When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to own an Atari 2600 (and a knock-off Radio Shack gaming system, but that's beside the point). Back then, there were no real franchise titles. It was console gaming's infancy still, and so the market was widely open for plenty of game ideas.
Of course, the technology was such that the variety of those early days was rather limited.
It's a shame that systems like the 360 and PS3 (hell even the Wii) weren't around at that time. You see, this was before there was an industry where new ideas are not only frowned on, but are viciously beaten into submission and reforged into clones of the latest and greatest.
Of course, there's still some really interesting games out there. Spelunky, I Wanna Be the Guy, Super Meatboy and others are still out there, delving into hardcore gaming with a touch of retro flavour. But these are small splashes in a very, very big pond.
One game, however, has done more than create ripples. It's created a tidal wave, one is just cresting before the shore of mainstream gaming. And that tidal wave is ridden not by some AAA studio. It's not directed by someone with a storied history of successful titles. Most shocking of all, it doesn't feature highly detailed graphics or some massive story. Instead, it's about mining, wandering, and making your own fun in a three-dimensional world populated by architecture you'd expect in a two-dimensional game. Yup, this wave is Minecraft, and it's about to rock the development world forever, if it hasn't already.
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple years, you've seen and heard about this game. Hell, if you're reading this and didn't wind up here via some random search, you've likely seen me playing this game and play it yourself!
But what does this game mean on the grander scale?
Perhaps nothing. But given that this game made most of its money during, not after, it development. Consider that, as an indie game with no previous titles or backing from advertisement giants, it has sold in excess of 4 million units to date. Sure, compared to Call of Duty's latest entry, Modern Warfare 3, selling 6.5 million units on its first day, it seems small. But consider that for the past 2 years, Infinity Ward made nothing from its game, whereas Minecraft continuously raked in cash as Notch and his team churned away at it. And that's not mentioning the sheer amount of money Activision used to advertise their game, where Notch has pretty much relied on the game's community to get the word out. The game even had a convention based around it!
If publishers don't learn the lesson, perhaps the indie crowd will, and may already have. This year's Humble bundle featured a game in Alpha release. I'm sure others are looking at the model created by Notch with hopeful eyes that they can duplicate it. As it stands, another game, Amnesia: the Dark Descent, had a similar viral rise to fame by people doing Let's Play's of the game.
Right now, if they are wise, the publishers are thinking how this model could help them launch a game a year or more before it's ready, and use the fans that pick it up on the cheap as thousands of testers and sounding boards for new game ideas. As many have said, Notch has adapted items modders have made into the game before (A very Valve move to pull). That's not to mention getting instant feedback on whether or not a feature is popular.
Perhaps in a few years, the next Call of Duty will launch, say, in a barebones multiplayer with only two or three maps, and you can buy it for only 20 dollars, then ride out the entire development cycle as you see it built into the next monster shooter. OK, maybe not, but it a great model for untested ideas. Fund them to Alpha, then sell it and see how it goes. Maybe one day the gaming market will get much broader!
No comments:
Post a Comment