We have a strange situation at the moment where the majority of the AAA publishers have managed to do something to raise the ire of gamers. In general it’s the same thing across the board, the constant trotting out of tried and tested IPs, the lack of risk taking and the block costing of new games that helps to keep the prices high.
Some have other issues, UBISofts over-reliance on tying people into back-end servers for instance, but the majority of the issues can be covered by the list above.
Now, we’re still buying AAA games, the top-end publishers still take 90% of the gaming profits year in and out, but gamers are relying more and more on the upsurge of indie developers. Cheap platforms, such as steam, iOS and Android, and the previously mentioned ire with traditional publishers have given developers a whole new network of customers and the ability to develop and sell games cheaply.
The problem is that most people are now associating the idea of having fresh, original IP with the idea that only tiny developers can make it. This isn’t the case, the reasons that we’re getting original IP from small indie developers is simple – they can afford to experiment.
Look back at the genesis of games development, in the early days of the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 et al. Many of the top games of the time were developed by a few people in a bedroom, they eventually ended up being sold by the upcoming publishers (including the very early iteration of Activision) but for the most part it was small teams, a lot of them part-time, making the whole thing. Design, coding, sound etc etc.
Contrast that with today where teams of upwards of 80 will be split into the various departments. Each team will concentrate on their own part of the game, each will be a full-time well paid specialist. Creating a single game can cost a quarter of a million pounds in salaries alone. This goes some way to explaining why the top publishers don’t like experimenting with IP, when it costs that much to get a game out of the door, you can’t risk a major flop. As much as our industry is worth now, a huge loss can still mean the end of one or two developers, a big enough flop could mean disaster for the whole publisher.
So like the film industry, which we are fast starting to mimic, we rely on tried and tested tropes. We release updates to games that we know will sell well. We release remakes of games that have done well in the past.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Indie development is going through a difficult time at the moment, it has reached a period of growing pains which could very well make or break it. Developers are leaving the idea of being part-time developers. They are leaving their jobs and are using crowd-funding or venture funding to release their games. Possibly worse, they are starting to embrace the idea that they have to make IPs that are as different from AAA as possible. We end up with games that are so different from the norm that they are almost guaranteed to be slow burners – in the AAA world that makes them instant failures. These games aren’t necessarily bad, there are some truly exceptional games out there that are the perfect fusion of weird and fun.
What we need though is another generation of bedroom developers, taking 2 years to make a game doesn’t matter if it isn’t the only source of income you have. And taking longer gives you a much better handle on how your game will fit in the larger ecosystem. You don’t necessarily have to do it all yourself, you can find a part-time graphics designer, part-time musician, part-time whatever to do the rest of the work. Get together a group of people that are making a game because they believe in your vision – not because they expect to hit a gravy train.
The current indie market has proven that you don’t need to rely on graphics as long as your idea is good. So why try to rely on crazy ideas as well? A good, fresh idea doesn’t have to be confusing too.