RED 5: Who Needs Publishers?

[The Wooster]

RED 5: Who Needs Publishers?

Former World of Warcraft team lead, Mark Kern, believes publishers are useless and consoles are dead.

"Who needs publishers any more? I certainly don't. I couldn't care less about them at this stage," he told Eurogamer. [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-02-firefall-developer-consoles-i-believe-are-dead] "You're either an indie game or you're a massive AAA, IP-backed sequel with derivative game play that's rehashed over and over again as it's the only safe bet you can make when you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars."

Kern, who's worked on most of Blizzard's top-tier franchises, left the company back in 2005 to form Red 5 alongside fellow former Blizzard employees, William Petras and Taewon Yun. The company's only project to date is upcoming MMO/Shooter Firefall.

Kern voiced concerns that the industry's "hit-or-miss" development strategies are stifling creativity and forcing smaller developers out of the business.

"The failure is that there's no middle ground. All the games in the middle that could have been made but have been squeezed out and we've seen all these independent studios get closed down over the last few years."

He also claimed that the massive costs involved in developing and maintaining current-generation consoles are going to be the death of the format.

"It takes billions of dollars of investment to create a console and then you have to milk it for five to seven years in order to get your money back," he said.

"So something has to change. Consoles, I believe, are dead."

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[minimacker]

I see what you mean. There's no middle ground. Or, rather, no middle ground developer that doesn't use a AAA publisher who bends their game to appeal to more money audiences.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

No need for publishers? Agreed. Stupid, shortsighted, parasitic corporations that cant adapt to the age of the internet.
Consoles dying? No dice. They're just better for pick-up-and-play, and with the casual market growing, more people will want that. Why do we even have these wars about console-vs-pc?

 

[Proverbial Jon]

After the news post about something as sure as Timesplitters 4 not being picked up, this really doesn't surprise me.

Lately I've been enjoying indie games a helluva lot more than triple A titles anyway. I got far more enjoyment out of Journey than I did Assassin's Creed Revalations for instance.

Given this state of affairs, I imagine Steam must be the best thing to have happened to the games industry in recent times.

 

[Saulkar]

This guy has it on the money but when did the middle ground die? I am sure that there are still studios that are bigger than indie but below triple A but where are they?

 

[Fr]anc[is]

You quoted the same thing twice

 

[thethird0611]

"You're either an indie game or you're a massive AAA, IP-backed sequel with derivative game play that's rehashed over and over again as it's the only safe bet you can make when you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars."

...

"You're either an indie game or you're a massive AAA, IP-backed sequel with derivative game play that's rehashed over and over again as it's the only safe bet you can make when you're spending hundreds of millions of dollars," he said.

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Double quote! Haha.

But on the topic, I believe publishers are quite unneeded (though they can help with big budget games), but consoles? Neigh I say! I love having my console and computer separate. One is for work, one is for play.

 

[matrix3509]

The day all large publishers die a fiery mutilated death is the day I dance a jig.

 

[draythefingerless]

No need for publishers? Agreed. Stupid, shortsighted, parasitic corporations that cant adapt to the age of the internet.
Consoles dying? No dice. They're just better for pick-up-and-play, and with the casual market growing, more people will want that. Why do we even have these wars about console-vs-pc?

Rather, that wich you call console today will die. Maybe itll keep the name, but the technology and method of distribution will be diferent. advent of super internet will bring forth the people who spend 50 bucks on a Onlive style machine thatll let them rent games n shit. no more barriers for developers when it comes to stale hardware.

btw, when it comes to the plug n play thing argument.... i can get a discounted cute lil game on steam today, download it in half an hour n play it with my compatible gamepad. and since its a laptop, and since its not some glitchy piece of shit game, just a cute lil casual game or mainstream, i can do this ANYWHERE.

 

[newwiseman]

Consoles will never die, they are still cheaper than a good computer and they are easier to develop for that the myriad of computer configurations.

Bottom line is consoles will sell so long as there are games available. If console makers offer better terms for their development kits and ease restrictions they will be able to offer more indie and small studio titles, increasing the strength and appeal of that console.

That said, I prefer the PC. Why else would I have paid so damn much for the parts and taken the time to put it together.

*captch graveyard shift

Is the graveyard a metaphor?

 

[Albino Boo]

I see what you mean. There's no middle ground. Or, rather, no middle ground developer that doesn't use a AAA publisher who bends their game to appeal to more money audiences.

I find rather amusing the Red5 studios is going on about being how cool and indie they are when the majority stake in the studio is owned by a Chinese game publisher.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Would anyone disagree when I say I think Paradox games are middle ground games?

I wouldn't call War of the Roses Indie, arcadey or triple A.

 

[deth2munkies]

Consoles will never die, they are still cheaper than a good computer and they are easier to develop for that the myriad of computer configurations.

Bottom line is consoles will sell so long as there are games available. If console makers offer better terms for their development kits and ease restrictions they will be able to offer more indie and small studio titles, increasing the strength and appeal of that console.

That said, I prefer the PC. Why else would I have paid so damn much for the parts and taken the time to put it together.

*captch graveyard shift

Is the graveyard a metaphor?

Here's the problem: In offering exclusively small-studio titles, they will never make back the money they invest in a console.

There's R&D, testing, and production costs involved and nearly every console ever has sold at a loss. You really think even a huge helping of indie games is going to prop that up?

If the AAA game industry starts to wane, consoles will be the first casualties of the war.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

You're right about Atlus, but I've never heard of NIS America. So while they exist you never seem to hear about them to the point of it not being unreasonable to not know they exist.

The only thing I know them for is localising Japanese indies like Cave Story and La-Mulana.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Oh great, more elitism. Not trying to step on anyone's toes, but this is elitism and I find it quite ugly. There's a place for both consoles AND PCs, both are capable of things the other is not
*CoughCouchCo-opCough*.

But the core issue of PCs -and has always been the issue- is that you can't guarantee the spec level of your audience's machines. It's insane to assume that everyone can run Crysis (old game, but still a good benchmark), such a machine costs far more than a console ever will (for the foreseeable future). It's just not reasonable to expect someone with only a passing interest in video games to fork out £500-£1000 (yes I'm in the U.K.) just so they can play games, which I will admit tend to be cheaper on PC. This all boils down to alienating the next generation of players and ultimately, elitism. We need console to draw in the new crowds and keep the industry fresh, we shouldn't be looking at scrapping consoles, but using them in a wiser fashion.

*steps off soapbox*

 

[splayfoot1]

all we need is a new publisher, whose primary goal is to publish games.
instead we have publishers whose only goal is to make money, and anything that cant guarantee that gets canned.

sadly its just how the world works, the people in charge seem to think that money now is always better than a healthy long lasting industry for the future.

I have nothing against consoles, or AAA titles, but id much rather see a wide range of A titles, that cost less and have rough edges, but are still creative and fun to play.