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Ron Gilbert on point n' click stagnation: 'I blame Doom'

Industry legend Ron Gilbert has cited Doom as the cause for slowing point n' click sales in the 90s, but reminds everyone that, "Adventure games never really died."

In an interview with Eurogamer, Gilbert sheds light on why he thinks the adventure genre felt a slow-down in the 90s, "Adventure games never really died. They kept selling the same number of units that they've always sold. The problem is that everything else was selling more units. They reached more of this stagnation rather than a dip."

"I blame Doom," Gilbert stated, "Because before Doom came out, games were a lot slower paced and people were a lot more interested in thinking and strategy. These are very kind of slow moving games and you just sort of absorb yourself into it. You just kind of enjoy the moment of being in the game."

"And then Doom came out... it was visceral, and it was fast, and you shot stuff, and gibs flew off of everything," Gilbert continued, "And it just kind of flipped a lot of people's thinking a little bit, and also attracted a much bigger audience into games. With the adventure game people stayed, they never left. But there were all these other people that kind of came and things like Doom just sort of started to dominate."

Gilbert is currently working on his latest game The Cave. Check it out here.

Thanks Eurogamer.

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In this article

Doom

Xbox 360, Nintendo GBA, PC, Nintendo Switch

The Cave

iOS, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii U, PC

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Dave Cook avatar

Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.

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