Paula
01-29-2004, 01:34 AM
Yes yes, this is old. :) Hereīs my own theory to what happened to adventure games. Note that I will not mention Myst, or claim the genre made a suicide. ;)
In the 80īs console games were the mass market machines for casual gamers. Computer games were a niche market. There were lots of different genres for different kinds of players.
At the beginning of the 90īs the situation changed, thanks to three things: fast processors, the Internet, and CD-ROM. Wolfenstein 3D showed the way, Doom broke the bank. Suddendly the PC was the coolest game machine out there. Computers were faster than consoles, and they had the ability to show 3D graphics. No censorship. A new kind of PC game audience was born: young male action gamers, who used to think Sonic was cool.
The CD-ROM gave the opportunity to have excellent graphics, music and sound effects. Voice-over actors and video became a standard. The production costs went up the roof. Thanfully, thanks to the increasing popularity of the Internet, more and more people had PCs. Game companies could compensate the huge costs by selling their games to larger audiences.
Thanks to the lucrative situation, LucasArts decided to concentrate their efforts on pressing money with Star Wars games. Sierra continued to make adventure games, but they decided FMV was the new way to go and it would be the only way their adventure games would be made. Sierra produced hardly anything else but trash at that period. "Multimedia" and "interactive movies" became new keywords. They were thought to be the next big thing, everyone wanted in. Smaller game companies, that used to produce adventure games, were bought by bigger companies. Many of them started creating multimedia products, as this was an easier way to make money. New companies emerged. They had no experience in making games, and the production values of their products were sub-standard. Lots of junk was sold as adventure games.
There were not enough good adventure games to support a large audience or attract new ones, and more than enough trash to alienate the old one. The adventure game core audience was now different from gaming core audience, and because there wereīt any interesting games for them in the market, many of them left gaming entirely.
Then came the PlayStation, and things changed again. Consoles were suddenly a threat again, and the competition became very fierce. Game industry changed. The game companies became stock companies. The shelf-life of an average game was two weeks, but it could take years to create a game. Ninety percent of games were done at a loss, only 10% managed to make enough money to compensate the flops. One expensive flop could kill even a big company. Many companies were at the brink of death. No matter the difficult situation, they had to have a good financial situation at the end of each quarter, or their stock holders (who didnīt know nor care anything about games or making games) would leave, and their company would go down under. The easiest route was to lisence a popular engine and make a game as quickly as possible, preferrably from a genre that was known as a good seller. Risk-taking was a big no-no.
Adventure games didnīt sit too well with this situation. They took a long time to make, and they sold steadily instead of in quick spurts. It took longer to get the investment back. They needed, more than any other genre, good writers. Really good writers are hard to come by, and they are pretty useless doing anything else. The current core gaming audience didnīt much care about the genre. Adventure games were pretty much dropped. Many other genres with similar "problems" had the same fate: RPGs (were later revived, they had the advantage of having pen and paper RPG gamers), turn-based stategy games (were later picked up by small publishers) and high-end flying simulations (still havenīt recovered).
Gaming was a strange phenomenon; even though the industry was huge, the mass media was not interested in it (except when they could use it as a scapegoat in moral panic) and the general audiences knew very little of games. The core audience was still the young male, and every game company tried to reach that market only. Anyone who published games, that were typically not this audienceīs cup of tea, would soon find out they had no audience at all. Adventure games were often considered "dead".
Now the situation changes again, slowly but surely. The industry has gotten big enough for companies that concentrate on niche audiences. Already we have a game company that is seriously dedicated to adventure games only. More and more people have computers at home, and women have become comfortable using them. Games are, little by little, getting attention in the mass media. There are more older gamers than ever. Girls and women have taken over the massive Final Fantasy /console RPG communities, because they love games with good stories and characters. Game companies have come to learn that their old adventure games are still selling, and they actually do sell well but over a longer period of time. Sierra and LucasArts are again showing interest in producing adventure games. Sokal, Jensen and Tornquist are working on new adventure games, and they have already proven themselves. This is not a bad situation to be in! :)
In the 80īs console games were the mass market machines for casual gamers. Computer games were a niche market. There were lots of different genres for different kinds of players.
At the beginning of the 90īs the situation changed, thanks to three things: fast processors, the Internet, and CD-ROM. Wolfenstein 3D showed the way, Doom broke the bank. Suddendly the PC was the coolest game machine out there. Computers were faster than consoles, and they had the ability to show 3D graphics. No censorship. A new kind of PC game audience was born: young male action gamers, who used to think Sonic was cool.
The CD-ROM gave the opportunity to have excellent graphics, music and sound effects. Voice-over actors and video became a standard. The production costs went up the roof. Thanfully, thanks to the increasing popularity of the Internet, more and more people had PCs. Game companies could compensate the huge costs by selling their games to larger audiences.
Thanks to the lucrative situation, LucasArts decided to concentrate their efforts on pressing money with Star Wars games. Sierra continued to make adventure games, but they decided FMV was the new way to go and it would be the only way their adventure games would be made. Sierra produced hardly anything else but trash at that period. "Multimedia" and "interactive movies" became new keywords. They were thought to be the next big thing, everyone wanted in. Smaller game companies, that used to produce adventure games, were bought by bigger companies. Many of them started creating multimedia products, as this was an easier way to make money. New companies emerged. They had no experience in making games, and the production values of their products were sub-standard. Lots of junk was sold as adventure games.
There were not enough good adventure games to support a large audience or attract new ones, and more than enough trash to alienate the old one. The adventure game core audience was now different from gaming core audience, and because there wereīt any interesting games for them in the market, many of them left gaming entirely.
Then came the PlayStation, and things changed again. Consoles were suddenly a threat again, and the competition became very fierce. Game industry changed. The game companies became stock companies. The shelf-life of an average game was two weeks, but it could take years to create a game. Ninety percent of games were done at a loss, only 10% managed to make enough money to compensate the flops. One expensive flop could kill even a big company. Many companies were at the brink of death. No matter the difficult situation, they had to have a good financial situation at the end of each quarter, or their stock holders (who didnīt know nor care anything about games or making games) would leave, and their company would go down under. The easiest route was to lisence a popular engine and make a game as quickly as possible, preferrably from a genre that was known as a good seller. Risk-taking was a big no-no.
Adventure games didnīt sit too well with this situation. They took a long time to make, and they sold steadily instead of in quick spurts. It took longer to get the investment back. They needed, more than any other genre, good writers. Really good writers are hard to come by, and they are pretty useless doing anything else. The current core gaming audience didnīt much care about the genre. Adventure games were pretty much dropped. Many other genres with similar "problems" had the same fate: RPGs (were later revived, they had the advantage of having pen and paper RPG gamers), turn-based stategy games (were later picked up by small publishers) and high-end flying simulations (still havenīt recovered).
Gaming was a strange phenomenon; even though the industry was huge, the mass media was not interested in it (except when they could use it as a scapegoat in moral panic) and the general audiences knew very little of games. The core audience was still the young male, and every game company tried to reach that market only. Anyone who published games, that were typically not this audienceīs cup of tea, would soon find out they had no audience at all. Adventure games were often considered "dead".
Now the situation changes again, slowly but surely. The industry has gotten big enough for companies that concentrate on niche audiences. Already we have a game company that is seriously dedicated to adventure games only. More and more people have computers at home, and women have become comfortable using them. Games are, little by little, getting attention in the mass media. There are more older gamers than ever. Girls and women have taken over the massive Final Fantasy /console RPG communities, because they love games with good stories and characters. Game companies have come to learn that their old adventure games are still selling, and they actually do sell well but over a longer period of time. Sierra and LucasArts are again showing interest in producing adventure games. Sokal, Jensen and Tornquist are working on new adventure games, and they have already proven themselves. This is not a bad situation to be in! :)