QUOTE(m_hael @ Aug 12 2008, 12:14 PM)
There is a simple fact that you're missing Twisted.... "people" are fickle.
that's kind of my point...
There are a lot of games that have been made targeted at "what people want" and fail miserably... because people don't know what they want... they might THINK they know what they want but most of the time... they really don't.
This is why I think more attention needs to be paid to the creative talent pushing the game design rather than market research.
I think the only time you have a game that is really creative and original that fails it's because of one of two problems.
1. The marketing wasn't there... either the gamer that would be interested in the game weren't really made aware of it, and weren't hyped about it, or it fell under the shadow of a more established franchise garnering the same audience at the same time... either way great idea that never made it because of poor or misdirected marketing.
Even game concepts that might not be hot at the time (ie: a middle eastern assassin, like Assassin's Creed) can be made hot and desirable if the marketing is done right.
2. The art style was disagreeable with the audience... games like Psychonauts... great game, had mediocre marketing but it ultimately tanked because of the art style. I'm convinced that Crackdown would have suffered the same fate for the same reason had it not been used as a mechanism for the Halo 3 beta.
people are picky about the art style in games... Most of the time if it looks too "childish" or "last gen" it could be the death of the game unless people get some good seat time with it and warm up to it... look at all the flack the Zelda series got when it went cell shaded... and that's probably one of the most established franchises in the industry. Alternatively if a game doesn't look as sharp as it's competitors or has other graphical problems it turns people off a lot. Not every game needs to be jaw dropping but there is a certain level of quality that people expect and it's going up all the time.
People will come for the graphics, but they'll stay for the innovation... but no one is buying anything unless it's marketed the right amount, in the right way, and to the right people.
I know WHY the big dev houses take the "shotgun" approach, but you can't just throw crap at the wall waiting for something to stick and then turn around and complain that only 3 of every 10 shots is turning a profit. (IMG:
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This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Aug 12 2008, 10:15 PM
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Topic: 'Less than 3 out of 10 games recover costs,' says EIF boss (Read 69 times)