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Sequels Turning Off Game Consumers
Next Generation reports that the constant trend towards game sequels is lowering interest among game consumers. From the article: "A weak consumer environment leaves us questioning whether sales will rebound sufficiently to drive growth for the full year. In particular, consumers appear to be indifferent to the proliferation of sequels, indicating a slow start to holiday sales and risk of continuing weakness." That, right there, is the problem with the PSP's library at the moment.
BAD sequels turn off gamers. By bad I mean sequels that offer nothing new in the terms of gameplay, just a shinier appearance. Pretty much any EA sports game in the past 3 years have offered very little in innovative gameplay. However, sequels that offer new gameplay, storylines, etc (Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy), alway bring me back. There's always a draw to games that are obviously something new in a series of games, rather than just a re-hash of the same game, with a minor addition (madden, etc).
How Jaded Are You?
But give us crap, and amazingly, we don't want to buy it. Many games recently have been heavy on graphics and crap on gameplay -- so great for an hour or two, but boring.
I don't mind some sequels, when there's some genuinely new developments in game mechanics or a good story line to go with it. I don't mind add-ons, as long as they hit the same criteria. A lot of sequels do seem to just bank on the success of the prior game, and might have slightly different enemies/graphics. Those don't do it for me, and movie tie-ins don't do it for the same reason. I'm not going to play a mediocore game because someone slaps "Star Wars" in the title any more than I'm likely to pick up GTA:That One City Just South of the US-84 Interchange because I happened to enjoy the original. Especially if GTA:TOCJSOTU84I is just like GTA:TOCJNOTU84I with slightly different cars.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
if this will drive the industry to be even more on the safe side. Which is why we are where we are now....
M$ it's whats for diner!!!!!
There are 18 games in the Xbox 360 launch catalogue. 14 of them are sequels. (11 of them are sports/racing games!)
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The plethora of sequals has nothing to do with any slumping sales. Keep in mind, kids -- your average, brainwashed-by-the-public-"education"-system consumer is actually more comfortable purchasing a product that is percieved as a "known quantity", rather than trying something new and different. Those of us who enjoy "new and different" are among the minority, and are atypical consumers.
Madden, Final Fantasy, ad infinitum will continue to sell in mass quantities, so long as the designers don't churn out pure and utter crap (ie. creating a game that even their long-time loyal fans would hate).
I would think the largest market turned off by the use of sequels would be new buyers. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of people that see the VIII after the last Dragon Quest game will assume that it is an ongoing story and would be hard to just jump into at this point. With this in mind, and the fact that you can't get the earlier ones, I would not be surprised if many that would enjoy the game are skipping it.
Portability, of course.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
How is this any different from movies? All the money goes to sequels, because there is a guaruntee (sort of) on a return on the investment.
Halo sold well, Halo 2 sold better. GTA III sold well, GTA: VC sold better. Super Mario Brothers sold well, SMB 3 sold better.
As long as people buy sequels, sequels will be made. Let the creativity be done by developers that don't own properties, or have properties that have run their course (like Rayman). The problem of course is getting these people funding.
Right, because last year at this time, the industry was irrevocably damaged by the sequels being thrust upon us: Doom 3, Halo 2, Half Life 2 and GTA: San Andreas.
I think they're turning off the new XBox,too.
There are 11 types of people in the world: those who can count in binary, and those who can't.
The "sequel" tag is deceptive. In most cases, it's used just to piggyback on the success of a previous title. I wouldn't call Civ 2, 3, or 4 sequels so much as "iterations". There's no ongoing storyline or plot between the titles. Same goes for sports games - Madden '06 is Madden '05 with a few tweaks and newer player rosters. The Final Fantasy series typically introduces new gameplay dynamics with each title, but sets them in totally different game worlds (at least until FFX-2). To me, the sequel tag indicates some sort of storyline continuity between the games, even if the gameplay isn't exactly the same.
By that definition, real sequels are a lot less common than iterations. Quake 4 and Doom 3 have a at least a passing relationship with previous games in the series, though in both cases I don't think the storyline continuity is a major selling point. Even Knights of the Old Republic II only pays lip service to the previous game. The Myst series, on the other hand, is very closely tied together, especially in the later games in the series where the events of previous games are tightly woven into the storylines.
It's all about marketing and sales. Publishers won't to release "Final Quest XII" if has so much tie-in to previous titles that it isn't accessible to someone new to the series. Even the hallowed Ultima series, which was very tight between 4 - 6, seemed to distance itself between titles towards the end, both in gameplay and storyline continuity.
Bottom line? I think "iterations" have more potential draw (Ooh, I liked NFL '05, and '06 is going to have *insert new favorite player here*!) and more potential drawbacks (Bleah, NFL '05 wasn't any better than '04, why would I buy '06?). Genuine sequels have to toe the line between too much continuity (scare away new customers) and not enough (turn off the loyal customers of the series). If that balance isn't just right, the sequel flops. All the publishers (_publishers_, not developers) really care about is what is going to sell, and iterative series are much safer investments. But maybe, just maybe, the general game-buying public might be starintg wise up to the fact that they've just bought the same thing for the 4th or 5th year in a row and realize it's time to start demanding more.
Nah, who am I kidding? Recent sales charts are all stacked with the latest Sims, Madden, Quake, Doom, and Battlefield titles and add-ons. Hell, I just picked up Sly 3 for PS2 and will probably pick up Dragon Quest VIII this weekend and FFXII whenever it comes out, too.
Give a man a beer and he wastes an hour. Teach a man to brew and he wastes a lifetime.