Xbox Co-Creator: "The Industry Is Undefeatable"

[Fanghawk]

Xbox Co-Creator: "The Industry Is Undefeatable"

Seamus Blackley isn't worried about a lack of innovation in videogames.

When <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117435-Entire-38-Studios-Staff-Laid-Off-Effective-Immediately>three videogame developers suffer <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117849-Layoffs-Come-to-Silicon-Knights>mass layoffs in a period of <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117877-Layoffs-Hit-Resident-Evil-Operation-Raccoon-City-Studio>two months, it's very easy to be skeptical of the state of the industry, unless you're Seamus Blackley. Blackley came from a background in High Energy Physics when he joined Microsoft to work on DirectX and the initial Xbox proposal. From there, he co-founded the Capital Entertainment Group to reform videogame financing models, and later represented developers with the Creative Artists Agency. Now his latest initiative, a videogame team comprised of former Atari developers, has only reinforced his belief that for all its ups and downs, the industry on the whole simply cannot fail.

"I remember the birth of 3D PC games and the rise of the NES and PC and PlayStation," Blackey said in an interview with alistdaily. "There was a point where a recruiter said to me 'Anyone without skills to work on PlayStation isn't going to have a job.' There have been lots of twists and turns, and what it teaches us is the industry itself is undefeatable."

It's not an entirely unfair point; for years we've been hearing about the death of PCs as a gaming platform <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116201-PC-Gaming-Continues-to-Grow>only to see the format explode, while consoles have gone through their own <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118131-Mobile-Game-Maker-Predicts-Death-of-Consoles>ups and downs ever since their creation. To Blackley, what appears to be the death of the industry is actually a shift from one formerly innovative format to the next, which has continuously moved the industry from arcades, to computers, to consoles, and most recently, mobile games.

"The key takeaways are that great games continue to be great and that we work in the greatest industry out there," Blackley continued. "The business models that work are the ones that let people play the game they want. How to play Half Life 2? Get Steam. Want to play Halo? Get an Xbox. Want to play Angry Birds? Get an iPhone. We now see that great devices get great games. Rather than people being put down by this, it's extremely exciting."

With this spirit in mind, Blackey has founded Innovative Leisure to create games alongside original Atari designers like Rich Adam (Missile Command) and Ed Rotberg (Battlezone) for mobile phones and tablets. It's certainly a promising concept, considering the talent and background of those involved, and with luck they'll be able to prove that the industry is just as unbeatable as Blackley believes.

Sources: alistdaily via <a href=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-20-seamus-blackley-the-industry-itself-is-undefeatable>Games Industry International

Permalink

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

"We are undefeatable"

Has there been a movie villain that has said that and NOT been crushed immediately? See, he's jinxed it now.

 

[sethisjimmy]

What's cool about the gaming industry is that a lot of the time when you hear about big layoffs, you also hear that various companies are offering jobs and support to these laid off employees. Maybe that happens in other industries too, I don't know, but I just think it's cool.

 

[Scrustle]

Undefeatable? I think 1983 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983] would like to have a word with you. That kind of complacency is exactly the kind of thing that ruins industries. It's true that there are always doom-sayers who are almost never right, but it doesn't then follow that the opposite must be true.

Also, according to Oxford English Dictionary, undefeatable isn't a word. Neither is defeatable.

 

[Tradjus]

They said the Titanic was unsinkable..

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Pride goeth before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.

 

[GAunderrated]

Undefeatable? I think 1983 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983] would like to have a word with you. That kind of complacency is exactly the kind of thing that ruins industries. It's true that there are always doom-sayers who are almost never right, but it doesn't then follow that the opposite must be true.

Also, according to Oxford English Dictionary, undefeatable isn't a word. Neither is defeatable.

Funny thing when you read up about 1983 you find out many causes were saturation of low quality games amongst like 6 different consoles and it caused customers to lose confidence.

It' not as bad right now as it was in 1983 but I am starting to see a lot more saturation of low quality AAA games that have made me lose confidence in big companies.

 

[Weaver]

I'm sure General Motors thought the same thing.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Game industry is undefeatable: Challenge Accepted

 

[matrix3509]

Undefeatable? I think 1983 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983] would like to have a word with you. That kind of complacency is exactly the kind of thing that ruins industries. It's true that there are always doom-sayers who are almost never right, but it doesn't then follow that the opposite must be true.

Also, according to Oxford English Dictionary, undefeatable isn't a word. Neither is defeatable.

Funny thing when you read up about 1983 you find out many causes were saturation of low quality games amongst like 6 different consoles and it caused customers to lose confidence.

It' not as bad right now as it was in 1983 but I am starting to see a lot more saturation of low quality AAA games that have made me lose confidence in big companies.

Its not only that. There were also very high profile disasters like Pac-Man for Atari and E.T.
Both of those games sold insanely well. This year, we already have two games that fit that description of disasters that were also initially very popular: Mass Effect 3, and Diablo 3.

While I agree that the industry as a whole will likely never fully collapse, the AAA industry is almost sure to fail at some point in the near future.

 

[weirdee]

Actually, looking back at history, it's mediocre devices with companies who have connections that get the great games.

 

[edudewired]

Its not only that. There were also very high profile disasters like Pac-Man for Atari and E.T.
Both of those games sold insanely well. This year, we already have two games that fit that description of disasters that were also initially very popular: Mass Effect 3, and Diablo 3..

I thought Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 sold quite well, in fact didn't diablo 3 break some sales records?

 

[AhumbleKnight]

Its not only that. There were also very high profile disasters like Pac-Man for Atari and E.T.
Both of those games sold insanely well. This year, we already have two games that fit that description of disasters that were also initially very popular: Mass Effect 3, and Diablo 3..

I thought Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 sold quite well, in fact didn't diablo 3 break some sales records?

Yes, Diablo 3 did break some sales records. Initialy it did extreemly well. It has however only been two months since release and large numbers of people are giving up on the game (some even trying to get their money back) due to poor dev attiudes, ballancing issues, connection issues, hacking/scaming issues, the real money auction house, the list goes on (Diablo 3 forums are full of threads about why people are fed up).

OT: I agree that AAA dev's/publishers are going to have serious issues very soon (eg. Bioware, Blizzard, EA) in the form of consumer backlash. Indie games on the other hand and dev's/publishers that treat their customers well (CDProject, Valve) are doing extreemly well.

 

[Phlakes]

It' not as bad right now as it was in 1983 but I am starting to see a lot more saturation of low quality AAA games that have made me lose confidence in big companies.

The difference between 1983 and now is that low quality back then was broken Atari 2600 shit made on no budget by one guy who barely knew how to have the A button make a block move, and low quality today is objectively decent games that we're just really mad about.

In other words, the state of the industry is pretty much all in our heads right now, and it's way more likely that EA and whoever else will recover from their losses than that we'll have another crash.

 

[Antari]

Well yes .... if you consider children as a renewable resource... and the exploitation of them as viable ... things will never be bad enough to destroy much of anything. Its nice how they put such an innocent spin on it. But the reality of it all is just sickening.

"Seamus Blackley isn't worried about a lack of innovation in videogames."

Then you Sir, are whats wrong with the industry in its entirety.

 

[Porecomesis]

"We are undefeatable"

Has there been a movie villain that has said that and NOT been crushed immediately? See, he's jinxed it now.

No no no no no; villains say "I am undefeatable". You see, Seamus said "we". He has invoked the power of teamwork so it counters it.

 

[Antari]

It's true, the gaming industry IS it's own worst enemy.

Oh if only they were smart enough to read your comment, and understand what it means.

 

[matrix3509]

Its not only that. There were also very high profile disasters like Pac-Man for Atari and E.T.
Both of those games sold insanely well. This year, we already have two games that fit that description of disasters that were also initially very popular: Mass Effect 3, and Diablo 3..

I thought Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 sold quite well, in fact didn't diablo 3 break some sales records?

You are correct. Pac-Man and E.T. also both broke sales records at their times of release.