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With the recent release of Halo 4 which earned a respectable score of 9.25 from Game Informer, we're closing in on the last couple of big name titles left before year's end and everybody starts making their Game of the Year predictions. If my homework is accurate, there has only been one game to earn a perfect score of 10 and that's Mass Effect 3.
Games that have scored a 9.0 or better include the following:
9.0
Resident Evil: Revelations
Journey
Angry Birds Space
Trials Evolution
Mortal Kombat
Diablo III
Sound Shapes
Darksiders II
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Mark of the Ninja
Gateways
WWE 13
Need for Speed Most Wanted
9.25
Jak and Daxter Collection
Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai
Fez
Max Payne 3
Orcs Must Die 2
Ratchet & Clank Collection
Torchlight II
Halo 4
9.5
Xenoblade Chronicles
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings - Enhanced Edition
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Assassin's Creed III
9.75
Borderlands 2
You might notice that quite a few of these high scorers are small and short games from independent developers that many gamers don't even really consider "games" as much as they do "experiences" - or they are non-traditional games developed and produced by smaller companies.
Looking at the list...hmm...let's see...
Journey, Angry Birds Space, Trials Evolution, Sound Shapes, Mark of the Ninja, Gateways & Fez
All very popular...but not your traditional video game.
So that's 26 games scoring a 9.0 or higher (27 if you include Mass Effect 3 and its score of 10) and 7 that are the cute artsy fartsy independent titles OR small short non-traditional games not produced by a big name developer. What is that, like ¼ or 25% of the games to get a 9.0 are these sorts of games? Oh, and if you're wondering...The Unfinished Swan was not included on the list because it only scored an 8.0...although it definitely has quite a few gamers bragging about its unique and artistic gameplay and look. I can't wait to see how well Star Wars Angry Birds sells. I normally just download the various demo versions of Angry Birds, but I think I'll have to buy it this time around. I mean, its Star Wars after all.
Okay, so hold that thought and fast forward to the recent announcement that Minecraft did what no other game seemed to be able to do and that's unseat Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 as the most played title on Xbox Live.
Minecraft Knocks Out Call Of Duty On Xbox Live
Let's think about that for a minute. Minecraft. The most played game on Xbox Live. Here you have big name games, some new and some old, and Minecraft is being played more than them. According to the story above, here is how the activity breaks out.
Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo: Reach
Battlefield 3
Modern Warfare 2
Madden NFL 13
NBA 2K13
Happy Wars
Skyrim
Gears of War 3
Resident Evil 6
GTA IV
FIFA 12
Forza Motorsport 4
Dishonored
EA Sports NHL13
Halo 3
Minecraft? Over Borderlands 2, Gears of War 3...DISHONORED? Admittedly, I have contributed to this statistic heh heh. I love my Minecraft. But I am still surprised by it. Remind me again, isn't this the game that some guy created and sold access to the alpha for dirt cheap and it spread like wildfire and now he is a millionaire? Then he and a partner created this company called Mojang, got the game cleared for Xbox Live Arcade, and now he is a millionaire times two or three over?
(It will be interesting to see if Halo 4 bumps it off the top or not)
Okay, so let me reel this back in a bit...here we have about ¼ of the top rated games from Game Informer coming from independent developers or are not your traditional big budgeted major developer/publisher type games; and we have a game like Minecraft...taking the lead on the Xbox Live Arcade charts...
I have to ask...
Is the video game industry trying too hard?
Let me clarify that a bit or at least narrow it down a bit...are the big developers and publishers trying too hard spending lots of time and energy creating games that by most accounts should blow away the cheaper, shorter, smaller games but aren't.
Sure, the bulk of the games on the list are big name titles...games like Borderlands 2, Mass Effect 3 and Assassin's Creed III and there is no denying their success. But for every one of them, there are other big name games that bombed...like Medal of Honor Warfighter (more on that in a future blog), Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Spec Ops The Line, Madden NFL 13, The Old Republic (although it was released the tail end of 2011), Sleeping Dogs and who could forget Kinect Star Wars. And by bombed, I don't necessarily mean financially...I more referring to gamer interest and game longevity - do gamers like it, are they still playing it and talking about it?
Fez = 9.25 out of 10 versus Medal of Honor Warfighter = 5 out of 10.
Why do I say I think they are trying too hard?
For one, this push for yearly releases (or at least frequent releases) strains the industry and burns gamers out at a higher and faster rate. I have no doubt Black Ops II will be highly profitable and sell well, but I also know more and more gamers who are talking about skipping this round of the series while others have mentioned boycotting the franchise all together. Maybe it's just me, but it also seems like the fanboyism hasn't been nearly as pervasive this go around. Not that I'm complaining. Do publishers think they are giving us what we want with yearly releases? I don't know about you but I could stand a year off to catch up on my backlog.
The other issue I don't think helps is this attitude that more money means a game is going to be more fun. Developers are spending more and more money creating video games but this doesn't necessarily translate to a more successful game. It does mean a publisher has to sell more and make more to break even and hopefully make a profit. It doesn't always happen. Equally important, gamers aren't necessarily looking for a more advanced, complex and longer game. Looking at the games on the above list and how they were scored seems to support the opposite, at least in some instances.
I also think the longevity or lifespan of most video games is shrinking. We're not playing these big fancy (and lengthy) video games as long. We get them and we start them but some of us never finish them. I don't know if the same can be said of the shorter games. Seems like the shorter the game the more people tend to finish them and the more memorable the experience. I've blogged about this before but it has to be so frustrating for developers to exhaust as much money and manpower as they do only to have gamers blow through the game in a course of a weekend, or worse...play it for the course of a weekend, never finish it and then move on to something else.
Finally, the bigger the team, the harder they fall. A part of me thinks it would be awesome to work for a developer and/or publisher. And it probably is, but when you look at the turnover rate you have to wonder if job security ever becomes an issue. Look at the names just this year that have left their companies and ventured out pursuing other interests. I think the latest is Cliff Bleszinski of Gears of War fame. No telling what he's working on now, heh heh... Robert Bowling left Infinity Ward to create a small independent video game developer. Both worked for big name and highly successful companies and both left to pursue other interests. We know what Robert Bowling is working on. And the thing is these smaller developers producing smaller games seem to be successful at what they're doing.
Well, I've only scratched the surface of an intricate topic, but this is long enough and I want to leave you with a few points to ponder.
Could Mass Effect 3, a game that caused so much hate and dissension with its controversial ending win Game of the Year?
Could an independent title get it?
I don't know about you, but some of my favorite games of the year (and even previous years) aren't the big name blockbuster hits like you might think, and honestly...that kind of surprises me. Having an attraction to smaller lightweight independent titles that are offering a far more enjoyable gaming experience seem to have captured my attention for the year. And they're so good, I'm okay with that.
Cheers.
This is because big name developers can't risk anything when developing games, while an indie developer can try to do something different and not lose much. Also when there's a big team they all can't make the game what they want, and end up not caring about the game, and just focusing in money.
I think that its an extremely vicious cycle. Developer X spends Y amount of money to make a game, and makes Z amounts of money. Well, Developer A wants to create a game that makes more than Z amounts, so they assume they have to spend greater than Y in order to do it. The question is, when will Y become so large that a developer or producer can no longer make enough profit to cover overhead? Some games (*cough*Warfighter*cough*) have already reached that threshold on what consumers will spend on them. Who knows when CoD or Battlefield will get there.
Also, I'm still hoping FTL gets honorable mention.
ME3 isn't my GOTY pick, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did manage to nab that title off of the controversy alone.
I dunno, I'm really liking my time with Borderlands 2, but I am also liking the Walking Dead.
It's not a matter of trying too hard, the big name publishers are just looking to capitalize on brand recognition and loyalty.
so you have your two basic audiences; the gamer population and the general population (in which people don't play as much or as wide of an array of titles).
so now that we are getting closer to next gen there is only so much variation out there, thus the only big name publishers making money are those who have been at it for years and their brand gets all the recognition (reason why COD still tops sales charts but not play time...even if a lot of their games made that list and games that no longer have such recognition - warfighter, etc don't get great sales).
now with brand recognition, and yearly titles the burnout will come...however, this burnout only affects the gamer population, not the general population that games every so often.
but this lets indies shine thru with the gaming population...and allows games like Bastion some time in the limelight...and it also allows Minecraft (along with some ingenious approaches to advertising) to become mainstream.
as a last note, Minecraft perhaps is the best example. Mojang's game tops the time played list when compared to COD is because by majority COD is played in spurs...only so many people can play COD with no end whereas Minecraft players (myself included) can play this game for days and days and days....and days and days.
Even though I do enjoy many big name games, my game of the year was not even mentioned by Game Informer since it's a very niche JRPG. I love Mass Effect 3, The Witcher 2, Assassin's creed III, and Resident Evil 6, to name just a few that came out this year.
But my absolute favorite game that came out this year and is my game of the year is Atelier Meruru: Apprentice of Arland. I love this game. I love using alchemy to better develop Meruru's tiny kingdom. The art style is great. And of course, dual audio!
Ok, I don't think developers are trying too hard, I just think they see one game succeeding, so they try to copy that one game.
In my opinion trying too hard is a result of a lack of creativity.
To directly answer your query, no, the video game industry isn't trying too hard in my opinion. There is a place for big-budget games, just like the movie industry has their summer 3D action blockbusters.
If anything, I think that the recent surge of successful indie titles is a testament to the wide and varied interests of gamers, and that there is still a market for new ideas. I personally think that Indie developers are going to be the ones who end up saving the industry from certain death. Video games have been needing a breath of fresh air, and now we're getting it.
I do tend to pick the big budget games when it comes to GOTY selection, but I have been very impressed with several downloadable titles, some of which I'd easily give a 10, even in retrospect. Especially since I recently watched Indie Game: The Movie, I've been thinking about indie games a lot lately & how much I enjoy them.
My GOTY so far would have to be BL2 so far, but I'm not even a quarter of the way though AC3 yet.
I tend to love both indie and big budget games, and it is interesting seeing how the scoring system and purchases are towards indie and AAA titles.
My question for you. Do you think a game could win game of the year two years in a row? Think about it, if a game releases 2 awesome expansions or dlc and updates the game with several new features and bug fixes while the rest of the games that come out lack any game of the year material, the. A previous winner should be considered. Just a thought.