Why Do Good People Make Bad Games?
There are a lot of things that frustrate me about the game industry, and to read my monthly editorials you might think I dislike it. But I don’t, of course. The frustration comes from love and an awareness of unrealized potential that I think almost everyone in the industry also feels.
Specifically I’ve been thinking recently about why good people make bad games. It’s amazing to me that I can go and speak with someone working on a movie licensed title, and they’ll be full of legitimate enthusiasm, real ideas, and almost convince me – OK, this time they’re going to get it right.
Then the game comes out, releasing day and date with the movie, with under a year of development time, and totally flops critically.
What’s depressing about this scenario is that nobody wonders why. Everybody on the team already knows! The schedule was too short, the demands from the licensor were unreasonable, and the project wasn’t well managed.
