re: The Cory Barlog Interview, Part II

Ginger Yellow — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:39:21 GMT

The film industry comparison is an interesting one, and it's also perplexing. The "you're only as good as you're last movie" mentality (and the whole business model of studios) seems to give creative people a degree of freedom (within limits, of course) they don't have in the games industry, despite the fact that films are surely driven by marketing even more than games and that more is at stake with each film. It's odd that the games industry is still stuck in the early days of the 20th century when it comes down to top down management and control of talent, yet it's much more open to new technology like digital distribution and the "products" themselves are much less polluted by marketing pressures (as a rule - obviously there are exceptions). At the end of the day, Halo 3 is a damn good game. So is Madden. Can you say the same about Spiderman 3 or Charlie's Angels 2? I suppose part of it is down to the celebrity culture in films that hasn't yet spread to games. How many people even know who the lead designer (for example) is on most of the games they buy? I'm hopeful that the spread of digital distribution and the revival of the independent games industry is going to force a shift in the structure of the industry, with creative teams able to capitalise on ideas, technology and opportunities without being restrained by lock-in contracts with massive publishers. I'm not that hopeful, however.

re: The Cory Barlog Interview, Part II

SuperEffective — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:06:56 GMT

Great interview.