Why don't American video game developers make games with awesome storylines

[Casual Shinji]

Horizon in the Netherlands

Horizon was written by, I think, the guy who wrote Fallout: New Vegas. Don't know if he's American, but he ain't Dutch.

HZD: Was it a fairly standard story? Yes if you only look at bullet points. But it is an unique twist on the post apocalyptic story, with a non-sexualized female protagonist. Aloy herself pushes the medium.

I don't know man, have you seen her in that Carja armor? Hellooooo midriff.

OT: Naughty Dog is not outstanding apart from The Last of Us, but then that's immidiately one of the best story focused games out there. And even with Uncharted they know how tell a fun enough story. Until Dawn told a great little horror tale as well. I even consider the God of War games to have a pretty good story worts and all. And I always sorta considered the Mass Effect, and Dragon Age games American as well. But then to me Canada is just that other part of America.

 

[CritialGaming]

OT: Naughty Dog is not outstanding apart from The Last of Us, but then that's immidiately one of the best story focused games out there. And even with Uncharted they know how tell a fun enough story. Until Dawn told a great little horror tale as well. I even consider the God of War games to have a pretty good story worts and all. And I always sorta considered the Mass Effect, and Dragon Age games American as well. But then to me Canada is just that other part of America.

I don't count them because they are way nicer than us . They have a whole different approach to business practices and that has a dramatic effect on game production.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

How does one really define an "awesome storyline"? What are the cornerstones...

- An solid plot?

- Well-developed characters?

- Powerful, interwoven thematic elements?

- Great presentation?


There are some games that do a bit of each or at least one thing very well, but these kinds of things are tough for even most movies to accomplish comprehensively. Some TV shows have faired better in recent years, because they have more room to tell it all over the course of several seasons.

 

[sanquin]

I wouldn't say American developers don't produce good story lines any more. What I will say, though, is that the big companies often don't. No matter the country. Simply because there's too much money involved, so they'd rather go the safe route than the innovative/quality route. Nintendo being one of the few exceptions, since they tend to throw in surprises every now and then. (the first motion controls with the wii-mote, zelda suddenly becoming an open world game, etc)

 

[Hawki]

Yes but this is a question about why American games don't care about story ANYMORE.

Actually, that's a different question from the OP. The OP asked "why don't American videogame developers make games with awesome storylines?" (which is a loaded question anyway, since an "awesome storyline" is going to vary from person to person). Asking why American games don't CARE about story is a different question. For instance, I have a dim view on the storyline of Halo 4, but 343 obviously cared about the story. What's funny is that a game you cite as having good story (Diablo II) was formed when Blizzard North didn't care about the story, and the presence of any story at all was a contentious matter in development (see http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Diablo_II#Story_2 if you want more info).

Obviously there are some devs that don't care about story, even when one obstensibly exists (see Doom 2016 for instance), but at least in experience and observation, I find that most people care about story when it's there. Taking Destiny as an example, from what I can tell, the execution of its story in the Vanilla left a lot to be desired, but I can't say that Bungie didn't care about story when a) its execution was at least in part due to Staten leaving rather than something intended from the start and b) the Grimoire shows the effort put into worldbuilding, even if it's clunky to access.

It's the old concept of intent vs. execution. The latter usually matters more IMO, but the former still deserves credit when it's due.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

If Horizon Zero Dawn and Zelda Breath of the Wild are just a taste of what's to come then I am excited for the future!

Perhaps I should have made the question is why can't American developers create a fun action game with RPG elements, an interesting universe and storyline, and characters you care about? Games like Mass Effect, The Witcher, and Horizon Zero Dawn.