According to Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR), only four percent of video games are going to bring their developers a profit this year.

When I read that statistic, my brain was mixed more than a scrambled egg. How could that statistic be true? Simple. Our expectations on video games are through the roof.

When we play video games these days, we take note of everything – graphics, gameplay, music – and in great detail. We praise a game if it has near photo-realistic graphics, we pat the developers on the back for trying out a new gameplay engine, and we smile when we get to listen to one of our favorite songs in a game’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, all of us think this way and all of us expect it to be the standard. If a game doesn’t have good graphics, we call it bad. If developers re-hash old gameplay techniques used in their other games, we call it a rip-off.

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We all do. And this is why us, the consumers, are at fault for making this statistic a possibility.

We’re not the only ones at fault though. When Gears of War was first released, no one thought that level of detail in a graphics engine was even possible. After we saw these graphics, we wanted more – we expected more. Gears of War’s graphics were now the standard; make your game look like that or don’t even try.

A variety of other factors contributed to the statistic, pirating being a major problem. It’s a shame the game economy has come to this, but what are we supposed to do? Who of the millions of gamers today are going to let go of three years of next-gen gaming?

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About This Author: Alex Marra

Hi, my name's Alex. My ambition is to one day become an actor and a video game journalist. I run my own separate blog off of Gamer 2.0 called Tin Foil Hat (http://ajmarra.wordpress.com/), though I update it infrequently. I like to write reviews and share my opinion on video games with no filter added - what you read is my voice and typically how I would say it in real life. I try to be professional at times, but usually end up looking like a professional horse's ass instead. If you want to talk to me personally, shoot me a PM over at Gamer 2.0, send an e-mail to amarra@gamer20.com, or talk to me on Skype (username "Alex.Marra").

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