Glitz Over Gameplay The problem is that once something becomes technically feasible, the market demands it. Gamers themselves are partly to blame: Indie rock fans may prefer somewhat muddy sound over some lushly-orchestrated, producer-massaged score; indie film fans may prefer quirky, low-budget titles over big-budget special FX extravaganzas; but in gaming, we have no indie aesthetic, no group of people (of any size at least) who prize independent vision and creativity over production values.
But the nature of the market and distribution channel is even more to blame. When a developer goes to a publisher to pitch a title, the publisher does not greenlight it because they play it and say "what a great game!" The developer may not even have a playable demo - but what he will have is a demo reel, a non-interactive visual pitch that may work to get some sense of gameplay across, but is mainly designed to impress the marketing dweebs with the graphics. Glitz, not gameplay, is what sells the publisher.
For that matter, half of the people sitting in on that greenlight meeting are probably marketing suits who think they're in a packaged goods industry, and are a lot more concerned about branding than anything else. Sequels and licenses, good; creativity - that's too risky.
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The result is that the average game (not the industry as a whole) loses more and more money. The publishers make up the losses on the few games that hit. In other words: There is no room in this industry for niche product. There is no room for creativity or quirky vision. It's hit big, or don't try.
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Developers live from contract to contract - and if they don't land the next contract, they're out of business. Happens all the time. It's happened to me, in fact, and I'm hardly alone: Work like a dog, get to gold master, have a party to celebrate - and file for unemployment.
My User Contributions master list - my initial post links are down but scroll down page to find list to active links
