Why online gamers are more attracted to the modern day

Meanwhile, the PC gaming industry prioritizes quality and earns money from quality content rather than trying to squeeze every last penny out of its mobile community

Yes... I think I can second that notion. 

I loved the jet fighter and WW2 flight combat simulators, personally... and would lose my adolescent to young adult (only a little as a Young Adult since by my 20's I was a father and a husband and a Marine) self in them. 

There was one, F-19 Stealth Fighter (before the official F-117 name was announced and before the official shape was known it was rounded instead of angular and was thought to be the F-19 instead... lol.  They had a patch to update your plane model after that was announced... btw) that I would spend so many hours on as an 8 year old... and the whole point of that game was to avoid fights other than the targets if at all possible!  As a child... you would think that would bore me...

Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe also stands out as one from my childhood.  Had a bit more action than the F19 did. I would fly missions from English air bases to German targets and back without ever speeding up the time... so engrossing was it. 

There have been a few others, since then, that have been as engrossing... but the point is that they led me to feel right at home once I got the Mechwarrior bug and began playing with Mechwarrior 2.  Then, 3... then 4.  Simulation style with limited ammo, accurate damage to parts, multiple choices as to how to approach the target and what mechs to use... it was awesome.  I loved them and would play the new version once released if I get a PC by then.  I guess what I am trying to say is that only single player games have taken my attention as completely as those did.

For the longest time there just haven't been that many options for quality, similar game-play. The only good currentish game that I have looked at in the past few years that compares to the level of escapism, and maybe exceeds it, IDK since I haven't had a gaming rig for a while now... is the IL-2 series: battle over Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow.  I've seen some YT vids of the campaigns and the Multiplayer and the realism is exactly what I dig.  Lots of details, very unforgiving if you screw up, and pretty accurate flight and physics models. 

But... Mobile games will probably never get to that level... as they are meant to placate the quick session gamers... the platform demands it.  Gamers like me, that dig the simulation, will never be completely happy with any mobile offering, and that realization is what made me stop feeling butt-hurt over Mail/Pix.ru's new directions.  I can't expect anything near a game that is focused on game-play that is not concerned with time.  They need quick matches. They need to keep new players advancing and playing long enough to keep the new and old payers, paying.  They haven't quite gotten that formula down pat, in my book, as Ag is too hard to get for a casual player... but with the small changes they keep making like giving us what we want along with what we don't with these recent updates (got custom matches, but also shocktrain.  Getting reload, but also a medium Aphid... etc.) it seems that they are trying to walk that line.

Us F2P and a Pay-a-Little-to-Play, longterm players are just not as important since we can be replaced in not too long of a time.  The old War Robots was prolly not near as profitable as a whole... and frankly I think that the OG Pixo devs were more concerned with the foundation of War Robots and then the selling of it to someone like Mail.ru from the beginning, anyway, to get the seed money for their next projects.  In hindsight.  This is just random speculation and I could be way off... but look at BoT.  It is pretty damn good looking... regardless of the things that are still buggy.  It's like they took the lessons from War Robots and built more of what they wanted to build since War Robots.  Like they didn't know they wanted the features and characteristics BoT has until they had made a War Robots and experienced its ups and downs. 

So, while most of the industry is deffo hyper-focused on profit nowadays... I hope there are at least some Devs with a true desire to bring us those feelings of complete engrossment for the sake of doing it... not to trick us into buying the next big release that can kill the opponent better, ad nauseam.  Guess we will see.

TL;DR - Anyway, I don't know why your comment sent me down this road, Poopface, but it did.  I guess that is my extremely long winded and rambling way of saying... "I agree."


IMO, YMMV

I liked simulation games, too, although apparently not as much as you.

I also remember some really interesting games from back in the day. 

• Duke Nukem 3D had so many options of things you could do in the game.
• I remember an old DOS game -- Quarantine -- where you played as a cab driver in some quarantine'd city.  You collected a variety of weaponry (and upgraded it) on your cab, did a number of types of missions, and tried to survive in the process.
• As you mentioned, there were the mech sims: Earthsiege, Mechwarrior, Battletech.
• Dungeon Keeper (1 and 2) was awesome.  It was a fantastic blend of humor and gameplay.
• Speaking of Peter Molyneux games, Populous was great, too.

Shoot.  If it was sold at Babbage's computer store, it was a great game.

Speaking of old-school plain old fun video games.

Possibly relevant video from who I consider to be a mostly objective fellow who discusses why mobile games don't take after their pc/console alternative in terms of marketing strategies, quality, etc. In case anyone's interested. I found it interesting.