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[ShinMaruku]

From Developers to publishers to consumers I see this idea that games must be as broad as possible to be relevant. But I find that to be a bit delusional and buying your own bullshit too much. There are some people who won't like it, it is a foolish waste of energy to try to bring in somebody not interested. If Budgets have to go that much scaling back must be an option. Great games have been made for less. (Metro Dragon's Crown)

Would you not rather they actually know their market and serve what they have and make money off what they have. Because yes you have the massive CoD and other games but the market can only hold a few not everybody can have that place. And the core buys many different games a year as opposed to the 2-3 games by the the rest. Why not treat what you got?

What do you guys think?

 

[Fauv]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

 

[Oddduck]

I think Nintendo is the one who really pushed this philosophy the hardest. And it's a smart philosophy because it makes money.

 

[JeffGrubb]

What is the deal with these games for everybody?

Seriously? It's the same as why nearly all movies are PG-13 or lower. That broad audience is worth a lot more.

 

[nynt9]

Games are expensive to make, companies are in the business of making money.

 

[KillerDark]

Selling to more people = more $ = pretty much the only thing businesses care about.

 

[Snakeyes]

Unsustainable development costs.

 

[daveo42]

The mentality of making returns on your investments.

 

[Mesoian]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

Yup. Sales, sales, sales.

 

[Ferrio]

I'd say this mentality is the worst aspect of the industry right now.

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

 

[Omega]

Games are expensive to make, companies are in the business of making money.

maybe if they stopped trying to make interactive movies and made games, there could be more genres that made them profit

 

[Kouriozan]

I think Nintendo is the one who really pushed this philosophy the hardest. And it's a smart philosophy because it makes money.

I think he meant like Dead Space 3 being so different from 2.
Also the case with FEAR 3.
They were trying to broaden their audience and failed miserably.

 

[The Cartographer]

I'm with you OP, fuck the ''every game needs to be be made for everyone'' bullshit.

 

[sirseanconnery]

I think Nintendo is the one who really pushed this philosophy the hardest. And it's a smart philosophy because it makes money.

Have you checked WII U sales in the past year? Nintendo are banking on nostalgic franchises to make money, which is not doing anywhere as good as they want it to.

 

[SolsticeZero]

Demon's Souls told that mentality to go fuck itself

 

[Big_Al]

Because it's what the publishers want

 

[JLeack]

Dark Souls is a perfect example of how this isn't always true. It was a game for a niche group of people and received fantastic reception.

I'm very glad it didn't get scorned for being too challenging.

 

[Foaloal]

I don't think most of us at GAF would say that a game needs to have any broadness to its appeal, other than for its own financial success.

With single player games I don't care at all who else is playing it.

With multiplayer games a smaller community will probably be better, since they're likely to be more dedicated, have more in common, etc.

But in terms of quality, it seems less simple to make a high quality game that appeals to lots of people than it would be to make a game that is seen as high quality by a small group of people who are very interested in that type of game.

 

[CrackPebbles]

Money..personally I hate it, Not enough action games cater to fans of difficulty and solid combat, atleast we got based Platinum TRYING to do so.

on a sorta related note I read an article a couple years ago about how bummed out dead space devs were when the original couldn't get a 90 on metacritic, wonder how they tried to fix that in the sequels....

 

[BraXzy]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

This is pretty much the sole reason. That's why indie games are so good to embrace, a lot of niche titles.

 

[simples]

because developers and publishers want money

believe it or not they they are here for business

 

[FryHole]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

A game for everybody can sell better than a niche game. I'm sure there's plenty of counterexamples though.

Specialising and crafting a particular experience to a subsection of the entire gaming population is a good way to build a dedicated fan base that can relied on to continue to support your efforts. Companies also like a reliable revenue stream.

 

[quickdevilred]

developers don't care about making good games anymore.
its not like cinema where developers(directors) get new jobs based off of the artistic merit of their past films, videogame developers get jobs based off of how well their past jobs sold.

I know Microsoft used to give bonuses to their developers to get games ranked over 90 on metacritic, I don't think they do anymore because I think they have realised that the consumers who buy videogames are generally not cultured enough to care about review scores.

 

[Sakura]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

Games for every body also tend to cost a hell lot more, and are bigger risks if they fail.

 

[BigDug13]

Focus group tested, homogenized garbage, that's what it turns games into. I'd rather have a divisive game that 50% of gamers like than a game that takes zero chances. There's room for both styles of games, and that's why indie developers are so important. Because big publishers do not want to make divisive games anymore and we see generic take-no-chances game development in the current AAA climate.

 

[Salex_]

Games are expensive to make, companies are in the business of making money.

Not every game requires a massive budget. You can still make money while making a game for a certain audience.

I see people completely dismiss a game and the quality within the genre just because it's not a 3rd person action/adventure game or FPS. Since when have options been bad? Keep in mind that some of these people are the same ones complaining about games trying to steal the COD crowd or follow the filmic experience.

 

[quickdevilred]

Games for every body also tend to cost a hell lot more, and are bigger risks if they fail.

the only way to make the amount of money big videogame companies need to make is to sell millions of copies.

there is a gigantic difference between production budgets of indy games and AAA development jobs. AAA jobs make a lot more money if they broadly appeal.

 

[QaaQer]

It comes from non-creative business types who want to have maximum sales. The problem is that when you attempt to make a product appeal to just about everyone in the creative industry, it becomes bland and uninteresting. There are exceptions, like some Pixar movies, but they are very rare.

Another side effect is that when it is a sequel, and the original wasn't trying to be everything to everybody, you piss off your original fans, see tomb raider 2013 & hitman 2013 for two recent examples.

 

[Moon_frogger]

$$$$$$$$

 

[Sakura]

the only way to make the amount of money big videogame companies need to make is to sell millions of copies.

there is a gigantic difference between production budgets of indy games and AAA development jobs. AAA jobs make a lot more money if they broadly appeal.

It's not a one or the other. Look at a game like Dark Souls. That's not a game for every body. It also didn't have an AAA budget. Yet it was likely more profitable than big AAA games like Tomb Raider.

 

[ShinMaruku]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

If the more sales have a smaller margin than something smaller those more sales meant nothing. You have to spend smart. Right now development is spending really stupidly. They could learn a few things from DARPA.

 

[giapel]

Given that even the most popular of games only sell to less than 10% of the gaming population, I would say that all games are niche.

 

[Durante]

Would you not rather they actually know their market and serve what they have and make money off what they have. Because yes you have the massive CoD and other games but the market can only hold a few not everybody can have that place. And the core buys many different games a year as opposed to the 2-3 games by the the rest. Why not treat what you got?

What do you guys think?

I agree 100%. That's why indies are great, and kickstarter for funding mid-sized projects which aren't for everyone.

I also don't really believe that chasing "AAA" is more profitable overall. There are a few breakout hits, sure, but there are also tons of expensive bombs.

 

[Erdem]

AAA games are made for the broadest audience. Niche, hardcore stuff has mostly moved on to independent, small developers(indies).

 

[ShinMaruku]

Given that even the most popular of games only sell to less than 10% of the gaming population, I would say that all games are niche.

I think that points to the great variety in gaming. It's not sustainable how some of these games are made. I know some feel it will work itself out but a few companies will have to fall.

 

[Vigilant Gambit]

Games shouldn't be for anybody, but accessibility is huge.

Bayonetta is my favorite game of all time. Part of what makes it so amazing is that it was designed in such a way that any player from any skill level can jump in and have a good time. Not only that, but the game allows players to graduate in skill level as they play the game.

You start out on very easy, mashing out auto combos that look bad ass. After a while, you'll get bored of that, so you switch to easy, or disable the auto-combo mechanic; whichever you prefer. Once that gets boring, you disable both. Then finish Normal mode. Then Hard. Then Non-Stop Infinite Climax.

Each step doesn't necessarily take the same amount of time, but playing the game teaches you what you need to know in order to get good at it. That is important.

 

[ShinMaruku]

Games can't be for everybody. Them trying to hit everybody will only get a scatter shot approach. I think the market is big enough for niche to still make them big money.

 

[dark_prinny]

Demon's Souls told that mentality to go fuck itself

And it succeed.

 

[JTripper]

This is pit that BioShock Infinite fell into for being a FPS. Still one of my all-time favorites though.

 

[Bgamer90]

$$$$$$.

$$$$$$$$

Haha, yep. Exactly. (Didn't see this before I posted).

 

[yellow submarine]

Essentially, business and development costs.

 

[okayfrog]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

Simple as that. Everyone go home now.

... though, developers can find a way around this by releasing budget titles or handheld or arcade/network/e-shop titles that fill the niche.

 

[ShinMaruku]

$$$$$$.

Funny the ones that did make that $$$$$ had a vision beyond just "Throw everything to get a percentage of people up"

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

Demons Souls and Dragon Crown where clearly not adopting that mentality and were massive successes for the respective companies.

 

[pa22word]

A game for everybody sells better than a niche game.

[citation needed]

 

[ShinMaruku]

Demons Souls and Dragon Crown where clearly not adopting that mentality and were massive successes for the respective companies.

That's because Atlus respects it's consumers and knows what it has. I feel the big guys don't know or trust their audience.

 

[dmr87]

Bigger audience equals more money.

 

[SwiftDeath]

A game for everybody is supposed to sell better than a niche game.

Fixed

I would agree that's true in most cases but how did Fuse work out?

Dead Space 3 and so on

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I think the argument being made here is not about appealing to the "mass market" demographic, but trying to branch out and appeal to every demographic. Trying to to fit in everything leads to a game feeling diluted, and without a strong sense of focus or direction. And that is bad.

See: Resident Evil 6. (I love the game, but let's put that aside for now)

This is a game that tried to appeal to everyone. Fans of Leon, Chris, Ada, and even Sherry from RE2. Fans of puzzles, fans of action. Fans of the slower action-based gameplay from RE4 and fans of the faster paced action of RE5. Fans of co-op and solo play. It tried to do everything at once, to appeal to everyone at once. A lot of things felt shoehorned in, the game didn't really feel focused (especially the plot!) and the gameplay didn't seem like it knew what it wanted to be.

It could have been a much better game with a stronger focus.