Innovation and Risk

I haven't seen transformers 2. But I've heard it's bad, hat it's riding on the coat-tails of it's previously successful movie.

This, of course, brings me back to video games. This is a trend I've been seeing in games lately that concerns me. I'm not saying the idea doesn't make sense. From a business perspective, it makes a ton of sense. Let's look at it from a few different perspectives.

From a businesses perspective, it makes sense. Would you be willing to spend millions of dollars on a risk? Or spend less money, on something that's nearly a sure thing? Let's say "Super happy island rainbow fighters" was the biggest selling game of the year. Now, the game is finished, and you've got to get started on your next project. So, does it make more business sense to spend less money modifying and tweaking an already working formula into a sequel, or to spend more money working on something brand new that has the potential to fail horribly?

Of course your going to take the safe bet. Same thing with consumers. Being a hardcore gamer who researches games on the internet, constantly talks about games with friends, and who loves to see games do new innovative things, I'm not exactly the common gamer here. But, for the sake of argument, let's try to look at the perspective of the average gamer. The average gamer is a casual player, as well as someone who doesn't enjoy the idea of gambling with their 60.

So, you go to the store, and you're planning on buying a new game. You see "Super Happy Island Rainbow Fighters 2" and "New game you know nothing about", which are you going to drop 60 dollars on? It's simple risk vs payoff, You can take a lesser risk with a nearly-guaranteed partial payoff or you can take a larger risk on something that has a huge potential to disappoint, as well as a potential to payoff.

It makes sense, I can't refute the logic behind it. But at the same time, it crushes my heart. Being someone who really wants to see video games advanced as an art-form, seeing cheap sequels hurts me. I'm not saying sequels are bad, in fact, I think pushing boundaries and attempting to refine what works and what doesn't is a great thing, but at the cost of innovation, is where it becomes a problem. Innovation is what moves art forward, it's making people see or think in a new way. Look at the success of the Wii for example.

Sadly, innovation is a risk, and games are a business. Luckily, we still have people pushing the art further. So I urge all of you out there, to take a chance on a game once in awhile. Support companies that attempt to try new things and innovate. Give that "wtf" game a shot, see what it's about. While Madden Football number 298 might be guaranteed to give you a few hours of enjoyment, that game you've never heard of just might be the best game you've never played.

To Gamers and developers alike.

Take a chance.