Epic's Cliff Bleszinski thinks true-blue blockbusters may be too expensive to develop once next generation consoles arrive, with only a handful of big brands able to support annual instalments.
"That's a fair enough risk," he told OXM, when we asked whether next generation hardware costs could spell doom for cash-strapped developers. "The six-to-eight hour triple-A game might be going away, maybe there's only three or four that come out a year, and those are the established brands."
"People just get these random things they want to make, and other people throw money at them without looking at the business. We need not only to be creative but also to be surgical in terms of the games we make."
Some developers believe that second-hand game sales are among the things sapping the industry's lifeblood. Epic cohort Rod Fergusson commented recently that companies need to "actively fight used game culture" with their DLC strategies. Bleszinski skimmed over the issue in our chat. "There's a whole discussion we can have about the disc-based market versus rental and used."
He also talked up the benefits of hybrid Kinect design. Read the relevant excerpt for more. And pick up a copy of OXM 80 today - it's dirt-cheap on iTunes.
6 comments so far...
Baryonyx on 30 Nov '11 said:
I think what we need is a return to the spirit of adventure that encapsulated the late 90's Playstation market. There were so many good games being made then by so many developers, but the common thread running through games at the time was that they were inventive and creative. There were popular genres, but every developer was not insistent on copying another, in the way that COD has spawned many derivative shooters, and GOW has seen the cover mechanic it popularised become a staple of the third person shooter.
Genres need to expand and developers need to become creative. I feel there is some stagnation in the industry, and whilst games of great quality are still coming regularly, it seems that fewer games than ever are released on a monthly basis now.
8bithero on 30 Nov '11 said:
i stopped listening to cliffy b ever since he churned put the same soul destroying game 3 times and ruined what 'people can fly's bulletstorm could have been. he thinks he's the creator and savior of gaming bit he lacks any of his own imagination. His opinion doesn't mean squat. come back when you cam create something with the level of imagination seen in bioshock and half life, you feckless t**t
wishface on 1 Dec '11 said:
Yes, this guy needs to shut the f**k up. Perhaps put more effort into delivering your dedicated server setup and not your own self promotion Mr B.
Jet Thrust on 1 Dec '11 said:
"The key is to bet on people who understand technology, but also understand creative and business. Too many games are made just because somebody says 'A bullfighting game sounds cool!' And you're like 'That would only play in Spain.'
"People just get these random things they want to make, and other people throw money at them without looking at the business. We need not only to be creative but also to be surgical in terms of the games we make."
Is anybody else utterly amazed at how shockingly base these comments are! I love Gears, but its hardly a creative masterpiece, its a lowest common denominator, 'ticks all the boxes' megaplex affair with high end productions and not much more, comments like this lead me to think that mr B really fell on his feet.
He never struck me as the cerebral enigma of the industry, more the kid in a candy store with a great team behind him.
'bet on people who understand technology, creative and business' - what, in the videogames industry, a creative and technology based business / industry, youre kidding, no really, youre a genius!
'the key is to make games that arent inherently shit, and weren't conceived by an autistic toddler or a 59 year old bank manager'
Im not in the games industry, im in Architecture as it goes, which itself shares a remarkably similar creative process to the games industry from its dependency on digital and material technology to the conception of a new project and its ensuing research, realisation, execution and delivery. If I said 'The key is to bet on people who understand technology, but also understand creative and business' I'd be laughed out of the office! The games industry sounds like it could take a few cues from elsewhere or it will suffer the same fate in being led by the purse strings.
CunningSmile on 1 Dec '11 said:
Yet Activision and EA appear to not understand this. How else do you explain that fact CoD has had almost no creativity in 5 years and EA keep buying up studios and then changing their products to basically become CoD (Mass Effect and the latest Dead Space article)? Acti and EA obviously understand the business, but seem to be lacking in understanding of the creativity, and I seriously doubt they are the only publishers that have this problem.
EDIT: Just read an article with Bobby Kotick saying he can't understand how The Old Republic will make money for EA, so I'm guessing Acti don't understand business either.
msbhvn on 1 Dec '11 said:
Didn't he say the other week that you have triple-A games and iPhone games and the ones inbetween have no future? There won't be any games left at all soon. He needs to engage his brain before opening his mouth from now on.