Myst Creator Closes Doors

ComputerSherpa writes "Cyan Worlds closed its doors today. Cyan was the creator of Myst, the game that was partially responsible for popularizing the CD-ROM format. Until it was recently overtaken by The Sims, the Myst series was the most popular computer game series of all time. The last game in the Myst series, End of Ages, is scheduled to be released September 20th by UbiSoft."

Comments

Sigh...

[Gadren]

Being an avid Myst fan myself, I was hit hard by the collapse of Uru Live in February 2004, then the fact that Cyan seemed to deteriorate due to financial pressures...and now this. 'Tis a shame -- while I have nothing against violent videogames (I love Halo immensely), Myst was able to create a new kind of game. And the fan support has been amazing; the Myst community is one of the most closely-knit ones I've ever seen. Shorah, Cyan, and may the ending never be written.

Re:I remember that game!

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldnt call it sexist, rather ignorance. Or maybe passively sexist. There's a long way to go though, I'm a male developer in the game industry who shares the same feelings, but any slight suggestion of something more gender-friendly / anti-cheuvanistic gets me the strangest looks from my coworkers and I start fearing for my job. ("He's not one of us! We must be rid of him!")
Sadly, right now it's just a bunch of grown up 8th graders running the show. :1

Re:I remember that game!

[GaryPatterson]

I think the industry needs to focus not on what women would enjoy, but on making games less obviously targeted at the young demographic.

Characters in games are so often caricatures - men with lantern jaws and bulging biceps, women with cavernous cleavage and wasp waists. It'd be better to have people who actually look like you could meet them in the street.

Women seem to react more negatively to stereotypes of women than men react to stereotypes of men. That drives them away from many games.

Re:I remember that game!

[Seumas]

Aw, man. I was being sarcastic, but then everyone took me so seriously and had such interesting things to say that I almost feel guilty for having not been serious in the first place.

My point really was that there's all this clammoring about how there are no female-friendly games, but then the two most popular games in history both happen to be extremely female-accessible and friendly and are made up of a huge population of female players.

I have always felt that a game should be created for playability and enjoyment. Political correctness be damned. I don't really care if the male has unrealistic quantities of muscles and the female is barbie-like in fantasy-level proportions. What, like I want to escape my life as a fat lazy tech dork by playing a fat lazy character? Hell no.

Good games will be good games. Period. There are some games more geared toward women, just like "The Princess Diaries" is a movie girls will flock to. And there are some games geared toward men - just like Tears of the Sun or something are geared to.

Then there are great games that, like movies, everyone will flock to.

Maybe what would help is if women would EXPLAIN what kind of games they think should be made for them? I have heard countless complaints about how games are so male oriented (possibly because there are so many MALES in gaming? Nobody claims that Magick: The Gathering is too male oriented). But I never hear a single one lay out what is so unique and different about the gameplay they want.

So girls, what is this amazing female-friendly game that will revolutionize the world that every female is just dying to get her hands on, if only someone would make it? Or - has it already been made and everyone is complaining about nothing? (A Tale in the Desert, Myst, The Sims, Nintendogs, etc).

Re:Only on games.?

[webrunner]

Myst was the highest selling game before the Sims. Would you consider Maxis to be a 'tiny footnote?' before The Sims came out? Because Maxis was -less important- than Cyan was.

The Myst-clone (first person FMV point and click) basically wasn't important before Myst, and for years after Myst was like a third of all games being released. Even PC gamer based their games disc interface on the style for a while.

I'm not saying it's the most long running, but it's a studio that's been around for 10 years. A lot of 'big' importnat game companies are younger than Cyan.

to say it's a 'tiny footnote' just sounds like cyan-hating more than anything thought through well.