What a great, thought provoking thread. This question and the discussion it brings can really lead to some insightful ideas that I personally love to explore. The idea of what is a "popular game", what is a "good game" and how a game is valued before and after its release is something I'd love to write a formal paper about one day.
Anyways, as for my 2 cents...I think it comes down to the fact that video gaming is now one of the "real" businesses. Real in that its profitable, and a lot of people in suits have a very real interest in making sure their investments make em money. These people in suits that have money to invest don't normally know a god damn thing when it comes to a fun game, or even the difference between a FPS shooter and an RTS game. They simply know what has sold well in the passed and what is "most likely" to sell well in the future according to the enormous amount of demographic/poll/data that cost them very large sums of cash to get.
So what ends up happening, in order to make the most money in the safest way, they invest in games that are very very similar to previous games. They then hype the shit outta them, so when casual gamer Joe, or even casual gamer Joe's grandma goes to their local Best Buy or Gamestop and looks for game to buy..the 5 foot tall Call of Duty poster staring them in the face kinda makes the decision for em.
We, as life long gamers, are for the most part immune to that kind of BS...but we are a minuscule portion of the gaming world. Most gamers only know the world of "popular games" and would only ever fathom buying a game that has midnight launch parties and commercials airing during prime time TV.
Again, we as learned folk, know that a popular game can be super fantastic just as easily as it could suck balls. The posters and ads don't make a damned difference in game quality. We also know of the indie game world and how it can produce super fantastic games as well..and for a weaker hit to our wallets.
Really, its just like all other media now. You have pop music which in general, true "audiophiles" scoff at and don't ever buy. But its pop music..which is heard everywhere.. listened to by the "masses" who don't really know any better or don't give a hoot, but in general makes people in suits money. Same with movies.
Games have simply caught up this.
In short. If a game looks good, fun and I'm willing to pay its price, I will buy it, regardless of where it came from. The reality is, for the passed several years, the grand majority of my purchased games, have come from smaller, independent game developers who advertise on their games website and no where else.
So I will vote NO, I do not buy popular games.
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