If you were in charge of the games industry, what would you change?

[Gypsyssilver]

If you had the power to make Activision quiver in fear, Ubisoft tremble in their boots and EA piss themselves like a small child who couldn't wait to go to the bathroom (and all other game developers/publishers) - what would you make them do?

Personally, I'd have them fix Mass Effect 3's ending to my liking, then make them add horses into every game (I'm not kidding, every game would have them - from Duke Nukem to Final Fantasy to Portal).

Would you use your awesome powers responsibly? Or make them put statues of yourself into every game?

 

[Full]

If your game does not have either jet boots, dinosaurs, or sliding mechanics, your studio is getting closed down. I'm sorry, it must be done to save not just the industry, but the entire rest of the world as well.

 

[Aris Khandr]

1. Any game that offers character creation will offer both genders as a choice. And I do mean any game. If you want your UFC fighter or MLB player to be female, go for it. If you want to make your own boy pony in My Little Pony, knock yourself out. All games have that option now.

2. Tigers in every game somewhere. They don't have to be in obvious places. A sports game could have a team called the Tigers, with a tiger logo. A sci-fi game could have an alien race that looks like a tiger. Just somehow tigers are in every game now.

3. I demand the ultimate football game from EA. Basically, combine FIFA and World Cup. Make a game mode where you make your own character, sign with your club, the usual FIFA stuff. But in addition to normal play and the other tournaments, you can also qualify to join your national team and play in the World Cup, Euro, et cetera. Bonus points for the commentary being good enough to recognise when club teammates are playing against each other in international matches and make mention of it in the commentary.

4. Nintendo/Game Freak, start working on a Pokemon MMO.

5. No more spiders. Period.

6. The next release from all of the "military shooter" people must be Arab-centric, fighting off the US who are invading their homes. The Arabs must be the clear protagonists. Whoever does the game best can continue to make FPS games (of whatever story they like). The rest are banned from the genre.

7. Dear Sega/ Creative Assembly, four words for you: Warhammer 40k Total War. You know what to do.

That looks like a good start.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I'd tell developers to quit making brunette white dudes for main protagonists. Give us something other than the same thing we saw 10 years ago, for a change.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I'd tell developers to quit making brunette white dudes for main protagonists. Give us something other than the same thing we saw 10 years ago, for a change.

I want to see at least one balding 50something protagonist. I loved Rusty and Herschel in LA Noire, would have been great to play as someone like that, then again I suppose it's hard to introduce them as somebody 'new' to whatever it is they're doing.

Heavy Rain doesn't count, because he was one of four, including a brunette white dude.

 

[Smeggs]

Enough of this, "The consumer owns nothing" attitude. It's just a cheap and underhanded way for companies to make more money by forcing people to buy the game brand new or not at all. If a person pays for a game, then they own the game (within logical sense; i.e. you can't burn copies of the game, yadda yadda).

The next adventure game to feature a wise-cracking, caucasian hunk with a squared jaw will be immediately shot down unless that character is either made a minority or middle-aged.

All Pokemon games would include a single slip of paper that says, "We're not running out of ideas, you guys are just playing a game marketed to a demographic nearly a decade younger than you."

Speaking of Pokemon; Nintendo will be locked in a closet until they promise to begin work on another more mature Pokemon game, in the realm of Colosseum.

The next Call of Duty will have a level where you specifically see things from the opposing faction's point of view as one of their grunts, so we can actually get some context outside of, "Russians, Germans and Arabs are bad, America is good."

Any game with melee combat will feature reactive AI. If an enemy does not at least stagger when they take a crowbar or waraxe to the face, the devs will have to rework the combat from the ground up. I'm looking at you, Bethesda.

The most anticipated, blockbuster titles will feature a "Give Them What They Want" month, where Devs ask fans what they want, the most requested things are chosen, and made into a DLC. Makin' moneh.


Squenix will be forced to finish the goddam Kingdom Hearts franchise before working on ANYTHING ELSE for the PS4. It's been more than ten years, spread out over something like seven different consoles. It's time to bring it into port.

 

[nightingale]

I'd never allow a game company leader to rule more than 3 years. I think they all start with passion, then money and power corrupts them. By the time they are comfortably settled, they're not even playing games anymore and all they care is growing enough to attract the attention of a mastodon in the industry.

I'd make games really cheap. So cheap, pirates will feel bored to even consider pirating them. So cheap, kids out there will have the choice to either buy bubble-gum or play Halo 9. And I'd do this by seeking investors. Coke commercials between Acts if this means my game will be like 5 bucks? Yes, please. (And hopefully something more healthy than coke. "Eat your veggies, now from Veggies Store!")

I'd kill the concept of DLC entirely. You get the chance of releasing a GOOD, COMPLETE product, and you only get it once. Not milking us for money afterwards for content that should have been there in the first place. It's like presenting your homework, getting the grade, then coming up next day with 2-3 additional lines because you just didn't have the time for it. And asking the teacher to refund your 2-3 lines with a bar of chocolate because you did it only for her sake.

...Hmmm, that about it, I think.

 

[Athefist]

I'd immediately begin the Game Upload Project (G.U.P) where every videogame ever made is easily available for purchase and download in online stores and use on all future consoles. Then I'd retire because games.

 

[veloper]

I'd have already changed the free trade and anti-monopoly laws apparently, to own every major game company out there. This wishful thinking game is fun.

Now if I were a money-grubbing mega corporation, then first of all I wouldn't let indies and kickstarters steal my audience. I would locate every possible game niche and satisfy them with my own products.

So the first rule of order would be to analyse the market potential of AGs, SRPGs, etc. so every game genre that isn't a first or a third person shooter. Then I'd probably reinvent the medium budget development cycle for smaller markets.

Divide and conquer would be my motto. I'd segregate the market and have different developers with different design philosophies throw mud at eachother on game shows, because there's nothing like an antagonist to create loyal fandom.
Giving the game studios a face, but preferably not too ugly a nerdface and putting the designers in the spotlight would be a great idea regardless of the brand war. I'd promote them like stars, no bands. I'd want a personal bond between my devs and the fans.
I'm in the business of creating more fans.

Now for some stuff that I wouldn't do.
Reboots are bad for business. You want your fans to hate non-fans, you don't want to turn that energy against your own studios.
Protagonists and other main characters may only evolve very subtly and gradually over time. The genre of the main series always stays the same. That could mean that some designers with too many fancy ideas in their heads will have to be castrated or moved to new franchises.
New spin-offs are allowed though as long as the main series is also in the pipeline. I don't want to lose out on any potential HOMMs while the MM original could eventually die.

I wouldn't allow long games, except for MMOGs, because that's a different pricing model. Every game should be highly concentrated dope that makes the gamer run for store as soon as the last game is finished. All the boring stuff in alphas gets cut and recycled for MMO use later. No padding. No grinding. 20 hr campaigns tops.
Games would be much cheaper but I'd still make much more money selling even more games.

 

[AVeryClassyCat]

1. No cinematic trailers: All game marketing should include actual gameplay representative of the final product.

2. PR/Publishers/etc. must allow all professional game journalists access to the same information at the same time regardless of their relationship with them, no blacklisting will be tolerated ever.

3. Immediate moratorium on movie tie-in games if not an outright ban.

4. Square Enix must promise to never, ever make another Final Fantasy game until they can stop making ones that are terrible.

5. Microtransactions, online passes, DLC, preorder bonuses, Product tie-in bonuses, Store-specific preorder bonuses, and the like must be heavily justified before any are allowed.

6. Any attempts to misinform consumers results in termination.

7. Digital refunds should be acceptable for games that are falsely advertised, and a system of reselling should be implemented.

8. Serious attempts to incorporate diversity into game protagonists should be an ongoing project.

and, just for me:

9. All horror titles should have an optional Adorable Kitten mode that plays a selection of videos of adorable kittens after particularly scary levels.

 

[averydeeadaccount]

I'd make games really cheap. So cheap, pirates will feel bored to even consider pirating them. So cheap, kids out there will have the choice to either buy bubble-gum or play Halo 9. And I'd do this buy seeking investors. Coke commercials between Acts if this means my game will be like 5 bucks? Yes, please.

But then people will just crack the game to not have any of the advertising in it, and everyone will pirate the cracked version because they don't have to watch the ads.

I'd make it as soon as a game breaks even it becomes free. That way, no one can advocate piracy because they could just wait till the sales cover the cost of making it and then get it legally for free.

 

[Rumpsteak]

1: Lower marketing budgets

2: Start green lighting medium budget games to absorb some of the cost of the triple A.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

1) I would introduce micro-transactions into every game. You want more ammo? You have to pay for it. No looting bodies. Oh, and your ammo doesn't regenerate when you die in multiplayer, either.

2) I would make a new client that you must download and install for every single individual game. Even on consoles.

3) I would make used games brick your machine.

4) I would cut the win condition out of every level of every game and sell them as DLC.

5) In fact, anything outside of a single linear corridor is DLC now.

6) The price of games and DLC will go UP with time, not down.

7) All older games and the machines that can play them will be destroyed, leaving no choice but to buy into my monopoly.

8) All indie developers will be hunted down and executed.

9) Protesters will be dealt with by fire.

10) Every single game will be a modern military shooter.

Now, embrace me as your king and as your GOD.

 

[lRookiel]

1: Outlaw DRM, placing trust in your customers is the best way to go about it, not treating them like criminals.

2: Outlaw DAY ONE DLC, it is withholding content from the customers

3: Companies found guilty of false advertising will be fined and will have to refund customers.

4: More crowd funding schemes for devs to foster innovation.

 

[Lilani]

4. Nintendo/Game Freak, start working on a Pokemon MMO.

I'mma steal that one from you.

6. The next release from all of the "military shooter" people must be Arab-centric, fighting off the US who are invading their homes. The Arabs must be the clear protagonists. Whoever does the game best can continue to make FPS games (of whatever story they like). The rest are banned from the genre.

And that one too.


And a few of my own:

1. All fantasy games (MMO or otherwise) made for at least the next 15 years cannot look as though they've been trimmed out of Tolkien's back yard, or set in medieval Europe. If you want dragons and trolls stolen from somebody else's lore, you're going to have to dip into Asia, Africa, or South America.

2. No always-online DRM, no on-disc DLC.

3. Equal resources and time must be spent on art design and graphical fidelity and power.

4. Bethesda's character models must have more stances and animations than just walking, standing running, sitting, blinking, fighting, and mouth moving to signify speech. They need to articulate to some degree, and look more lively.

5. John Patrick Lowrie needs to do some sort of voice work for every game. Doesn't matter who, doesn't matter how. And I don't care who else voice acts in the game, this way every game is guaranteed to have at least one good voice actor.

 

[Magikarp]

sliding mechanics

Do you mean mechanics that allow the player to slide, or mechanics (as in car fixing people) that slide around?

But yeah, dinosaurs. everything must have more dinosaurs.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

I'd pump all the money AWAY from graphics. As long as the graphical fidelity is at anywhere between PSP and Gamecube levels, I'd be happy. Still make sure to have good art design though.

Story and characters would be the focus. Your game may be the greatest platformer-FPS-RPG-Sim-City hybrid ever made, but unless people actually care about the world of the game, chances are they're not gonna come back to it.

Make counter-play one of the main design focuses. Everything in that game would be fun to use, but also have a counter that would be fun to use, and neither of them would be frustrtating to fight.

Release the game in episodes, like The Walking Dead. Take the feedback from each one and use it to improve the next. Each episode will be about £3-to-£5 alone, but you could buy them all at the start if you wanted for the price of a normal AAA game. When all episodes have been release but out a phisical disc copy of the game.

Instead of sequels, just make more episodes to your game with slight engine adjustments.

Put several different projects on Kickstarter with really low money goals, and say the first product that gets to it's goal will get made. That way, the customers are chosing their own products. If possible, refund all the money from the unsecsesful products when it's over.

Recruit people from what's left of Bioware and Visceral before EA sends hitmen for them.

 

[bug_of_war]

Reading most of these "what I would do" just makes me glad NONE of us are in charge. Seriously, most of these ideas would stagnate the industry and we would be back to playing crappy games. You can't make a great game by adding stuff that YOU want and not letting anyone tell you it's wrong/bad/doesn't make sense because otherwise you are Casey Hudson and you've made the Mass Effect 3 ending (I actually like the ending, but I hear a majority of people on this site don't, so why? WHY would you do this?). Also, making games insanely cheap to stop pirating wont work. That is a fact that has been written in stone. Also, making games free once you breakeven is stupid as hell because then you make no profit and thus cannot advance creativly at all. What I mean by that is, you can't make a 30 hour game with a 6 hour budget, you just can't because people wont work for peanuts.

Seriously, the only good ideas I have seen are the "If your game has character custimization, make the custimization HUGE", that is a good idea. I kinda see a point in the making added bonus content/DLC etc has to be justified, but at the same time lets not get too anal.

So, after being a judgemental hammer, what would I do? Honestly, I would force companies to price their games fairly, as in don't make me pay an extra 40-50 dollars because I'm in Australia when economically Australia and America are almost dead even.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'd make it so that the subgenre for whatever was the previous year's highest selling game could only have 1 game made in that subgenre for the next 2 years and the right to make that game would earned via company CEOs fighting to the death.

 

[his1nightmare]

Promising every developer that if his next 3D game has a 3rd person camera as shit as always, he will be removed from the industry. Probably this will make them start trying.