David Cage: The Industry Will Die if it Doesn't Innovate

[Seventh Actuality]

This guy sure talks a lot for someone who's made one so-so 'game'. Whether he has a point or not, he needs a hell of a lot more to back his words up.

 

[WanderingFool]

This man is wrong. That's pretty much obvious. Not that I disagree with the idea that there needs to be more variety in games mind you. But the idea that the industry will 'die' without it is one of the dumbest statements I can imagine. Shooters are the highest sellers because they appeal to both the hardcore crowd and parts of the casual crowd. That's why your typical awful shooter will sell better then, say, Heavy Rain.

But even if the AAA industry did somehow manage to implode, it wouldn't be the death of the entire industry. We'd have indie gaming, which has been doing fairly well for itself. And then there's the casual market which has so much of the market right now it's not even funny. To act like the entire industry will die based on one genre is a fairly foolish idea.

This.

Its doubtful the industry will fall apart if more developers dont fallow cage's footsteps.

And I really hope they dont fallow Cage's footsteps, cause Cage is an awful Shyamalan knockoff. As uniqe as his games are, the writing is just... *cringes*

 

[Theminimanx]

The industry is far larger than just the MMS developers, even putting Indies and casual developers aside. Sure, the MMS market will collapse at some point, but then someone will discover something else that sells really well at that time. And then everyone will just copy them, because that's the way the industry has always worked.

 

[mfeff]

All I see here is a small subset of individuals in an industry desperately banking on a fragmentation of the industry at large.

By repeating that generic this or that "will" fail the industry issues a condemnation that the purchasing public is "demanding" something different.

Is it true?

Eh? I don't think so. In fact as a life long "gamer" (man I shudder to use that term), with thousands of games in the library... what am I looking forward too the most this year?

Phantasy Star II Online Localization - loot grinder

Grim Dawn - loot grinder

Planetside 2 - Persistent Shooter

X - Rebirth (if and when that ever happens) - Builder / Space Sim

Day Z - improvements - Semi Persistent Shooter

Faster than Light (indie) and Starbound (indie). - Rouge Like, Terraria thingy, maybe...

Now of course I own Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy. I won't be buying any more titles from Quantic Dream though... branching story line? GTFO, linear story with mildly different resolutions dependent on QTE's successes. It's a tech demo, sure it was interesting... for the time, for what it was... but narration? No. So poorly researched with plot holes that would make Mass Effect 3 shine as thematically consistent.

Complex narrative in video games is still the undiscovered country this generation. I put it right next to deform-able terrain and a proper 3d map interface for a space builder/rts. Tech hurtles that may not ever be solved.

Stuff that "was" on the list that isn't anymore? Glad you asked.

X-Com Reboot - I fear change, streamline =/ innovation

Sim City - Always on DRM and mandatory persistent multi-player? GTFO... I play a God game to be God, not to share a domain with a bunch of nobodies like myself... it's my fantasy F'Off.

It's not about the industry "not" innovating, it's about attempting to change the perspective of the very people that play all this stuff... for art? or to make a hedged bet as to "how little" game people will dole out a stack of cash for.

Bottom line, it's always cheaper to sell nonsense than it ever was to write a new engine or work out the complexities of a detailed system.

Want to sell an interactive book? Great, I'll pay the price I would for a book...

Want to sell a movie? Great, here is some movie money...

Want to sell a game with 60+ hours a solid game-play, that sounds about like 40-60 bucks.

[leaves soap box for the next contestant]

 

[Xelien]

Cage sounds a bit like pretentious douche in this, but he's got a point. I loved Heavy Rain and Journey for the fact that they were different to my video game line up. I'm not saying that "interactive movies" should be the next big thing, but maybe some AAA developers can take a chance and make an innovative that doesn't follow the same routine of most adventure, RPG, or shooters. But yah it's pretty silly of him to think the gaming industry will die, shooters and causal games will keep money in the industry for a good while.

 

[Eruanno]

I only disagree with one thing Cage says, if we keep churning out FPS'es, gaming won't die, but it will stagnate.

However, I am so very tired of playing Johnny Spacemarine shooting the enemy because "They Are Bad Guys". Been there, done that in different settings. Surprise me! Make twists and turns and mix awesome game design that not only ties together levels, but which enriches a brilliant story. Engage me. I want to blame allergies when giant manly tears roll down my cheeks as my favorite character died. That being said, I still think that mindless shooters can still exist.

Sometimes I want to sit down and just shoot dudes in the face. Sometimes I want to sit down and get engaged by an awesome story. There is no reason why both of these cannot coexist and why people shouldn't be able to choose whichever they like the most (or in my case, spend all my money on ALL THE GAMES).

 

[Tiamat666]

I'm getting aggitated about all the self proclaimed "X will die" prophets.

The day the game industry dies is the day civilization ceases to exist. Not a day sooner.

 

[Blind Sight]

I think he's being a little dramatic with the 'industry will die' nonsense, but I do kind of want to see a bit of a video game market crash. You know, just to hammer out a few of the issues with the industry, like over-bloated budgets. Maybe get a few of the companies to see that their market plan might not be a wise long-time setup.

 

[ElPatron]

"You know... Here at Quantic Dream we make very matchure gamesh... I'm an auteur, I conshider my worksh to be very artishtic. We try to appeal the matchure gamersh, giving them cinematic exchperienches, very personal, very narrative oriented..."

They said in 1970 we'd have an ice age by now. They said in 1999 all the computers would die. They said global warming would kill us all. They say every fucking year that the world is going to end.

They said oil would get more expensive, they said climate would change, they said banks would collapse...

You get my point. From all the predictions everyone has made, most are bound to fail.

""Nerd/Gaming Culture" is already pretty cancerous as well"- in regards to what exactly?

Because there is actually no "culture" to celebrate? Do the people that go to the cinema get together and make up a new name for them? Does everyone who listens to music get together to celebrate their culture?

Almost everyone plays videogames now, and it's such a broad demographic we can hardly call "gaming" a culture.

 

[TallestGargoyle]

I kinda hope gaming does die. The big companies are already sewing the seeds of their destruction with massive bloated budgets while trying to appeal to everyone and then killing the studio when the game doesn't ship the millions of copies needed (unless you are Call Of Duty).

"Nerd/Gaming Culture" is already pretty cancerous as well and in my personal opinion independent developers and their games aren't that good either. At best they are fun for a few minutes but they are not substantial enough to support an entire industry.

I would rather gaming die now and be reborn from the ashes in a few years than it continue as it is now, it would be nice to catch up on my backlog to.

My backlog would vanish if the industry died...

Damn it Steam.

 

[Sonicron]

That man will never ever die from rectal cancer. He's got his own head so far up his ass he'd see the earliest diagnostic markers as soon as they pop up.

And about the industry not innovating... while gunplay is incorporated into many games, a lot of them aren't straight-up shooters. Also, I'm not primarily a shooter guy, and I'm not starved for entertaining games. Among the flood of shooty-shooty-bang-bang we still regularly get quality products in platforming, puzzle games, strategy, hack-and-slash, and games that fit either several bills at once or even outright defy proper classification, and don't even get me started on the ever-expanding indie market.
Seriously, this dude needs his head set straight.

 

[Lugbzurg]

There's possibly more shooters coming out these days than any other genre... But, I think there are more non-shooters out these days than shooters.

 

[The Lunatic]

Honestly, looking at PC releases, I'm rather pleased that the format has kept such diversity.

If only the same could be said for consoles.

 

[Vault101]

Because there is actually no "culture" to celebrate?

well I don't know..conventions and such would say otherwise

[quote/] Do the people that go to the cinema get together and make up a new name for them?[/quote]
Indie film festivals and art film festivals

[quote/]Does everyone who listens to music get together to celebrate their culture?[/quote]
....yes

concerts...particualy metal concerts, or many other genres..."metalheads", kind of silly since music is often interwined with culture

[quote/]Almost everyone plays videogames now, and it's such a broad demographic we can hardly call "gaming" a culture.[/quote]

see I think the difference here (as with those other examples) is that the passion/interest goes deeper than "the vanilla mainstream" hence why we have art films and obscure genres of music

the difference between me and some guy that playes COD now and again is I discuss games online, I read alot of gaming related news, watch alot of niche gaming relates shows and I have an interestes as too whats going on in the industry...probably smilar with people who like other things

 

[Toilet]

I kinda hope gaming does die. The big companies are already sewing the seeds of their destruction with massive bloated budgets while trying to appeal to everyone and then killing the studio when the game doesn't ship the millions of copies needed (unless you are Call Of Duty).

"Nerd/Gaming Culture" is already pretty cancerous as well and in my personal opinion independent developers and their games aren't that good either. At best they are fun for a few minutes but they are not substantial enough to support an entire industry.

I would rather gaming die now and be reborn from the ashes in a few years than it continue as it is now, it would be nice to catch up on my backlog to.

no thanks

I like my AAA games

""Nerd/Gaming Culture" is already pretty cancerous as well"- in regards to what exactly?

In regard to stuff like the VGAs, Felicia Day, Tropes vs. Women, Major League Gaming, The Big Bang Theory and many many other things which I have little time and patience to look up.

The only part of "Gaming Culture" that has any positive effect on video games is the Mod Communities.

 

[Vault101]

[In regard to stuff like the VGAs, Felicia Day, Tropes vs. Women, Major League Gaming, The Big Bang Theory and many many other things which I have little time and patience to look up.

The only part of "Gaming Culture" that has any positive effect on video games is the Mod Communities.

1. VGA's.....so? like does anyone care about the MTV movie awards? they don't hurt the film industry

2. Felicia Day?...weather or not shes a "grrrl gamur" is subjective (personally I think people just freak out becuase she's a girl) theres nothing wrong with her...hell when the controversy struck alot of people were like "who"?

3. Tropes vs Women- biased yes, but hey gamers can be sexist shitheads somtimes, again this was just a one off controversy

4.Major League Gaming- don;t know much about it...not sure how its a problem

5.The Big Bang Theory - the fuck? big bang theory is a silly mainstream sitcom that has pretty much NOTHING to do with what we call "gaming culture" (which presides mainly on the internet)

honestly? the anti consumer bullshit from publishers is worth worrying over...stuff that affects the actual [i/]games[/i], not this crap

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Thank you for stating the painfully obvious, Cage. BTW, call back when you do something that can be called innovative instead of just a shallow, egotistical wankfest like Heavy Rain was.