It's no secret that the games industry has seen better days.
Online you'll find tons of people, much like myself, shrieking like toddlers about
how the good old days were so much better.
So I'm going to tell you now, nice and simple, how this could all get fixed and we could
go back to playing games that don't beg for your spare change or insult your intelligence.
Exhibit A: Marketing
Did you know that up to three quarters of the total budget for a triple A game is marketing?
So let's say a hundred million dollars went into Destiny 2, which is a pretty conservative
estimate.
75 million dollars wasn't allocated to the Destiny's gameplay.
It wasn't dedicated to the game's quality control.
It was dedicated purely to stuff like this.
And this.
And… this.
[Destiny 2 Dancing Commercial]
This makes games a HUGE risks for publishers to undertake.
A hundred million dollars is nothing to sneeze at.
If they're going to take that risk, then it better have a massive reward.
This is why games end up packed-full of trash like microtransactions and loot boxes as a
way for publishers to hedge the odds in their favor, because if a big game bombs, it REALLY
bombs.
This creates a sort of balancing act between insulting the consumer with extra in-game
purchases and still being able to get people to buy the game.
If a game can complete the balancing act, it achieves financial success and at least
mediocre reception.
If it fails, they die.
Their careers, I mean.
Battlefront II failed.
Welcome to hell.
[Dev Hell]
But at the same time, there's games like Subnautica and Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
They're made by small indie studios and have very limited marketing resources, and
yet they still sell millions of copies.
It's almost like… the thing that makes most people buy a game is the fact that it's
good, not that they saw a banner ad for it on IGN.
I'm not saying marketing isn't an important part of getting a game's name out there.
I'm sure it helps.
It's just that things seem to be getting a little ridiculous lately.
Publisher seem to think that a game won't sell unless they buyout every single pre roll
ad on youtube months before a game comes out.
If the industry as a whole would wake up to the signs that they might just be putting
too much faith in pure, brute forced marketing, that could actually fix a lot.
First, it would become COMPLETELY inexcusable to include microtransactions, since games
would be such a more financially responsible investment.
Cut the budget of battlefront in half.
Now not only is it far easier for the game to turn a profit, but EA is capable of developing
other games with that cash they've saved, allowing them to cater to all the needs of
the market.
Rather than betting it all on black and saying "well Call of Duty 752 better succeed or
we're screwed," Activision could easily justify creating a bunch more games to please
a bunch more people.
We wouldn't be locked in the cycle of generic, risk-averse annual releases.
Publishers could drop thirty million on a game and if it doesn't do so hot, that's
not nearly as bad as having a two hundred million dollar investment go up in smoke.
If publishers put more cash into development than marketing, the games industry could see
a boom of more unique, creative games in a much shorter span of time than we currently
see.
Part 2: Creativity by Committee
This isn't so much a case of how to fix just video games, this is a case of how to
fix entertainment as a whole.
If you're into movies, you've likely had the following experience:
You sit down at the theater with your dear friend, and about halfway through the movie
you begin to feel a nagging sensation in the back of your mind.
You lean over to your friend, and say "Have I seen this before?"
No.
You haven't seen this film before.
This is the premiere.
That sense of apathetic deja-vu is a result of what I'd like to call "creativity by
committee" It's the process of artistic works no longer being made by individuals
or small teams of a passionate people, but instead by disconnected teams of hundreds,
if not thousands of people, who have no real attachment to the project they're working
on.
Instead of crafting a work in line with somebody's artistic vision, projects are made by a bunch
of team leaders sitting in a boardroom going "Gee, the players sure do like a sci-fi
setting so we should really make the next Call of Duty like that- OH MY GOODNESS"
Infinite Warfare wasn't made because somebody passionately WANTED to make infinite warfare.
It was made because, well the next fiscal year is rolling around and the marketing department
says that sci-fi wall running is hot right now.
This is a system that is completely antithetical to originality.
It means that every movie and game is diluted - over and over again - to be in line with
the same, dull status quo.
It has to stop.
It's not that games shouldn't be developed by massive teams.
That's just a reality of the industry.
Modern games are complicated.
What I'm saying is that there needs to be a greater emphasis on giving control to somebody
who is passionate and knows where the project needs to go, creatively.
Taking creative control out of the boardroom and placing it back into the hands of an individual
or small team of creative directors would no doubt bring some variety back into the
industry, which it is desperately in need of.
Number 15: Microtransactions
The last thing you want in your triple A game is someone's financial incompetence, but
if you buy from a major publisher, that might just be what you gaet.
No, but in all seriousness, it's time to stop.
I genuinely think that in-game purchases can be a good thing.
The expansion packs of the good old days were great, I just have a problem with paying twenty
bucks for a shirt or a fighter jet that should have been in the game from the start.
That's stupid.
This isn't the typical "capitalism has failed because there are loot boxes in my
videogames" kind of sentiment.
In moderation, I think microtransactions have some great potential.
I think that transforming microtransactions into something that players actually like
is the final step toward fixing the games industry.
Let players toss in a little extra money to get some neat bits of content on top, not
a chunk of the game that was carved out and resold.
Don't lock a full-priced game's customization options behind another paywall.
Sell a few skins on top of the rest.
Or take things in the opposite direction.
Don't release four maps for 20 dollars, really bring in some new content that changes
the game and augments the experience.
In an industry not completely devoid of originality like the current one, microtransactions could
really thrive, letting players get more of what they already enjoy.
And without the weight of heavy marketing campaigns, there's more room for the game
to grow.
To me, this really is the final step.
If gaming could move past wild swings between stupidity and brilliance by fostering a culture
that encourages originality over conformity, microtransactions could become something awesome.
They could be made into expansions on unique ideas or ways for players to express themselves,
instead of a cheap way to earn more cash for very little effort.
Giving players more to look forward to is a surefire way to move the industry in a good
direction.
So, to summarize.
Publishers should stop spending so much on marketing so they can afford to make more
creative games, which they'd do by eliminating the practice of creativity by committee.
They'd then be making so much money that they wouldn't even need to include awful
microtransactions as we know them, and everyone who develops games will be driving around
in a lambo.
Easy.
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