It seems that I am less and less interested in new games and am happier playing older games on emulators. I still game a decent amount, but I don’t even watch gaming news for new stuff.
I loved Skyrim, but I am not even interested in reading about starfield. It just seems that it’s going to be an extremely involved game. But at the same time I’d have no problem playing through Skyrim again and to be fair I just played through tears of the kingdom.
Anyone else have this problem as they are getting older? I’m in my mid 30s btw.
I think it’s a mix of things, as others have noted. Age definitely plays a part though, I think, and I’ve felt the same thing you have. The period of mid teens to early twenties is hugely formative and lots of preferences you acquire during those years settle in deep. I feel this mostly with music, nowadays. I remember being a teenager and constantly fiending for new bands, new artists, stuff I’d never heard before, the latest releases of my favorite artists. These days though I mostly go back to old favorites, stick to albums and artists I discovered during that 15-25 decade, even just play old records of my favorite artists instead of checking out their latest releases. Rarely do I get the impulse to go foraging for new stuff.
When you’re young you have a smaller database of similar experiences, so everything new makes a stronger impression. The older you get, the more you experience and the more any new input gets dampened by good old habituation and comparison to older similar experiences. Simultaneously, nostalgia grows more powerful with each passing year and so old favorites get more and more appealing.
To add to this though, there has certainly been a shift in how games are made, and it’s particularly noticeable in the AAA industry. I watched a video essay about the impact of the Unreal-ification of graphics in AAA games leading to homogenization of visuals, the proliferation of Ubisoft style open world collect-a-thon gameplay is very much felt (though maybe we’re moving away from it finally), and in general high budget games often end up overly streamlined and soulless.
Indie games exist, and many are excellent, but they of course do lack the capabilities that come with larger budgets.
Finally, the optimal monetization strategies for video games are starting to approach a very solved state, which has led to many publishers pushing predatory set-ups and focus on subscriptions, battle passes, microtransactions and Games as a Live Service. I’m not the biggest fan of Josh Strife-Hayes, but he has a great video about this from a year or two ago.
Combine all of these things and it’s not too unexpected to feel the way you do.