For those of us who has had the chance of living throughout the past 2 decades of gaming and witnessing all the changes that have occurred; I think it is safe to say that many of us believe that developers do not innovate as much as they once did.
I remember when game sequels always got better and actually grew a lot in content. A few examples being: Warcraft to Warcraft 2, to Warcraft 3. Unreal tournament to UT 2003, to UT 2004. Rainbox Six, to Rogue Spear. Super Mario SNES to Mario 64. You get the idea: New features, Innovated gameplays, more units, more maps, more content.
I also remember the sheer amount of maps that games like Unreal Tournament, Half-Life and its mods, and most games offered. Today, we only get a handful and developers often advertise $10 USD DLC 3 Map packs on day 1 purchases.
Why is this? I believe that the main cause of it is due to the downgrade of free market capitalism in the gaming industry.
Simply put, large companies lobby the government to receive subsidies, tax credits, and special favors. This significantly reduces competition. Smaller independent companies cannot compete against the massive economies of scales that larger corporations such as Activision-Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, and the other big names have due to cronyism.
Who makes our games now? It is no longer self-funded independent private entrepreneurs innovating and competing for our business. It is now bureaucrats with safe jobs working for large companies that would not be alive without government.
What do we need? Free market in the gaming industry, and get the government out of the way.
News links about subsidies/tax credits/cronyism for large video game companies. These are very easy to find on google.
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