Poll: Who do you blame?
- Thread starter Baelor
- Start date
i work at an EB Games, and i'll use this simple arguement.
we've barely sold any copies of mirror's edge since it launched. we've sold more copies of the new 50 cent game which came out only a couple weeks ago.
more people bought Gears of War 2, while Uncharted barely moves.
i'm not saying any of these games are better than another. i really enjoyed gears of war 2, but uncharted was a brilliant game, but because it was a new title that no one had heard of, people steered clear. Mirror's Edge was great, but people in my store avoided it like the plague just because you werent primarily shooting people.
personally, i try to move these kinds of titles while i'm working, because i want people to see how good they are, but no one will do it because they'de rather play Halo 3 or something. i'm not saying halo 3 is bad, its just not original, and thats what this is all about.
i think consumers are primarily to blame. companies that see these kinds of sales market towards that. what sort of originality can we expect from Call of Duty 6? not much i'm betting, but it will be the best selling game out when it launches, and activision knows this. but if no one bought the next CoD game, i bet we'de see them rethink the franchise a little.
the gaming industry is a business for developers/publishers. there in it to make money. so i cant say there to blame when there only trying to create games that people will buy, instead of pouring cash into something that will just sit on store shelves.
we've barely sold any copies of mirror's edge since it launched. we've sold more copies of the new 50 cent game which came out only a couple weeks ago.
more people bought Gears of War 2, while Uncharted barely moves.
i'm not saying any of these games are better than another. i really enjoyed gears of war 2, but uncharted was a brilliant game, but because it was a new title that no one had heard of, people steered clear. Mirror's Edge was great, but people in my store avoided it like the plague just because you werent primarily shooting people.
personally, i try to move these kinds of titles while i'm working, because i want people to see how good they are, but no one will do it because they'de rather play Halo 3 or something. i'm not saying halo 3 is bad, its just not original, and thats what this is all about.
i think consumers are primarily to blame. companies that see these kinds of sales market towards that. what sort of originality can we expect from Call of Duty 6? not much i'm betting, but it will be the best selling game out when it launches, and activision knows this. but if no one bought the next CoD game, i bet we'de see them rethink the franchise a little.
the gaming industry is a business for developers/publishers. there in it to make money. so i cant say there to blame when there only trying to create games that people will buy, instead of pouring cash into something that will just sit on store shelves.
I blame everyone, but especially the consumers and the publishers. Consumers are content to play the same game over an over, with a slightly different story, a graphical upgrade, and a stupid gimmick that can ruin gameplay (see Fracture0 the publishers are lazy and greedy enough to do just that. The other problem is the developers who kid themselves into believing that they actually are making original and exciting games when they are actually making Halo 4 because the pay is better.
I blame us the consumers for continuing to purchase the same old dribble from publishers year in and year out. I blame publishers/developers for be so greedy that they will not put something different out on the market opting for garbage like Halo 2,3, halo wars, & GTA 1,2,3, vice city, San Andreas and so on.
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Consumers are definitely the ones to blame.
As gaming has grown more and more popular; commonplace, as it is now, games are made simpler and more appealing to the larger crowd.
Less work needs be put into games for twice the benefit, so game developers reap reward with little work, essentially rehashing the title released the year prior.
Most people are easily entertained by the same dribble and always want to see sequels to games they previously enjoyed and don't mind if there is little to no change to the game itself.
As long as it's prettier and has an updated multiplayer, most would likely throw the story for endless play with friend and foe.
Been that way for years though, hasn't it? Gaming hasn't evolved so greatly since we set foot into this 3D era.
As gaming has grown more and more popular; commonplace, as it is now, games are made simpler and more appealing to the larger crowd.
Less work needs be put into games for twice the benefit, so game developers reap reward with little work, essentially rehashing the title released the year prior.
Most people are easily entertained by the same dribble and always want to see sequels to games they previously enjoyed and don't mind if there is little to no change to the game itself.
As long as it's prettier and has an updated multiplayer, most would likely throw the story for endless play with friend and foe.
Been that way for years though, hasn't it? Gaming hasn't evolved so greatly since we set foot into this 3D era.
I honestly don't want to blame the developers, but would rather blame their bosses so to speak. Developers want to make great games, but they also want to keep their jobs. If the suits see that cooking mama is selling, they are going to want their grunts to pump out something that could compete with Cooking Mama. So, is this the fault of the suits? Or maybe the consumers...it's a tough one. I think we're all at fault here...
Exactly. Too many people are willing to settle for low-quality because they have nothing better to do. You can see the evidence everywhere: people paying for games they later say they don't really like -- but they pay anyway. Until they actually find something else to spend their money on, developers will continue to give them what they pay for, even when better quality developers dominate the niche market.Warrior Irme said:
OK, I'll admit, some of those games aren't unique cause their sparkly diamonds, their unique cause they were the first diamonds to look just somewhat sparkly (thanks to the mine diggers at Nintendo). But trying to replicate a diamond doesn't make it good, just makes it bad. You know I mean you, Braid, you Mario replicating twat! Also, Painkiller is carpooling with Doom, picking stuff out of it's pocket while it's fighting with Quake about who gets to ride shotgun, but a good thief is still wealthy, and Painkiller's showing us the money. But games like KH and FFVII are already on the pedestal of their genre, bragging while the other games are showing the finger and yelling "fagots!".crazyhaircut94 said:
Corporate mind sets. Small unknown developers make an off the hook game that is like nothing else out. Said small developer starts making money - large corp sees money being made, buys small timer. Gets cold feet over going out on a limb, makes yet another safe formula game, rinse and repeat.
When it comes to the creative arts shareholders should shut up and go away. You are gambling, man up, roll the dice and take what is thrown. You want a sure thing? Buy bonds.
Movies suffer from the same thing. In my not so humble opinion common business practices have no place in arts ( games, movies etc.. ) and medicine.
Long winded circle rant ended. I did not vote, I guess I would like a corporate managers option.
When it comes to the creative arts shareholders should shut up and go away. You are gambling, man up, roll the dice and take what is thrown. You want a sure thing? Buy bonds.
Movies suffer from the same thing. In my not so humble opinion common business practices have no place in arts ( games, movies etc.. ) and medicine.
Long winded circle rant ended. I did not vote, I guess I would like a corporate managers option.
It's the publishers.
For most people, blaming the right person is hard because they don't know the terminology.
Clarification: The game PRODUCER is the person at the head of the game DEVELOPMENT team. He is one person, usually the owner of the company. E.G. Chris Slack is the producer for Gas Powered Games (It may well have been Chris Taylor, whose games are published by THQ
The game PUBLISHER is the company that does all the legwork once the game has been made (the easy job) and these days they usually own the developers they publish games for. This means they have a lot of power over the producer and so the developers. They usually use this power to rip the new ideas out and suggest old ones they know sell games. Thus, every game ends up pretty much the same as the last, and yet all of my friends happily go and buy each one thinking they're getting something new.
Nobody is in game *development* for money. Most producers aren't either. But publishers are after nothing but money.
I don't blame all publishers, either. THQ, Activision and others are still pretty good.
For most people, blaming the right person is hard because they don't know the terminology.
Clarification: The game PRODUCER is the person at the head of the game DEVELOPMENT team. He is one person, usually the owner of the company. E.G. Chris Slack is the producer for Gas Powered Games (It may well have been Chris Taylor, whose games are published by THQ
The game PUBLISHER is the company that does all the legwork once the game has been made (the easy job) and these days they usually own the developers they publish games for. This means they have a lot of power over the producer and so the developers. They usually use this power to rip the new ideas out and suggest old ones they know sell games. Thus, every game ends up pretty much the same as the last, and yet all of my friends happily go and buy each one thinking they're getting something new.
Nobody is in game *development* for money. Most producers aren't either. But publishers are after nothing but money.
I don't blame all publishers, either. THQ, Activision and others are still pretty good.
Publishers
Their marketing depts force devs to steer in bland, repetitive, "risk-free" directions.
Their marketing depts force devs to steer in bland, repetitive, "risk-free" directions.