Indie game dev, Videogame writer, Game enthusiast, Guitarist,

zerocrossing

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How the publisher imposed status quo and gamer ignorance helps deprive the industry of growth.

Every one of us has our preferences when it comes to certain videogame genres, sub genres and artistic styles, but it seems these days many gamers out there are under the mistaken delusion, that certain games (especially games that they dislike) are somehow inferior to popular AAA releases and/or games that they happen to find enjoyment in playing. This mistaken perception can end up causing many gamers to miss out on a great many fantastic but lesser known titles, the attitude many have towards videogames developed with a lower budget only helps lend to further stagnate the industry. Far too many gamers are narrow minded and unwilling to try out new and different types of videogame genres, leading to the the publishers themselves not being prepared to risk development on games that they feel consumers aren't interested in.

In the age of huge western AAA franchises that offer us Hollywood style storytelling, giant set-pieces, earth shattering explosions and the like, it's easy to see why more humble videogames end up getting over looked or ignored, but are these seemingly "lesser games" actually inferior? or is the only thing that's really holding them back simply that they are lacking in all that glitz and glimmer, that many seem to think is a prerequisite in order for game to be considered "worth playing"? Take a look at your videogame library for a moment, now ask yourself this; How many of those games aren't big budget, AAA releases that have received huge ad campaigns and/or scored over 8/10 from mainstream reviewers? And how many of them have gone on to spawn two or three sequels or a couple of spin offs? Chances are the majority of games you find yourself playing regularly are from big "dependable" publishers, who have spent a huge amount of time and money moulding their major IPs into AAA franchise material. The thing is, there are some games out there that have the potential to be just as good, if not better than any current AAA developed game, but they simply don't have a chance due to gamers passing them over for their more pretty, big budget counter-parts.

Now sticking with a genre or franchise you enjoy is a smart move, especially if you lack the funds to do otherwise, but what about all the great lesser known games you may be missing out on? Believe me when I tell you that there are a great many games that may even have the potential to rival current AAA franchises, even games that you consider to be the best of the best this gen, but are being held back, because gamers today refuse to step outside of their comfort zone by playing a game that looks to be below their standards.

These days too many gamers tend to play a handful of choice franchises all year round, completely ignoring anything else unless it causes a big enough stir in the mainstream to be considered a "must play" title. Personally I just couldn't do that, first of all I don't believe that many current mainstream videogame journalist and reviewers have a better idea than actual gamers as to what's worth playing, and secondly there are far too many fantastic games from big companies and small companies alike, that sticking to just one franchise, heck just one genre for that matter, would mean that I'd have missed out on a great many of my all time favourite games, games I still own today and refuse to sell or trade in because they are simply too good to let go.

Take for example Japanese developed games, many Japanese games (especially JRPG's) are often over looked or out right avoided, by the majority of mainstream gamers due to them having certain recurring tropes and themes that some people find off putting, such as the representation of female characters, the story being too convoluted, the sometimes overly used childish, idealistic notion that love, friendship and hope will see the protagonists through safely to the end, even the anime-esque art style is enough to put some people off almost immediately. Personally I happen to find most of these predictable tropes and themes quite charming, if implemented well and not just used to follow a tired, predictable, tried and true formula.

Of course this is not to say that only Japanese games rely on a tried and true formula, in fact many western games have a formulaic structure to them , AAA games especially. The formulaic brand of Hollywood-esque story telling, style over substance gameplay, the childish gratuitous use of explosive cutscenes, profanity, gore, sex, violence and a black and white approach to good and evil to name a few. That's not to say this is a bad thing though, many of these themes are recurring purely because they have significant entertainment value. Obviously it's not the case for all western AAA videogames, but I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from when I say that western games have their own tried and true formulas, which appeal to most of us because they are developed with a western audience in mind, there's no culture barrier needed to be overcome unlike with certain Japanese games.

Unfortunately it's not just gamers who seem to refuse to acknowledge certain "lesser" genres and sub genres, it seems the videogames industry itself refuses to develop for less popular genres these days. This gen many big publishers severely limited their output (apart from sequels to their already popular IP's) to focus primarily on FPS's, TPS's and open world games. Sure those are some fun genres which have brought us many popular games/franchises, such as COD, Gears of War and GTA to name just a few, but don't we already have more than enough games currently covering these genres? I mean aren't we always hearing how the market is "over oversaturated" with shooters and open world games right now? Sadly, as it stands now next gen seems like it may be more of the same... I suppose it wouldn't really be such an issue if a great many games from these genres weren't severely lacking in comparison to those they are trying to replicate. It's just that, well to me anyway, many of them feel as if they've been pushed out the door half backed in an attempt to capitalise on the past success of the games that helped popularise these genres to begin with.

Honestly, if I've learnt anything from purchasing both AAA games and lesser known games, it's that the AAA label is certainly no longer a mark of a games quality, in fact it's really just a reminder to us all of the insane amount of cash that's gone into developing a AAA game, making the fact that so many of them tend to lead to flop or lead to disappointment, or perform poorly in regards to sales (if you consider a game earning a company upwards of $7,million, performing poorly) that much more depressing.

There's another thing I hear a lot of gamers say these days, and that's "I don't buy second hand games" well that's all well and good I suppose, I mean if you want to support a company, then the best way to do so is to purchase their games new if you can afford to. But refusing to buy "any" game second hand means you've very likely missed out on some truly great gems, games that probably got over shadowed during the release of more popular AAA games, and seeing as most "less popular" games tend to get a smaller number of units sent out compared to their popular AAA counterparts, it means that the chances of finding any great lesser known games on the shelf brand new, is highly unlikely. So, if you consider yourself a "gamer" then you really owe it to yourself to purchase a lesser known game second hand, there's probably some game you've heard about, either from a friend or reliable reviewer, that you've considered picking up, so if you happen to see that game second hand somewhere, why not pick it up there? It'll probably be pretty cheap too, and if you enjoy it then you may go on to purchase it's sequel new if the game sold well enough for it to be sequalised.

It's safe to say that many of us have grown increasingly weary of the constant slew of generic, cookie-cuter, made for the masses releases that have saturated this current console generation. How fortunate for us then, that Indie gaming have taken the industry by storm, and have proven what many, many gamers have been saying for years now, and that is; A game needn't have a bloated AAA budget, fancy graphics and mass appeal behind it, to be entertaining and sell well. In fact a smaller budget often means that indie games are required to be innovative and original in order to stick out from the competition.

We can only hope now, given the success of Indie games, that more original and innovative IPs will be announced from mainstream developers and publishers in the near future. But the thing I feel must be mentioned here is, there have already been plenty of original and innovative IPs to released throughout this gen, but sadly a lot of then have been ignored in favour of the more popular AAA franchises many of us have become accustomed too, but continue to complain about. It does the industry no good if we continue to support companies we feel are only further stagnating the industry, and go about ignoring those companies who are trying to make the next step forward. However I can't say that we gamers are entirely to blame for this, the mainstream media and videogame journalist play a part in this too, by constantly shoving popular AAA franchises in our faces and announcing how "mind blowing" and "must have" they are, without ever mentioning smaller more modest IPs that are also worth checking out.

If we ever want the videogames industry to get out of it's current rut, then we as consumers we need to be more vigilant in regards to our purchases. Obviously we need to support the companies we know and trust, but we should also make the effort to support innovative lesser know titles. The more consumer focus is turned away from games that are stagnating the industry by creating generic, made for the masses, cookie cutter content, and turned towards those games that offer originality and innovation, then naturally the industry will have to change it's approach in order to keep in line with consumer demand.

Gamers have a lot more pull than I honestly think we realise, but our continued ignorance has only helped maintane the status quo, helping line publisher pockets while depriving the industry of growth and diversity. It's not the publishers or the mainstream media who dictate industry trends, it's all of us, and right now we need to be putting this pull to a positive use by supporting companies who place the further advancement and betterment of videogaming in general, above that of personal gain, satisfying their investors and maintaining the publisher imposed status quo.

Thanks for reading my blog, if you'd like to add anything or disagree with any of my points, please feel free to leave a comment.

CourierSix3867d ago

Well said. We should take more 'control', we are after all, the consumers.

zerocrossing3867d ago

Videogame companies are supposed to create products based on consumer demand, but major publishers who now dictate the majority of the industry are pretty much telling us consumers what we want to play.

Consumers can make a difference though, by refusing to purchase generic, casualised, cookie cuter content, and demanding more quality, innovation and originality.

caseh3866d ago (Edited 3866d ago )

It's a little too late for that zeroc.

Games like CoD, FIFA and GTA now reign supreme. Most companies have their cash cows, when a cash cow is slapped and only produces sales up to 90% of an overly ambitious 8m units (clearly, thats an epic fail /s) then people get fired, studios get closed and the guaranteed money producer gets another sequel.

It's quite ironic, in an industry where people consistently complain about a lack of innovation or originality...creating a PREQUEL is completely acceptable or fine tuning a formula that has been done over a dozen times in numerous guises gains universal praise (cough GTA).

Innevitably, this is the future of gaming. New IPs will emerge, and if they are succesful they will get the same old treatment in various incarnations. Old IPs will come back genration after generation "bigger and better" than ever etc etc.

I'm not complaining, but having played games since the mid 80's...i'm just old...and tired of it to be fair.

On a foot note, despite it selling about 86 copies I think Binary Domain deserves a Nobel prize for even making it to market amongst the flood of sequels/prequels these days.

zerocrossing3866d ago

@caseh

I agree with you for the most part.

The problem with the current business model though, is it's focused solely on short term gain.

As it stands now publishers have the industry on the road to ruin, if all we get from them is updated versions of previously successful IPs then consumers will eventually grow bored of playing the same types of games over an over again, meaning publishers will eventually no longer be able make upwards of $8,million on any of their franchises. If they just invested in creating a few smaller IP's at least then they may be able to make up for the huge losses they apparently keep suffering.

memots3866d ago (Edited 3866d ago )

This subject is exactly what this video talks about with Jim Sterling.

Its spot on with the state of why the state of the industry is in this state with cookie cutter games. People say they want diversity but yet they flock and buy COD again and again.

Anyway watch this video i promise its good.

http://www.escapistmagazine...

ShaunCameron3866d ago

They still do. It just that Call Of Duty, Madden, FIFA, Super Mario, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, etcetera happen to be the products consumers are demanding.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3866d ago
DestinyHeroDoomlord3866d ago

I kinda like bullet witch... gamers are pretty ignorant aren't they haha

mydyingparadiselost3864d ago

I kinda liked Bullet Witch too. It was really broken but there were some good idea mixed into the awful.

DestinyHeroDoomlord3863d ago

The tornado and meteor storm was cool, also their magic bar system where you couldn't just spam magic

Justin_Hebert3866d ago

I usually approach sequels of hugely successful AAA games very cautiously, simply on the basis that the developer has less incentive to make sequels good if the original game's success ensures a cash cow. That's not to say that sequels are always garbage, in fact many of them are very good. But still, caution.

You're definitely right that our gamer identity labels tend to control our purchasing decisions and can even make us miss out on lesser-known titles that are actually very good. I think that critics especially have a responsibility to review not only AAA titles, but give attention (and maybe even a little promotion via Twitter or other social media) to independent releases that they found compelling. Promote good games, no matter the publisher.

admiralvic3866d ago (Edited 3866d ago )

"I think that critics especially have a responsibility to review not only AAA titles, but give attention (and maybe even a little promotion via Twitter or other social media) to independent releases that they found compelling. Promote good games, no matter the publisher."

Sadly, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

I personally fell in love with the game Spelunker and gave that game CONSTANT support on the site I wrote for (10,000+ view a day site). I gave the game a 10/10 score, posted about every sale, hyped every DLC release, bought every DLC pack out of pocket and upload a hands on video for each DLC pack, but I got ABSOLUTELY no return on my investment.

We're talking 24 videos I uploaded with over 100 minutes of gameplay (about 10 minutes per DLC pack), which is over 6 GB of data I uploaded total (to give you an idea how much time I spent uploading). The most views a video got was 308, which will be 1 year old in 3 days. According to Google analytics for the 308 view video, only 1 view actually came from the site I wrote for.

My depressing point? No matter how much attention / time / effort I put into making people aware of its existence... it ultimately have zero impact if no one chooses to give it the time of day.

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