Thank you for clearing that up, I felt blindsided by this loss. I didn't know Shamus of course, but he was one of the more enjoyable voices to have in my ears. He is missed.
I saw this very comment on the previous video, thought it a horrid prank or somethin' . Then, I saw the other comments... and those of this video. Thanks for relaying the information, pal. 😔
Discovering a channel through the algorithm, listening to a few videos thinking I've found a new content creator to regularly listen to, then discovering the dude is actually dead is an emotional whiplash I was not prepared for.
i was thinking about it as the cycle of life has been on my mind an intrusive amount lately, and ive been watching this guy for a few days and i was like “damn this guy is 50 i hope he lives long enough for fallout to be good again” and by the sounds of it he didn’t even get to enjoy retirement :/ it breaks my heart and i hope this man has a loving family that will carry on his memory and i hope youtube will start memorializing their passed content creators because gems like this shouldn’t be lost to time. this was this mans craft culture and art and im thankful i get to see it
SHAMUS! You had a HUGE impact on me with DoomCity.wad.. You're one of the people directly responsible for me getting into Doom modding as just a child.. REST IN POWER
This reminds me of something Frank Zappa said about the music industry, I cant remember an exact quote but it was to the effect that the music labels were in better shape when the guys in charge were out of touch suits who had no idea what the kids wanted and knew nothing about the music, because of that, they would say, "what the hell do I know about what the kids want to hear" and green light a lot of stuff even if it was experimental or weird because it all sounded weird to them. Then as the older guys in suits started retiring, younger guys with opinions came in and they began to gate keep, saying this wouldn't sell or this isn't whats going to be the next big thing and the industry stopped taking chances and then everything got watered down and predictable and the original ideas and projects went underground because major labels wouldn't touch an unproven sound. I think that is exactly what is happening with the Gen Xers in charge of the video game industry, they only want a proven commodity and won't take risk with interesting or original games anymore, just pump out more kill and loot games and if they sell, milk them dry with more DLC. That's if they even bother to remotely care, otherwise its online pay to win. At this point I have almost given up on new games, too many old good ones out there I have not had the chance to play to worry about what the hell the industry is doing at the moment.
I just want to add I think the more concise answer is capitalism got better at marketing things so things become less creative and experimental more reproducible
I think Boomer has entirely become a term to evoke anyone of an older generation. Zoomers tend to give Millennials the same venom as well, so I just try to stay out of it and do my own thing.
Overly obsessing over generational gaps isn't practical in my mind. It's like star signs, you really should know better than to nose dive your company for short term profit, abuse your workers and support anti minority laws regardless of whatever your arbitrary time of birth is.
As a Zoomer we use it specifically against people who are out of touch and think like someone of older generations or actually as in older generations. For example a Millennial who watches anime would not be called a Boomer, but a Gen-Xer who watches anime would always be called a Boomer. And Boomer would not be applicable to us when Gen Alpha comes to age since there is an extremely small generation gap between us. Only real thing they have is that they lived in the era of mobile game and microtransaction domination whereas we had Flash games and just dlcs/expansions. But we Zoomers still did have mobile games and they Gen Alpha could still play flash style games on newer programs and still can run into games without microtransactions. Both GenZ and GenAlpha are more radical (based or cringe) than their predecessors and both were similarly effected by covid lockdowns.
@@darken2417 Generations are a construct. One year doesn't make much of a difference, it's not like a millenial born a day before the cutoff has more in common with one born a decade ago verse the gen zer born the day after.
Rest in Peace Shamus, my thoughts are with his family. The algorithm popped his Fallout video into my feed, seeing he passed I went through his channel and was astonished to see the megatexturing video, little did i know but i had been a fan for many many years.
I was under the impression that "boomer shooter" came from the 4chan meme "30 year old boomer" which was a a joke about 6 years ago referencing the older users of the website that preferred Doom to new FPS games as boomers to call their tastes old.
I hear a lot of people in there fifties who still sound like they are in there twenties. Its when someone hits sixty..then the voice might change even then its not always the case.
@@Shield-Theyden I think it's more a certain type of capitalism. I live in Denmark and we are a free market, capitalist economy that's less permissive of exploitation.
I'm going to miss your videos. They were always full of insight and deeply interesting. For those that don't know Shamus went into cardiac arrest overnight last night while he was in the hospital getting checked out for pains in his heart and stomach and wasn't able to be revived. Rest in Peace Shamus.
I'd attribute this misnomer to "Boomer" rolling off the tongue easier than "Gen X-er". That being said, I don't think the problems with gaming right now isn't caused by any generational shift or gap, but rather because of the lack of any counter balance in the industry. Take Microsoft for example: as mentioned it's gobbling up companies in a rate that raises alarm. But barring the actual creation of a monopoly, they can do whatever they want. Unless an actual counter culture against greed, one that once again focuses on the experience rather than the profit margins, becomes pervasive in the gaming society, I don't think it's going to get any better, regardless what age those at the top are. Except until the government tries to intervene, in which case I'm not sure if that's better or worse.
the free market inevitably creates monopolies, or duopolies, triopolies. the market must be well regulated to ensure competition drives prices down and drives innovation up. but good luck getting politicians to part ways with megacorporations who lobby them millions.
I kept a subscription on this channel always hoping for more videos. I’m extremely grateful for the ones I eventually got. Godspeed to the Young family, Rest In Peace Shamus. Thank you for all you made and shared.
UA-cam just recommend me this channel and I watched a bunch of videos before learning the author sadly passed away. He seamed like a great person. Such a shame good people always gone too early.
Damn, I was wondering if why I wasn't seeing any new videos from this channel for so long only to find out he has passed away. I'm holding my tears rn man, fuck.
Man. The ending made me realize that i dont play AAA western games for all that monetizing crap in them. I just cruise around indie spaces, and maybe pick up a jrpg or two. As long as its not gatcha.
As an old millennial, I doubt anyone from my generation is really getting to the top of the industry, at least not in the same way any Xers have. The gap between Boomers and Xers is a long one, while the gap between Mills and Z is pretty short. The churn rate in the industry is catastrophic, life expectancy is rising, giant companies rarely promote from within when they can utilise nepotism to select from their own social networks, and studios are consolidating like it's the capitalist singularity. Xers will still be running the show long after any many potential new blood has been wrung out of Mills, and while an exception or two will exist, it won't surprise me if the entire generation is jumped for an equally qualified Generation Z when it comes to studio leads, and to the Xer's kids or grandkids for C-Level roles.
rip shamus, I would sacrifice the entire game industry to have you back granted you would have to find something else to write about but it would surely be just as entertaining
The term "Boomer Shooter" is perfectly fine if used ironically or affectionately, with full knowledge of where the term came from*. Civvie 11, *the* Gen X FPS player, uses it that way to relate to his audience who are (probably) mostly too young to have experienced 90s and early 00s shooters. "Boomer Shooter" annoyed me for a while too, because surely that term would be better applied to Space Invaders / Galaga / Gradius style games, but I'm willing to use it ironically if Civvie is. *It came from a post-Millenial kid writing something like "You're a thirty year old Boomer who thinks Quake looks good" on a forum, completely ignorant of the generation gap theory and the graphics revolution that Quake started as well as deliberately ignoring how it still looks and plays pretty well compare to it's peers.
Teenagers on Twitter think anyone over 22 is “old” so don’t take it too personally. I’m still coming to grips with turning 30… I’m not taking it well, lol.
My dad was born in 1956 and was enthusiastic about video games as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was seeing him fill with glee when he saw a Spyhunter cabinet at a rest stop during a road trip. I blame wealth poisoning more than age for the loot boxes. I'm seeing zoomers who lucked out in crypto forming the exact same mindsets
My hypothesis: They are called boomer shooters because it rhymes and rolls off the tongue, that's it, nothing more to it. As much as we may disagree and get irritated, word "boomer" changed/expanded its meaning. In 20 years zoomers will probably be called boomers by the next young generation. BTW. There's also an intermediate cohort between GenX and Millenials - Xennials. I identify as one, being born in 1981 in Poland I have much more in common with Western GenXers than with Millenials born in the 90s.
@@SimplexPL I'm pretty sure it does rhyme, technically (the last syllables have matching codas), but the meter and/or stress pattern of the phrase are off enough that it doesn't flow smoothly (some sort of mismatch between consonants immediately before the -er). It would probably work in a song, where both can be forced, but doesn't work so well in regular speech.
Aside from only the youngest zoomers who won't even be playing these games and don't even know gen x is a thing, no one takes the name boomer shooter literally. It's just an endearing name people have come to accept. While I personally prefer 90's shooter, boomer shooter just tends to be easier to say than the other names. Basically the name is a non issue and you're thinking waaay too deep into this. As for gaming getting worse, I'm 31 and have no faith it will get any better when my generation takes over. This is more of a problem of video games becoming mainstream. There's a ton of money in it now, that will always be abused. Let alone in a country that encourages large companies to do what ever they want with next to no punishments like america does.
I just found Shamus' channel and I'm disheartened to learn of his passing. My heart goes out to his family, I wish you all the best. I really loved the few videos I've seen so far. Thankfully, there appears to be a large back catalog and his long-running blog to read.
I watched his Fallout video with great great interest and I was curious about his other works and learning of his death deeply discomforts me, seemed like a very cool guy, may you rest in peace brother! Keep playing in heaven❤️
I disagree with this video quite a bit Downfall of gaming has so little to do with Generations The companies are being the best companies they can be, selling the lowest effort stuff that maximizes the profit that they can All the trash CoD games, FIFA, NHL clone games and people cheering disney wars and MCU has VERY little to do with the generation of the CEO who made them Millenials who buy em are MCU and disney wars aren't games but they have the same issue, people accepting bottom tier trash and while there are people from all generations in these, most of em tend to be of the younger folks
Honestly? Isn't that what Shamus said? He's been waiting for years for people who grew up playing games to fix the industry... only to be disillusion by the discovery that many of the people at the top _are_ the generation he'd been placing his hopes in.
Within the first few minutes of this video I gained an immense amount of respect for you. I felt a distinct lack of bias from you in this video and I really enjoyed hearing the perspective of someone who witness the industry from its beginning. You have such a firm understanding of the industry I wouldn’t assume you to be as old as you are. It’s genuinely cool seeing how many millennials are seeing this and agreeing with you. As someone who’s 20 and a half years old, you’re awesome, you have my respect.
Ceo's first duty is to their stockholder, because some grew up with games they can balance this with a focus on the customer but most don't and don't care nor need to I'd be interested in a follow up on the generational representation in the main shareholders of major game companies
It's been a long term theme of Shamus's that he believes companies would, long term, benefit more from treating their customers better rather than milking them for nickels, dimes, and resentment.
The trick there is that 40 (even 20) years ago, "their stockholder" was a guy (probably male) that they knew, spoke to, and had expensive dinners with on a regular basis. Now "their stockholder" is an investing algorithm or index fund that they never have to look in the eye. So instead, "their stockholder" becomes "my stock options" which are too short term to be concerned with things like nurturing creativity and company culture (unless it gets them sued).
@@webbmyers fully agree! Also a lot of those companies were still, for a longtime, Privately owned and not publicly traded In most cases only the publisher was.
Like many others, I chanced upon this channel via the Fallout video. Clicked through to a couple others (while wondering why the last upload was two years ago) and landed here, then finding myself shocked that Shamus had actually passed two years ago. I had actually wondered before knowing so, what if he had a video reviewing the new Fallout show (which stuck very much to Bethesda’s take on the IP). Perhaps poignantly, Tim Cain himself only somewhat recently created a channel and has shared his thoughts on the Bestheda games. I wonder too in this moment what Shamus would have thought if he got to hear Tim’s own thoughts. Though some time has passed and this is after the fact, I hope his family and friends have managed to find some solace since Shamus’ passing. Some comfort perhaps that his videos on here still reach many around the world who never got to meet Shamus personally. You can tell his affection for the medium in this video. Shamus is right that it is indeed a shame that the folks in the positions have not been generative stewards of the medium and art form. I’m not sure the Millennial gen will pull through (I mean look at Zucks) but there remains hope. We need more voices and more folks to lead with their heart and not follow down the path of greed. Even beyond the video game industry, there are loads of systemic problems, legacy problems. The Millennials and Gen Zs need to take a stand and turn the ship around. If and when that happens, hopefully Shamus can take heart wherever he’s resting that things panned out, that we got it right in the end
"30 year old boomer" or just "Boomer" got co-opted by the new kids (and ironically people my age) to describe my generation- the children of Baby Boomers/Gen X (because calling us "Lazy Millennials" wasn't cutting it lol) I knew you were an older content creator but I don't think it matters because the quality of your content is timeless.
It's sad to know you're no longer with us, teaching us. I just found your channel and subscribed. This is the good side of youtube, when It helps to preserve what's important.
I'm tragically late to the timeline where I could look forward to Shamus's new videos, but what a blessing to be able to read his words and see his videos. Thank you to his family, and big respect to Mr. Young's memory and journey.
The big CEOs of the game industry are hardcore business people ....they're not gamers. And over time they've listened less and less to their advisors... The people whose job it is to know what makes a good game. The business people publishing games are very rarely also gamers. They tend to only care about the money side of it ...not the artistic and entertainment side. It now focuses more on using psychology studies to guide design, and experimentation is frowned upon. Maximum money, minimum risk. And I would argue, Tarmac, that millennials do have a good portion of the blame to shoulder for the state of games currently. There are a hell of a lot of them. More than Gen X. They're the ones driving the market with their purchases and seeming condoning of these awful business practices. All gen Xers I know despise loot boxes and micro transactions, and try to patronise them as little as possible or not at all. Not so for millennials who've grown up with all this, and push back very little, even as the greed increases. A lot of the garbage business practices would go away if people just stopped buying. But they won't.
Definitely both, kids now actually want 20 dollar fortnite skins and think it’s completely normal to pay 70 for a unfinished game and maybe get it finished later on, and I’m saying this as part of the generation, they are some of the worst mindless consumers ever
That list you made around 11:00 is not helping your case much: out of 10 entries (excluding the uncertain one), the Gen X to boomer ratio is 6/4, and that is only due to the recent Microsoft acquisition splurge which puts about half of those under the same guy.
I have been following this man's work in different areas for years without realizing it was the same person! I know him from his Free Radical, Escapist, and remember a bit of DM of the Rings. I thought wow this is a great youtube channel. Only yesterday I realized I have been following the same person. R.I.P!
Doom wasn't just by Gen X for Gen X. It was also played by early millennials when they were kids. I heard about about it first in 94 when I was 7 and played it extensively some 3-4 years later (because we finally got a good enough PC). This "5 years old game is still kinda new to many and ancient at the same time" is also something that isn't happening anymore. Back then you either spent 10k bucks on a computer which can run the newest games for the next 2 years and gets obsolete quickly or you could spend 2k bucks for an older PC and play games from 5 years ago that aged poorly. Today you spend 2k and it will get you a PC that's gonna stay relevant for the next 5 years and play 10 years old games that still feel modern and relevant.
It doesn't matter how many generations pass. There will always be those that only care about the bottom line. Great vid! You have a super youthful voice, I thought you were like 30 max
I get this crap from kids too. I’m a GenX gamer and I also get annoyed at pipsqueaks not being able to tell the difference between a Boomer and an Xer because culturally we couldn’t be any more different. I don’t see any difference in how the industry is run today then as any other industry has been run in the past. The generation that started the game industry saw it as making games; that’s it. The newer generation who grew up with them learned that they are way more than games, they are a major part of the cultural zeitgeist, and exactly like what was done with Hollywood and the television industry it was exploited to maximize profits and squeeze as many dollars as possible from customers. This is not a generational thing; it is a capitalist thing and it is cyclical throughout history.
It's more of the fact that boomer isn't tied to an age but rather identity and to express something that has aged. It's a compliment because it implies higher quality. Think about it. DOOM is one of the best fps games ever. And games within the 90s are still better than anything today. I don't see it as an insult. Quite the opposite. A zoomer gamer is an insult because the games of their generation are mostly shit. And it's warranted. Zoomers suck at the arts.
I'll really miss your clear explanations and insightful remarks, and I'll especially miss your ability to boil it all down into some hilarious analogy. I'll really miss you.
when a word gets overused as an insult it starts to lose it’s original meaning. at some point the word degrades so much it starts to mean a person I dislike or disagree with.
Interesting how the post-1946 transition you mentioned is still happening on many countries Where I live it's very common to see big families living all together and people that don't go to college or don't even finish high school
I found myself watching Shamus’ videos again and I was completely ignorant to his passing since it had been awhile since I saw his video on Fallout and that was the last video of his I watched. After watching it again I wondered why he hadn’t released anything lately and I come here to find an answer. It’s very late but Rest In Peace Shamus and condolences to his family
Great video. As a fellow Gen X'er, this makes me sad. I'm also irritated with the dumb "boomer" slang and even more irritated I can't blame the current state of the video game industry on the millennials :-D
It's just one of those things now I'm afraid. I'm technically Gen Z, mid twenties and get called boomer by some friends a couple years younger for disliking certain media they adore. That's our current cultural language right now... And don't worry, once the millennials get the power there will be plenty to complain about. No doubt it'll be similar to how the comics industry treats it's customer base. I mean hell we already see it to some degree now that gamers are sexist blah blah blah etc etc.
It's mainly the industry itself. Its just your typical scummy business practices. For example ghost wire:tokyo is 80$ on the ps5 but on steam its 60$. Which is obviously insane because your going to get a better experience on PC anyways for a lower price. thats just one example out of countless.
Boomer is a mindset. It's when you stop following the newest music releases and instead stick to your favourites from 10 years ago. It's when you can no longer comprehend the young'uns fashion. It's when you start finding the newest generation to be too stupid/degenerate/uncouth/lazy/sheltered/terminally online/[insert negative descriptor here]. Again, even a 20 year old can be a boomer nowadays.
They would have ended up this way even without the higher budgets. The budget is an excuse. Freemium microtransactions were going to end up in AAA full-price videogames as soon as someone realized they could get away with it. The budget excuse was just a good way to get the audience to accept it.
I think you have a misunderstanding of the type of ppl these CEO's are,they didn't have your average childhood/life,they where probably boarding school,ivy league alumnae where videogames probably where frowned upon for being distractions.
Rest in peace Shamus, you were one of the greatest critics on UA-cam.
What!! I was just getting into his videos. This heartbreaking to hear, may he Rest In Peace and his family well
What happened?
The heck happened?
@@clydemarshall8095 Shamus Young died from a cardiac arrest in June 15, 2022.
@@pg-qf6gunot true
Shamus Young died on Wednesday, June 15th, 2022, at 3am, of cardiac arrest. He is greatly missed by family, friends, colleagues, and his audience.
Thank you for clearing that up, I felt blindsided by this loss. I didn't know Shamus of course, but he was one of the more enjoyable voices to have in my ears. He is missed.
Maybe he should have done something besides get all worked up complaining on UA-cam all the time, probably would have kept his heart going a bit more.
@@ethereal_sad Your opinion is trash
I saw this very comment on the previous video, thought it a horrid prank or somethin' . Then, I saw the other comments... and those of this video.
Thanks for relaying the information, pal. 😔
@@ethereal_sadyes, I'm sure UA-cam was his entire life.🤦
Discovering a channel through the algorithm, listening to a few videos thinking I've found a new content creator to regularly listen to, then discovering the dude is actually dead is an emotional whiplash I was not prepared for.
Yep my first shamus video was 3 yrs ago. Then yep he passed 4 days before my birthday.
Same thing my man, same thing.
Especially since his opinions on many things are almost exactly the same as mine.
RIP Mr. Shamus.
Exactly the same happened for me
i was thinking about it as the cycle of life has been on my mind an intrusive amount lately, and ive been watching this guy for a few days and i was like “damn this guy is 50 i hope he lives long enough for fallout to be good again” and by the sounds of it he didn’t even get to enjoy retirement :/ it breaks my heart and i hope this man has a loving family that will carry on his memory and i hope youtube will start memorializing their passed content creators because gems like this shouldn’t be lost to time. this was this mans craft culture and art and im thankful i get to see it
Had the exact same thing just happen to me.
RIP Shamus. Your Mass Effect retrospective is one of the best works arounds in regards to game analysis.
SHAMUS! You had a HUGE impact on me with DoomCity.wad.. You're one of the people directly responsible for me getting into Doom modding as just a child.. REST IN POWER
Rest in power. I like that. Thank you
This reminds me of something Frank Zappa said about the music industry, I cant remember an exact quote but it was to the effect that the music labels were in better shape when the guys in charge were out of touch suits who had no idea what the kids wanted and knew nothing about the music, because of that, they would say, "what the hell do I know about what the kids want to hear" and green light a lot of stuff even if it was experimental or weird because it all sounded weird to them. Then as the older guys in suits started retiring, younger guys with opinions came in and they began to gate keep, saying this wouldn't sell or this isn't whats going to be the next big thing and the industry stopped taking chances and then everything got watered down and predictable and the original ideas and projects went underground because major labels wouldn't touch an unproven sound. I think that is exactly what is happening with the Gen Xers in charge of the video game industry, they only want a proven commodity and won't take risk with interesting or original games anymore, just pump out more kill and loot games and if they sell, milk them dry with more DLC. That's if they even bother to remotely care, otherwise its online pay to win. At this point I have almost given up on new games, too many old good ones out there I have not had the chance to play to worry about what the hell the industry is doing at the moment.
Great invocation of a great Zappa quote, applies perfectly.
I just want to add I think the more concise answer is capitalism got better at marketing things so things become less creative and experimental more reproducible
I think Boomer has entirely become a term to evoke anyone of an older generation. Zoomers tend to give Millennials the same venom as well, so I just try to stay out of it and do my own thing.
Overly obsessing over generational gaps isn't practical in my mind. It's like star signs, you really should know better than to nose dive your company for short term profit, abuse your workers and support anti minority laws regardless of whatever your arbitrary time of birth is.
As a Zoomer we use it specifically against people who are out of touch and think like someone of older generations or actually as in older generations.
For example a Millennial who watches anime would not be called a Boomer, but a Gen-Xer who watches anime would always be called a Boomer.
And Boomer would not be applicable to us when Gen Alpha comes to age since there is an extremely small generation gap between us. Only real thing they have is that they lived in the era of mobile game and microtransaction domination whereas we had Flash games and just dlcs/expansions. But we Zoomers still did have mobile games and they Gen Alpha could still play flash style games on newer programs and still can run into games without microtransactions.
Both GenZ and GenAlpha are more radical (based or cringe) than their predecessors and both were similarly effected by covid lockdowns.
@@darken2417 Generations are a construct. One year doesn't make much of a difference, it's not like a millenial born a day before the cutoff has more in common with one born a decade ago verse the gen zer born the day after.
@@darken2417 God, I hope based Biden starts WWIII with Russia so we trim some of the zoomers.
I miss the days when boomer just meant somone online older than 30 as a goof.
Rest in Peace Shamus, my thoughts are with his family.
The algorithm popped his Fallout video into my feed, seeing he passed I went through his channel and was astonished to see the megatexturing video, little did i know but i had been a fan for many many years.
I was under the impression that "boomer shooter" came from the 4chan meme "30 year old boomer" which was a a joke about 6 years ago referencing the older users of the website that preferred Doom to new FPS games as boomers to call their tastes old.
But 30 isn't a Baby Boomer it's way too young.
@@dubuyajay9964 that's part of the joke. It's just calling someone old.
@@exmerion Then it shows the failure of public education by showing outright ignorance of history and basic math.
@@dubuyajay9964 Boomer is a mindset, not just a generation descriptor anymore.
@@dubuyajay9964 a) its a joke
b) it's 4chan so dont have high expectations
RIP Shamus Young - June 15th 2022
But he had so much more to offer to the world, it's not fair man.
The world is better off without such a negative jackass
Ok boomer
Your 50? Damn, I thought you were like maybe 35, you got them George Clooney genes.
I hear a lot of people in there fifties who still sound like they are in there twenties. Its when someone hits sixty..then the voice might change even then its not always the case.
To be fair corporate hierarchies tend to self select for the worst examples of people regardless of generation.
I love non democratic companies.
Exactly this. Gen-Xers aren't ruining video games. Capitalism is.
@@Shield-Theyden I think it's more a certain type of capitalism. I live in Denmark and we are a free market, capitalist economy that's less permissive of exploitation.
@@spacecanuk8316 I think you're right. Corporatism is the prime offender, I'd say.
I found the r/Communism redditors.
RIP Shamus. You will be missed. I used to read everything he wrote int he earlier days of the net.
Long story short: no matter the generation gap or age, the top dogs are always the ones out of touch.
I'm going to miss your videos. They were always full of insight and deeply interesting. For those that don't know Shamus went into cardiac arrest overnight last night while he was in the hospital getting checked out for pains in his heart and stomach and wasn't able to be revived. Rest in Peace Shamus.
I'd attribute this misnomer to "Boomer" rolling off the tongue easier than "Gen X-er".
That being said, I don't think the problems with gaming right now isn't caused by any generational shift or gap, but rather because of the lack of any counter balance in the industry. Take Microsoft for example: as mentioned it's gobbling up companies in a rate that raises alarm. But barring the actual creation of a monopoly, they can do whatever they want.
Unless an actual counter culture against greed, one that once again focuses on the experience rather than the profit margins, becomes pervasive in the gaming society, I don't think it's going to get any better, regardless what age those at the top are. Except until the government tries to intervene, in which case I'm not sure if that's better or worse.
the free market inevitably creates monopolies, or duopolies, triopolies. the market must be well regulated to ensure competition drives prices down and drives innovation up. but good luck getting politicians to part ways with megacorporations who lobby them millions.
X-Shooters sounds really lame, yeah
@@estebanrodriguez5409 Sounds like a comic book from the early 90s.
@@todesziege It can also sound as games that used to be understood as shooters, but now shooters are a different thing?
@@estebanrodriguez5409 Or games that used to be shooters, but somehow transformed?
Rest in peace.
I kept a subscription on this channel always hoping for more videos. I’m extremely grateful for the ones I eventually got.
Godspeed to the Young family, Rest In Peace Shamus. Thank you for all you made and shared.
RIP.
Rest in peace you wonderful man.
A negative jerk.
The world is better off
I just saw that this man has died, at 50. That is shocking and sad. Terrible. I hope his family and especially kids, the best
Rest in Peace, Shamus Young.
UA-cam just recommend me this channel and I watched a bunch of videos before learning the author sadly passed away. He seamed like a great person. Such a shame good people always gone too early.
Same. I found him today and have watched 5 vids in a row. I was curious why he hasn't uploaded in awhile and then saw the comments
pretty spooky that his last video was about him being old
Rip
Rest easy
rest in peace
"So let's talk about the boomers"
*cuts to Nellis Air Force Base*
Rest in peace
RIP Shamus. Condolences to your family and friends.
Damn, I was wondering if why I wasn't seeing any new videos from this channel for so long only to find out he has passed away.
I'm holding my tears rn man, fuck.
Gonna miss you and your content brother. RIP
Rip friend, your essays were so well written
Rest in peace, thank you for all the great videos
Man, who knew that the 30 year old boomer meme would steal he accomplishments of Gen X.
Godspeed bro
Man. The ending made me realize that i dont play AAA western games for all that monetizing crap in them. I just cruise around indie spaces, and maybe pick up a jrpg or two. As long as its not gatcha.
Oh yes my 3rd favourite UA-cam channel has returned!
As an old millennial, I doubt anyone from my generation is really getting to the top of the industry, at least not in the same way any Xers have. The gap between Boomers and Xers is a long one, while the gap between Mills and Z is pretty short. The churn rate in the industry is catastrophic, life expectancy is rising, giant companies rarely promote from within when they can utilise nepotism to select from their own social networks, and studios are consolidating like it's the capitalist singularity.
Xers will still be running the show long after any many potential new blood has been wrung out of Mills, and while an exception or two will exist, it won't surprise me if the entire generation is jumped for an equally qualified Generation Z when it comes to studio leads, and to the Xer's kids or grandkids for C-Level roles.
Rest In Peace Shamus. You gave me a lot of joy with your videos.
RIP
RIP my man
rip shamus, I would sacrifice the entire game industry to have you back
granted you would have to find something else to write about but it would surely be just as entertaining
For sure. My brother could write and talk about anything
Rest in peace dude you're channel was dope
The term "Boomer Shooter" is perfectly fine if used ironically or affectionately, with full knowledge of where the term came from*. Civvie 11, *the* Gen X FPS player, uses it that way to relate to his audience who are (probably) mostly too young to have experienced 90s and early 00s shooters. "Boomer Shooter" annoyed me for a while too, because surely that term would be better applied to Space Invaders / Galaga / Gradius style games, but I'm willing to use it ironically if Civvie is.
*It came from a post-Millenial kid writing something like "You're a thirty year old Boomer who thinks Quake looks good" on a forum, completely ignorant of the generation gap theory and the graphics revolution that Quake started as well as deliberately ignoring how it still looks and plays pretty well compare to it's peers.
That's so dumb it hurts.
You died way too early, Shamus. Rest in peace.
Rest in peace. And thank you.
RIP 💔
Teenagers on Twitter think anyone over 22 is “old” so don’t take it too personally. I’m still coming to grips with turning 30… I’m not taking it well, lol.
My dad was born in 1956 and was enthusiastic about video games as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was seeing him fill with glee when he saw a Spyhunter cabinet at a rest stop during a road trip. I blame wealth poisoning more than age for the loot boxes. I'm seeing zoomers who lucked out in crypto forming the exact same mindsets
I agree, personally i feel that Shamu's disappointment in his generations is misplaced.
Yup the incentive structure of investment led game mega corps leads to these outcomes. Put a zoomed in that seat and the same outcomes are likely.
My hypothesis: They are called boomer shooters because it rhymes and rolls off the tongue, that's it, nothing more to it.
As much as we may disagree and get irritated, word "boomer" changed/expanded its meaning. In 20 years zoomers will probably be called boomers by the next young generation.
BTW. There's also an intermediate cohort between GenX and Millenials - Xennials. I identify as one, being born in 1981 in Poland I have much more in common with Western GenXers than with Millenials born in the 90s.
they don't rhyme at all lol
@@MarsofAritia They both end with "er" so that's a similarity. If it's not considered rhyming then my bad lol
@@SimplexPL I'm pretty sure it does rhyme, technically (the last syllables have matching codas), but the meter and/or stress pattern of the phrase are off enough that it doesn't flow smoothly (some sort of mismatch between consonants immediately before the -er). It would probably work in a song, where both can be forced, but doesn't work so well in regular speech.
They won’t be called boomers cause all the ACTUAL boomers will be dead. So they’ll be a new coined term for old people
Aside from only the youngest zoomers who won't even be playing these games and don't even know gen x is a thing, no one takes the name boomer shooter literally. It's just an endearing name people have come to accept. While I personally prefer 90's shooter, boomer shooter just tends to be easier to say than the other names. Basically the name is a non issue and you're thinking waaay too deep into this.
As for gaming getting worse, I'm 31 and have no faith it will get any better when my generation takes over. This is more of a problem of video games becoming mainstream. There's a ton of money in it now, that will always be abused. Let alone in a country that encourages large companies to do what ever they want with next to no punishments like america does.
RIP you seemed like a good honest UA-camr. Your contributions will be valued forever.
Last true games journalist, rest in piece Sheamus God speed
I just found Shamus' channel and I'm disheartened to learn of his passing. My heart goes out to his family, I wish you all the best.
I really loved the few videos I've seen so far. Thankfully, there appears to be a large back catalog and his long-running blog to read.
this is the most boomer video ever created
I watched his Fallout video with great great interest and I was curious about his other works and learning of his death deeply discomforts me, seemed like a very cool guy, may you rest in peace brother! Keep playing in heaven❤️
I disagree with this video quite a bit
Downfall of gaming has so little to do with Generations
The companies are being the best companies they can be, selling the lowest effort stuff that maximizes the profit that they can
All the trash CoD games, FIFA, NHL clone games and people cheering disney wars and MCU has VERY little to do with the generation of the CEO who made them
Millenials who buy em are
MCU and disney wars aren't games but they have the same issue, people accepting bottom tier trash and while there are people from all generations in these, most of em tend to be of the younger folks
Honestly? Isn't that what Shamus said? He's been waiting for years for people who grew up playing games to fix the industry... only to be disillusion by the discovery that many of the people at the top _are_ the generation he'd been placing his hopes in.
@@boobah5643 Could be, I only remember hearing a lot of focus on generations and so it bored me
I'm always patiently waiting for your videos Shamus. Keep 'm coming.
Within the first few minutes of this video I gained an immense amount of respect for you. I felt a distinct lack of bias from you in this video and I really enjoyed hearing the perspective of someone who witness the industry from its beginning. You have such a firm understanding of the industry I wouldn’t assume you to be as old as you are.
It’s genuinely cool seeing how many millennials are seeing this and agreeing with you.
As someone who’s 20 and a half years old, you’re awesome, you have my respect.
Piss off scammer, the fact you’re here shows how successful this channel it though so thanks
he dead man, rip.
Rest in peace, your videos taught me a lot 🙏
You were one of my favorite youtubers and an inspiration, I'll miss you man
Ceo's first duty is to their stockholder, because some grew up with games they can balance this with a focus on the customer but most don't and don't care nor need to
I'd be interested in a follow up on the generational representation in the main shareholders of major game companies
It's been a long term theme of Shamus's that he believes companies would, long term, benefit more from treating their customers better rather than milking them for nickels, dimes, and resentment.
The trick there is that 40 (even 20) years ago, "their stockholder" was a guy (probably male) that they knew, spoke to, and had expensive dinners with on a regular basis. Now "their stockholder" is an investing algorithm or index fund that they never have to look in the eye. So instead, "their stockholder" becomes "my stock options" which are too short term to be concerned with things like nurturing creativity and company culture (unless it gets them sued).
@@webbmyers fully agree!
Also a lot of those companies were still, for a longtime, Privately owned and not publicly traded
In most cases only the publisher was.
love your videos! Keep it up, man!
So glad you're back to making videos again! Also, I haven't watched your videos in so long, I forgot what a slapper the outro song is!
To my generation, a slapper is not a term of endearment.
Rest in peace buddy, you will be missed.
Like many others, I chanced upon this channel via the Fallout video. Clicked through to a couple others (while wondering why the last upload was two years ago) and landed here, then finding myself shocked that Shamus had actually passed two years ago.
I had actually wondered before knowing so, what if he had a video reviewing the new Fallout show (which stuck very much to Bethesda’s take on the IP). Perhaps poignantly, Tim Cain himself only somewhat recently created a channel and has shared his thoughts on the Bestheda games. I wonder too in this moment what Shamus would have thought if he got to hear Tim’s own thoughts.
Though some time has passed and this is after the fact, I hope his family and friends have managed to find some solace since Shamus’ passing. Some comfort perhaps that his videos on here still reach many around the world who never got to meet Shamus personally.
You can tell his affection for the medium in this video. Shamus is right that it is indeed a shame that the folks in the positions have not been generative stewards of the medium and art form. I’m not sure the Millennial gen will pull through (I mean look at Zucks) but there remains hope. We need more voices and more folks to lead with their heart and not follow down the path of greed. Even beyond the video game industry, there are loads of systemic problems, legacy problems. The Millennials and Gen Zs need to take a stand and turn the ship around. If and when that happens, hopefully Shamus can take heart wherever he’s resting that things panned out, that we got it right in the end
"30 year old boomer" or just "Boomer" got co-opted by the new kids (and ironically people my age) to describe my generation- the children of Baby Boomers/Gen X (because calling us "Lazy Millennials" wasn't cutting it lol) I knew you were an older content creator but I don't think it matters because the quality of your content is timeless.
It's sad to know you're no longer with us, teaching us. I just found your channel and subscribed. This is the good side of youtube, when It helps to preserve what's important.
I'm tragically late to the timeline where I could look forward to Shamus's new videos, but what a blessing to be able to read his words and see his videos. Thank you to his family, and big respect to Mr. Young's memory and journey.
The big CEOs of the game industry are hardcore business people ....they're not gamers. And over time they've listened less and less to their advisors... The people whose job it is to know what makes a good game. The business people publishing games are very rarely also gamers. They tend to only care about the money side of it ...not the artistic and entertainment side. It now focuses more on using psychology studies to guide design, and experimentation is frowned upon. Maximum money, minimum risk.
And I would argue, Tarmac, that millennials do have a good portion of the blame to shoulder for the state of games currently. There are a hell of a lot of them. More than Gen X. They're the ones driving the market with their purchases and seeming condoning of these awful business practices. All gen Xers I know despise loot boxes and micro transactions, and try to patronise them as little as possible or not at all. Not so for millennials who've grown up with all this, and push back very little, even as the greed increases. A lot of the garbage business practices would go away if people just stopped buying. But they won't.
The problem with the industry isnt generational... its that it is an industry. At the end of the day they will be just products to these companies
Definitely both, kids now actually want 20 dollar fortnite skins and think it’s completely normal to pay 70 for a unfinished game and maybe get it finished later on, and I’m saying this as part of the generation, they are some of the worst mindless consumers ever
@RealChicken-zo3pq well you cant blame kids for being stupid consumers you can blame companies for targeting kids with scummy business practices
Rest in peace, I just found this channel and I will watch all your videos. Honestly amazing content.
Godspeed
Just binge watched half these videos 🔥 love the channel and this guy is really inspirational. Hope his family is doing well🙏
That list you made around 11:00 is not helping your case much: out of 10 entries (excluding the uncertain one), the Gen X to boomer ratio is 6/4, and that is only due to the recent Microsoft acquisition splurge which puts about half of those under the same guy.
I have been following this man's work in different areas for years without realizing it was the same person!
I know him from his Free Radical, Escapist, and remember a bit of DM of the Rings.
I thought wow this is a great youtube channel.
Only yesterday I realized I have been following the same person.
R.I.P!
Just found this channel, love the content. Don't know why the views are so low lately.
Rip shamus
Doom wasn't just by Gen X for Gen X. It was also played by early millennials when they were kids. I heard about about it first in 94 when I was 7 and played it extensively some 3-4 years later (because we finally got a good enough PC). This "5 years old game is still kinda new to many and ancient at the same time" is also something that isn't happening anymore. Back then you either spent 10k bucks on a computer which can run the newest games for the next 2 years and gets obsolete quickly or you could spend 2k bucks for an older PC and play games from 5 years ago that aged poorly. Today you spend 2k and it will get you a PC that's gonna stay relevant for the next 5 years and play 10 years old games that still feel modern and relevant.
It doesn't matter how many generations pass. There will always be those that only care about the bottom line. Great vid! You have a super youthful voice, I thought you were like 30 max
It's cool that someone who's been around for the entire lifetime of the industry is still making videos/writing about it. That's an essential voice.
You're doing the Lord's work Shamus Young
I get this crap from kids too. I’m a GenX gamer and I also get annoyed at pipsqueaks not being able to tell the difference between a Boomer and an Xer because culturally we couldn’t be any more different.
I don’t see any difference in how the industry is run today then as any other industry has been run in the past. The generation that started the game industry saw it as making games; that’s it. The newer generation who grew up with them learned that they are way more than games, they are a major part of the cultural zeitgeist, and exactly like what was done with Hollywood and the television industry it was exploited to maximize profits and squeeze as many dollars as possible from customers. This is not a generational thing; it is a capitalist thing and it is cyclical throughout history.
Yeah its crazy.
@@SeasoningTheObese i wrote an entire generation off for believing in more right wing lies than they had brain cells
It's more of the fact that boomer isn't tied to an age but rather identity and to express something that has aged. It's a compliment because it implies higher quality.
Think about it. DOOM is one of the best fps games ever. And games within the 90s are still better than anything today. I don't see it as an insult. Quite the opposite.
A zoomer gamer is an insult because the games of their generation are mostly shit. And it's warranted. Zoomers suck at the arts.
ok boomer
@@12halo3 i wrote every generation off because humans are the virus
I have just discovered your channel and I would love to see more content :)
He died two years ago :(
@@MrMichcio22 :( why good people must go so soon :( thanks for telling me
I'll really miss your clear explanations and insightful remarks, and I'll especially miss your ability to boil it all down into some hilarious analogy.
I'll really miss you.
when a word gets overused as an insult it starts to lose it’s original meaning. at some point the word degrades so much it starts to mean a person I dislike or disagree with.
Rest in peace mate, thanks for all your efforts; you made thousands happy…
Interesting how the post-1946 transition you mentioned is still happening on many countries
Where I live it's very common to see big families living all together and people that don't go to college or don't even finish high school
I found myself watching Shamus’ videos again and I was completely ignorant to his passing since it had been awhile since I saw his video on Fallout and that was the last video of his I watched. After watching it again I wondered why he hadn’t released anything lately and I come here to find an answer. It’s very late but Rest In Peace Shamus and condolences to his family
R.I.P brother your legacy lives through these videos
RIP your website is the reason i still try to make video games. you will be missed
Great video. As a fellow Gen X'er, this makes me sad. I'm also irritated with the dumb "boomer" slang and even more irritated I can't blame the current state of the video game industry on the millennials :-D
It's just one of those things now I'm afraid. I'm technically Gen Z, mid twenties and get called boomer by some friends a couple years younger for disliking certain media they adore. That's our current cultural language right now... And don't worry, once the millennials get the power there will be plenty to complain about. No doubt it'll be similar to how the comics industry treats it's customer base. I mean hell we already see it to some degree now that gamers are sexist blah blah blah etc etc.
It's mainly the industry itself. Its just your typical scummy business practices. For example ghost wire:tokyo is 80$ on the ps5 but on steam its 60$. Which is obviously insane because your going to get a better experience on PC anyways for a lower price. thats just one example out of countless.
Okay Boomer.
@@darken2417 Edgy and original, keyboard pirate and risk-taker you are. You're too cool for school, don't let anybody tell ya different.
Boomer is a mindset. It's when you stop following the newest music releases and instead stick to your favourites from 10 years ago. It's when you can no longer comprehend the young'uns fashion. It's when you start finding the newest generation to be too stupid/degenerate/uncouth/lazy/sheltered/terminally online/[insert negative descriptor here].
Again, even a 20 year old can be a boomer nowadays.
The higher budgets destroyed gaming, it lead to nickel and dime demands from the publishers onto the developers. Look at GT7
They would have ended up this way even without the higher budgets. The budget is an excuse. Freemium microtransactions were going to end up in AAA full-price videogames as soon as someone realized they could get away with it. The budget excuse was just a good way to get the audience to accept it.
RIP 💐
Thanks for this perspective on the history of video games, Shamus.
I’m shocked, just found out from the comments that this guy is dead. R.I.P.
We will miss you Shamus
I think you have a misunderstanding of the type of ppl these CEO's are,they didn't have your average childhood/life,they where probably boarding school,ivy league alumnae where videogames probably where frowned upon for being distractions.
Bruh I just found this guy and loved his videos. I’m so sad that he has passed away :(