“Mostly everything successful is a sequel nowadays.” says Dishonored director

Dishonored looks like it might be on its way to becoming a success when it’s released later this year, but Zenimax visual design director Viktor Antonov believes that it’s now extremely rare for this to happen for a new IP.

He made the remarks while presenting ‘Creating Dunwall’ a session on visual development for Dishonored at Develop Conference 2012.

[Emilio_Estevez]

It's very true.

[DaReapa]

A sad truth indeed.

[Emilio_Estevez]

I wouldn't necessarily say sad. It's a shame that we are not getting as many new IP's as we could, but at the same time sequels have many positives. It give the devs a chance to see exactly what worked and didn't work so they can make a better game and they can build on an existing audience opposed to grasping for a new one. It really works out for them and us. Uncharted 2 and AC2 are great examples, both were miles ahead of their previous title and their success allowed for them to become franchises instead of just sequels.

[DaReapa]

@ Emilio

Admittedly, my wording may not have been the best. I don't have anything against sequels. You've mentioned great examples. It's just that once we start seeing a stagnation of “sequels of sequels” and only a few new & innovative IP's being made with little to no attention, that's where the problem lies. This generation has mostly been defined by its over-reliance of sequels and spinoffs.

[floetry101]

I can't understand why new IP's don't get the royal treatment by gamers. I seek out just about any new series, and if they come across as flawed, so be it. At the very least, they're a fresh alternative from the increasingly stagnant sequel market.

Take a close look at the game Sleeping Dogs dropping in August. No big fanfare, no real anticipation for it, and I don't see it doing any sort of decent sales numbers, but I'm still sure it'll be an interesting game.

[yog-sothot]

I guess it's because you have a few millions gamers looking for new stuff (and not all want the same new stuff, or can afford everything that's released) then you have tens of millions who only want to keep playing the same Call of Duty every year (fortunately, sometimes, we also have good sequels !) and finally you have hundreds of millions who just want to play angry birds or cityville

[DarkTower805]

"(and not all want the same new stuff, or can afford everything that's released)"

Bingo! People can't afford to buy decent or good games anymore, only great games. People now rely on reviews to make purchases and to get the most out of their money. I've said it before, if a game is great it won't fail. I don't think thee has been a great game this gen that has not made money. Even a niche game like Demons Souls did outstanding with zero advertising, but because it was a great game it succeeded.

Personally, I don't have the money to support average games, I'll just rent them. But put something in front of me thats great and I'll buy it.

[LightofDarkness]

People are fickle. Everyone seems to have pretty short memory spans, too. If I recall correctly, Assassin's Creed was a pretty average and very flawed game when it released, but we all know how that series turned out.

[TopDudeMan]

Well, Sleeping Dogs was originally in development as a true crime title, so of course it'll be awesome.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

New IP's are pretty much a creative and financial gamble so as a gamer I appreciate how much Sony are usually willing to put themselves out there - successfully more often than not, imho.
Games like Journey and Heavy Rain come to mind.

[ChunkyLover53]

The bottom line is that the majority of console gamers have some sort of budget, those gamers are less likely to take a risk by spending $60+ on a new IP. With sequels, you usually know what your going to get. People bash games like Call Of Duty, but people pretty much know what they are going to get with those games, so people buy them.

Companies cant really afford to put out a ton of unproven IP's, new AAA titles can be really expensive, just look at L.A. Noire, which was a great game and sold close to 5 million units, but at the end of the day it didn't make any money because it was so expensive to produce.

I look at a game like Bulletstorm, which was new, fresh and original, but it didn't make money and the sequel was canned.

Its easy to sit back and complain that there aren't enough new IP's, but with the amount of studios closing and the fact that new IP's aren't really selling or making money, I can see why so many studios stick with what works and what sells.

Also, I think that since we are so close to the end of the console generation, that a lot of companies are holding back new IP's to kick off the next generation, since its proven that new IP's tend to do better at the start of a generation rather then the end.

[TitanUp]

in some cases though the sequel is better.

uncharted 2
killzone 2
ass 2
batman ac

[Fyflin]

Sad but true. Hopefully we will see some genuinely exciting looking titles when next gen kicks off, rather than the same old Call of Duty, Halo, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Assassins creed etc.

Not saying they are bad games, but it will be the ideal time to try out some fresh ideas. If they don't work then the developers can easily go back to their safe bets and throw a shinier sequel our way.