Games Look Bad: HDR and Tone Mapping
A lot of the oversaturation problem can be attributed to bad displays. Think about early Instagram. Everyone used terrible super saturated filters on their photos because the early smart phone screens were so bad, and got washed out so easily in the sunlight. By overcompensating with filters you got a photo that looked good on a bad screen, even in sunny conditions.<p>The same was true of early games. Gamers love the bright colors of World of Warcraft for instance because displays were bad, and it was easier to watch bright colors for hours on end while gaming. Even today my modern TV looks pretty bad in the sunlight. As much as I love the muted colors of Breath of the Wild I have to admit that without closing my curtains its really hard to tell what&#x27;s going on if a sunbeam is hitting the TV.<p>I think as gamer&#x27;s screens get better we will start to see a transition away from exaggerated brightness and a trend toward more realism, just like Instagram has transitioned largely from a platform that overcompensated for bad smartphone screens to a #nofilter style.