Comment Profitable Inspiration (Score 1) 452
|Believe it or not, the gaming business isn't about giving you and your friends fun games to play, it's about making money.
This is overly cynical. Surely its about both? Gaming & Business? If it ain't fun, its not going to sell. Sure stockholders are the raison d'etre for many companies, but without the appeal and functionality of the actual product, whos going to buy from them?
I know there is a widely-claimed dearth of creativity in the gaming industry right now, and the most successful franchises are exactly that: franchises which replicate with minor improvements on an established model largely guaranteed to sell, BUT a lucrative market is only lucrative because the demand (i.e the desire for the enjoyable, interesting, satisfying, thrilling or otherwise stimulating experience that "video" games provide) is strong, and in the case of computer games, there is a very high standard and associated high cost to create or develop. Maybe the initial costs inhibits certain experiments and games, but the high standard does goes long way to assure that when you plonk your £39.99 on the latest and greatest home entertainment extravaganza, you'll be enjoying a relatively polished product.
Perhaps your own disillusionment is giving vent to a cynicism that perhaps not all game developers share? Or am I in the hippie no-mans-land of starry-eyed shareware developers and delusionally devoted console fanboys in believing that truly unique, thrilling AND successful games are the product of hard work and genuine passion backed by the large resources that the unique mass-appeal of these strange gaming experiences we enjoy can generate?
This is overly cynical. Surely its about both? Gaming & Business? If it ain't fun, its not going to sell. Sure stockholders are the raison d'etre for many companies, but without the appeal and functionality of the actual product, whos going to buy from them?
I know there is a widely-claimed dearth of creativity in the gaming industry right now, and the most successful franchises are exactly that: franchises which replicate with minor improvements on an established model largely guaranteed to sell, BUT a lucrative market is only lucrative because the demand (i.e the desire for the enjoyable, interesting, satisfying, thrilling or otherwise stimulating experience that "video" games provide) is strong, and in the case of computer games, there is a very high standard and associated high cost to create or develop. Maybe the initial costs inhibits certain experiments and games, but the high standard does goes long way to assure that when you plonk your £39.99 on the latest and greatest home entertainment extravaganza, you'll be enjoying a relatively polished product.
Perhaps your own disillusionment is giving vent to a cynicism that perhaps not all game developers share? Or am I in the hippie no-mans-land of starry-eyed shareware developers and delusionally devoted console fanboys in believing that truly unique, thrilling AND successful games are the product of hard work and genuine passion backed by the large resources that the unique mass-appeal of these strange gaming experiences we enjoy can generate?
