Industry-wide Aversion to New Intellectual Properties

[Pizzled]

So, this is something I've been musing over for a while, especially every time I see any kind of "most anticipated game of 200X" list. Why does it seem to me that the most popular, and often the games that major game developers have spent the most time/money on, are ones that feed off of pre-existing games/storylines/universes. A look at this years E3 line up was very telling of this. God of War 3, Assassin's Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, New Street Fighter, etc.

It's a little unnerving to me that if a game is successful, it will be milked until there are not enough people willing to buy "the next one" to justify the high cost of producing a game nowadays. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that many of these sequels will be excellent games, but they present old concepts refined, rather than new concepts and new worlds to capture the imagination. Seeing a sequel has always been refreshing for me, but nothing like the enthralling nature of discovering a brand new universe.

What are people's thoughts on this general trend that seems to be developing as games get more expensive and risky to produce? Is it worth it for the high quality of these refined games, and the few gems that do appear from the indie community (World of Goo, Braid, etc.)? Or are we on a slippery slope that discourages new franchises from forming? Personally, I'm tired of the Star Wars Universe 32 years after the first movie came out, and war games that revisit the same events over and over again.

 

[squid5580]

Well there is 2 sides to this and neither one is really wrong. On one hand you have us gamers who are asked to fork out 60 bucks a game with little recourse if we don't like it (or it is crap). It isn't very often you can buy a full priced game and get a full refund the next day without major issues. So we spend our money where we feel safe. Oh and I should also mention that there is no system for reviewing games like we have in books or movies where we can get a good idea of what we are getting into. The internet is packed with reviews of games that are all based on a single person's opinion. How can we be sure our money won't be wasted when you can go to 3 different sites and get 3 different scores. 1 says it rocks, one says meh and the last says sucks. How are we consumers supposed to decipher it? So companies stay in the safe zone.

On the other hand every sequel (except Eat Lead) had to start with an original IP. The developer took a risk and won. Why shouldn't they ride on the coattails of this success? More profits for them means they can afford to take a risk on a new IP down the road. Remember the one with the most money wins. If you got an idea (new or used) that will make you money you are foolish not to use it.

 

[quack35]

Coming up with entirely new universes is hard.

 

[teisjm]

To be honest I don't mind.

If I don't want the sequel cause i didn't like the last game in the series then i'll just not buy it (red steel 2 you're gonna get passed)

But if i liked the previous game, and the new game is still a new game and n9ot just updated graphics i'll prolly go get it, cause i'm prety sure i'll like it even without having played it yet.

Take Legend of Zelda for instance. I really like the series, and every time i've finishjed one of the games i've wanted it to be longer, even though the games we're quite long by todays standards. So when they announces the new LoZ at (after?9 E3 i was like hell yeah!
Will it be about link running through dungens to get stuff and defeat ganondorf in the end? prolly, but i don't mind, i like the way the games play, i like the universe so i
m prolly gonna like the next game as well.

Then theres the otehr type of sequels, like Mario Kart for instance. I couldn't be bothered to get the wii version, cause i already had Double Dash for the GC, and since it's not bringing a lot of new stuff to the table i could really just play the old one.
A lot of sports games with only a new rooser would prolly have been better examples, but since i've never really played any of them i'll leave them to the people who have.

 

[Ripshot]

Scribblenauts.

and more Scribblenauts.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Thank the Global Economic Crisis. Game devs are being forced to take the safe option and develop games *cough* sequels *cough* that they know they'll make a return on.

The company my bro works for had a brilliant idea for a new game and did a proof of concept for it and all, but just can't get funding for it.