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Moments In Gaming 2013: Part 3 - The Worst & The Here To Stay

In this final article we will talk about why hating EA is something we should maybe give a little more thought to and how independent studios have started to show us that game development can be small scale, yet still give us hours of entertainment.

EA: The Worst Company On The Planet.

There have been many things that have rubbed me the wrong way the past year, but EA isn’t one of them. What? You expected a huge rant about how EA have ruined games and care only about money, not about gamers? Do people in this school of thought also go as far as to assume health food companies care about your health and not the profits?

Companies are just that. EA isn’t here to make you happy, no matter what their marketing team tells you about the new Battlefield or Dead Space game. Their main goal is to make a profit so that their shareholders are happy. Yes, I agree that some of the tactics involved in monetising games in the past year have been sneaky and underhanded, but I also understand: business is business.

BF3

The idea of microtransactions has slowly been working its way into our consciousness for a few years, since the initial success and further prosperity of the iOS app store. This has led to some, frankly, industry leading games created off the back of this business model. League of Legends has shown it is possible to fit these into a free-to-play model, yet still be the most popular game in the industry.

EA saw this, like many other publishers, as the way forward and the way the industry as a whole was moving. Now, I ask that you take your own opinion of microtransactions and throw them away; what would you do? If you say you’d have stuck to the old model of doing things, you’re being stubborn and short-sighted. And I’m sure you’ll say to me, but look at Double Fine or any number of numerous studios that has taken to crowd-funding or some other way of doing things to ensure a good income and focus on game design, but EA are one of the two largest third-party publishers in gaming. A refusal to move with the times would have resulted, I’m pretty sure, in other complaints about how they were antiquated and unable to read the industry.

SimCity

We’ve had some huge blunders by EA this year, SimCity and Battlefield 4 being just two choice picks from my own memory: these games were marred with awful releases and EA has since been given stick for their handling of both. There is an ongoing lawsuit about the promise made to shareholders before the release of BF4 which may have been misleading, this caused actual share prices to drop on its release.

But overall, what I can’t help but feel is that EA gets a little too much flak. Yes, they have published some less-than-perfect games. Yes, they have followed the trends that the rest of the industry has set, but without them there wouldn’t be an industry like we know today. Along with Activision, they led a first-party driven games industry away from the big players like Nintendo, Atari and Sega, instead allowing games to be made without the need for affiliation with the console makers. This has led to the market we know and love today. EA put huge amounts of money into games and helped it become the juggernaut it is. This all seems to be ignored for a few bad decisions. No one remembers Nintendo trying to sue Blockbuster to stop games being rented like VHS and in fact, Nintendo are considered somewhat of a purist studio.

dragon age

I feel we all need to see the wider picture: EA deliver us AAA titles every year and the majority of them are very well received. The idea that they have become the worst company on the planet, by some people’s standards, is a ridiculous notion. I’m not even mentioning the huge companies outside of our industry that exploit huge populations on a daily basis.  But when put beside the fact that Activision pump out a CoD title every year and Ubisoft throw a new Assassin’s Creed out annually, EA games seem to have a good life cycle and their releases are developed in the same way, yet manage to garner a lot more hate than other studios. Perspective appears to have been lost somewhere in the last 10 years.

I am not by any means asking you to stop researching what you buy, but I am asking for us to put the pitchforks down, back away slowly and maybe think a little. I think 2013 showed EA they can’t just blindly ignore the consumer’s thoughts, but I do think a lot of people have overlooked what they’ve done to the industry as a whole. Other publishers are watching, and they won’t make the same mistakes EA have.

Just give EA a break and lets look forward to Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Titanfall, Sims 4, Star Wars: Battlefront, Mirror’s Edge 2 and anything else that’s coming soon.

titanfall2

Indies Blurring The Line

The games industry changed in 2013, whether for the better or worse depends on your personal opinion. Indie game development hit an all time high with games being announced, crowd-funded and receiving critical acclaim from every single avenue. There were downs, as well as its ups, as we lost at least one great developer to an unfortunate war of words, but it cannot be understated just how much this was the year indie development really took over.

But it wasn’t only the software developers that made the difference but the hardware developers too. The Ouya always seemed an interesting prospect, a small affordable box with an open source ethic, but announcement and release were followed by imitations from other companies. The Game Stick was another similarly small form factor console, based around Android at a low price point. Both these and others promised a revolution in how we play games, and although they might not have delivered yet, neither have failed miserably.

ouya

We’ve seen studios who aren’t strictly independent make smaller scale games with great results. Starbreeze Studios, creators of PAYDAY 2, managed to take the indie mentality to its roots when creating Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons. Bringing in a Swedish film maker to oversee the game direction gave a fresh mind to a medium in desperate need of it, whilst concentrating on telling a touching tale of two brothers and how best to convey the emotion to the player.

Back to the Ouya though, we had a fantastic example of a game that was designed for the console specifically, which became a killer app. Towerfall is the main reason a lot of Ouya consoles found new homes last year. With its addictive, fast-paced, old school leanings coupled with a LAN-only multiplayer mode, it managed to win the hearts of gamers looking for something different, yet immediately familiar and gratifying. Its success has led to a port to PS4 and PC coming later this year, driven by demand for it to be released on a platform with a wider installed user base.

Towerfall

Although it may seem counterproductive to the Ouya’s success for the one selling point to be ported to other systems, it’s also a triumph for the system, showing it can be taken seriously.

Steam, Xbox Live and PSN have been awash with new titles every week, showcasing talent upon talent. Just a look at the top sellers on Steam shows several Early Access games that have been there for a good while, ahead of other AAA games. The success of DayZ,Rust and Starbound are the biggest examples of games that have been nothing but successful since their releases late in the year. Resogun is an example of an indie game stepping up to play with the big boys. Essentially placing itself as a selling point for many on the PS4 launch lineup, Resogun has shown how pure fun and brilliant design can trump any AAA developer budget.

You know about indie studios already, everyone does. The idea of smaller games with different ways of making money has been something we’ve seen no end of, and aren’t likely to. If 2013 has shown us anything, it’s that the level of innovation, polish and originality we can expect this year may very well be mind blowing. 2013 may be the year indie development took over, but 2014 will be the year indie sensibilities and design take over.    

Resogun

 

Moments in Gaming 2013
James Furlong

James Furlong

Writer

James enjoys games, extreme metal and shooting ’N3wBs’ in the face. All from the comfort of his bedroom, in deepest darkest surrey.

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