15th November 2009, 2:08 AM
I'm starting to think the recent drops in sales in the vidya game market across the board may be a good thing for the industry. It may be the sort of wake-up call the game companies need to learn that they can't just keep cranking out one uninspired sequel after another. I'm already hearing talks from insiders who are fully aware that new "properties" need to be made. I also hope they will wake up to the fact that attempting to attack the used game market through these idiotic "exclusives" with Gamestop and so on just hurt them in the long run, as used game sales free up money from those who sold those games to buy the newest ones, and those people buying used games at a significantly lower price weren't going to be buying brand new games just for an exclusive anyway.
The biggest lesson would simply be that making a product that's "good enough" isn't good enough. They have to aspire to a game that, ten years down the line, people will be looking for in used game stores. I mean look at all the games coming out now. Some are fun, some are great, but of the games that catch your interest now, how many will you return to in a decade as one of the classics? That's the game that'll be the biggest asset to a company in the long run. Think of how much money Nintendo has milked out of Super Mario Bros over all these years.
The biggest lesson would simply be that making a product that's "good enough" isn't good enough. They have to aspire to a game that, ten years down the line, people will be looking for in used game stores. I mean look at all the games coming out now. Some are fun, some are great, but of the games that catch your interest now, how many will you return to in a decade as one of the classics? That's the game that'll be the biggest asset to a company in the long run. Think of how much money Nintendo has milked out of Super Mario Bros over all these years.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)