Wanted: More Rockstar Game Developers

Fri, Apr 25, 2008

At MTV Multiplayer, they shared interesting opinion regarding the status of game developers in the industry from an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities. Evan Wilson, senior research analyst, believes that those game developers like Sid Meier or Will Wright who are capable of producing hit after hit should be nurtured. Rather than thinking of game developers as interchangeable, publishers should acknowledge individual successes if they want to continue breaking new ground in the industry.

Wilson is of the opinion that successful developers, particularly of original IP, bring something unique to the industry that even a stock analyst can appreciate:

“There are very few people in this world who know how to create hits. Not create a hit, but create multiple hits,” said Wilson in an e-mail exchange. “Those creative minds should be recognized and remunerated in the video game industry for their contribution as much as other forms of media. From a business perspective, that might be more expensive, but if the reward is better selling games the trade-off is worth it.”

As most gamers know, currently the publisher and studio relationship is almost purely mercenary. If publishers can develop a sequel for a successful game without using original team and still manage to make money off the product, they will not even hesitate:

Ken Levine is revered for “BioShock,” but if Levine were to up and disappear, would that stop Take-Two from making “BioShock 2″?

“Development would go right along without him [Levine] and that would be a shame,” he said. “If George Lucas died today the probability of another Star Wars installment would go to 0%. If Stallone died today, the probability of another Rambo installment would go to 0%.”

Of course, we gamers know that publishers are all about the bottom line, and, in that regard, they have traditionally foisted sequel after sequel upon us until a brand is absolutely dilute. In the case of some franchises, like Call of Duty, they even alternate studios who develop the games so that they can create a game every year. For all Treyarch's talent, the third Call of Duty game was the weakest by far. It's no wonder there were rumors (wishful thinking,really) that Infinity Ward would be taking over the franchise entirely. Gamers would love that, but a publisher like Activision would prefer the steady stream of cash. Nobody adheres to this more than EA:

Wilson kept coming back to EA, a company that’s emphasized sequels, licenses and annualization. “[That method] does create predictability, which is a near-term positive,” he said. “However, it also in many cases restricts innovation. I’ve been critical of EA for the last few years and it is common knowledge among gamers that their brand has been tarnished due deteriorating quality.”

Yet on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Will Wright. “Name a groundbreaking new piece of software that has emerged from one of the large U.S. video game publishers in the last few years?,” he asked me. “‘Spore’ could be a rare example. Any surprise it took a ‘Will Wright’ to create it?”

Lest we feel all too warm and fuzzy by these sentiments coming from an analyst, we should acknowledge that a developer gone amok isn't always a great thing. Let's forget that it has taken Will Wright about ten billion years to bring Spore to life. Let's hearken back to the days of yore when a certain long-haired developer by the name of John Romero was declaring, "Design is king!" Now remember Daikatana? It really would be nice if we could walk the fine line between iteration without innovation and batshit crazy developers. I sure hope Ken Levine knows how to keep the crazy bottled up until he finishes BioShock 2. He can let the crazy loose after that.

Bioshock, Daikatana, developers, Evan Wilson, John Romero, Ken Levin, Pacific Crest Securities, sid meier, Take-Two, Will Wright

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1 Comments For This Post

josue calvillo Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
im from fort worth tx, i wanted to leave a remark about making a game about concrete construction,maybe something like making dirt pads squaren out buildings setting forms grading dirt setting steel pooring concrete,pump trucks,riding trowel machines,screeding,being a boss,that was the reply i wanted to leave.

GameCyte