Size Does Matter 21
Gamespot has a piece up discussing the relative dangers of innovation for large developers. Should an EA be more willing to innovate than, say, The Behemoth? From the article: "We want to make sure that all of the franchise businesses have the right level of innovation inside them and I think that we have been guilty of not doing that historically in certain areas of the business ... So a focus for us right now is, how do we get new, innovative features that take the existing franchises and move them forward in interesting ways? And then I think what you'll see is a couple of--you know a couple might be the wrong term--but some very focused bets at doing really innovative and different things.'" The second part in a two-part series, with part one still available.
Re:What? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes it is very dangerous. Look at the backlash of fans when EA introduced QB vision into Madden 2006. It transformed part of the game to require more skill by the player.
And only for large developers?
Look at SWG. The original "sandbox" style MMO was different than the loot n level gameplay of most MMOs. It did have it's strong supporters, but for a large developer the user base was too small to justify. A smaller developer can get away with alot more in the non-mainstream space than a large developer.
Game developers should spend less money in ads and more in innovation. It's a win win situation.
Tell that to the makers of "Beyond Good and Evil" and "Psychonauts."