>>733889>glory daysWhat glory days? Are you talking about the height of the PSP's popularity? Nah, if anything, despite being an exciting time, and the height of paintball's public popularity, speedball, the PSP, and electro markers have been one of the worst things to happen to the sport, my opinion at least. I'm not going to deny that there isn't skill involved, but for casual players 10 years ago, and into this day, ramped electric markers have given the sport a real "pay to win" vibe. It's easy for a lot of new players to feel that if they can't afford to drop 100's of dollars on the sport, they can't compete. I also used to be able to tell people that were worried about getting shot that players can only fire as fast as they pull the trigger, that's also just not the case anymore. For new players, those first few games are just crucial if you want them to stay, and the "arms race" attitude of high volume and high speed play is daunting.
It's true that the financial crisis of 2008 took a huge toll on the sport, partially because of how expensive it was to play speedball. A lot of fields closed down, a lot of companies no longer exist or have made some bad business decisions. That happened to nearly every recreational industry though, and I'd say it just feels worse since paintball is already a niche.
For me, the real glory days of paintball were in the late 90's and early 2k's, pumps, autocockers, and automags. I also feel that, right now, we're back in the spirit of that time, what with the popularity of pump, pistol, and mag fed styles. More players are just going out and playing in the woods, big games are more popular than ever, the fields offering interesting and varied play are still doing just fine, new companies have come up with some great and affordable new ideas, and old companies are offering better, more competitive, and affordable gear.
Paintball isn't dying it's just niche, the PSP hasn't been relevant for a while, HK army is just a brand.
