Why is no one making quality games aimed at families and children?

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I know many of you will say Nintendo is the Walt Disney of video games but I am thinking of games that are cinematic and character as well as plot driven like Bioware games but are colorful and kid friendly. Perhaps Telltale could fit this but they have shut down.

Does the video game industry need a Walt Disney?

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

Are parents lenient on letting children play M rating games and Nintendo taking up the kid game demographic?

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Is not kingdom heart 3 a disney game? it has all disney characters from toy story to trangled.

its a children and family game.

 

[Bedinsis]

What about Child of Light and the Lego games?

I remember TotalBiscuit(rest in peace) mentioning that Child of Light actually sold quite well so there is precedent for saying that it is an underfed market.

 

[Majestic Manatee_v1legacy]

~Invents a problem~

~Asks why problem exists~

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I always played M rated games since I was like 7-8 or so. Stuff like MGS and Silent Hill were some of my favs growing up. Also, I played them with my family, mainly my dad but my mom would help us here and there in some tricky riddle parts due to our then unfamiliarity with English. So yeah, those were definitely family games, despite their M rating.


I see absolutely no reason that only games rated E are fine to play with family. As long as you educate your child on the difference between fiction and reality and as long as you are aware of their limits and tolerance for scary content, there's no issues at all.


My dad was not even worried about me being scared of the content in silent hill and getting nightmares or whatever silly parents worry about nowadays, cause I was taught properly. He was actively TRYING to scare me as we played, by making weird creepy sounds or poking me in random tense moments and so on. And in turn I'd try to startle him when he took over the controller. It was this sort of bonding metagame of trying to scare each-other and it was incredibly fun. And you know what? I fondly look back on those memories and treasure them now, I wasn't scarred nor am I violent or anything at all.

Americans baby their kids too much. If you allow them, they can handle pretty much anything.

Is not kingdom heart 3 a disney game? it has all disney characters from toy story to trangled.

its a children and family game.

No, it's a square enix game. It has all the complexity of final fantasy but with a pile of extra disney lore sprayed over it, with ample liberties taken. Also it's basically all about the OCs unique to KH, the disney chars while ubiquitous are all more or less supporting cast. And these OCs are just as complex as any deep anime style story.


You can enjoy the game on a shallow level and it has a TON of visual flare that a child will be more than happy with but the real meat is in trying to follow the story and connect the dots so a lot of old fans are the primary audience.

 

[SupahEwok]

Cuz the AAA game industry is a house of cards and doesn't target a very diverse market. Most of the kid market has been ceded to ol' Ninty, or is the realm of movie and cartoon tie-in games (yes, those still get made and sell).

There's plenty of indie games to fit that area of the market, but they aren't high budget or cinematic or whatever, and I don't know how good their awareness is among kids and parents anyway.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

How do you imagine a cinematic character driven family game?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

How do you imagine a cinematic character driven family game?

World of Final Fantasy is prolly the best example of something like that, it's like pokemon with an actual cinematic story, good humor (a rarity in games sadly) and enough depth to excite hardcore monster catcher fans and FF series fans (it's full of references) but also an alternative simple input mode which holds your hand on selecting actions so that even a very young child can utilize the combat system on some level.


Also it's just adorable:

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Is not kingdom heart 3 a disney game? it has all disney characters from toy story to trangled.

its a children and family game.

the kingdom hearts games are an acid trip that use disney action figures and dolls to tell stories that take six 90+ hour long games to tell, featuring retcons and flashbacks wedged in flashbacks and plot twists. so much so that your average wiki filled with middle aged nerds has trouble recounting events. where goofy gets slaughtered and mickey wears a goth hoodie trench coat while cursing the heavens at his loss

i wouldnt say theyre kids games

Just because part of the adult fanbase has unhealthy obsession with the property, doesn't mean it's not aimed at kids. I used to be in the MLP fandom, i know.

And hell, if my parents could afford Playstation, when i was a kid, i'd love to play a game where you have Donald as a sidekick.

What about Child of Light and the Lego games?

Lego games are a good pick. Something you can safely sit your kid in front of, everybody likes Lego.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

I dunno. Children don't care about cinematic or character depth? I don't remember being very demanding with story back in my SNES days. Just give me a password or save file system and let me retain some control over my character while it's jumping.

 

[EvilRoy]

The reason why nintendo dominates the family/children market its because the games are reasonably easy and fast to pick up, while still being engaging and fun. Kids are gonna play what they play, whether its wii sports over and over or kingdom hearts or final fantasy. They might not get all of whats happening, but they'll just kind of figure it out and push on forward. I'm certain everyone here had games as a kid where looking back we had no idea what was going on, but we were capable of playing and so we did.

Families as a group on the other hand, don't have that kind of discretionary time or schedule flexibility. Sure you can get together here and there for a game, but even something like Zelda won't work if you only play with mom and dad because the time between play sessions could easily be long enough to forget what where you were in a dungeon. Think of it this way - if you play DnD, then you know how hard it can be to schedule play sessions, and even a repeating session at the same time each week can get skipped here or there because real life commitments just happen sometimes. If you can't make a game session with friends they might be a little annoyed, but a kid might be heartbroken if dad puts off the zelda playthrough because work fucked him again.

 

[Dalisclock]

I can think of a number if Indie games off the top of my head which would work for kids, but as far as consistent publishers go, It's pretty much Nintendo and the people who make the lego games.

 

[Marik2]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

I dunno. Children don't care about cinematic or character depth? I don't remember being very demanding with story back in my SNES days. Just give me a password or save file system and let me retain some control over my character while it's jumping.

This

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

There is no demand for it. Kids won't play "cinematic story character driven" games. There was actually a related thread just a month ago, also posted by you it turns out, found here. In it, I wrote:

Spoiler

First of all, the boys mostly game in either a) ipads or b) my old 360. In BOTH cases I refuse to allow them to play anything online and no in-app purchases. I have no issue with online games directly, the issue is games which specifically allow interaction with other players. They are too young to be exposed to toxic online chat, trash talk, and mainly the fear of adults striking up conversations with them. I would have no objection to them playing online with school friends, peers or known friends/family, but with strangers it's a no-no. Funny enough, the 9y/o tells me most of his classmates are playing Fortnite already, which I won't allow him.

Next topic is violence. Interestingly, when the elder one was like 3-5 and would sit on my lap while I played Skyrim, I had no issue with him watching. At that point he was too young to get disturbed by what was going on and he loved the spectacle of changing into a werewolf and sending bandits flying. After 6 or so, gory imagery is a no-no. After 12 I think it'll be find to watch Predator, Robocop, whatever, but right now, these middle-years, imagery like Skyrim deathcams could have a real negative and/or long-lasting effect, from a bedtime nightmare through a lifelong, uncomfortable memory.

Story really is irrelevant. Completely. Kids have absolutely zero interest in a game's story and won't remember or understand a complex plot. Things like Star Wars Lego, where they've seen the film and the game lets them play out iconic scenes/locations from it they will follow, but that's because of the film and even then they're more interested in gameplay and imagery. A lightsaber and C3PO is enough for them, and combining it with sound effects and the rest is all that's needed.

Controls need to be fairly straightforward too and it helps if they follow conventions (ie. right stick camera, left stick move, etc). Games that are really good are things like Minecraft where they can build and use imagination, but some others I like are Overcooked, racing games or platformers. If I could describe what a perfect kids game would be it should have a minimal failure state that maybe gets harder with progress, simple to learn rules and intuitive controls, cartoon-ish violence only, colourful visuals, non-offensive sound design and a short gameplay loop (ie. no half hour dungeons) so it can be played in short or long bursts. It must also be playable offline.

Or to summarise:

So that's my main thoughts on games for kids. AAA is irrelevant, story is irrelevant. Simple rules, colourful visuals and good sound/visual feedback, simple controls and rewarding without being too punishing. A short gameplay loop is best, especially when it's bedtime. Would love to hear others thoughts on games for kids, especially recommendations!

Kids aren't interested in long, complex, character-driven stories in games. Generally, the ideal game for children has some or all of the above: Simple rules and controls, colourful, good visual/audio feedback, rewarding, a short gameplay loop or at least the ability to save progress easily. If it's got any educational value too, so much the better. Offline is a plus tho I know 9 year olds today are all playing Fortnite.

So yeah, there's no real demand for the suggested, certainly not enough to shift the quantities "AAA" companies need. Minecraft, Tony Hawks, Racing Games, Overcooked, Lego games, these are the kinds of things that kids can get into that don't spill over into violence.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

I think Sony and Microsoft have just accepted that their target demographic is pretty much everyone outside of Nintendo?s, because they realized they?d never capture it anyways. Who the hell can compete with Mario/Zelda/Pok?mon/etc. I mean, they?ve tried but Viva Pi?ata/Spiro/Crash Bandicoot/etc. fall considerably short.

 

[CaptJohnSheridan]

Why is no one in the video game industry making quality cinematic story character driven games aimed at young children and families?

There is no demand for it. Kids won't play "cinematic story character driven" games. There was actually a related thread just a month ago, also posted by you it turns out, found here. In it, I wrote:

Spoiler

First of all, the boys mostly game in either a) ipads or b) my old 360. In BOTH cases I refuse to allow them to play anything online and no in-app purchases. I have no issue with online games directly, the issue is games which specifically allow interaction with other players. They are too young to be exposed to toxic online chat, trash talk, and mainly the fear of adults striking up conversations with them. I would have no objection to them playing online with school friends, peers or known friends/family, but with strangers it's a no-no. Funny enough, the 9y/o tells me most of his classmates are playing Fortnite already, which I won't allow him.

Next topic is violence. Interestingly, when the elder one was like 3-5 and would sit on my lap while I played Skyrim, I had no issue with him watching. At that point he was too young to get disturbed by what was going on and he loved the spectacle of changing into a werewolf and sending bandits flying. After 6 or so, gory imagery is a no-no. After 12 I think it'll be find to watch Predator, Robocop, whatever, but right now, these middle-years, imagery like Skyrim deathcams could have a real negative and/or long-lasting effect, from a bedtime nightmare through a lifelong, uncomfortable memory.

Story really is irrelevant. Completely. Kids have absolutely zero interest in a game's story and won't remember or understand a complex plot. Things like Star Wars Lego, where they've seen the film and the game lets them play out iconic scenes/locations from it they will follow, but that's because of the film and even then they're more interested in gameplay and imagery. A lightsaber and C3PO is enough for them, and combining it with sound effects and the rest is all that's needed.

Controls need to be fairly straightforward too and it helps if they follow conventions (ie. right stick camera, left stick move, etc). Games that are really good are things like Minecraft where they can build and use imagination, but some others I like are Overcooked, racing games or platformers. If I could describe what a perfect kids game would be it should have a minimal failure state that maybe gets harder with progress, simple to learn rules and intuitive controls, cartoon-ish violence only, colourful visuals, non-offensive sound design and a short gameplay loop (ie. no half hour dungeons) so it can be played in short or long bursts. It must also be playable offline.

Or to summarise:

So that's my main thoughts on games for kids. AAA is irrelevant, story is irrelevant. Simple rules, colourful visuals and good sound/visual feedback, simple controls and rewarding without being too punishing. A short gameplay loop is best, especially when it's bedtime. Would love to hear others thoughts on games for kids, especially recommendations!

Kids aren't interested in long, complex, character-driven stories in games. Generally, the ideal game for children has some or all of the above: Simple rules and controls, colourful, good visual/audio feedback, rewarding, a short gameplay loop or at least the ability to save progress easily. If it's got any educational value too, so much the better. Offline is a plus tho I know 9 year olds today are all playing Fortnite.

So yeah, there's no real demand for the suggested, certainly not enough to shift the quantities "AAA" companies need. Minecraft, Tony Hawks, Racing Games, Overcooked, Lego games, these are the kinds of things that kids can get into that don't spill over into violence.

That?s unfortunate. Not for the publishers of course, but for society at large. Guaranteed those kids aren?t learning positive social skills fragging and screaming at each other through headsets. Only making it that much more difficult for them to develop into functional human beings.

And the list keeps growing as the world gets more complex.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I dunno. Children don't care about cinematic or character depth? I don't remember being very demanding with story back in my SNES days. Just give me a password or save file system and let me retain some control over my character while it's jumping.

This pretty much. The reason Fortnite is huge among kids is because it is easy to pick up and play, has engaging moment to moment gameplay and is easy to play with friends. The reason Minecraft was/is huge among kids is for the same first two reasons (and a lot of kids also figured out how to get multiplayer with their friends). Kids up to their teens aren't particularly demanding of their games, as long as the moment to moment is engaging them, they will keep playing.

What about Child of Light and the Lego games?

Lego is probably the closest you'll get and they are decidedly A/AA affairs (depending on which game you pick up). My son was overjoyed to play Lego Jurassic World with me, which consisted of me playing and him watching and asking me to do stuff occasionally. But they are games that put their own spin on famous franchises, are entertaining for both the children and the parents and can be played both single player and co-op.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I think Sony and Microsoft have just accepted that their target demographic is pretty much everyone outside of Nintendo?s, because they realized they?d never capture it anyways. Who the hell can compete with Mario/Zelda/Pok?mon/etc. I mean, they?ve tried but Viva Pi?ata/Spiro/Crash Bandicoot/etc. fall considerably short.

You know what tho? It speaks volumes of Nintendo that, excepting for Switch ports of 2010-era games (Souls, Skyrim, Diablo 3, etc), they've been able to survive and even profit completely outside the "cross-platform", "AAA" industry. Without genuine support and new titles from Ubi, ActiBlizz, Bethesda, Squeenix, without MMOs or CoD type affairs, they still somehow thrive. EA seems to have a couple of modern games on Switch (FIFA, NBA) but in general, they make it on quality first-party titles and as you say, targeting a younger audience and keeping it family friendly makes parents more inclined to pick them up.

Nintendo have managed to get quite a staple of first-party properties, easily beating out the competition. Saying that, Sony isn't far behind. Bloodborne, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted, these are pretty great exclusives. Microsoft got what...Sea of Thieves? Maybe now they bought Obsidian and inXile they'll make something capable of selling the XBone *cough*

That?s unfortunate. Not for the publishers of course, but for society at large. Guaranteed those kids aren?t learning positive social skills fragging and screaming at each other through headsets. Only making it that much more difficult for them to develop into functional human beings.

And the list keeps growing as the world gets more complex.

I completely agree. My 9 y/o nephew assures me that almost all the boys in his class (about 10 out of 15) are playing it. That's 10 9y/o kids playing an online shooter. Credit to Epic for creating this phenomenon, but it is worrying.

IMO, I'm 100x more worried about social networks than online games. Cyber-bullying and the pressures of being "Liked" and +1d have created crazy 20-30 year olds, so I really don't know how a current 9 y/o will navigate this landscape. If I could be assured that the kids were in a private lobby with their class friends, I'd have no objection to them playing online games. The real worries are adults mixing with the kids unsupervised in a game with chat/messaging and real-money things like MTXs, lootcrates, cosmetics/virtual currencies, pets, etc.

If they were really invested in a game, I'd have no objection to say adding $10 or so credit for a bunch of stuff they'd get use out of. But the insidious nature of F2P mechanics, lootcrates and grindwalls makes associating a credit card with the account a crazy prospect. SW Battlefront 2 famously kicked up a storm on release, when the Hawaiian govmt called it a "Star Wars themed casino aimed at kids". [Linkage]

I guess the attraction is "spending time" with friends (back in the day that used to be called "going to their house"), a bit of healthy competition and/or jolly coop and combine it with the fun nature of a colourful, third-person shooter. I just gave them a PC this weekend past, I might put my steam account on there with Family Sharing and put some safe, working games for them. I'm an IT pro and I still had a lot of trouble in getting a PC to be child friendly (MS seem intent on making it as hard as possible).

Lego is probably the closest you'll get and they are decidedly A/AA affairs (depending on which game you pick up). My son was overjoyed to play Lego Jurassic World with me, which consisted of me playing and him watching and asking me to do stuff occasionally. But they are games that put their own spin on famous franchises, are entertaining for both the children and the parents and can be played both single player and co-op.

This man knows.

Only in our house it's all the Lego Star Wars, LotR, Batman and Indiana Jones...because an 80s pulp adventure film was obviously the top of their playlists *cough*. You know what tho, I actually find some of them hard. Not the gameplay, the puzzles. I frequently find puzzles I cannot solve because there's no clue what to do. Some buildings need specific weapons to destroy, or you need a different character to squeeze thru a gap or jump to a higher ledge. They could do with some way of giving the player at least a hint at times.