Ten Trends That Are Destroying Video Games

IGN AU is offering up a list of trends they feel are hurting the video game industry as a whole, with Baldur’s Gate being mentioned as a good example of how NOT to have “a great cast with a dud script”, the Mass Effect trilogy being slapped with the “Too Human syndrome”, and Too Human itself falling into the “promises, promises, promises” category.

Lesson learned: there are few things as needlessly arrogant as announcing a trilogy before the first game is out the door. Too Human, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect, Gears of War and Half-Life 2 Episodes, we’re looking straight at you. Speaking frankly, look there’s nothing wrong with ambition. You want to make an epic, sprawling universe? That’s totally fine. But start with getting the first game right and then let the market decide if it actually wants a sequel, let alone a trilogy. If your team is stuck under the thumb of three games in a row, you’re looking at potentially between five and ten years of development time which means you might be spanning two console generations or more.

Building needless anticipation of an epic series also causes disappointment if eager adopters never get the final chapters. Shenmue, anyone? If the first game doesn’t shift the units, then you’ve effectively shot yourself in the foot by creating a game that never ties up its storylines and leaves gamers disappointed and unsatisfied. Never announce a trilogy before you’ve proven yourself in the marketplace or, do so at your own peril and at the expense of credibility and the potential loss of major dollars.