While they are not my cup of tea there's not doubt that games like PUBG and Fortnite as hugely influential to the current state of the industry. Also, I think BOTW will be as well as it pretty much schooled every open world design out there and is the benchmark for open world game design.

 

[ClarkusDarkus]

Mine would be RE7 in VR. Single handedly shows how much better a game can be in VR than traditional gaming.

 

[exodus]

Destiny was not the start of GaaS. I don't really see how it influenced anything. Warframe came out before Destiny and it's a much better example of a GaaS title.

Overwatch has been far more influential as a GaaS framework.