The (Current) Future Of Video Games

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not what you would call a “casual gamer.” I may not be at the top of the leaderboards for any Call of Duty game, but I play lots and LOTS of video games. A lot of fellow gamers talk about their love of “hardcore” games, and disgust for “casual” games, but in labeling things as black or white, they’re missing out entirely on where video games are actually headed. The future of gaming isn’t hardcore or casual. The future is indie.

Basically, the current rift in video game circles is between smaller independently-developed games that offer up great gameplay at the cost of graphical polish (I can’t be the only one who thinks Minecraft looks hideous) or big-budget huge-developer/publisher games that cost way more, but offer up unparalleled, action-packed experiences. But, the line is getting harder to see. Take a look at Amnesia. Still not impressed? How about Hawken? Yeah. Those polished games? Those are indie games.

Hawken by Adhesive Games

Now, I could make the easy point that technology always advances to allow the little guys to catch up with the big guy, but that’s not the point I want to make. Like everything else in life, it’s not that simple, and new technology is just a tool for the creator.

Celebrity. That’s the point I want to make. Not everyone has seen Christopher Nolan’s Memento, but everyone and their mother has seen The Dark Knight. Both of these movies are about his passion (fun game: find the theme of time in every single one of his movies), but the difference is scale. The smaller indie movie gained Nolan acclaim and notoriety as a badass director. Seeing this cult movie’s success, Warner Bros. decided to throw big-scale money at him to see what he would come up with next. The parallel to this has already happened in the video game world. Just like people used to watch movies because they were produced by Paramount, and people used to play games created by Nintendo, players today who are serious about games know which creators they enjoy and follow their work specifically. David Jaffe, Tim Schafer, Jonathon Blow, Casey Hudson, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, etc. These are the Kubricks and Hertzogs, the auteurs, of the video game world.

Some companies have already figured this out (Valve *cough*). These companies (*cough* Valve *cough*) have already been hiring “video game auteurs” for years now. Since I lack subtlety, let’s take a look at Valve’s Portal and Portal 2. Valve released The Orange Box, which included their mega-hits Half-Life Two and its expansions, the big-budget multiplayer game Team Fortress 2, and an indie add-on called Portal. Soon, Portal became (for me anyway) the main selling point of the entire super-package. Not bad for a game created by a group of students. Originally released as Narbacular Drop by Nuclear Monkey Software, Portal impressed Valve enough for them to hire the entire development team, throw a couple of indie writers and money into the mix, and let these auteurs turn their work into possibly the most critically-acclaimed video game ever. So, for the sequel Portal 2, what did Valve do? The exact same thing: they hired another indie student team, Tag Team, and threw even more money and developers in to help the team. And it worked even harder.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Valve is getting more and more press lately for their Steam marketplace, which makes it extremely easy to check out demos (gaming’s version of a movie trailer) and buy and download indie games directly to your computer for around $5 – $10 bucks a pop. In addition to having daily sales, Valve also showcases new talent and games, much the way arthouse movie theaters do. Even Microsoft has realized the revenue inherent in helping out the little guy. Their Xbox Live service does the same thing for Xbox owners, and Sony and Nintendo are following suite in the coming months.

It just makes sense, doesn’t it? If you help talented people develop themselves on low-risk, low-budget games, then later you can pick the cream of the crop and invest the big money in them for a bigger return. But don’t be fooled. I’m not a businessman. I’m an indie gamer. So, while that method is a great long-term investment for your company, it’s also great for the environment of gaming itself.