Rewarding X and Wanting Y
Quite a lot has been made about a wierd confluence of events in the video game industry, much of it exemplified by the complete and utter failure of a fun little game called Psychonauts. Eventually, this has been blamed for the near collapse (at least as of this writing) of publisher Majesco, who brought this game into the market. Unfortunatley, only about two people bought it (I was one of them).
I was excited when I discovered that Psychonauts was going to ported over to the Playstation2. I was intrigued by the story, partly because I've always been fascinated by psychology, and Psychonauts was going to represent a journey into the minds of some unique characters.
What Psychonauts turned out to be was an average platforming game with an above average story, with a very unique sense of humor. Clearly, this was not a game for your average, casual video game enthusiast. Instead, it was intended for someone like me; someone who boldly looks for new experiences, and isn't afraid of going off the beaten trail.
However, it is not my intention to review this game in this space. For now, I'll leave this to Gamespot. Instead, my purpose here is to point out these events, offer perspective and say that I wish things could have gone differently.
Personally, I think Majesco banked too heavily on a game that was clearly not going to appeal to those whose video game experiences are limited to Madden Football, Halo, or your generic WWII First Person shooter of the month. Video game journalists and those who have been playing these games for a long time will tell you that they wish game companies would release more innovative products (that they want Y). However, these people do not make up the majority of the market for video games. The vast majority are those who game infrequently or are satisfied with Halo (who reward X, to put it another way).
I believe in my heart that if you asked most video game developers (and even some publishers), they would love the opportunity to do more innovation, to take video games into bold new directions. However, the realities of the business world being what they are, game companies must continue to publish sure hits with minimal cost and risk to stay afloat, which limits the amount of innovation that can be done. Will this paradox ever work itself it out? I think that there's always hope. Remember that at one time, even games like Madden football and Halo were unproven innovations as well. They just happened to have the right amount of familiarity and sameness to counteract the new things that they did so that the casual gamers could grasp them, and eventually grow to love them.
See the following articles from Joystiq.com:
The folly of rewarding A while wishing for B.
More on Majesco's Fall from Grace
I was excited when I discovered that Psychonauts was going to ported over to the Playstation2. I was intrigued by the story, partly because I've always been fascinated by psychology, and Psychonauts was going to represent a journey into the minds of some unique characters.
What Psychonauts turned out to be was an average platforming game with an above average story, with a very unique sense of humor. Clearly, this was not a game for your average, casual video game enthusiast. Instead, it was intended for someone like me; someone who boldly looks for new experiences, and isn't afraid of going off the beaten trail.
However, it is not my intention to review this game in this space. For now, I'll leave this to Gamespot. Instead, my purpose here is to point out these events, offer perspective and say that I wish things could have gone differently.
Personally, I think Majesco banked too heavily on a game that was clearly not going to appeal to those whose video game experiences are limited to Madden Football, Halo, or your generic WWII First Person shooter of the month. Video game journalists and those who have been playing these games for a long time will tell you that they wish game companies would release more innovative products (that they want Y). However, these people do not make up the majority of the market for video games. The vast majority are those who game infrequently or are satisfied with Halo (who reward X, to put it another way).
I believe in my heart that if you asked most video game developers (and even some publishers), they would love the opportunity to do more innovation, to take video games into bold new directions. However, the realities of the business world being what they are, game companies must continue to publish sure hits with minimal cost and risk to stay afloat, which limits the amount of innovation that can be done. Will this paradox ever work itself it out? I think that there's always hope. Remember that at one time, even games like Madden football and Halo were unproven innovations as well. They just happened to have the right amount of familiarity and sameness to counteract the new things that they did so that the casual gamers could grasp them, and eventually grow to love them.
See the following articles from Joystiq.com:
The folly of rewarding A while wishing for B.
More on Majesco's Fall from Grace
posted by BryghtSyde @ 5:39 PM
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