I haven't gamed in a long time. I feel like that sun has set. I've had my lifetime share of golden FPS experiences. No ragrets.  - It was glorious, but I don't have any desire to play 95% of the current games that are out. I have no reason to pick up a 40-70 hour grindfest just to have an experience that has already been topped ! it was maybe 2018 or so when I played Red Dead Redemption 2 and that was a great way to say goodbye to game campaigns. The previous experience I had was assassins creed Egypt shit. Pyramids and stuff yo. Toga parties. That was fun but super repetitive. I was watching an excellent YouTube channel about games and game creation Jack Sather and I thought to myself, this should be a thing! 

I have done the quests from Ken and Roberta Williams Kings quest - Played Chuck Yeagers flight simulator in DOS
Then I went through every single fun NES, SNES, TG16, N64 game period ! Zelda, and Mario,the best years in gaming for many people were the 85-95 time period. I got to do that and then hit LAN gaming in my 20s Wolfenstein, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Medal of Honor AA, Unreal, That was a real blast! In my 30s I played Xbox and did the online thing for a while. My kids on cue destroyed my green and black Microsoft headphones that plugged into the controller, I still feel bummed about that! My favorite experiences were GTA 5, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Borderlands, Witcher 3. So I have had all those experiences of finishing the game in 20-30 hours, Bethesda and Rockstar's games usually took 80 hours of my life over a 6 month period of time usually the holidays. So, yes I've had all the experiences. Eventually, they aren't what they used to be, but they were fun ! 

My theory is - to strip the game of the grind, the unnecessary things that slow down the story. Allow online pvp play, but that should be ongoing and totally separate from the single or multi player story. If studios were designing basically a 10-hour cinematic arc of character development and action/suspense / etc... they could concentrate on that and not on gimmicks, skins, packs, loot boxes, or grindy mechanics; and they could do that in a lot less time then it takes them now. Adults are ok to spend 100$ on an experience! We spend 50$ to see the movies with 1-2 people...  we would gladly pay 60$ for a 10-hour game that was really fun and cinematic without grinding.

We grew up on those first time experiences, ducking for cover in Goldeneye, seeing down the cliffs in Unreal, creeping out in the haunted mansion of Clive Barkers Undying, killing our first mob boss in GTA, or Far Cry. Just like making and successfully using our first sniper rifle in Fallout 4, give us a story and adventure ! Not just unoptimized grindy cash grabs. Adults don't want to run around doing PVP headshot simulators

Unless we all get an extra 30 hours a week, the end of AAA gaming is when we all grow up and get busy with life. Of course there will always be a few people who schedule out their time to game and that's their thing... Kudos to you, but I don't find the high to be satisfying as it used to.. I grew up and learned there are more excellent ventures. I would still game if it was adventure, not grind.

Game studios, you are missing a goldmine in basically 2-3 weekend experiences for people who will get all into it and then get back on with life! It also opens the door for a 40$ second installment IF it's as good as the first.

What do you think? Add something to the discussion? What are your memories! What do you want to play ?