But will it sell? -or- How the Industry is stomping on the vision

Microsoft + Rare.

Microsoft + Bungie. (DEFUNCT)

Activision + Blizzard.

Take Two + a harem of suitors.

EA + nom nom nom othr compny ar taest gud.

The age of the big company is upon us. Look back at our history. In the early 80's so many companies existed, making so many crappy games that it flooded the market with offal and tripe, games that were made in a period of weeks hoping to be major cash cows. This is just one factor that resulted in the video game crash of 1983. Too many companies, too many games, too many deals, not enough of the good stuff. The good stuff being quality games and systems. Luckily we moved past it and into the era of "steady consoles."

"Steady Consoles" gave us developers, instead of pure publishers. People dedicated to bringing games to other people's consoles. Sadly this still somehow resulted in games like Y0! Noid (read: licensed-for-the-sake-of-being-licensed games). But what I'm driving at is we had developers, independent ones making us some real gems like Earthworm Jim, Toejam and Earl, Lost Vikings (Anyone remember a company called Silicon & Synapse?) and even as far as licensed games go, Cool Spot!. This period is starting to finally fade, ushering in what looks to be a darker future.

By darker I don't mean it's time to hang up the gloves, I mean that creativity is being shelved for profits and deliveries. The video game industry is fast approaching one of the most lucrative investments in America. GTAIV was the largest multimedia release of all time. Some people get a whiff of that and see instant profit. Gaming is $18 billion dollar a year industry (that's games, consoles, accessories and all. Still, they sell $8.6 billion just as the discs by themselves. Thanks Kotaku). Larger companies are keeping their eyes on game schools and small teams and buying them up, assimilating them into a pool of talent that gets grossly misused half the time. It's become a situation that does not favor the independant developer at all, when the big dog publishers loom over them.

There is one company that seems to be attempting to get things right. Gamecock, responsible for Dementium: The Ward, Insectiside and upcoming Velvet Assassin, lets developers keep their intellectual property, opting for an approach that stimulates creativity and artistry in game design. This is magnificent. It makes me want to shout from the roof tops. Gamecock is not a big company by US standards, but they're doing things right.

An example of doing things wrong is the current green-light process of some major companies. The criteria for a big developer to green-light a game is pretty lame:

• Has there ever been a game like it? Funny thing is, if the answer to this question is no, the project is less likely to be accepted. If yes, see below.
• Did it make money? If the answer is no, say goodnight. If yes, proceed.
• How can we make it like X without making it X? Look around. Look at what new games are coming out. A lot of them fit this mold.
  
• So, we make it x. Which isn't enough like X to be a clone. Congrats, project is green-lit.

This mode leads to games that aren't bad by any means, but they're not a stretch either. The only other easy way to green-light a game would be a sequel or a contract/license. Maximize return, minimize risk. Release a ton of small games to pad the bills until the big ones hit. Need some money? Make a Brain-Age clone. Make a collection of mini-games. Instant cash.

The industry is slowly becoming one run by businessmen. Business men know money, but do they know creative process for gaming? Do they know a good game idea or do they know a lucrative game idea. Making a game based on trends of the industry is one thing, but after a while the waves of those trends get stale. Games need to come in and shake things up. Even Mirror's Edge, the new EA avant-garde, is reminiscent of Breakdown, Namco's arcade-esque FPS. Innovation is waning, and the desire for return is on the rise. PS: DICE is a swedish developer that EA owns. No points for American ingenuity there.

Maybe all my ramblings are the ramblings of an over-worried developer. Maybe the industry is going to use this talent they're swallowing up and not just trying to ride revenues from big name titles *cough*GTAIV*cough*. Maybe the sky will open up and the hand/tentacle/appendage of {insert deity of your choice} will reach down and bless us independent developers with the ability to produce our games in an environment that says to the artist "We appreciate your abilities, go ahead and use them to their best!", instead of "Act clever, so we can buy you."

-Joe