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A Plea For Game Devs To Aim Higher
A recent article written by Mike Acton of Insomniac Games challenges video game developers to broaden their ambitions and fight to get back to their rebellious roots. Quoting:
"[W]hy is it that game developers are beginning to drown in a culture of fear, or more specifically, a fear of change? Is it because the gaming world has gone too corporate and is no longer exclusive to small teams of genius misfits and creative underdogs? Is it because the demographics of game players—once made up almost exclusively of teen boys—has widened to include nearly everyone from 5-50? There are people who would deny that it’s fear of change that keeps them where they are. There are those that are content with the status quo because they believe that they have a formula 'that works' and there’s no good reason to risk a major change when they already successful with what they’re doing. ... Game developers are, at their heart, futurists and this is what they need to do now—put themselves ahead of the times so that they can surpass the stale leadership and old models that are holding them back"
Uh, Rockstar just put out LA Noire, a game that is pretty much unlike any other game ever made and has limited mass appeal. And neither of their two upcoming games follows the GTA formula. And it's not like they were ever like Activision, cranking out a new Tony Hawk/Guitar Hero/Call of Duty every year. They spent extensive dev time on every game, pushed the limits of every console, expanded the formula every generation. I don't even really like Rockstar games that much, but your criticism is pretty unfounded.