Why has the open world meme been so prevalent these past few years?

These things happen in cycles. People complained about games being too linear, now they complain about games being too open.

Skyrim made money

>>384622327

I think the better question is what the next meme will be.

>>384622792
The next meme will be returning series to their roots, aka making a worse version of the first game
It's already happening too

>>384622792
Loot drop time wasters. See overwatch, destiny, Fallout 4 ect.

I don't know, but I can't wait for it to end. It has ruined franchises like Zelda and Final Fantasy.

Open World games requires not as much effort to make to make and make idiots believe that the game has more content than what it really has.

Open world has been around for years. There's nothing wrong with it unless the game is bad or the world is bad.

Linear games are good too but you need good game play so they don't end up being trash.

F.E.A.R. and Condemned are good linear games.
GTA IV and BotW are good open world games.

>>384623443
>GTA IV and BotW are good open world games.
Both open world trash. Bad games.

>>384623251
This. Open world games COULD be amazing if devs added all sorts of dynamic systems but sadly they don't need to to make bank, because idiots will buy them anyway.

>>384622327
I guess devs think big open worlds are the best way to show consoles' power.

>>384622482
No

>>384622327
I don't know maybe it's the fucking technology? Every idea guy wants an open world, that's just interesting. if the old heads of the industry had the tech they would have done the same don't kid you're self

>>384623492
Heck off. GTA IV is a smaller world but lots of detail and points of interest. BotW has great level design in that any direction you go pushes you to discover more of the world.

>Shrine #290
>Seed #600
Fascinating shit, to be sure. Fuck off.

>>384622928
yeah this seems accurate

Because it's an easy way to pad content so people don't trade in your game as quickly.

Usually the most common genre of games in a generation is the one that shows off the hardware's capability. Usually a successful game in that genre is the one that inspires a lot of clones. 2D side scrollers were something that the NES did much better than the Atari, with Super Mario Bros being the most notable one. 3D platformers/collectathons were common in the early 3D era because they showcased 3D graphics anand forcing the player to explore every inch of a relatively small world increased playtime while using up little space. Super Mario 64 was the game that kickstarted the genre. The 7th gen was filled with linear, gritty shooters due to the success of CoD4. They showcased the consoles' HD capabilities and realistic cramped urban environments are relatively simple to create compared to more open natural environments. This gen, consoles have more processing power and more RAM. Open world games allow developers to show how much more can happen at once thanks to the additional resources of the new consoles. Even though it's a last generation game, developers are now chasing after the Skyrim audience.

>>384622928
Name some games that have done this.

I enjoy open world games, or did.

They're cool because of how controlled and linear games used to be, and they were novel for a while simply for being the opposite, even though they bring really shitty practices to game development like level scaling.

Go back to the original Fable, remember all the promises about what it would be, and look at what we got. That, to me, is a perfect explanation of why people wanted open world.

>>384626624
It's really bad with platformers. Cf. Sonic the Hedgehog since at least 2010, Donkey Kong Country Returns, those new Rayman games, the Crash remakes, Yooka-Laylee (everything you hated about Banjo-Kazooie in HD!), Shantae: HGH, etc. Though I suppose it's less "returning to roots" and "digging up the corpses".

>>384626624
Flashback did it. Game was all arcady and shit.