Counter-cultural to Corporate: The changing face of video games

Opinion from Starks - Wednesday, 23 June 2010 @ 11:11am

As someone involved in the corporate world, I’ve been continually amazed by the evolution of the video game industry to reflect the environment I work in as a ‘9-5ver’. When I began my gaming in the very late 80’s, and continued it through the 90’s, gaming was considered something geeky; an act committed in the deep dark of your basement by pimply skinned, glasses-wearing, obese or ultra skinny kids who wore too much black and not enough deodorant.

I’m happy to say that to claim myself as a gamer these days is not to ostracize myself from society but to be seen in an accepting and altogether welcoming general public – Indeed, more ‘adults’ today are like me, played the games I did and today visit the sites I visit. References to Penny-Arcade are no longer met with a blank stare and ‘Halo’ isn’t just something an ethereal being wears on his head.

But it’s gone too far. Gaming has become too main stream and the industry is turning into a powerhouse where money is the object and nothing else matters.

I make these points on the basis of looking at the major publishers and the people running them. Take Activision Vivendi as an example. Chief Operating Officer (COO), Thomas Tippl, told IGN in an interview at E3 last week that they were looking to improve their public relations since their company has copped some serious flak due to the Infinity Ward law suit, the decision to look at charging subscriptions for more of their games and the increasing prices of their downloadable content.

Tippl has been with the company for about 6 years, working his way up the ladder to get to where he is today. His previous experience is drawn from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market as he worked with Proctor and Gamble prior to joining Activision. The FMCG market, which is coincidentally the same one I have worked in for the past 4 years, is probably one of the most ruthless and profit hungry sectors in the entire marketplace.

Yes, I know most sectors are profit hungry, but given the major corporations in the industry are global corporations the likes of Johnson and Johnson, Colgate Palmolive, Unilever, Schwarzkopf and Henkel – These are giants of the commercial world and rank in Forbes Top 500 year in, year out. Tippl comes from this sector and has no doubt learnt that being the biggest means being in a position to not only dictate terms to the suppliers and retailers, but also in many ways to the consumer.

Looking at the other board members, you start to see a pattern of corporate experience develop – Brian Hodous worked with Cadbury - Schweppes before joining in 2006; Stephane Roussel worked with Xerox; Michael J Griffith worked also at Proctor and Gamble. The only man who’s been at Activision Vivendi that could be considered in touch with the gaming world is Robert Kotick, who has been with the company since 1991.

This theme isn’t exclusive to Activision Vivendi; Electronic Arts are in a very similar position. Peter Moore, the President of the EA Sports division, held a position at Reebok before working his way through SEGA and Microsoft. Kenneth Barker worked for Addidas for nearly 20 years before joining the board and John Riccitiello worked for Sara Lee and Clorox.

Even SEGA shows the same signs. Teetering on the edge of oblivion, SEGA was bought out by Sammy Corporation, Japans largest slot machine maker and Hajime Satomi took over as CEO of SEGA Corp.

The point I’m trying to draw you to is the face of gaming has changed irrevocably. Developers are now being pushed for safe titles that will prove profitable rather than necessarily being good games. In the case of Call of Duty, it’s about keeping an existing and successful franchise alive and well because it will rake the billions of dollars in every year – Invariably it is a cash cow to the company rather than a series trying to take gaming into new and interesting places.

Other franchises are the same and I don’t doubt that in 10 years Guitar Hero 50 will be released. People will continue to buy it because the marketing of these companies is just so effective and efficient despite the game not offering much more than GH:3. Halo: Reach-for-the-stars will no doubt arrive at some point because the Halo franchise has a following.

At each new release I’ll be told about all the exciting new options and changes and just how fricken BAMAZING the game is only to buy it, play it, and then use the disc as a coaster because it’s practically the same as the prequel released 12 months earlier.

What is confronting about this is I’m no longer convinced that I, as a gamer or even a gaming journalist, am even relevant even more. The reason for this is because I don’t feel like a gamer anymore; I feel like a consumer. I feel marketed to, I feel the victim of intense and wide ranging media plans that drive the hype of a game into the stratosphere and yet deliver very little in the way to truly expanding and challenging gamers through new and ingenious titles.

Added to this is the manner in which the big publishers treat the media as a mouthpiece for what they want heard rather than the link between them and the consumer. The Jeff Gertsmann incident three years ago at Gamespot springs to mind and even here at AustralianGamer.com, we do cop the wrath of publishers when we call a spade a spade as do other sites and the journalists we know from them.

To me, this is the result of corporate men and women entering into the gaming world. We’ve sacrificed artistic license for social acceptance. As games have transcended the gamer niche to meet the needs of the average consumer, they’ve dropped many of the ingredients that drew the original gamers to purchase the products. With Nintendo’s groundbreaking Nintendo Wii pushing gaming into the social scene and attracting consumers to the gaming market the big publishers have realized that it’s no longer about the gamer – It’s about the consumer.

The irony of this is in 20 years, should the rate of quality titles being released continue to slide, I have no doubt that the reviewers in the future will hail the above average game as amazing simply because it isn’t average.

I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m a negative, pessimistic and glasses-half-empty old whinger who is wrong. I hope for the sake of video games I’m so far off the mark that Matt and Yug call the friendly people with sleeveless jacket to come take me away to the happy place.

But the reality is I don’t think I’m far from the mark.