The Insulting Poison Of Corporate Video Games

The modern world has granted us unprecedented looks into each others’ daily lives, likes and dislikes, but where that intersects with marketing and data on the entertainment side, often gives us pure, middle of the road, un-memorably safe dreck. Focus testing is the sacrifice of artistry as it always has been, and while refinements to creative foundations can give us diamonds, this naked approach to creating a “product” is a LOT harder to get past a more discerning audience.

Enter gamers, and the current problem.

We gamers are a far, FAR more dedicated bunch than your average radio listener or filmgoer. For the most part we’re identifiable in terms of which titles we’ll support and tear down. We know which game mechanics are worth investing time into; which developers are worth paying attention to and which must-play stories exist across each genre.

The high-bars of gaming are front and centre in any conversation, be it between newcomers or veterans, and it’s that baseline of baked-in quality recognition that makes BEING a gamer both fascinating, and when it comes to industry analysis, occasionally infuriating.

Now look, I like McDonalds and Gangnam Style or Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed as much as the next guy, but this algorithmic approach to designing a video game just isn’t working.

Cont.