Xbox |OT|

[Machiavellian]

chakkra said:

Machiavellian said:

Probably because if you do not grow your audience it becomes stagnant.  The old fans complain you doing to much or they complain you are not doing enough and its an ever endless cycle that continues until they all just fade away.  I consider GOD of War as a prime example.  I remember when this GOD of war was shone with 3rd person perspective and just about every GOD of War fan went crazy including myself.  The game appealed to a totally new audience but because the game was good, it also was able to turn over die hards like myself because the game was fun.  Developers hate having to do the same thing over and over again never being allowed to actually try new ideals always being held back by the fans who say they want something new but never really do.  Sometimes creative teams really want to be creative and not held down.  The key of course is that the game they make that moves away from the old must be good.  What I have seen from a number of positive reviews is that the game is good.  So yeah, its going to not appeal to the old guard as much but if its good enough, it might convert a few over and grow its audience. 

I mean, I would take an stagnant audience over a shrinking one any day of the week. Especially if that gamble would cost me years of work and more than 100m dollars.

As per devs wanting to do "something new".. well, that is where Management's job comes in. I think managers across the board have become soft in recent years. A good manager should be able to sit their creative directors and very gently tell them: "Sweetie, I know you want to feel good about yourself, believe me, we all do, but the job of hundreds of people are on the line here, not just yours".

Oh course you would take a stagnant audience but that is because you are thinking of the situation as a consumer.  Each iteration of the game has not increased its audience but instead dwindled it.  You can either continue to go down the same route or try something totally new.  Either a developer has confidence in their direction and what they can do or they can fade away.  One thing for sure, doing the same thing where each iteration not giving you any results probably isn't going to change either.  So why not go for a new audience.

You call it soft but that is exactly how a game becomes stagnant.  "Hey, just shut up and do the same crap you already bored of doing and have no passion to continue to do anymore."  That is pretty much how I see it.  When the passion is gone, you only get subpar results.