With gaming budgets ballooning at ridiculous speeds, the chances of making a profit on a game are becoming more tenuous than ever. And while some publishers haven’t shied away from taking risks on original IPs, the risk/reward margin is an ever-present concern. Similarly, the pressure to consistently deliver quality titles is higher than ever. As a result of these crushing realities, we could start seeing fewer titles on store shelves.
During an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Eidos life president, and general gaming giant, Ian Livingstone spoke about the financial realities surrounding modern gaming, saying:
“There's a glut of product and in a discerning market there is no room for mediocrity. To make a suboptimal game with a suboptimal marketing spend is a recipe for disaster. I think we'll continue to see more production resources going into fewer titles supported by even bigger marketing budgets. Publishers are continuing to raise the investment bar, ensuring the mega-franchises will rule.”
Obviously, fewer games of higher quality will always be preferable to having tons of crappy games, but this model could potentially threaten the production of truly original titles, the very games that sustain gaming as an art form. Plus, it could lead to nothing but sequels and tie-ins, and that would just be unbearable. It’s certainly any issue that won’t be going away anytime soon, so there will be plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons of this supposed production model going forward.
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Memu
Even if Eidos produces fewer games, they don't control the game market. There will always be plenty of new crappy games for us to play. You can bet on it.
l33t360
@slimmer
Agreed. HL: ep3, where are you?
Oinkness
They need to find some less expensive voice talent for one thing. It's good to use a trusted voice, as they use the same handful of people in every game, but there are regular people who in a lot of cases could do just as good of a job. Like myself for example. And I'd be perfectly happy making $50,000 a year. Most voice actors these days probably make more than that for one week of 'work'.
BorderLineStaker
Less is more so I vote yes. Give me better games but less of them were in a recession and I'm not made of money.
slimmer
When is HL2 ep3 and BloodRayne 3 and Postal 3 coming out ?
slimmer
Too many suky mediocre garbage coming out lately like Protoype,COJ2,Damnation,Termin ator,Bionic whatever and I'm getting tired of the "sand box" formulated games (too many as of lately)
JayHy17
GO BIG OR GO HOME!
Empyu
@blindsideofthesun
That was just a spelling error - not punctuation. The rest of my post was pretty much in line with what you said.
@Admiral_Ausome17
The thing is, the fact that there could even be a Modern Warfare7 isn't a good thing. It would just mean developers have gotten so comfortable with that they've done, they aren't willing to try anything new. I'm not saying it would be a bad game. But I'd rather see what a developer like Infinity Ward could really do if they weren't limited to simply expanding an already established IP.
blindsideofthesun
For those who don't pay attention to punctuation (Empyu), they are not saying fewer high quality titles. They are saying fewer and highER quality titles.
I think it would be a good thing overall. Too many crappy ideas making it onto the market just for the hell of it, and games that are just ok getting too little funding. So if this means more money for games with potential instead of wasting it on crappy titles, then better for all of us.
Admiral_Ausome17
I would like modern warfare 7 over an equivelant of bionic comando anyday.
RRODisBack
Devs also need to focus on making games that are worth $60 instead of 3 or 4 hour games like LFD.
Empyu
I don't think this model would hurt original titles at all. If developers just put enough care and thought into all their games - not just the established IPs - then they'd all get somewhere with them. Remember, there was a time when no one cared about Mass Effect, Infamous, Assassin's Creed, Left4Dead, and Uncharted. Now people are already waiting for sequels (okay not so much for L4D, but I'm waiting for it).
I'm trying to think of a reason why it might be a bad thing to produce fewer high quality titles, and I can't think of one.
ZyloWolfBane
If they actually followed this idea there would be alot fewer games that suck, and attatch rates would be higher for all consoles.
On top of that people would be able to actually AFFORD it, when theres 4-12+ titles coming out on peak months of the season between 5 consoles (handhelds included) people just cant keep up.
This would also eliminate the need for used game sales since there would be less possibly horrible games that are only worth a 5 hour playthrough or 2 day rental.
Nub Salad
I have an idea, instead of focusing on graphics, focus on story and gameplay. That would cut your costs and maybe you'd end up with a decent game. And if the game sucks at least you didn't spend a crapload of money trying to make it look pretty.
mono631
That is a definite yea. Crappy games aren't worth buying so why make em'. We want good games that we can actually enjoy.
tezzet
fewer better games would be great, but only if the games are actually better, an idea which could be jeopardized by this new buisness model
jhoe45
i love halo wars super sweet fast action balanced RTS.
jhoe45
i believe there will be fewer titles.. but i believe there will always be original IP's since they cost less to make and time and time again they change gaming. Mass effect bioshock portal left 4 dead. even games like lost planet and lost odyssey has taken a place as profitable games with orginal IP's. Gamers want orginal stuff.
WildfireFox
Well, I'm all for less games coming out. But, what's more important is for them to drop the prices of the games. That's a real stumbling block at this point.
RRODisBack
Yea. Fewer high quality games this year like Killzone 2, MLB 09: The Show, and inFAMOUS are much better than a bunch of crappy games this year like Halo Wars, Ninja Blade, Velvet Assassin, Race Pro, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, and Stoked.
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