The gaming industry feels pretty fucked up to me at the moment. I feel like I see the same patterns over and over lately.
Great game is published, publisher/mega corp somehow gains ownership of great game then forces a sequel or another game in the genre with a huge budget. When that fails it either kills the game or is moved to another developer. You know you are reading an article about it when someone refers to the game as “IP” and talks about how much it is worth without talking about what they are doing to make a great game with it. It feels like a white glove and generic word to boil a great game or concept universe to an own-able entity that should be making tons of money or is a failure.
Examples:
- Command and Conquer
- Dead Space
- Ultima
Great studio is creating good games but someone falls afoul of some bad luck or doesn’t make enough money to pay badk the publisher. Step 2: Publisher either sets them up for failure or moves them to making “Generic War Store and PVP Shooter Sequel #12” and either succeeds a shell of its former self or just rots away and loses their IP to the Publisher.
Recent Examples
- Sierra Entertainment - Died to the studio acquisition shuffle.
- Respawn Entertainment - Forced to make Apex legends in titanfall universe after titanfall 2. Apex’s success might save them and fund more games despite being published by EA.
- Bioware - Maybe? Looking at you Anthem
I can’t control how the game industry is and I know this thread sounds like another “Gamer complaining about something he can’t change” but I have a different idea.
What are some great games that I can check out despite someone owning their IP and sitting on it like the shitty mega publisher they are?
My suggestion for anyone interested
Game: Revenant
Original Studio: Cinematix Studios
Current squatting owner: Square Enix
What I liked:
I thought the magic system and the world was really creative for it’s release time.
It may not hold up over time, especially for gamers used to 3d graphics but I think it plays decently.
