The Disposable Video Game: Prologue
Posted by jason in Gaming on Jan 27th, 2009 | 2 comments“I feel like by the time a game comes out now, I know everything there is to know about it…But at that time, (a game) got a 2 page preview in EGM maybe once…and then got a review. And that was all you’d ever know about that game until you got it in your hands. Now we’re inundated with information.”
-A Life Well Wasted, Episode 1
“Back in ‘92, ‘93, ‘94, when Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam…400 page issues that everyone remembers so fondly…you would just sit on your bed and absorb every single thing. Because at that time, most of us…would learn about everything you couldn’t find in your rental store.”
-Former 1UP Editor Andrew Pfister | A Life Well Wasted, Episode 1
The average retail shelf life for a typical video game has shrunk so drastically in the past 15 years that if you’re not plugged in to a 24/7 news feed, you could blink and miss it entirely.
For new IP’s (Intellectual Properties), developers spend weeks to months developing a solid gaming mechanic or concept. Writers enter the picture and flesh out a storyline, artists sketch out hand drawn storyboards and rough animations. Level designers work to add life and atmosphere to the game, voice actors are hired, programmers spend 1000’s of hours tweaking code, composers breathe emotion into the audio. Marketing teams are deployed, etc etc.
The entire process of creating a video game from start to finish, on average, takes about 2 years.
That same game could have a consumer’s mindshare for as little as 1 week. And if they happen to buy it, only 20% of them will finish it.*
Why is this happening? And why are we, the gaming audience, seemingly content with it? That’s exactly what I’ll be exploring in an upcoming episode of Mental Doodles & Lost Thoughts. Do you have an opinion from inside the industry? Are you a gamer who misses the love affairs we used to have with games from the 80’s and 90’s?
I can’t create this episode without you…
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If you enjoyed these words, buy Jason a coffee.2 Responses to “ “The Disposable Video Game: Prologue”
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Who’s Jason?
I personally feel that multi-player modes have killed the single player game. The passion for gaming that I had when I was a child has changed, not necessarily for the worse, but it isn’t the same. I used to get a game and play it for months on end by myself, playing the same levels over and over, and if there was multi-player, it was either taking turns or two players cooperatively running through levels e.g. Contra (NES).
These days though, my love for gaming has been converted to a love for multi-player games, and I believe that the main stream is following that trend as well. I played COD4 from the day it came out, until the day Gears 2 came out, simply for the multi-player. Never touching the single player game! In fact I didn’t run through the single player game until only 2 weeks ago and that’s only because I had some free time and no one online to play with. It’s almost a constant struggle, between wanting to play a single player game, but knowing you’ll have more fun with a multi-player game. If games started doing what L4D did, and make the game (intended to be played by their audience) a co-op only game, then there would be more people playing through story lines. Now I know what you’re going to say.. L4D doesn’t have a story.. but it doesn’t need one! Does a multi-player deathmatch have a story? NO! It’s kill or be killed.. and that’s all you need to have a successful game.
While I applaud what L4D has done, and I love playing the game. A story would be nice, but as aforementioned it’s not needed. Games that I see as being successful in the near future are games like HAWX. The fact that it has a 4 player co-op story, and the ability to play the ENTIRE campaign with a group of friends, means players WILL play through the whole game, and will enjoy every minute of it. Think back to the days of Super Mario 3, great multi-player right? well it was only great multi-player because the Single player aspect was amazing! Now days people need an amazing single player story that can be enjoyed with friends. Halo 3 is a great example. Up to four friends could experience the amazing story line, feel the emotional music, see the awesome visuals, and not miss a single second of effort that Bungie put into that game.. but I tell you what.. even though the Halo story is an amazing one.. VERY FEW people would have played through it had it not been for co-op.
So what I’m trying to tell developers, and it seems like everyone has been jumping on the bandwagon as of late.. is that.. YOU NEED CO-OP IN YOUR GAMES! PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE THAT SHIT! And until developers realize that co-op is the new trend in gaming.. they aren’t going to be successful.
[...] week the podcast debut of Robert Ashley’s “A Life Well Wasted” inspired me to pen a short blog post exploring the notion of what I call “Disposable Video Games.” I committed myself to [...]