I spoke to over 40 game developers whose companies had been impacted by layoffs in the last year. They shared with me the explanations companies gave them for what was causing the sudden loss of their livelihood, but they also told me why those explanations didn’t always seem to match reality.
I want to push back on the survival bias, games today are a lot more homogeneous and similar than ever before.
In terms of innovation, big studios rarely try actually new things, and so games are far more similar now than ever.
Open world games are a clearly established genre with the same mechanics (side quests, big compass up top, rescue the villagers/destroyer enemy camps to free an area). Shooters are an established genre with virtually the same mechanics. XYZ Simulator. Sports franchises. Driving games. Top down rogue likes. They’re all very similar within their own genre.
The games that have been hits lately either rewrite a genre (like Souls games did) or execute it very well (like Bauldur’s Gate 3), or they’re nostalgia bombs like Animal crossing or Hogwarts legacy that are able to pull in a broader audience.
It’s hard to pitch that EA spend millions/billions on a cool new untested idea when they know they’ll make the same money releasing Call of Duty or FIFA with a fresh coat of paint, risk free.