Tue, Mar 23, 2010 | 17:38 GMT
Cage: Publishers should “give more importance to creativity”
Quantic Dream’s David Cage has been on the interview circuit rather heavily since Heavy Rain was released, and in his most recent one, Cage chats about how the game is proof that publishers need to take more risks.
Speaking with the Guardian, Cage said he believes publishers should also “give more importance” to creativity.
“I always said that the success or failure of Heavy Rain would send a strong message to the game industry: if the game faced disappointing reviews and sales, it would mean that gamers are not interested in exploring different ways of interacting based on emotions and targeting an adult audience,” he said.
“As Heavy Rain is very positively received, I believe it clearly states that gamers are eager to play different types of games and that publishers should dare to take more risks and give more importance to creativity. I strongly believe that interactivity has the potential to become an art, it is just a matter of time.
“An analyst wrote that no matter how good Heavy Rain would be, it would not sell because gamers do not want to think when they play. I was really shocked by this idea, as if gamers were all stupid teenagers only interested in killing zombies in corridors.
“The commercial success of the game shows one thing: gamers are not who we thought they are. They are older, eager for something new, ready for more sophistication than what most games have to offer. The limits come from ourselves, game creators and publishers, but the market is now ready to see video games evolve to a more mature and meaningful media. As an industry, we should better understand that quickly and move accordingly if we want to continue to grow and expand our core audience.
“The amount of difficulties to create this type of experience is really significant, from the volume of script you need to write to the mass of Motion Capture and facial animations and graphics you need to produce, not mentioning the need for a new approach to interface.
“Bringing meaning to this media is for me the biggest challenge: you don’t only need programmers with some cool lines of code anymore, but you also need talented authors having something to tell. The first movies were made by technicians building their own cameras.
“Movies became an art when technicians worked on the technique and artists took care of the content. I hope this is going to happen in a near future in the game industry. We have incredibly talented people that just need time, some space and trust to invent experiences no one has imagined before. It is just a matter of time.
“Technology and graphics are just tools to create emotions, nothing more. Some games sometimes seem to believe the tool is more important than the content”.
The Taxidermist DLC is expected to land on April 1, and according to GTTV, the next game from Quantic is “already written”.
It might also be online.
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Posted in: Action, Development, Hot, PS3, Sony
Tags: david cage, heavy rain, quantic dream
25 comments
#1
Syrok
23/03/10, 5:44 pm
“gamers are eager to play different types of games and that publishers should dare to take more risks and give more importance to creativity.”
I certainly am and wish they would get a little bit more creative.
#2
onlineatron
23/03/10, 5:49 pm
While I don’t like his evangelical tone, I do appreciate what he’s saying.
I don’t want everyone to approach ‘different types of games’ his way, but I do want to see a greater emphasis on originality and adult themes.
‘gamers are eager to play different types of games’
If HR sales are anything to go by then this is true.
#3
theevilaires
23/03/10, 5:50 pm
Sony does I know for sure. Look at eye toy, games like Buzz, patapon, LittlebigPanet,and flower. Cage should also note Heavy Rain.
Microsoft I can’t really say they have creativity. They just copy everyone else. Their games are super safe in the meaning that they are just clones of repeated success they have had (HALO2,3,ODST)
Nintendo surprises us every now and then, but nobody tries fresh ideas or take more risk than Sony as a publisher.
I know I’ll be called a fanboy but whatever bring on your debates.
#4
Erthazus
23/03/10, 6:10 pm
@3 i agree with you. But sometimes Innovation is not a success.
I really want from Sony more success rather then innovation. They had enough games that uses word: Innovation.
#5
theevilaires
23/03/10, 6:23 pm
Saying you want success more from Sony than innovation will make you sound like a fan-boy, be careful. Innovation is what moves us to better things and closer to what we want to achieve in gaming altogether.
Sony deserves success don’t get me wrong, but as long as they are the first to innovate new technology into gaming they will always be a success to me.
#6
Erthazus
23/03/10, 6:30 pm
MAG is not a success and i can go on and on.
#7
blackdreamhunk
23/03/10, 6:31 pm
I am a genre jumper one of the reason I hate consoles…sorry console gaming don’t have a lot of genres
#8
theevilaires
23/03/10, 6:37 pm
I like MAG and although its not a commercial success I feel its still innovative on its large scale battles and 256 player multiplayer which has never been done on consoles before.
MAG2 will be a beast when they found out their mistakes with the original but don’t expect to see that until PS4 with 512 players on one map going crazy.
#9
theevilaires
23/03/10, 6:38 pm
blackdreamhunk said: I am a genre jumper one of the reason I hate consoles…sorry console gaming don’t have a lot of genres
Oh boy you are too funny.
#10
blackdreamhunk
23/03/10, 6:42 pm
ok I am too funny then does a console have any space sims, how rts, rtt,muder mistery,point and click,sims flight sims….do you want me to go on?
#11
Gekidami
23/03/10, 6:48 pm
Yes, yes they do.
#12
theevilaires
23/03/10, 6:50 pm
blackdreamhunk said: ok I am too funny then does a console have any space sims, how rts, rtt,muder mistery,point and click,sims flight sims….do you want me to go on?
Are you really nuts BDH or just bored?
Oh and that Murder mystery game on consoles you are talking about is the main headline pic of this article.
#13
Gheritt White
23/03/10, 6:53 pm
@ 12: I never thought I’d type this, but… TEA FTW.
#14
NiceFellow
23/03/10, 7:40 pm
I agree with him.
Although I do still like to shoot zombies in corridors, too.
Hopefully, what we’ll see as the industry matures is a nice, broad set of genres/games sensibly targeted to a diverse audience.
Games like Heavy Rain and MW2 can happily co-exist, and indeed publishers should note that rather than overcompeting in a narrow set of genres they would actually reduce and spread risk with a diverse portfolio of quality titles that complement rather than compete for the attention of just a slice of the total potential audience for videogames.
Also, who said MAG is not a commercial success? What criteria would count for the title? It was never going to remotely sell like MW2, but if it gets close to 1M worldwide and garners a loyal audience I think it will have done well and see no evidence it isn’t actually on track to do that.
#15
onlineatron
23/03/10, 8:17 pm
14 responses…
Used to be you’d click a VG247 article with 14 responses and be privy to an intellectual discussion of sorts. Now you click an article with more then 2 responses and you’re almost guaranteed a bunch of garbled nonsense.
Oh how I weep for you VG247
#16
theevilaires
23/03/10, 8:31 pm
Well why don’t you enlighten us with your higher intellect onlineatron. You gotta be in it to win it and your post are nothing special kid so shut up and stop trying to start stuff.
#17
onlineatron
23/03/10, 8:36 pm
I don’t wish to belittle anyone, despite how it may seem with my previous post.
I just feel there has been a quantum shift in tone on this website. The articles are still top notch but the comments tend to divulge into what piece of hardware is better and whether PC gaming is still valid.
Sorry if I came off a tad holy than thou in my last post, it’s just how I feel. I would contribute more but I find it difficult without a substantial level of give and take.
#18
theevilaires
23/03/10, 8:49 pm
“I just feel there has been a quantum shift in tone on this website.”
Yea those Sony bashing,XBOT trolling days are over. I’m sorry didn’t you get the memo when Mike and Psychotext decide to go AWOL.
The site has become a little slow with stellar comments due to the fact that there isn’t much good news coming out lately (other than great stuff about Sony) and the fact people are playing good games that they usually would never get around this time of year (BLAME MW2) so chalk it up or attempt to add some value to the site since it has given you much entertainment in the past.
#19
itsucks
23/03/10, 10:54 pm
stfu thesonybot. Still butthurt that comercial and critical sucess like MW2 own3d your precious uncharted 2 in the bafta awards? grow up (from your fanatism).
#20
theevilaires
23/03/10, 11:13 pm
+1 for itsucks
#21
Galactic_Barret
23/03/10, 11:24 pm
MW2 got more awards than UC2? MW2 was more of a critical success than UC2? I’m telling you: Twilight Zone.
#22
The Hindle
23/03/10, 11:37 pm
Offically Mag has done 500k worldwide and that was a few weeks ago. It do 1m easily.
#23
xino
23/03/10, 11:45 pm
just keep making more games for the new genre Interactive Drama!
#24
theevilaires
23/03/10, 11:50 pm
I agree XINO, but I hope they add more innovation to that genre from Heavy Rain steps.
Can we at least all agree the least innovative publisher is EA….with Acti coming in second
#25
DaMan
23/03/10, 11:53 pm
yeah, totally new. there were dozens of them in late 80s – early 90s.
it’s a fucking adventure game.