Niche vs. Mainstream
We’ve all heard the story of
Rareware’s rise to fame and subsequent fall from glory. At one time the
undisputed kings of the platformer and shooter genres among others, the company
took a significant tumble when they were wholly purchased by Microsoft. After a
few years of making good but poorly selling titles, it seemed the end of the
line for the developer’s glory days came with the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. After
that game turned in disappointing results both critically and commercially,
Microsoft went to Rare and told them that the colourful cartoony platformer’s
days were over, and relegated the once legendary developers to working on tech
demos for the new Kinect.
While these days Rare seems to be
making a comeback, with the original Banjo
developers forming their own indie studio and releasing Yooka-Laylee, as well as Rare itself
finally returning from the depths of Microsoft to release pirate game Sea of Thieves, it’s important to
remember what happened to them a few years ago, for one particular reason:
exactly why Microsoft sent Rare to make the Kinect Sports games, and how it
resulted in the company splitting in two as it were, with most of the original
Rare braintrust creating indie studio Playtonic Games.
One of the most famous and renowned
developers of the ‘90s was almost destroyed because Microsoft thought nobody
wanted Banjo-Kazooie style games
anymore.
We’ve spoken at length before at how publishers can make some really stupid decisions (and trust me, it’s a topic
I’ll probably be going back to many times in the future), but I wanted to talk
about this one for one specific reason: a few weeks ago, PC Gamer reported that
this year, Stardew Valley outsold Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on Steam.
If you’re unfamiliar with it, Stardew Valley is a farming/life sim
style game, sort of a spiritual successor to the Harvest Moon series. I personally wasn’t super into the game, but I
can definitely see the appeal to other players. But the game itself isn’t what
matters here: it’s the sales. Despite any personal misgivings over the quality
of the franchise itself or that it seems to be on the wane in recent years,
there’s no denying that Call of Duty is
still a gargantuan franchise. So to be outsold by an indie pixel-graphics
farming game poses the interesting question: is it time for the triple-A
developers to start thinking outside the box?
I’m not sure when this started, but
once publishers discovered that big guns and big explosions sold really well,
that became the most popular genre of game to make. The Xbox 360 is a prime
example of this. Look at the highest selling games on that console: Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Call of Duty and
Gears of War dominate the charts,
leaving little to no place for Rare’s famous bear and bird.
Today, on the other hand, we’re seeing
an upswing in innovation of old genres, with games like Stardew Valley and Yooka-Laylee
leading the way. While the original franchises these games are inspired by
aren’t really around anymore, these new indie developers are taking it upon
themselves to revitalize old genres.
And you know what? It’s working! Stardew Valley was an enormous success
last year, with it topping several Game of the Year lists. Similarly, Yooka-Laylee saw one of the biggest
video game Kickstarters ever, and is on target to release this April.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the
Night, an homage to the Castlevania franchise
helmed by developers of the original games and due for release next year, is also garnering lots of attention. Even Mighty
No. 9, as disastrous as that game was, was Kickstarted because it was a
spiritual successor to the Mega Man franchise,
yet another hallmark of gaming’s past that seems to have fallen by the wayside
in recent years.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from
watching the indie community flourish in recent years, it’s that nostalgia
sells. Both Mighty No. 9 and Yooka-Laylee boasted lucrative
Kickstarter campaigns, each gathering well over 1 million dollars. So with that
kind of money on the table, why are the indie developers the only ones taking
advantage?
In the end, it all ties back to sales.
Publishers like EA or Ubisoft want something that they know will sell well.
We’ve seen this before when we learned that EA almost gave Battlefield 1 a no-go because they were unsure the World War I
setting would sell well with the kids. The sheer brainlessness of wanting to market
an inevitably M-rated game to kids aside, while we’re seeing more innovation
out of the major publishers recently than we were a few years ago, we’re still
not quite out of that “modern warfare” phase of gaming the Xbox 360 ushered in.
While the mainstay franchises are trying new tactics and angles to stay afloat
(last year saw the previously mentioned Battlefield
1 and Call of Duty deciding to go
to SPAAAAAACE!), those are still mainstay franchises with their hardcore
fanbases. But while that may be the truth, they’re not going to last forever if
they keep doing the same thing. The time is coming for developers to try
something new and different or risk being lost to the ever-changing industry,
and sometimes the answer to that might just be in the past.
Song of the Week
Since we had a tribute to Rare this
week, I’ve decided to choose Freezeezy Peak from Banjo-Kazooie. It’s my favourite song from the game easily, adding
a great background to one of gaming’s best snow levels.
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