A year ago I wrote how the gaming industry has been stifled by its own success. Essentially the AAA developers have decided that since the formula for Game X worked the first time, that means they have open licence to make Game X2, X3, X4 and on and on. There's no doubt this is successful most of the time in the gaming world and you can't fault the AAA industry making safe bets but the end result is a very limited gaming experience for the consumer. Indy developers are trying to fill the void, but over the past year it seems that may be losing it's momentum.
Let's take a look at this years E3 (and the "outside" shows)
E3
Watchdogs 2 - The "why?" sequel of games right now. Watchdogs fell so far short of it's expectations in the first iteration and I am surprised about it's return. Word is that the pre-orders of the first Watchdogs drove development of the second game. I am not sure that's a winning formula but time will tell.
Mafia 3 - The trailer looks uh...interesting...but I have no inclination to play this game whatsoever. Just seems like another shoot-things-be-a-badass-bring-nothing-new-to-the-table-game. The protagonist is African-American so perhaps it will actually do something interesting with the story to set it apart, but my faith in video games carrying meaningful and deep messages is very limited.
Styx: Shards of Darkness - I love stealth games. I own Styx. I never bothered playing Styx. So I can't really comment here other than...was the first one really so good that it deserves a second run? You tell me, I honestly have no idea.
Injustice 2 - "I suck at fighting games". Looks cool as hell but I don't play games where I repeatedly get my ass kicked. Just not an enjoyable experience for me. I don't have those sweet twitch skills. For all I know this will be the greatest fighting game of all times. Doubt it.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - This one I totally get. The Dues Ex series has consistently been good, huge fan base, and the cycle seems to be right (5 years). I anticipate this will be a good seller and a solid game (most likely what the game devs are thinking too). Perhaps the only concern here is "new customers". The first Deus Ex released in 2000. Therefore this iteration is 16 years in the making and a newcomer may not be inclined to go back and play a game that happened before the Afghan war started. It probably won't be necessary but a potential new fan may be turned off by the fact that to fully experience the lore they may have to go back to a time before they were born...
Dishonored 2 - A game I am actually looking forward to. As I said I love stealth games and Dishonored is one of my favorites. Very open ended game play, you could play in different styles which affected the outcome, and even the DLC was pretty solid. Highly re-playable and enjoyable. The second go around will have a second protagonist to play and that may add a whole other level of play that wasn't in the first. It's steampunk Hitman with magic. I don't know what else to say, I am excited.
Final Fantasy 15 - Fifteen. Enough said.
The "Other Shows"
EA
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Battlefield 1
Titanfall 2
COO Peter Moore called this an "embarrassment of riches". I hate to disagree here but the three games here in order are - An apology, a game with so many iterations they were forced to go backward, a followup to a game that had a very short shelf life. In my opinion not something to be bragging about. There's innovation in Battlefield 1 surrounding the era of the game play, not sure I can find much else in these riches. I'll play Mass Effect because I am a fanboi, however it just seems superfluous at this point. Other "riches" will undoubtedly include Madden, NHL, FIFA etc etc.
Nintendo's E3 video presentation could be the most bizarre of all time. No one has any idea what they are showing. They've said the NX is not going to be there and Zelda is pushed back to 2017 now and they just released new artwork. Who knows what is going to be at this presentation. Will they sneak in a new Mario IP? It could be 8 hours of technical blueprints. Who knows.
In the end though this reinforces the observation that new and unique gaming options from large developers are in short supply. This is not good for gaming. If the trend continues future E3s will reveal 5 total games that will all either be reboots or sequels to games we've all played in one form or another. Indie devs have a space here to make their own IP something unique and interesting that could fill the void, but some of those ventures are starting to take on water. No Man's Sky has been delayed, and although that is not a terrible thing it could be seen as concerning. I am starting to question the viability of the game itself. There's no doubt I will play it, however the scope may be too large. The game will center around discovery and travel, but you may never see another player in the game. I am not sure how that is going to work. Part of the enjoyment of open ended discovery games is sharing the experience with friends. That doesn't appear to be an option.
Meanwhile the henceforth referred to as "loosely indie" developer CIG, makers of "Star Citizen", is starting to look more and more like a confidenceschemeeveryday. At the end of the day I am even starting to question the viability of this game as well. Almost everything the game promised to it's backers has been achieved in some form by other games (for example Elite Dangerous and even No Man's Sky) with the exception of the FPS portion and multi-crewed ships. However the game is so far from completion (if the alpha/beta is any indication) that this game may already be past it's time. When it finally hits the market it will be interesting to see how dated it looks and plays. Also for a game which boasts ultimate immersion...it's not even VR compatible, and Elite Dangerous beat it to the punch on that format as well.
So the future looks a bit grim for game development but time will tell. Minecraft remains the gold standard of indie development that managed to outpace the AAA world with a unique and fun experience. Ideas like that are out there waiting to be made, but recent history indicates it will have to come from the very cut throat and difficult indie world since the large studios are too comfortable and interested in making sequels and reboots.
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