Is Call of Duty ruining video games?

[kazall]

I'm a sucker for big franchises myself but can't help but feel like all the CoD games just spell the end of creativity in the industry. I mean for every one that comes out, they get billions of dollars in sales and do nothing in terms of innovation. Then games like Black Swan come out and barely make a dent in the scene. I guess the exception would be some indie titles like FNAF but no one seems to really win in the CoD taking over the world argument.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaHkMikUl70

 

[someguy1231]

It's supply and demand. Plain and simple. I'm no fan of CoD either, but I can't fault them for going with that sells. That having been said, sales and online activity of recent CoD games have been declining, so they'll have to do something if they want to increase sales.

As far as "innovation" goes, remember that innovation itself is neither inherently "good" or "bad". We've seen tons of games try something new, only to crash and burn when released. Brink tried to be combine FPS mechanics with Le Parkour gameplay and a unique character design aesthetic, but it got poor reviews and sales. Blizzard tried to combat gold farmers with the Auction House in the original release of Diablo 3, and that just replaced a bad problem with an even worse one.

 

[Hades]

I don't think its entirely fair to blame COD. Its not like the game put a gun to anyone's head and forced other game companies to copy them. Dead Space and Resident Evil abandoning their identity for that sweet COD money is more the fault of spineless executives with no trust in their games then COD itself.

 

[tippy2k2]

This same thread seems to pop up every once in a while (here's the last one, just barely over one month old! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.881030-Did-Call-of-Duty-harm-the-gaming-industry#22188716]) and my answer remains the same;

No

If you really really really reeeeeeeeally stretch it, you can blame Call of Duty for influencing other game designs as they try to CoDify their games but that's on those developers for trying to copy Call of Duty, not Activision for producing Call of Duty.

Activision found something that worked very well for them and people continue to buy it (though that is slowing down greatly). Gaming has always had a nasty "follow the leader!" mentality when it comes to game design; If it wasn't Call of Duty, it would be another game.

 

[Ambient_Malice]

I'm a sucker for big franchises myself but can't help but feel like all the CoD games just spell the end of creativity in the industry. I mean for every one that comes out, they get billions of dollars in sales and do nothing in terms of innovation.

That's where I strongly disagree. The various developers who tackle the CoD series do innovate in creating story-driven FPS games in various ways. However, modern CoD is basically "Delta Force without any of the freedom." Delta Force was an annual franchise that was kinda cult, but huge for the cult. Some of the people who worked on Delta Force are working at Infinity Ward now.

 

[Foolery]

Short answer, no.
Long answer, nope.

There's plenty of successful and popular franchises that aren't COD.

 

[BarryMcCociner]

Is Transformers ruining all films?

No, it's creating mindless entertainment. That's what CoD is, mindless entertainment. It has its place and it's perfectly fine existing in that place.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I would ask the approaching 2000 new games on Steam (big budget and indie) if they feel CoD is ruining games. There will always be a place for easily digestible mass produced entertainment; just as there will always been a slew of other developers making something else.

 

[stroopwafel]

CoD hasn't 'ruined' videogames in themselves but the game's sales figures most definitely has had a negative effect on other franchises. With some games you just see how managers of gaming companies(envious of CoD sales) pushed developers to appeal more to the CoD-crowd(ie 12-year olds who talk shit on Xbox live) and destroyed once cool franchises in the process(Resident Evil and Dead Space being the most grotesque examples).

Then there is ofcourse the myriad of 'me too' brown FPS-games that tried to hitch a ride on CoD's success at the expense of other games that could have been made.

You know publishers pushing for what's popular isn't new and it happened before(platformers after Mario's success, JRPGs after FF7's success, survival-horrror after Resident Evil's success) and as history has shown this will only end after people stop buying these games(allowing deveopers to get creative again). However with CoD I think this series has found a particular niche of people who only play this franchise and are willing to buy the same game every year, so I'm afraid this turd will be around for quite a while still.

 

[Zhukov]

2010 called. They want their thread back.

No, it's not ruining anything. It's just existing. Lots of people want to buy CoD games, so they keep making CoD games.

For those of us who don't like CoD games, there are fucking oodles of games to play that are not CoD.

PS. Black Swan was a movie. Did you mean The Unfinished Swan? Or is there a game called Black Swan that I've never heard of?

 

[Rastrelly]

CoD ruins nothing. Its success does. And its success is crowds fault - fault of a huge bunch of tasteless mindless 'gamers' unable to distinct proper storyline, direction or gameplay from incestuous self-replicated surrogate. The business just reacts the way it always does - tries to replicate successful product. That's why AAA FPS market is unplayable at the moment.

 

[inmunitas]

CoD ruins nothing. Its success does. And its success is crowds fault - fault of a huge bunch of tasteless mindless 'gamers' unable to distinct proper storyline, direction or gameplay from incestuous self-replicated surrogate. The business just reacts the way it always does - tries to replicate successful product. That's why AAA FPS market is unplayable at the moment.

We're talking about a video game here, not a book or film. Call of Duty has a lot of marketing behind it, and apparently fairly solid gameplay, which is why it's so successful among the casual audience, even people who don't play games know of Call of Duty.

 

[happyninja42]

I've only played the WW 2 games from like a decade ago, and actually I think that was Medal of Honor, not CoD, so I can possibly say I've never played a CoD game. And from my ignorant position of having no input about CoD at all, the industry seems fine. It's churning out games left and right, plenty of them high quality.

So no, I don't think it's killing the industry.

 

[freaper]

Is Adam Sandler ruining movies?
Is Harlequin ruining literature?
Is Nicki Minaj ruining music?
Is the world flat?

The answer to these questions is no, unless you're talking to people not worth talking to.

 

[BaronVH]

No, it is not. The pay to win mobile model is. Now everything has microtransactions. And whether gaming is being ruined or not, I have three words that prove that good, classic gaming is still very much alive: Pillars of Eternity.

 

[DaWaffledude]

You've missed that bandwagon by a couple of years. By now, we've all pretty much agreed that such sentiments are overdramatic.

 

[Lufia Erim]

I don't think its entirely fair to blame COD. Its not like the game put a gun to anyone's head and forced other game companies to copy them. Dead Space and Resident Evil abandoning their identity for that sweet COD money is more the fault of spineless executives with no trust in their games then COD itself.

This pretty much. CoD is successful yes. A lot of games try to copy it yes. But CoD didn't force other companies to try and make cheap knock off from focus group teenage boys.

I blame everyone who tried and failed to copy CoD.

 

[Lufia Erim]

Is Adam Sandler ruining movies?
Is Harlequin ruining literature?
Is Nicki Minaj ruining music?
Is the world flat?

The answer to these questions is no, unless you're talking to people not worth talking to.

Thats not fair. Any movie would be ruined with adam sandler in it. Seriously. Think of your favorite movie then put adam sandler as the lead.

 

[freaper]

Is Adam Sandler ruining movies?
Is Harlequin ruining literature?
Is Nicki Minaj ruining music?
Is the world flat?

The answer to these questions is no, unless you're talking to people not worth talking to.

Thats not fair. Any movie would be ruined with adam sandler in it. Seriously. Think of your favorite movie then put adam sandler as the lead.

I meant their respective industries as a whole. There's an audience for everything, but that doesn't mean that everything has to, or wants to, cater to that same audience, CoD is no different.