Surprised By Lack of Appreciation
Prince of Persia producer, Ben Mattes said in an IGN interview that his studio took risk in the design of Prince of Persia and was surprised by how little it has been noticed. He said :
For years we've all been reading complaints about sequels and companies churning out carbon copies of proven formulas without focusing on innovation or taking risks. Fans, developers and critics alike seemed ravenous for new ideas -- new IPs; major innovations -- advances in this art-tertainment (I'm trying to coin a new term here ;)) form we all love.
We tried to really embrace this challenge on PoP. We set out to keep a few core fundamentals but to re-imagine everything else, discarding some very well entrenched ideas not only about the brand but also about videogames in general (and we weren't alone. EA took some major risks this year with new IP and innovations - Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, for example).
What surprises me is how little these high level risks seem to be noticed and appreciated as attempts to shake up the industry and push things forward. Perhaps I'm an idealist, but I think perhaps I was expecting a few more virtual pats-on-the-back for our attempts to do something new.
Whether this means we didn't totally succeed in our risk taking or whether our industry in fact has a stronger appetite for the familiar then it wants to admit remains to be seen. Honestly I hope it is the former.
I think it need not necessarily mean the market wants something more familiar. Although end of this year saw some games that took brave new design directions not quite selling as much as had hoped for, like Far Cry 2.
I think games like these sell much better in the long term rather than in the short term. The mindset of most console game developers would seem to focus a lot more on short term early sales.
We on the PC side, the trend has been on long term steady growth. I think it is perhaps fair to say that the console market will not be dissimilar in the near future as the market matures.
Ben Mattes Interview at IGN over here:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/940/940408p1.html
Prince of Persia is a game of its kind. I think its the one of the game that if you're a fan and you must play. I've to agree with your point on that this would be a game that would keep people playing in the years to come (Good for long term sales and bad for short ones). This isn't a game whereby you ditch it. Fans would still admire it :P
ReplyDeleteNot only that but it would seem like it takes time for games like these to acclimatise itself to the audience in general.
ReplyDeleteI think the enthusiast press will take its time and naturally come around to saying things like it is a special and unique experience.
Which it normally doesn't say in the initial release since the initial impressions generally focus on the shortcomings of such games
Case in point Far Cry 2.