E3 2016 Proved Nostalgia Is Strangling Creativity

The overwhelming number of ‘reboots’, ‘remasters’ and sequels have dominated proceedings, with developers repeatedly turning their attention to established franchises that consumers know and love.

[Fist4achin]

I love to see new IPs. There are some series, where they have made so many, that they have become stagnant and stale.

[DarkOcelet]

"But alas, it turns out we will not be receiving a brand new Crash Bandicoot this year – only a remastered collection of the original trilogy."

First of all, its made from the ground up so its not a Remaster. It should have been worded a Remake since they will improve graphics to reach PS4 level of fidelity. I really hope the studio making the game don't screw up the gameplay. Just leave it the same with a small improvement to make it more responsive. That is all.

And i really hope they dont use the Crash Design from Skylanders, he looked so bad.

"Apart from remasters and sequels, we also have the increasingly popular reboots.We can look at E3’s recently announced God of War, Prey or Quake games; they seem to be taking the familiar and invigorating it with new ideas, mechanics and even different themes."

God Of War is not a Reboot, its a sequel that takes place after God Of War 3 but with a different formula than we used to just like RE7. The same cant be said about Prey, in my opinion, they should have stayed with Tommy instead of Rebooting it.

[Tobsesan]

He said remastered on stage, so dont expect too much. Remember nathan drake Collection? Also so called remade from the ground up

[donthate]

Uncharted Collection was remade from the ground up with a lot of the same assets!

It was basically a port. For some reason, Sony is all in on these remasters/ports of old games.

[Platformgamer]

Crash in skylanders isn't bad, is like the old crash but with more details; they respected the character even in the moveset and other little things, so kudos to activision this time. Btw the remeaster will change the older games only graphical-wise, the gameplay and the rest will be the same as we know, and that's great! in vicarious vision i trust :) crash is back baby <3

[Godmars290]

Naw...

Creativity in regards to AAA gaming was bludgeoned to a pulp by COD and the 8th console gen. Everyone - including yours truly - was too busy looking at shiny new HD to notice.

(Well, aside from white Knight Chronicles. And how pixel graphics suddenly became too expensive to do.)

[WeAreLegion]

I disagree. We saw plenty of creativity last generation. And we're still seeing it now.

Portal, Uncharted, Splatoon, LittleBigPlanet, Bioshock, Ni No Kuni, Catherine, inFamous, Enslaved, Heavy Rain, Super Mario Galaxy

Call of Duty got big because of Infinity Ward's creativity in both single and multiplayer. They were inventive.

[jer1122]

Call of Duty war was more Innovative than any game. It redefined multiplayer. Of course they're going to make sequels that's what makes money and then for people complaining about sequels then don't buy them obviously there's a market for them because people buy a lot of them. New IP is very risky look at a lot of them that haven't worked out already this generation. Order 1886 Sunset Overdrive both games that I personally like the lot but they didn't sell very well.

[Godmars290]

COD was the title which convinced the industry as a whole to chase after shooters and the money they promised. Moved gaming towards servicing 3D arena online multiplayer with gun wielding humanoids at the cost of strategy titles, platformers and even RPGs. All of which either went away, with bias reviewers parroting the wants of publishers and devs, or adopted the realism of what had become dominant group-think.

Portal, Uncharted, Bioshock and even inFamous are all shooters when really looked at. All use shooter mechanics. Ni No Kuni for all its tory telling worth may as well be a Tales of title. And yeah, the Mario Galaxy clones Sony and MS came up with - cause that game redefined the whole freaking industry.

Really at a loss why you consider Enslaved worth mentioning. That Ninja Theory couldn't get the mechanics to work the way they wanted only points to UE3 not favoring the game they wanted to make.

My point is that COD success influenced the industry to the degree that general graphic engines like Crytec and UE were made to tailor/favor the development of FPS. They are the rule and even in your example you can present few exceptions - people were even making shooters with LBP before later versions let people make shooters in LBP more easily. So as best you got is Catherine.

Btw: Heavy Rain = Indigo Prophecy. Everything David Cage makes is freaking Indigo Prophecy!

[PhucSeeker]

CoD was the one changing up big time this e3 tho. Apparently you can "earn" weapons by doing "side mission" now.

[WeAreLegion]

Heaven forbid they revisit beloved franchises, in addition to adding new IPs to the industry.

[iceman06]

I'm greedy...I'll have it all!! Why not!?!

[Thefreeman012]

At some point it will start to slow down. That being said I do have a few games I wouldnt say no to games like Elder Scrolls Morrowind, oblivion, fallout 3 and maybe mass effect 1 being redone

[HawaiianDreads]

I feel that it's more of failing and losing money that is "strangling Creativity" compare to Nostalgia. The cost of making games are increasing and there is a 50/50% chance that the devs will make the money back, so they stick to franchises that they know will sell instead of taking that risk of creating something new. Now not all devs are like this, but I feel majority of them go this route.

[NotanotherReboot]

Yes, because the triple A market is just brimming with creativity. /s
Crash Bandicoot was full of creative, so resurrecting it after 8 years is a good thing.

[TheColbertinator]

People(myself included) do have a weakness for nostalgia often.

Halo MCC Collection
Gears of War Ultimate
Valkyria Chronicles (Steam)
Rare Replay
Fable Anniversary

Played these again just to remember. Tempted to get Cod4 remastered for old times' sake

[PizzaSteve]

I wish Sony would have bought the rights to Crash and Spyro. They were some of the best games back then on PS1 and sold great especially the ones published by Sony.

I hope the remaster comes next year and not 2018. Can't wait to see what they do.

[iceman06]

They have to be for sale first!

[NapalmSanctuary]

Enough with the nostalgia hating. Its a natural part of life. Besides, its risk aversion and every pub chasing the CoD crack pipe that is strangling creativity, not to mention games taking way too long and taking up too much manpower to make nowadays so there just isn't as many games being made as there were in console generations past. Remakes and reboots are the back-end product of strangled creativity, not the cause of it and sequels are typically the product of demand. Were there more diversity in gameplay type and art direction nowadays there wouldn't be massive demand for remakes and reboots. In other words, there are big holes in the market that no one is trying to fill so all we as consumers can do is think back to when they were being filled and be like "hey, make that again".

[rlow1]

Can't agree more. It's nice in one sense, but it really does cut down on the innovation, especially in AAA games. I also kind of blame the exsisting big franchises that hog a lot of the lime light and wallets. Look at EA with the Starwars universe, taking studios off games they are working on just to milk the cow. Or taking Black Tusk off a completely new game, changing their name and have them do Gears. Nothing against Gears but my point is theirs not enough diversity or new games, just a lot more sequels and remakes. I would have loved to have seen what tusk and other studios had cooking before they were redirected.

[NapalmSanctuary]

Its the risk averse nature of the larger publishers that is limiting innovation. Games are too expensive to make and too many of these guys calling the shots have no real interest in gaming to know what might actually be good. They just aren't willing to take the risk when they can just pump out more of the same to relatively safe profit margins.

[Surt]

You mean GOOD creativity right? Not that majority of indie shit you find on steam. So self absorbed with their own "art" mumbo jumbo to let out a fart.

As long as its fun then cool.

[X-Ender-XI]

I'd much sooner play a remaster of a brilliant game, than play some utter rubbish just because it is 'new'.

[KentBenMei]

No, it is not. New IP and old ones can co-exist.

[s45gr32]

There is so much potential in the gaming industry. The fact is, that games are still made for kids not adults. Two game developers are still struggling to match the story of the game with gameplay mechanics that enhance the story. Finally is hard to let go of the past..

[NapalmSanctuary]

Kids make up less than a third of the gaming market. Even games made with kids in mind have to be made to a certain level of mechanical quality so as to be fun for everyone. Most games are made with the adult market in mind.

[s45gr32]

Not really, war fps games or military games for that matter are about making war fun. These games stay clear from including civilians and the consequences of war towards civilians. These games also lack blood and gore. Another example deus ex human revolution (greatest game ever) talks heavily about humans ripping human cybernetic arms, limbs, etc. but gamers do not see that or experience it. Finally, videogames stay clear from drama, rape is a no go , love games are just hilariously made. That is why I said that games are made with kids in mind not adults in mind.