>>>I agree Bob, MPRS's management does suck.
Not so much these days.
The fact is the game business is very very tough. There is only room for a handful of 'blockbuster' products a season, by definition. There are more game companies than possible major hits per year. You do the math.
MPRS has had a few problems.
#1: EA and Broderbund practically own the distribution of games in the US. You can have a great game but pay a penalty to get distribution. At least this was still true in '96, though I am out of date in the pure game business right now.
#2: The illusion that licensed properties make great titles. Actually, people are bored with licensed characters and show material. And it costs a hell of a lot in many different ways to deal with it. It raises the break even bar, and the costs of production go way up, putting a strain on financing. Meanwhile innovative producers with no reputation are frozen out.
MPRS a couple years ago went heavily with the model of developing licensed products. This is merchandising, not creativity. In their defense, everybody else in the industry (almost) was busy making the same mistake.
#3: Twitch game mentality. One could never convince anybody at MPRS that there was anything worth doing in games/experiences/entertainment for computer that a 14 year old boy would not want to do. Consequently, while innovative companies like Cyan were profiting from new demographics, MPRS and most of the other game companies were hooked on their pimply boys.
#4: While numerous people at MPRS and other traditional game companies *said* they knew that network gaming was going to be big, they did precious little about it.
So because of #2 and #3 above, what are the new models for blockbuster play titles now? Little computer pets from Japan. Dressing up Barbie. Titles no traditional game company like MPRS would touch.
It's so easy to forget that Colossal Cave was once a crazy (free) pursuit of a few nerds with homebuilt pc's and unix boxes. That DOOM was shareware. That the huge hits in new areas (Pong, Myst, Barbie, ...) had nothing much to do with what went before.
The Network TV Executive mentality took over games in less time than it took in TV. I expect all really new games to come from companies only marginally in the digital game business, or from independents, or other countries. The 'experts' at the established game companies are far *too* expert to approve anything really new.
Before the Internet/private net game community really does fabulous business it needs to be more fully developed, less proprietary (to enable independent development of creative titles), and cheaper.
Actually, this whole industry is damn long in the tooth. I think it will be a couple of years before it will be interesting again, and a number of companies will have to be shaken out/digested first.
Chaz |
