Support NeoGAF

[Bernoulli]

Subscriptions were the most popular gift idea at 39%, followed closely by consoles (38%), games accessories (32%), and in-game currency (29%). Surprisingly, only 22% of the children surveyed wanted physical games this Christmas.

The ESA also surveyed more than 500 adults for this study, which found that one in three plan to buy video games for themselves or others, with 57% of parents considering buying video game-related presents for their children.

US kids want games subscriptions and virtual currency more than games this Christmas

A report by the Entertainment Software Association has found that 72% of children in the US want games-related products…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[winjer]

An entire generation addicted to online casinos, masquerading as videogames.

 

[AJUMP23]

This is just as sad as watching children cheer on Hamas.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Most of them are playing Roblox, Fortnite and other sandbox style games with GaaS elements so it doesn't really surprise me. Still... I don't like this direction.

 

[Kilau]

US kids is be dumb.

 

[GHG]

This industry needs to crash already.

 

[MagiusNecros]

So only 22% of kids are actual gamers then.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

US kids is be dumb.

I have worked with kids here in the US since retiring in 2000 on how to become better pitchers as its honestly pretty easy to teach a kid the mechanics and throw a baseball really hard its just hard teaching them control and not killing someone

MOST kids today work harder on their Fortnite dances than anything physically related to actual sports and so many weigh 200 lbs entering Jr High

 

[[Sigma]]

Not surprised. My nephew is constantly asking for vbucks, cod points to buy season passes/skins. He doesn't even have fun really playing those games it seems, buying the cosmetic is the fun. He plays with what he gets a few times and is then already ready for the new one.

 

[Spukc]

makes sense more games for months.. if only i had this shit back in the snes megadrive days.

hey you want free games every months for 1 year long? instead of 1 game right now?

 

[STARSBarry]

This just makes me so unbelievably sad... this is why we don't get as many nice things anymore.

 

[Lokaum D+]

well, u can only blame parents, they are the ones who allow their kids to gamble.

 

[64bitmodels]

This is just plain depressing. We should work to show kids games that don't prey on wallets. Roblox and Fortnite are not the height of the gaming landscape

 

[Bernoulli]

I have worked with kids here in the US since retiring in 2000 on how to become better pitchers as its honestly pretty easy to teach a kid the mechanics and throw a baseball really hard its just hard teaching them control and not killing someone

MOST kids today work harder on their Fortnite dances than anything physically related to actual sports and so many weigh 200 lbs entering Jr High

For the weight that's because of the American economy and how fast food is cheaper than healthy meals.

 

[Kilau]

I have worked with kids here in the US since retiring in 2000 on how to become better pitchers as its honestly pretty easy to teach a kid the mechanics and throw a baseball really hard its just hard teaching them control and not killing someone

MOST kids today work harder on their Fortnite dances than anything physically related to actual sports and so many weigh 200 lbs entering Jr High

Teach me?

 

[SmokedMeat]

I can understand getting a subscription to gain access to more games to play.

I can’t understand in game currency to play dress up with your digital character.

 

[Kdad]

Straight to juvie

 

[Kdad]

Not gonna lie...was kinda scared here...

"I have worked with kids here in the US since retiring in 2000 on how to become better pitchers"

 

[DW74]

Sign of the times.

I'm almost 50. Pretty sure my parents would have preferred me out riding a bike than playing with my Atari in 84.

 

[AV]

Physical games. If that just means "all games" then it's a very odd way to phrase it, not to mention a sample size of 500 is kinda useless in such a big industry.

 

[Roman Empire]

Behold, the new generation of gaming and gambling addicts. It is a battle that we lost. Hope videogame becomes more and more prohibitive so that people can't buy shit even in F2P games or the whole industry goes under because I'm for sure not holding any hope of things changing for the better when these children are our future.

 

[Nankatsu]

Mom, dad, give me 100 € so I can buy in-game currency in order to try to get something that I will eventually not get.

 

[Interfectum]

What's sad is you all falling for clickbait bs. I'm surprised that many kids know physical games even exist. No one wants that shit anymore.

 

[lh032]

”US kids want games subscriptions“

​

 

[Punished Miku]

Subs makes perfect sense. They have more time to play and get way more games that way.

 

[64bitmodels]

It's not just gaming too. ALL kids entertainment in 2023 is especially shit. I'm sure some of you can make the case that entertainment in general is going down the drain but for kids it's especially awful.

Your choices are

Predatory games like Fortnite that sap your wallet just so you can have some style
terrible, shite Cocomelon nursery rhyme videos that put you into a daze.
Overtly sexual awful youtube kids elsagate 2.0 shit, where the thumbnails and video content borders on softcore porn and horror films
Obnoxious content farm youtubers screaming and shouting while bright colors and overstimulating content flashes on the screen (this isn't pewdiepie or markiplier either, i'm talking shit like LankyBox or Mr Beast)

Now there is some good stuff like most of the youtube web cartoons that are far better than anything on TV, and many Nintendo/Indie kids games, but more kids are attracted to vbucks and Cocomelon than this stuff. It's quite disappointing.

We need to advocate for better kids content than this. bring back the days of nicktoons and toys.

 

[Sub_Level]

This industry needs to crash already.

There is no singular games industry anymore. Gaming is a wide multitude of regions, platforms, genres, demographics. There will be no great crash like what happened to the American market in the 80s because gaming is no longer that homogenous.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

 

[ReBurn]

Children are the future

 

[winjer]

To think that 30 years ago, we had congress hearings regarding violence in videogames. And one of the games pointed at the time, was something as mild as Night Trap.
Today we have games exploiting kids with micro-transactions and loot boxes, and politicians do almost nothing about it.
It takes a level of highly corrupt politicians, to have a much worse situation for children and do nothing about it.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[64bitmodels]

To think that 30 years ago, we had congress hearings regarding violence in videogames. And one of the games pointed at the time, was something as mild as Night Trap.
Today we have games exploiting kids with micro-transactions and loot boxes, and politicians do almost nothing about it.
It takes a level of highly corrupt politicians, to have a much worse situation for children and do nothing about it.

i'd argue the politicans back then wouldn't care about what's going on today either, mostly because there's nothing very violent or sexual about a game like fortnite or Roblox.

unless it's sex or violence people don't really care.

 

[The Cockatrice]

An entire generation addicted to online casinos, masquerading as videogames.

Honestly, parents are equally to blame just as much as these scummy corporations.

 

[ReBurn]

To think that 30 years ago, we had congress hearings regarding violence in videogames. And one of the games pointed at the time, was something as mild as Night Trap.
Today we have games exploiting kids with micro-transactions and loot boxes, and politicians do almost nothing about it.
It takes a level of highly corrupt politicians, to have a much worse situation for children and do nothing about it.

Most of these kids wouldn't have this problem if their parents didn't allow Roblox and Fortnite to be their babysitter.

 

[winjer]

i'd argue the politicans back then wouldn't care about what's going on today either, mostly because there's nothing very violent or sexual about a game like fortnite or Roblox.

unless it's sex or violence people don't really care.

That is true. But gambling mechanics will probably have a worse effect on kids, than violence or sexual content.
We need regulations to prevent companies from exploiting children .

 

[SmokedMeat]

I saw it with friend’s son at his birthday party. He received Fortnite bucks, which I just couldn’t understand.

I’m talking about the parent side to. Ok Timmy, you want $60 in fake money to play dress up with your digital character? Maybe I’m a dick, but I’d shoot it down because I’d hate to see them waste money like that.

Growing up I didn’t always get everything I asked for. Today’s kids are never told “No”.

 

[winjer]

Honestly, parents are equally to blame just as much as these scummy corporations.

Most of these kids wouldn't have this problem if their parents didn't allow Roblox and Fortnite to be their babysitter.

I agree that parents are also to blame for enabling this situation.
But I think that the bulk of the blame still lies with these corporations.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Hans get the flammenwerfer, the young generation needs to be taken care of.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I agree that parents are also to blame for enabling this situation.
But I think that the bulk of the blame still lies with these corporations.

Let me add to the list: streamers/youtubers are also a huge issue for promoting all the online cancer.

 

[MagnesD3]

It's poison like this that makes me wish video games were niche again, the masses are idiots and ruin every market they enter.

 

[ReBurn]

I agree that parents are also to blame for enabling this situation.
But I think that the bulk of the blame still lies with these corporations.

I guess that's the thing about capitalism. The primary measure for whether a company should do something is simply whether people will buy it. It's hard for me to fault a company for making a video game fun, but the FOMO nature of the marketing is nearly impossible for kids to resist. Most of them can't buy this stuff without their parents or someone enabling them, though.

 

[Interfectum]

It's not just gaming too. ALL kids entertainment in 2023 is especially shit. I'm sure some of you can make the case that entertainment in general is going down the drain but for kids it's especially awful.

Your choices are

Predatory games like Fortnite that sap your wallet just so you can have some style
terrible, shite Cocomelon nursery rhyme videos that put you into a daze.
Overtly sexual awful youtube kids elsagate 2.0 shit, where the thumbnails and video content borders on softcore porn and horror films
Obnoxious content farm youtubers screaming and shouting while bright colors and overstimulating content flashes on the screen (this isn't pewdiepie or markiplier either, i'm talking shit like LankyBox or Mr Beast)

Now there is some good stuff like most of the youtube web cartoons that are far better than anything on TV, and many Nintendo/Indie kids games, but more kids are attracted to vbucks and Cocomelon than this stuff. It's quite disappointing.

We need to advocate for better kids content than this. bring back the days of nicktoons and toys.

I get where you're coming from about kids' entertainment today, but I think it's not all doom and gloom. I've got three kids, and they've got a bunch of cousins around the same age, so I see what they're into all the time.

I've tried getting them into next-gen console games like Mario Wonder, Spider-Man 2, Ratchet and Clank on the Switch and PS5. But honestly, these don't grab them like they do us. And it makes sense, right? These games are just souped-up versions of what we played as kids. They don't have the same nostalgia factor for today's kids.

The big hits in my house? Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft. What they've got going is the social play factor. They're easy to jump into, they're on every device imaginable, and there's no sitting through long cutscenes or slogging through a one-hour tutorial. The games we dig are basically updates of our childhood faves, so obviously, kids today are going to find their own thing.

And about TV shows, yeah, there's a lot of junk, but there's good stuff too. You just gotta dig a bit. PBS Kids is a solid choice, and we're all over the cool Christmas shows on Disney+ right now.

So, it's not all bad. There's good content out there. We just gotta point the kids in the right direction and mix it up with different kinds of media.

 

[64bitmodels]

It's poison like this that makes me wish video games were niche again, the masses are idiots and ruin every market they enter.

.... man these are literal children. You shouldn't blame them for not knowing any better.

If the only thing a child has known are F2P games that want their wallet.... they're going to get used to F2P games that want their wallet.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Roblox bucks, fornite bucks, minecraft bucks. All my kids want. No new games, just those so they can play their favorite games more.

 

[MagnesD3]

.... man these are literal children. You shouldn't blame them for not knowing any better.

If the only thing a child has known are F2P games that want their wallet.... they're going to get used to F2P games that want their wallet.

Its not just children.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

MOST kids today work harder on their Fortnite dances than anything physically related to actual sports and so many weigh 200 lbs entering Jr High

You can start with banning soda and sweet machines from schools. Shocking, I know.

 

[BbMajor7th]

It doesn't shock - kids are the most susceptible to this kind of reward loop. I remember taking my niece to a sanctuary for birds of prey absolutely filled with massive exotic birds. On the way through the door she was given a piece of paper with a scavenger hunt challenge to complete and she just ran around the place looking for all the hidden codes to scribble on the paper so she could win a bird plushie. I don't think she looked at any of the actual live birds of prey, she just wanted to win a pointless freebie.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I sat next to a kid playing Minecraft on the airplane yesterday. He played almost 2 hours building this lava trap.

The headline isn't a shock. The reaction to the headline is the shock. Games aren't 20 hour experiences anymore folks. It's time to get up to speed.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I was at Best Buy on the weekend to buy Xmas gifts and in line a dad had 3 Roblox game cards in his hand. That's it. Just Roblox cards. I dont know the value of the cards, but Best Buy Canada shows the minimum card is $15 and they go up to $100.

 

[Dr_Ifto]

I sat next to a kid playing Minecraft on the airplane yesterday. He played almost 2 hours building this lava trap.

The headline isn't a shock. The reaction to the headline is the shock. Games aren't 20 hour experiences anymore folks. It's time to get up to speed.

Most kids these days play one or 2 games, incessantly. Weird when they have thousands of games available, they choose only a few and only play them. Fifa, Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite are the big ones, and kids could have their own favorite. Mine is Zelda ToTK and BotW