Anthem's executive producer spells out the challenge of making ever more complex games and the threat it spells for big series like The Witcher and its makers.
Just two personal, uneconomical opinions on the subject:
Games are also an art form. Statistically speaking, art isn’t created to make money but primarily for its own sake; so the pursuit of profit isn’t the main focus of most works of art.
I much prefer companies that actually take entrepreneurial risks (you know, that ominous sense of responsibility that’s used to justify exploitation and obscene wealth) to those that just try to “play it safe” and therefore churn out the umpteenth sequel or remake of a series to milk the fanbase a little more (looking at you, Ubisoft). Unfortunately, playing it safe all too often means turning away from new ideas and concepts and just churning out the same old stuff… which, in the long run, makes the gaming industry more boring for all gamers and may even result in lost revenue for the developers.
Agree, gaming companies who have been playing it safe are the ones who have no idea what to do anymore. Ubisoft is more or less dead. Bioware is dead after DA4. By trying to play it safe and reach everyone they have reached no one.
Two studios that do take massive risks? CDPR and Rockstar. If you put generic gaming exec in there they would cancel all projects and fire half the staff right now, and wall street would laud them for it. Problem is that gaming is a creative field, and you can’t be purely logical and money driven when working in a creative field. Art is subjective, you will have people who dislike it. These two studios get that, for the time being at least.
Just two personal, uneconomical opinions on the subject:
Games are also an art form. Statistically speaking, art isn’t created to make money but primarily for its own sake; so the pursuit of profit isn’t the main focus of most works of art.
I much prefer companies that actually take entrepreneurial risks (you know, that ominous sense of responsibility that’s used to justify exploitation and obscene wealth) to those that just try to “play it safe” and therefore churn out the umpteenth sequel or remake of a series to milk the fanbase a little more (looking at you, Ubisoft). Unfortunately, playing it safe all too often means turning away from new ideas and concepts and just churning out the same old stuff… which, in the long run, makes the gaming industry more boring for all gamers and may even result in lost revenue for the developers.
Agree, gaming companies who have been playing it safe are the ones who have no idea what to do anymore. Ubisoft is more or less dead. Bioware is dead after DA4. By trying to play it safe and reach everyone they have reached no one.
Two studios that do take massive risks? CDPR and Rockstar. If you put generic gaming exec in there they would cancel all projects and fire half the staff right now, and wall street would laud them for it. Problem is that gaming is a creative field, and you can’t be purely logical and money driven when working in a creative field. Art is subjective, you will have people who dislike it. These two studios get that, for the time being at least.