We’ve all used the photo mode at some point or another while playing our favorite games. Whether that’s to be artistic and recreate a specific frame of a Spider-Man movie, or to capture something funny that happened. That’s what makes the photo mode great! But a lot of people are somewhat confused on its point in the grand scheme of things, and why it seems like it is a must have in pretty much every release in the past five or so years.
With the neverending rise of social media, we have all seen our fair share of subcultures come and go, especially on the gaming side of the internet. While some catch on for a while and slowly fade into obscurity, we can almost certainly say that virtual photography isn’t going anywhere, any time soon!
While technically being a thing since 2004, it really broke into a mainstream subculture in the past decade or so with the internet today being flooded with thousands of beautiful photographs from games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man 2 and Ghost of Tsushima, just to name a few.
Unlike real life photography, where we are often limited by various factors outside of our control, virtual photography provides a very straightforward and simple way for game enthusiasts who might also be interested in photography to explore in-game worlds like never before, all from the comfort of their own home.
The impact of virtual photography on the online gaming community cannot be ignored, and its importance in the modern gaming landscape is bigger than ever before.
It has become a must!
Nowadays, you will rarely find any bigger release without an actual photo mode implemented, in some shape or form. If not, the community will be sure to let the developer know in any way they know how, which was the case with Death Stranding in 2024, and Baldur’s Gate 3 earlier this year.
The only issue with this is the fact that a lot of studios don’t give the photo mode much attention, which results in the games’ online presence not living up to its potential. Let’s take Batman: Arkham Knight, as an example – without a doubt one of the most beautiful and atmospheric games of the past decade, and it has one of the weakest photo modes to date. Lack of customization and any real freedom in the mode made it pretty much impossible for the game to have an online presence such as Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, etc.
More than just a tool
The possibilities with a good photo mode are pretty much endless. In fact in most cases the only limit is the player’s creativity. Meanwhile with traditional photography, not everyone has the means to buy a camera and go to exotic places in order to take interesting photographs.
Setting aside the technical factors of virtual photography, the online community that sprung up as a result of the love for virtual photography is only getting bigger, with thousands upon thousands of accounts across social media.
Which in turn is fantastic news for game studios – it’s practically free advertising.
At the end of the day, game studios are businesses looking to make money, and if there is a way to save money without impacting your product, who wouldn’t take it? That’s where a good photo mode comes in.
Games such as Horizon: Forbidden West don’t need any intense form of paid promotions, simply because the community is taking care of that on a daily basis! If you search for anything regarding the Horizon games on any social media, the majority of posts you see will likely be virtual photography. The decision from Guerilla Games to go all-in in regards to the photo mode has to be one of their wisest decisions to date.
Studios have also started liking and sharing various accounts’ photographs, with some even hosting weekly or monthly photography challenges, thus further helping the game stay relevant and keeping the algorithms filled with photos from their games. It’s pretty much a win-win for both parties – players get to have some fun and express themselves in a new and unique way, and studios benefit from the free, indirect, marketing.
It’s quickly gaining credibility!
Virtual photography has for a long time caught some slack from people online, often even being mocked. The critique usually boils down to “it’s just screenshots”, leaving virtual photography often ignored in the grand scheme of things. However, with the rise of visually stunning games such as Red Dead Redemption 2, and games with much more detailed photo modes appearing left and right, it slowly grew into its own.
A still ongoing debate has existed from the start – does it deserve the same amount of attention as traditional photography?
The most common arguments against virtual photography mostly come from the belief that virtual photography isn’t actual photography, hence it does not deserve the same amount of recognition. Some even claim it has nothing transformative, and that it is simply images of what someone else created, in this case someone else being the developers of the game.
Whether it is widely considered photography or not, I believe it deserves the same amount of praise and recognition, which it’s been rapidly gaining over the past few years online. The amount of skill, effort and timing of certain virtual photographs is, at least in my view, comparable to some real life photographs. I’m glad to say that more and more people are deciding to try it out as a hobby, and pushing the limits of the medium in order to take a good photo. It’s definitely a form of art, no matter what technical category you want to put it in.
It’s not just a feature – it’s a selling point.
Having a great photo mode used to be a neat side-feature you’d use a few times and that’s that, but nowadays there is a large number of people for whom the quality, or even simply the addition, of photo mode can be the deciding factor when it comes to purchasing a certain game.
I’ve been in that boat when it came to Spider-Man Remastered, and I’ve seen countless posts online of people purely buying games due to the quality of the photo mode. Which felt like a form of guilt at first, purchasing a game for the sake of a side-feature, even though I knew I’d spend hundreds of hours in that mode alone. I guess it’s a form of gaming taboo – buying something just for the sake of a side feature that’s not tied to the main game. It’s like buying CS2 only for the gambling, but less harmful.
In short, a good photo is no longer just a small little feature added as an afterthought – it’s an important tool that a constantly increasing number of people want to use. And for the developers, it’s an important marketing and social awareness tool, which their community takes care of on its own.
About the author
Din Memić, also known as Classy, is a passionate gamer and gaming-focused writer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly interested in writing opinion pieces, analyses of current gaming trends and community happenings.
Additionally, a huge fan of virtual photography, traditional photography, art and design in general.
