Are you feeling franchise fatigue from the games coming out lately? Do you feel they were built using a "template" of sorts or had bulletpoints ticked off in order to make sure they sell? If so, you're not alone. Remedy's (Alan Wake) managing director Matia Myllyrine thinks so, too.
In an interview with GamesIndustry, Myllyrine states that some people these days are building their games to a spreadsheet like "putting cars through a wind tunnel — they all come out like bullets."
The analytics guys are doing some great work, and that's import but an interesting thing I've seen, and I'm not terribly worried about it, but it's disheartening that when people start building their games to a spreadsheet it's like putting cars through a wind tunnel – they all come out looking like bullets. They are pretty much the same thing, the only thing that changes is the upholstery. People will figure out that they are self-optimising in this one space when you should be creating and innovating new stuff, not working to a template. There's going to be fatigue with some of that stuff. But if you come out with something that innovates you'll make more money.
While I agree with Myllyrine's sentiment, bringing new and innovative stuff to the table doesn't necessarily mean it will be successful. Just look at games like Okami and ICO which were considered financial underwhelmers at the time but getting their second wind this generation.
Also keep in mind that the biggest moneymaker this gen has been the posterboy when it comes to "template" games and that's Call of Duty. It might look or play the same every year, but it still manages to sell boatloads of units.
So, while we do want new stuff, it seems Joe Public isn't necessarily on the same boat, no?
