The modern AAA gaming industry relies more than ever on old IP. As game development has become more expensive and risky, studios have lost incentives to innovate and search for new ideas.
Industry figures such as Phil Spencer have already acknowledged that the industry’s dependence on old IP is due to risks associated with new ideas. The former lead designer of Fable also shared his thoughts on this, stating that modern games avoid risk.
Peter Molyneux recently spoke with TheGamer, sharing his experience working on the Fable franchise. The developer is one of the founders of Lionhead Studios, where he created the Fable franchise and served as the lead designer for the first release of the game in 2004.
When discussing the transition from Fable to its sequel, Peter Molyneux revealed that Lionhead Studios took a huge risk by making several changes, believing that deviating from the proven formula is impossible today. He stated:
It sounds crazy, but making sequels was embarrassing.
The developer wanted to emphasize that twenty-year-old studios aimed to bring something new to each new game, rather than offering what fans had already grown to love.
This led to Lionhead Studios creating Fable 2 in a much darker tone than its predecessor. However, Peter Molyneux believes that such an approach would have resulted in poor reception during early testing stages.
The statement by the former Fable developer highlights the need for innovation and evolution in the gaming industry. Growing budgets and the heavy consequences of failures effectively limit the industry’s potential.
Games like Saints Row 2022 had hoped to take the series in a new direction, but a failed release led to the closure of Volition Games. Developers like Ascendant Studios also faced layoffs after the unsuccessful release of Immortals of Aveum.
While in 2023, the AAA industry does not lack good games, the majority of the highest-rated games this year were sequels or remasters. These games may not necessarily resemble their predecessors, but the lack of new IP underscores Peter Molyneux’s view that the industry today is not inclined to take risks.
Last month, David Jaffe also pointed out a similar issue, stating that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 looks generic and Sony needs to abandon its standard approach to creating AAA games.
However, the gaming industry is unlikely to abandon its approach. The combination of nostalgia and reliance on proven methods has led studios more willingly than ever to return to their previous IP for future releases.
Link from www.playground.ru