8 Things Very Wrong With The Gaming Industry

7. IP Management

This is somewhat of an offshoot to an idea I will be bringing up later, but the management of intellectual property in video games is fairly problematic. We live in a franchising age. You can't go to the cinema without seeing multiple reboots, adaptations and sequels on show. However, video game publishers have started handling their hottest properties in the most draining way. Once a publisher catches lightning in a bottle and makes a breakout hit, they will patent, produce and ship us that lightening as much as they can. This isn't a rampant problem, as many of our strongest IPs are handled with complete care and credibility. However, some are so over-produced that it slowly kills the appeal of why we flocked to the game to begin with, the fact that it was different. Forcing a franchise to support yearly releases when it isn't designed to do so is killing some of our best properties. Looking at the news that the Prince of Persia has been put on hold in order to give it a break is encouraging, but the yearly focus on franchises like Assassin's Creed is beginning to hurt. Not only does it take the property away from the people who originally created it and gives it to other developers, but it slowly devalues a franchise. While it's entirely true that an IP will make more money over a two year basis if it released two games rather than one, yearly releases can give an audience fatigue, so it may become short lived. To put it metaphorically, sometimes those cash cows need to be given time to graze otherwise they will stop producing milk. Protecting the integrity of our most recognisable franchises is important to attracting new customers as well as being taken more legitimately by the art elite.