Games are too big
They cost too much money, are too big to download, require too much investment of time on the part of the player, and take too long to make.
Sometimes I want to have fun for 15 minutes, to play a game. These days I need to spend 3 or 4 hours just learning the complexity of a new game. This is grim
Also I want to downalod a game in 20 mins or less. It took all evening to downlaod Universal Combat (no it wasnt worth it). Why does any game need a 27MB logo avi at the start? is it really worth downloading?
Any cool idea for a game loses its enthusiasm after 6 months - a year. Once you have worked on a game beyond a year people just start to get fed up.
And lets not lose sight of the fact that games are about £20-30. Thats a night at the cinema.. ONE... NIGHT...
These days we seem to expect a 20 mission campaign, tutorial, freeform play, level editing and online play.
Thats insane.
If you play a £30 game for 30 hours in total, thats a true bargain. Imagine 30 hours down the pub.
You shjoudl be able to make a game with half a dozen people or less in just 6 months (or less). Keep it small, keep it fun. Dont spend a million pounds, forget the FMV, forget the spinning logo, forget the level editor (sell it as an add-on), forget all the flash.
Just make a fun game.
Or people like me will grow old playing small fun shootemups like Star Monkey, or puzzle games like chainz.