Blur was a clever twist on the Mario Kart formula with a slick visual style and dozens of gushing critics backing it as an essential, but it died on shelves and helped close Bizarre Creations less than a year later.
Sometimes good games fail, but the why and how is no mystery to Bizarre's former Design Manager, Gareth Wilson.
At the Develop games conference, Wilson covered economics, team-building, marketing, and design in an attempt to explain the obstacles facing even the best games. Being good, it turns out, isn't good enough; you need to make friends and influence people too.
Years ago outdoor adventure specialist Karl Rohnke suggested people's reactions to situations occurs in three states - Comfort, Stretch, and Panic.
Cornflakes are Comfortable - you know them and you know you like them. Chocolate cornflakes are a Stretch - close to Comfort, but a little different. Bacon cornflakes are Panic, Wilson explains - they're too different and they scare consumers away.
On Rohnke's scale, Call of Duty is Cornflakes, Battlefield 3 is Chocoflakes, and Blur is a terrifying bowl of bacon-flavoured toasted corn. "Fear is a bigger driver for consumers than desire," says Wilson. "They're not going to buy something they haven't tried before, because it might be crap."
RISK AND REWARD
How often do you stretch your comfort zone when buying games? Great games like Vanquish, Bulletstorm, Alan Wake and Red Faction fall between the cracks because it's just safer to bank on FIFA or Call of Duty - they're the same every year and they're always good.
Wilson also believes the industry is currently in a period of dormancy where new IP will struggle. Assassin's Creed was this generation's biggest new IP because it arrived early and was marketed well.
"Confused messaging is a problem for new IP," says Wilson. "Marketing guys need a clear message. They come from Nike, from Reebok; they may not know much about videogames."
But scared consumers and crap marketing won't mean an end for innovation. Some players have balls of steel, and there are ways to win over non-gamblers. "Licensing is good, but it costs money," Wilson says.
"You have to balance it. With PGR3 we spent millions getting Ferrari, but it worked. With Blur, the licensing maybe worked against us: real cars and weapons. Bacon with cornflakes."
"When someone is going to spend £40 on a game, they need to be pretty sure it's better than going to the pub for two nights."
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Comments
37 comments so far...
Nitramuse on 24 Sep '11 said:
Is he seriously comparing 40 pounds to having sex with your girlfriend? Or sex with your girlfriend in a park? Is that even your girlfriend if you have to pay her for having sex? Isn't there a different term for?
Paranoimia on 24 Sep '11 said:
"Great games like Vanquish, Bulletstorm, Alan Wake and Red Faction"
I recently turned 40, and I've been gaming since I was about 7. I know what I like, and I bought none of those "great" games. Vanquish struck me as stupid as soon as I learned that you slid around on your knees. I tried the Bulletstorm demo and hated every second of it. I was bored of Red Faction after the first game. And I couldn't play Alan Wake because the muppets went Xbox exclusive - but that aside, from what I've heard, it didn't live up to the early hype anyway.
What makes a good game is very much up to the individual, and I think it's very conceited of reviewers and articles like this to insist that they're "great" games which failed, rather than admitting you got it wrong and they're actually average titles which experienced gamers saw straight through. You say they're "great" - sales say that the majority of gamers clearly disagree. Just because you're working in the industry, doesn't make you right no matter what.
alan666 on 24 Sep '11 said:
but hang on, Blur was just 'another' generic racing game.
if a game is good it won't fail.
Imaduck on 24 Sep '11 said:
Simply put: Call of Duty
The publishers want every game to be either a contender or scale well sales-wise compared to it. It's raised the sales bar and degraded gaming as a whole vastly at the same time.
dwhlufc on 25 Sep '11 said:
Well said mate.
monty_79 on 25 Sep '11 said:
No. He is highlighting the fact that any form of entertainment competes with any other form.
TheLastDodo on 25 Sep '11 said:
Avatar is the greatest movie of all time, according to sales
.
Marketing & promoting is just as important as making a quality product, if not more so, in regards to sales.
JOEuk91 on 25 Sep '11 said:
Thats it, after reading this, the next time I leave the pub after spending 40 quid, I am going to call my girlfriend and ask her if she wants to have sex at the park in a bowl of double chocolate bacon cornflakes.
Beetle Bum on 25 Sep '11 said:
according to sales Justin Beiber must be one of the best artist in the world
Beetle Bum on 25 Sep '11 said:
Sliding on your knees maybe be stupid to you but to me its cool as f**k! Iv'e just played the vanquish demo though and never played the full game as i got bored of all the shooting in the demo which almost every game consists of now is shooting, but still sliding on your knees is cool!
dwhlufc on 25 Sep '11 said:
Just to clarify I was agreeing with the second paragraph,I bloody love Vanquish
Barca Azul on 25 Sep '11 said:
Most of these games got avaergae scores from what I remember. On top of that, there were better alternatives coming or out (Dirt 3). As for FPS, its a highly saturated market and not everyone can cash in on it. I sometimes buy one FPS a year and it was never going to be one of the above!
I have the money, but not the time to play average games. Im still playing RDR after having completed Heavy Rain and I have a pile of shame unopend after that, like LA Noire. I pick and choose carefully, review scores are not the be all and end all, but if your already in two minds or no one else tells you its actually a good game then I wont bother!
rbt2 on 25 Sep '11 said:
Good post.
Dunno about Alan Wake or Red Faction but I was extremely underwhelmed by Vanquish and Bulletstorm.
The Bossman on 25 Sep '11 said:
In Blurs case, he already mentioned why it failed. Real cars, with weapons. We don't want that, either give us realism with the cars, or non realism with crazy cars with weapons, the two don't blend together at all. I sometimes buy games that aren't mainstream then usually end up regretting it. My example I use over and over again is Enslaved, because it had a good premise, ruined by awful gameplay, terrible camera angles and an amazingly boring story. That's why I stick to the usual big franchises because I enjoy them. Smaller games have to do a lot to make me want to buy them, if you can't stand up to the likes of COD then I'm not buying you, simple. On the other hand, 4 years ago I bought Okami on PS2 from HMV for £20, and I never regretted that purchase, enjoyed the game immensely, but it sold like a tramps soiled underwear. I don't feel I need to support smaller game companies to help the industry, I buy games I like. If the industrys in a bad way, then boo f**king hoo.
ilovenewtech on 25 Sep '11 said:
FYI my super awesome fellow forum poster, I am as close as I want to admit to your age so please trust me and try these games they are awesome. Vanquish is a really cool game that is just to short but while it lasts it blows you away. I hated the Bulletstorm demo too and was not going to buy it. I am glad I did as it turned into one of my favourite games of the year. Yes I really did enjoy it that much as did everyone on my friends list. Same for Red Faction Gurilla, it took a couple of hours to get into it but once that hurdle was achieved it was such a cool game. Shame about Alan Wake it was a top horror game with a great story.
Time for awesome cake and ice cold fizzy pop!!!!!
rbt2 on 25 Sep '11 said:
Will that be c**t cake and wanka fizzy pop ?
ilovenewtech on 25 Sep '11 said:
Anything you would like it to be my super awesome fellow forum poster. Fresh from the farm just for you!!!!!
rbt2 on 25 Sep '11 said:
But you're absolutely sure that c**t cake will definitely be there?
Fr33Kye on 25 Sep '11 said:
Wrong. Vanquish is not an average game that "gamers saw through" It's a spectacular game. You yourself just showed the point of the article. You saw a guy slide on his knees and thought stupid. Doesn't mean the game is bad, but sometimes people just ignore a game because of it's different than they are used to. Or sometimes games don't have a large enough advertisement budget. Do you think games do well because they are the best out there? Bulls**t man. If you want to sell you need a decent game that has mass appeal and is easily marketable. Sales don't say the majority of players disagree. The majority of players may not have even heard of or played these games, and it's not because they aren't good. You can say it's arrogant of critics to call these games great but ignored, but it's more arrogant of you to claim these games are simply average when you haven't played any but bulletstorm.
You brushed off a game because he slides around on his knees......that's what would stop a game from selling. Not how good it is. If it attempts to put a little too much art or anything that's a little too different gamers will avoid it and make the safe choice.
Jimmy Luxury on 26 Sep '11 said:
Dead Island has sold well and that is crap (I have buyers remorse), but I guess therein lies the issue. It's about as 'Cornflakes' as you can get, it had 'THAT' advertisement, you kill zombies and that's pretty much the game. I have taken a chance on some smaller games of late and have ended up loving games like Vanquish, Bulletstorm, Split/Second and Driver SF to name a few. It's hard because I like playing lots of different games, but funds are the issue. I felt a bit dirty after buying KZ3 because I knew there were better games more worthy of my attention. It was that game that made me try different games. KZ3 is by no means bad, but there are no surprises in it. Funds are always the issue, but if you take the chance at least once you get into some good habits and try lots of different things and find some cracking games along the way. Some bad ones, yes, but it's worth it for the good ones.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 26 Sep '11 said:
Speaking of Alan Wake. I saw it for a fiver in morrisons yesterday. Well worth the cash. I bought the special ed when it first came out and i don't regret it.
The guy in the article has a point though. Most gamers won't take a chance. Which is a shame. Blur was epic. drag racing round brighton seafront firing rockets at the competition has to be one of my favourite WTF this is awesome moments in gaming over the past few years.
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
While I disagree with Jimmy Luxary's verdict on Dead Island, I agree with the rest of his post.
Next time theres a new IP and a AAA sequel released go for the new IP, yes it may be riskier but if it's crap we have these things called "ebay" and "trade in's" these days that guarantee you'll get 90-100% of your money back if you return/trade/sell it asap, which in turn means the game cost you around the same price as a rental.
El Mag on 26 Sep '11 said:
Everybody better buy the Ico And Shadow Of Colossus HD set this week to right this wrong.
Haven't got a PS3?
Tough s**t, buy it.
Spent all your money on cake, fizzy pop and cocaine?
Tough s**t, buy it.
Broke, homeless and suicidal?
How the f**k you reading this then?
Either way....tough s**t, buy it.
ilovenewtech on 26 Sep '11 said:
Sure my friend, I just can not guarrentee whose or whats!!!!!
jim2wheels on 26 Sep '11 said:
It's on my list mags, but I've got a backlog of games building up and I'm on a self imposed ban on buying any other games until I've cleared the decks.
It's gonna be tough...
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
jim has the Deus Ex DLC to buy first, also @jim don't forget about Dead Island, it's now playable again.
jim2wheels on 26 Sep '11 said:
Have you tested Dead Island yet?
Jimmy Luxury on 26 Sep '11 said:
I was a bit harsh there, mate. It just has a bad case of Brink disease, in my opinion. I wanted to love it, but I was just left feeling a bit disappointed. To each his/her own.
flash501 on 26 Sep '11 said:
I reckon marketing, or lack of it, is the main reason a lot of good games fail. You could have an outstanding game but if you don't put adds on tv, magazines etc. the casual gamer doesn't know about it and goes and buys Cod instead.
I reckon the inexplicable lack of advertising for the Ps3 in it's early days has a lot to do with it's slow start too.
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
Not yet jim.
I was only at level 3 but I think I'm going to start over again.
Which character are you?
EDIT: Thats harsh Jimmy. Brink? I had no fun with that game, Dead Island isn't GOTY material for sure but you must've had a tiny bit of fun with it?
Jimmy Luxury on 26 Sep '11 said:
I guess I compared it to Brink as I had such high hopes for it but I couldn't find it in myself to really enjoy it. In fact, it may not even be the game's fault. I'm just very sick of zombie games in general, almost to the point where I struggle to pick up L4D2 anymore. Never thought watching a zombie's head get stoved in by a bit of metal pipe would get old, but it has.
I'm the rapper dude, I too have hit level 3, and there wasn't one moment up to that point that interested me. Maybe i'll give the zombies a break for a bit and come back to it. Roll on the Deus Ex DLC. Loved that game, so maybe i'm getting a bit too pretentious for zombie games these days.
But yeah, Brink is the anti-fun...
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
Ah. Theres the advantage of not owning a 360 or a fit for gaming PC, not being able to sample L4D means I'm not burnt out on zombies yet.
ffcoppolla on 26 Sep '11 said:
That's an advantage?
jim2wheels on 26 Sep '11 said:
@Dodo
Sam B. I'm pretty deep into the game so gonna stick with that dude. Will change it to the sharps specialist for my multiplayer save game.
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
@jim
Just tried it out.
Took over the lifeguard station again. Went downstairs, took on the side mission to break that door down, did it, got my reward, watched the autosave symbol pop up, quit out to main menu, re loaded the game, checked my side quests and that side is listed as DONE.
So it appears to work.
Also walked along beach to where that guy that runs the surf store is getting attacked in his car, I killed all the zombies, watched the autosave symbol pop up, quit out to main menu, re loaded the game, it spawned me back at the hut but when I got back to his car there was no zombies.
So it's worked twice so far.
jim2wheels on 26 Sep '11 said:
Sweet! Good work.
I've started Resi 4 so DI will have to wait until next week. Need to rumble up another player or two for online in due course.
TheLastDodo on 26 Sep '11 said:
No problem. Gonna be busy with FIFA and BF3 beta this week anyway.
If you're using the knife girl for co-op then I'll use Sam B, no point having two knife girls.