Pushing the Boundaries

In this guest editorial, Adam Roberts, executive vice president of Vivendi Europe, discusses the recent trend away from creativity in gaming - and what his company plans to do about it.

The past decade has seen our industry transformed by an unprecedented revolution in technology. What was once the dream of back-bedroom programmers is now a front room reality. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that with each transition from one generation to the next, the drive for hardware manufacturers and developers to push the level of content grows.

Marry this perennial consumer demand to investors increasingly looking towards videogames as a source of revenue, and itâs easy to see how the pressure to perform financially increases.

Itâs perhaps these pressures that have allowed some in our industry to strive after either the quick or the safe buck. And it is this motivation which, in my opinion, has led to a noticeable impoverishment in creativity across the industry - an observation currently made all the more poignant with the arrival of the Xbox 360, and imminent approach of the PS3 and Wii.

With the decline of independent studios, and the disturbing reality of watching competitive publishers struggle to keep afloat, it becomes almost inevitable that any new IP which enters a creative environment is steeped in uncertainty and fear.

That said, itâs my sincere hope that - as more publishers such as ourselves bring development in-house - weâll increasingly see a change in this culture of limitation. What we strive to see is for our creative teams to become more focused on creativity, and less embroiled in the day to day management of business.

Which is not to say that business should ever be neglected in any way, shape or form - rather that such a shift in operations could easily play to the strengths of any publishing company.

Creativity enhanced by a willingness to take a chance on innovation, and yet also tempered by a clear understanding of market forces. It seems a laughably simple unification of ideas but hopefully, in the coming months, weâll see greater evidence of this and far less focus upon the lacklustre sequel and/or âsafeâ use of a license.

These games obviously have their place in any financially sound line up, but as we ourselves know, had we failed to recognise the importance of originality in addition to these elements, we too could have faced stagnation and an untimely demise.

Ask any hardcore gamer what their favorite game was of the past 12 months, and the likelihood is that the answer won't have been a financial success. Conversely, ask any casual gamer the same question and the chances are that the answer will have performed well in the charts, but received average review scores.

What we want to achieve, as a company moving forward, is a unification of critical acclaim and popular appeal by employing the very finest people in house and working with the best external teams available.