Whats wrong with the game industry?

BY: JEFF MURRAY  |  Uncategorized

There seems to be a trend of gaming celebrities complaining about the state of AAA games and the quality of available titles. The solutions being offered are usually along the lines of either ‘whatever is in my latest book’ or ‘whatever I’m selling’. It’s nothing new, but notably laughable all the same.

All industries have, or have had, similar issues; for example the film industry has more than its fair share of complaints when it comes to commercialism vs. creative freedom or perhaps how predictable the Hollywood movie structure can be but let’s be honest here - the game industry *does* actually deliver what the consensus of people want. I can throw just about any of the EA Sports titles in to prove this - sell, tweak, repeat sell, tweak etc. with spectacular results. People want NHL 2004, NHL 2005, NHL 2006 ad infinitum because they deliver exactly what they’re supposed to deliver and the gameplay their fans expect from the franchise. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in giving the consumer what they want, however much of a ’sell out’ it is. Ask Steven Spielberg!

As far as I can tell, a lot of the conversation appears to be routed in the runaway success of the Nintendo Wii. The Wii has allegedly brought casual gaming to the masses and signifies a shift in the market towards smaller experiences. Hmmm … Mr. Sceptical says “Perhaps the big guys just found a market and decided to try and shift the focus to their new, shiny casual game departments?”. Since gaming celebs are poking the sequel machine it only makes sense for these guys to join in the fun whilst promoting the new additions, right?

Despite complaints of recent ‘big’ franchised titles being dull as dishwater, there are some fantastic AAA titles out there oozing genius from every line of code. Examples? Ok, here goes … Half Life 2, Call of Duty 4 and Portal for starters. I could go on but, in my opinion; those three have enough greatness in them to more than prove my point - even taking into account the awful rap song at the end of Call of Duty 4 reminiscent of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tie-in track. Two of my examples are sequels, since they always get bashed because… well, just because they’re sequels which on surface level means ‘no imagination’. The same as the last installment only a bit different? So what? As long as they deliver the experience we want to experience I don’t think it even bears groaning about. To draw yet another comparison to the movie industry (since it’s the easiest to make comparisons to), Paramount and New Line together made no less than eleven Friday The 13th movies. Despite the niche market and objectionable content, the franchise still made more than a billion dollars in profit. People enjoy them, even if you’re not one of them. They get the ‘experience’ they want from it, despite the un-original theme repeated eleven times.

Perhaps I am equally guilty of having a grim outlook on the industry. I long for ‘punk gaming’ in a rebel movement kind of way - just as punk said anyone with a guitar could make music, I want anyone with a keyboard to be able to make games. I want more radical speaking in the industry and more radical thought outside of academia. I want argument and discussion, then perhaps a fight in the car park afterward … in effect; I want some rock n roll attitude in games. I don’t care if someones game is un-original, just as long as it does to my senses what voiceover guy said it would on the trailer!

As the industry grows it is interesting to see where user generated content is headed. Microsoft opening up their XNA framework, Nintendo with WiiWare and the low-cost game engines such as 3d Game Studio, Unity3d and Torque. Other smaller, hobbyist engines are on the increase such as Blitz3d, PureBasic and Cobra - all helping to keep ‘punk gaming’ alive.

I believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the game industry that isn’t wrong in every other industry; despite all the pessimism. Gamers will find the games they want and there will always be channels for niche markets. If you want to make games, don’t even bother about the rest of the industry and what they’re doing… just get out there and go for it. Punk style!