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MIGS_2011: The Blockbuster is Dead. Long Live the Blockbuster!!
- 1. The Blockbuster is Dead: Long Live the Blockbuster! Raphael van Lierop Founder & Creative Director HELM Studio Montreal International Game Summit November 2nd, 2011
- 42. WHAT IS A BLOCKBUSTER?
- 49. WHY SAVE THE BLOCKBUSTER?
- 60. DEATH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. RISE OF THE MID-CORE
- 65. HOW TO MAKE A SMALLER, BIG GAME
- 76. ROADMAP TO A BETTER FUTURE
- 91. Questions & Thank You! Raphael van Lierop Creative Director HELM Studio CONTACT & SOCIAL Email: [email_address] Twitter: @RaphLife LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rvanlierop www.helm-studio.com
Notes de l'éditeur
- Welcome.
- I’m the founder and creative director at HELM Studio, a creative and production consultancy for video games and transmedia IP development. I’ve worked in the industry for about 12 years, and have had the good fortune to work on some very cool games with some amazingly talented people.
- Games I’ve worked on and companies I’ve worked for.
- Although I have been a gamer for over 25 years, this game completely changed the way I viewed the possibilities of the medium. It’s the game that convinced me that I needed to stop what I was doing, and focus all my energy on learning how to make games, and to break into the industry.
- We’re at a crossroads right now. This is something I care a lot about and that’s why I’m here today.
- You’re probably a Canadian, definitely a gamer, and maybe want some beard-growing tips. You’ve come to the right talk.
- Not many people know that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak got their start in the games industry, at Atari. Woz created ‘Breakout’ in 3 days.
- Discuss the breakdown of the typical $60 game. Notice how less than half of the revenue goes to the publisher – who funds and takes all the risk in creating the game. The developer would get a very small slice of the publisher’s piece. More than half of the cost goes to entities that don’t really add value.
- Look at the evolution in visual fidelity and richness of worlds over nearly 30 years. GTA4 probably cost about 1000x as much as Star Raiders, though ($100M vs. $100k?)
- Obviously, this is unsustainable.
- This is just mind-boggling.
- Use Guitar Hero as an example of how franchises are getting killed. This is just a clear example – there are many others, and I’m putting several key blockbuster franchises ‘on notice’ for this.
- Pulled this out of the talk at MIGS because I needed to trim due to length, but if I had had more time I would have discussed how game reviews and metacritic are helping to perpetuate a whole bunch of unhealthy dynamics around the perception of game value.
- These are all Blockbusters, according to my definition. I’m not talking about really successful ‘indie’ games like Minecraft, which have blockbuster-like sales but are not blockbusters as I’ve described them here.
- Here I talk about how each of these 3 games was a blockbuster, but also defined or redefined an entire genre. GTA3 pioneered open world. Halo brought FPS to the console and popularized a bunch of control and gameplay conventions that continue to this day. Half-Life pioneered the highly-scripted linear game that kept the player in the story, which has given us entire franchises like Call of Duty, etc.
- Game blocksbusters are like hollywood blockbusters – they signal a seasonal shift every year, and are ‘events’ in their own right.
- (Didn’t include this during the talk because it felt a little highbrow.)
- We all remember the moment we learned that Vader was Luke’s father. My face looked like this kid’s when I played the “No More Russian” level in MW2. 10+ million people played that level, and far more heard about it. This makes it a relevant cultural compass point for our generation.
- Felt like beating a dead horse so I skipped this during my preso, but I think it’s relevant.
- Beowulf as a legend perpetuates a belief system and communicates it very efficiently in the form of a story that we passed along verbally, so that members of a society can internalize the ‘rules’. This story still has relevance today. Maybe some of our games can become as culturally relevant as Beowulf?
- Really hard to find good examples from existing games, but the HL2 episodes are close. High-quality blockbusters, short (around 4-6 hours), around $25-30.
- By reducing the amount of content you need to create, you can create a less expensive game. Duh.
- Delivery methods have not really enabled the possibility of a high-quality game, with less content, selling at a lower price point.
- My suggestions on what this kind of game might look like, in terms of budget and amount of content.
- I could even see entire publishers, or ‘sub-labels’ emerging to support this new part of the market.
- Wow, look at all the sequels. Stagnation? I think so.
- Since I didn’t dig into the reviews/metacritic thing earlier on, I also skipped this slide, but I do think it’s very true. I also especially think reviews should provide a score based on the quality of game content, and then separately include the number of ‘average play hours’ a game offers. This way consumers can decide for themselves if they think the game provides good value at a certain price.
- No longer guessing based on ‘gut’ or developer opinion (we’re often way too close to really know what the best decision is). Playtesting serves this, but having live telemetry is incredible, allowing us to also tweak ‘on the fly’ based on what players enjoy.
- Players all want innovation, but are scared to take a chance on something new because the price is too high. “Risky’ games end up rented or bought second hand, which hurts sales.
- iTunes has taught the world about buying content digitally.
- This is ultimately the Holy Grail of this whole thing – to open up new possibilities for exploration and innovation in our industry. If you build it, they will come.
- Thanks fro your time, hope you found this interesting, and feel free to contact me as I’d love to hear from you!