A few weeks ago, developer Dan Rubenfield posted his thoughts on the current state of MMORPGs on his personal blog. Aside from his tragic utilization of prose, Rubenfield relates that the traditional MMORPG is in serious trouble in terms of its conceptual validity.
"You're not even trying. Your development process and designs are insular. MMO's today are the equivalent of Asian styled game designs, [which are] [s]tagnant, insular, nichey and f***** weird. [Developers are] cater[ing] to the edges of society and playstyles."
Joe Ludwig, Pirates of the Burning Sea producer counters Rubenfield's comments in his own blog by citing the platform holder's share of the profits, prolonged certification procedures, smaller install base in comparison to the PC, and long development times. He even goes on to say that console MMORPGs are toast as soon as they come out of the presses:
"In the short run, yes. None of these are insurmountable obstacles, but they do make a console MMO more difficult than a PC MMO. There is enough money to be made in console games that future MMO releases there are inevitable. It's just a question of when they arrive."
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
The Callisto Protocol director thinks the solution involves the right people, the right timing, and perhaps a little bit of AI
I don't agree with that. I WISH I could agree with that. But buying habits and customer opinions prove otherwise
We've seen developers in the AAA space try new things and ideas. More often than not, the customers aren't willing to give things a chance, or not enough people buy into the project for it to grow.
Creativity works better in the indie space because the budgets, pressures, and expectations aren't the same.
it's a nice idea and it worked during the PS2/PS3-era when AAA didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars. smaller budgets and shorter development time left room for more creativity and more risk. a game didn't need to sell 4 million+ copies to break even. things are different now.
This is the guy who bragged about crunching his staff and having them work through the night. Crunch culture has lost more talent and done more damage to the industry than any other factor. Screw him.
"Regardless of what side of the issue people rely on, it’s interesting to take a look at what the developers are saying, even if the guy pushing for innovation was part of the abomination that was Star Wars: Galaxies."
SWG is everyone's whipping boy - but most people forget that the original mechanic for the game was astounding, fun, and innovative... The fact that the game decayed due to conflicting goals into a unimaginative morass that reflected the worst in MMOs can be blamed on bad management (DEAD HEAD SMED)...
If they had stuck to the original vision the game would have continued growing and adapting into a unique and fun experience.