Im noticing a trend here and so are others. The game I picked is an example of what is happening here. Games publishers treat a game not as a game but as a franchise.

A dollar driven approach to a creative industry will eventually strangle it.

I think we are seeing the warning signs of this happening here and now. I may be wrong, as I don't have a crystal ball, but all the signs that I see are pointed this way. The games industry is copying hollywood; with its cash-in sequels approach driven by money men. They are ripping its soul out with economics.

An example closer to home (for me) is that I enjoyed Bioshock but I can't help but agree that its a dumbed down inferior version of the System Shock games. Dumbed down for the masses. This is the trend. This is what will kill the industry. Me-too and dumbed down inferior sequels will not lead to break through innovative content. It's about milking it til theres no milk left and then moving onto another industry to do the same. These people do not care about anything but getting rich.

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Original post by kingy A dollar driven approach to a creative industry will eventually strangle it.

A non-business minded approach to any industry will soon bankrupt it.

This comes up every 3 months (if that), and it's not the incessant trend of the Man ruining your childhood, it's your nostalgia coloring the truth of past: things have always been that way.

It's like the complaint that children don't respect their elders anymore. Been arguing it since recorded history, but each generation thinks they're somehow new or different.

Things this thread made me think of:

• It's my understanding that soap operas are, in large part, what make networks able to produce their prime time line ups.
  
• Some critics complained that Bucket List was just watching Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson doing their typical Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson thing, which is all I really wanted from that movie.
  
• All those people that loved Final Fantasy VII. First, read that again. Yes, that's VII, as in 7, as in there were six before it. Now, I thought IV (called II) was better than the original, VI (called III) was better than IV, and VII was a step down that they only partly made up for with IX but never really recovered from (until, perhaps, XII, which I haven't played).
  
• Deus Ex 2 wasn't anything to write home about.
  
• Indie Rock Pete
  
• Budweiser: King of Beers
  

It's not about making games, it's about making money.

Also:

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Original post by kingy A dollar driven approach to a creative industry will eventually strangle it.

Most of what is recognized as great art was commissioned. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was dollar driven.

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I think we are seeing the warning signs of this happening here and now. I may be wrong, as I don't have a crystal ball, but all the signs that I see are pointed this way. The games industry is copying hollywood; with its cash-in sequels approach driven by money men. They are ripping its soul out with economics.

Except there seem to be more than a couple people who think:
Empire Strikes Back > A New Hope and Return of the Jedi > 1, 2, 3
Aliens > Alien
Spiderman 2 > Spiderman
The Dark Knight > Batman Begins
Ironman > most of the superhero bandwagon it jumped on

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Me-too and dumbed down inferior sequels will not lead to break through innovative content.

Oh, I see, we'll limit the discussion to inferior sequels. "Let's list all the games that suck. Man... I don't see a single game on that list that was any good. In fact, they all suck. The industry has clearly lost its way."

Plus, was there ever a time when the industry didn't milk a series for all it's worth?
How many Mega Man games are there? How many Final Fantasies? How many Sonic the Hedgehogs? How many Marios? How many King/Police/Space Quests? Is Leisure Suit Larry still around? How many Legends of Zelda?

And how about rip offs of Doom? (They used to be called "Doom-type" games) How about Tetris? Dr. Mario? Those generic top-down shooters? Pinball machines?

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Original post by Megahertz It's not about making games, it's about making money.

These two things are not mutually exclusive. Developers, in general, want to make games. If they didn't, they wouldn't. They also want to get payed, since it's nice in this modern world to do things like eat and live somewhere. I know that may be shocking and vulgar to some people, but the reality of it is professional developers need money, and no one's going to give it to them unless they can make money too. That's how jobs work.

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It's not about making games, it's about making money.

That, in a nutshell, is what I am talking about. Say goodbye to the games industry in the long term if that does not change.

One problem with sequels is probably related to negative feedback. Designers should realize that humans are born professional complainers. You'll be lucky to get 1 praise for every 25 complaints. Consider something like this:

- 5000 people play a game
- 50 people complain about feature A
- 950 people had mixed feelings about feature A
- Game company knows only that 50 people complained about feature A
- Game company removes feature A from sequel
- 4000 fans are disappointed

If a designer doesn't understand how to do their job, they can easily be lead astray by criticism. If you ignore your instincts and go with the crowd, you're not doing your job. That's not to say the crowd can't show you faults and help you improve, but you need to know when to go against it.

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Original post by RivieraKid Quote: Original post by Promit DX was kind of slow, and based on the public post mortem, that was a problem right from the beginning of development and was never solved quite fully. Yes, it was a fantastic game, but don't be blind to its faults. It had lots of strengths and amazing touches, but pacing was certainly not one of them. you need to play deus ex again. try this for a strategy: max strength aug max speed aug dragon tooth sword you are now an unstopable speed machine. Run up behind a large mech with balistic protection on - swipe, swipe, swipe - explode. smash turrets / cameras in 1 hit splatter any humanoid npc in 1 hit there are plenty of other fast paced strategies. Also, check out the speed runs.

That's not fast pacing, that's broken game mechanics. Can't you tell the difference?