Why Do Games and Game Studios Fail?

LukeG writes "This new article discusses the reason behind games and their developers failing, noting the distance of those selling the games, from those that buy them as one possible cause. Doomed games such as Bablylon 5 come under the spotlight, while the ubiquitous Duke Nukem Forever is also touched upon." For me, this article brought to mind the twin disasters of Fallout Tactics and the Farscape based game.

This is a very complicated issue:

[thisisatest]

But I think it can best be summed up with the following words:

Because the games suck.

I think the title should've been...

[Robber Baron]

Why Websites Fail. It appears to be slashdotted already.

Here, by the way, is a mirror of the content:

[thisisatest]

This is about a minute and a half after the story was posted, mind you.

The page cannot be displayed
There are too many people accessing the Web site at this time.

Please try the following:

• Click the Refresh button, or try again later.
• Open the www.ferrago.co.uk [ferrago.co.uk] home page, and then look for links to the information you want.

HTTP 403.9 - Access Forbidden: Too many users are connected
Internet Information Services

Technical Information (for support personnel)

• Background:
  This error can occur if the Web server is busy and cannot process your request due to heavy traffic.
• More information:
  Microsoft Support [microsoft.com]

If you end up banging Stevie Case...

[SensitiveMale]

then I wouldn't call that a failure.

Ubiquitous?

[meringuoid]

the ubiquitous Duke Nukem Forever is also touched upon... This is the first time I've heard of something that doesn't exist yet, and that probably never will, being ubiquitous.

The best way to save a game...

[the_other_one]

is to add more frogs.

My guess is...

[JanusFury]

My guess is games and game studios fail because of something us in the industry call 'sucking'. This is a very hard to describe phenomenon, and can be caused by a number of factors. One common factor is the 'movie tie-in' in which a game is based on a (usually crappy) movie and thrown together in about 6 months. Examples of games which exhibit 'sucking' include:
"Daikatana"
"Blood 2"
"Disney's Lilo And Stitch Interactive Pop-Up Book" (or whatever the heck they call the tie-in for that movie)
"CowboyNeal, Space Crusader"

We here at the Fullashita University Interactive Media Department have devoted years of time and careful study to this phenomenon. We are currently in the process of developing 'anti-sucking' technology, based on a scientific phenomenon we call 'Gameplay'. This 'Gameplay' has proved to be extremely useful in protecting against 'sucking' in most of our tests.

- Kevin Gadd, Head Researcher, Fullashita University Interactive Media Department

technology?

[Anonymous Coward]

Daikatana used the Quake 1 engine, and came out long after Q2 (and 3?)

That was a case of a development company trying to behave like rockstars while they're supposed to be engineering software.

HTTP 403.9: IIS can't handle the load

[Tester]

Since its an IIS server and it clearly can't handle Slashdot, could someone post the content here?

/.'ing reported by a /.'ed site

[lycono]

Well, somebody got through. The sixth reply to the article over on their site is this:

Slashdot (02/11/2002 18:57:41) Reply, Report
Your website, needs more bandwidth. it can't handle traffic from slashdot

How kind of someone to take the time to tell them that...

Duke Nukem Forever...

[Sivar]

Now there's a game that lives up to its name.

4 words

[legLess]

"John Romero's Shampoo Budget"

Re:Here, by the way, is a mirror of the content:

[anonymous_wombat]

This is about a minute and a half after the story was posted, mind you.

The page cannot be displayed

That's funny, mine comes back with that in less than a second. I must have a faster processor.

Re:innovation isn't everything.

[tekunokurato]

It doesn't look like Doom III is going to break any new ground - just do a lot of things that were done before, better. But they are the *right* things - suspense, atmosphere, art.

Strippers

Re:IMHO...

[TerryAtWork]

Actually Harry Potter HAD to be derivitive or the purists would have gone nuts....

Good post though, otherwise....

Re:Ubiquitous?

[Alea]

>> the ubiquitous Duke Nukem Forever is also touched upon...
>This is the first time I've heard of something that doesn't exist yet, and that probably never will, being ubiquitous.

Hmmm... God?

(Atheist humour... I'll probably be modded into hell itself...)

Re:I think the title should've been...

[0x0d0a]

God is dead - Nietzche
Nietzsche is going to hell! - God

Re:Doom III

[ymgve]

Since I am, much to Carmack's chagrin (ha ha), in possession of the Doom3 alpha leak, I can tell you this: the only thing that Doom III has going for it are the models -- with normal maps, they look fucking amazing -- and the real-time lighting on the worldmaps, a leap forward for rejecting built-in lightmaps.

Even on a Radeon 9700, 20-40fps is the best you will get save for a few scenes which are the rendering equivalent of looking at the ground.

The rest is just a blatant ripoff of Resident Evil with a bit of Half-Life thrown in.

Sooo...you're basing your opinion on how a game will be when it's finished on a never-to-be-released alpha build...

Re:I'll tell ya why.

[Russellkhan]

>okay, back to drinking my microbrewed beer... made from people
>more concerned with making the best beer possable, instead
>of making the most profits.

Eww! I don't care what concerned them while they were alive, I don't wanna drink beer made from people.

Russ

Re:Ubiquitous?

[Stonehand]

I'll probably be modded into hell itself...

You mean... flamebait? ;)