Ex-GTA developer explains why he'll never go back to violent games

[Zod95]

happydolphin said:

@underline. I'm referring to final fantasy especially.

Zod95 said:

I read your entire post and there was no reference to Zelda or Metroid. If you were talking about them you should have mentioned them, otherwise I couldn't guess, could I? But even Zelda or Metroid are not more expensive than most (or even all) of AAA violent games. If you are talking about cheap games and non-Nintendo games, please remove the "non" because I know no other company producing games with such low cost for such high revenue as Nintendo. They are champions of profitability and experts on the not-expensive segments (cartoons, arcade, fitness, etc.). I wonder why people like you suggest the opposite. I'm really trying to understand that...

Regarding the 2nd paragraph of my previous post, I was just trying to show you that while you claim it's a "lot of the games seen on non-Nintendo consoles follow the violent trend", in fact it's just a small part of it...and the reason they exist is because people like it. Like they like racing games, sports games or platform games. I could say there are a lot of sports games and wonder why it is so. Well, despite I'm not lying at all, I'm suggesting there are too many and that there's something wrong with them...and that's simply not true. Sports games are just a small part of a console's game catalogue and they exist because people like them.

@bold. I'm talking cheap in terms of creativity, not money-wise. Sex, violence sells, there's no doubt about that if that's what you're saying then I agree with you. But it's sad and reflects the money-hungry attitude of the industry, while historically some of the best games that were ever made have foundations on much deeper emotions (Zelda, Final Fantasy).

@2nd para. I mean they have too strong a presence and are the highest sellers, most strongly marketted titles.

Top 30's violent games selection:

PS3

Pos	Game	Platform	Year	Genre	Publisher	North America	Europe	Japan	Rest of World	Global
1	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	PS3	2011	Shooter	Activision	5.48	4.73	0.48	2.03	12.71
2	Call of Duty: Black Ops	PS3	2010	Shooter	Activision	5.69	3.98	0.47	1.80	11.94
4	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	PS3	2012	Shooter	Activision	4.29	3.81	0.46	1.63	10.19
5	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	PS3	2009	Shooter	Activision	4.86	3.38	0.38	1.54	10.15
6	Grand Theft Auto IV	PS3	2008	Action	Take-Two Interactive	4.41	3.40	0.39	1.51	9.71
8	Battlefield 3	PS3	2011	Shooter	Electronic Arts	2.55	2.49	0.31	1.04	6.38
10	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	PS3	2007	Shooter	Activision	2.93	2.13	0.28	0.97	6.31
13	Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots	PS3	2008	Action	Konami Digital Entertainment	2.55	1.60	0.83	0.79	5.77
14	Red Dead Redemption	PS3	2010	Action	Take-Two Interactive	2.38	2.04	0.17	0.84	5.43
15	Assassin's Creed II	PS3	2009	Action	Ubisoft	2.32	2.00	0.21	0.87	5.40
17	Call of Duty: World at War	PS3	2008	Shooter	Activision	2.52	1.71	0.00	0.77	5.00
20	Resident Evil 5	PS3	2009	Action	Capcom	1.84	1.32	1.08	0.62	4.86
21	Assassin's Creed III	PS3	2012	Action	Ubisoft	2.17	1.77	0.14	0.77	4.85
24	God of War III	PS3	2010	Action	Sony Computer Entertainment	2.67	1.18	0.12	0.59	4.56
25	Assassin's Creed	PS3	2007	Adventure	Ubisoft	1.80	1.87	0.09	0.78	4.54
26	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood	PS3	2010	Action	Ubisoft	1.68	1.85	0.11	0.76	4.40
27	Batman: Arkham City	PS3	2011	Action	Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment	2.03	1.48	0.10	0.66	4.27
28	Resistance: Fall of Man	PS3	2006	Shooter	Sony Computer Entertainment	1.61	1.67	0.14	0.72	4.15
30	Assassin's Creed: Revelations	PS3	2011	Action	Ubisoft	1.28	1.80	0.08	0.71	3.87

xbox:

Pos	Game	Platform	Year	Genre	Publisher	North America	Europe	Japan	Rest of World	Global
2	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3	X360	2011	Shooter	Activision	9.26	4.11	0.12	1.43	14.93
3	Call of Duty: Black Ops	X360	2010	Shooter	Activision	9.10	3.43	0.10	1.31	13.94
4	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	X360	2009	Shooter	Activision	8.28	3.40	0.08	1.26	13.02
5	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	X360	2012	Shooter	Activision	7.45	3.53	0.04	1.19	12.20
6	Halo 3	X360	2007	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	7.73	2.72	0.13	1.18	11.77
7	Grand Theft Auto IV	X360	2008	Action	Take-Two Interactive	6.24	2.88	0.13	1.00	10.25
8	Halo: Reach	X360	2010	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	6.71	1.80	0.08	0.85	9.43
9	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	X360	2007	Shooter	Activision	5.63	2.27	0.13	0.87	8.89
10	Halo 4	X360	2012	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	5.63	1.81	0.04	0.76	8.24
11	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	X360	2011	Role-Playing	Bethesda Softworks	3.98	2.41	0.09	0.72	7.20
12	Call of Duty: World at War	X360	2008	Shooter	Activision	4.50	1.78	0.00	0.66	6.93
13	Battlefield 3	X360	2011	Shooter	Electronic Arts	4.10	1.99	0.05	0.66	6.81
14	Gears of War 2	X360	2008	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	4.05	1.87	0.06	0.64	6.62
15	Halo 3: ODST	X360	2009	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	4.20	1.29	0.06	0.60	6.15
16	Gears of War	X360	2006	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	3.49	1.85	0.07	0.60	6.00
17	Gears of War 3	X360	2011	Shooter	Microsoft Game Studios	3.78	1.48	0.07	0.55	5.88
19	Red Dead Redemption	X360	2010	Action	Take-Two Interactive	3.22	1.68	0.09	0.54	5.53
21	Assassin's Creed	X360	2007	Adventure	Ubisoft	3.11	1.57	0.07	0.54	5.29
22	Assassin's Creed II	X360	2009	Action	Ubisoft	2.88	1.61	0.08	0.52	5.10
25	Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood	X360	2010	Action	Ubisoft	2.57	1.47	0.03	0.45	4.52
27	Assassin's Creed III	X360	2012	Action	Ubisoft	2.50	1.34	0.02	0.42	4.29
30	Fallout 3	X360	2008	Role-Playing	Bethesda Softworks	2.71	0.87	0.09	0.38	4.05

Oh, you were talking about creativity. Now I see what you mean. By the way, I believe making 50 Zeldas and 200 Marios is even less creative than to use violence as the vehicle to popularity. But that's a different matter. I understood you point and you're entitled to your own opinion. I just don't agree with it.

Regarding the 2nd paragraph, if you accept there are many non-violent games on PS3 and X360 and the dominance of violence is just in sales, right there you are giving the answer to your own question: the few games that use violence are the most successful ones. Why do they use violence? To be successful XD