The outspoken game designer, responsible for the PS3’s Heavy Rain and upcoming Beyond: Two Souls says that whilst it’s “great that you can shoot at monsters… “at the same time, what about giving the choice to people? Give them different options.”
“So if they like that they find it, but if they want something deeper and interactive, they can find that too.”
It sounds like he’s tired of shooters, and wants more innovation. “I think this industry needs more games like Journey because it’s a breath of fresh air; this is necessary in any medium,” he added. “How many first person shooters can we create per year? How many can we play per year? How many of them will be successful?”
“Even from a business point of view, does it make any sense? I’m not sure.”
“It’s not up to me to tell the industry what they should or should not do,” he says. “There are very clever people out there and they know what they want to do. I can only talk for my studio. I wouldn’t be interested in making just software to sell to people at Christmas. I’m not that kind of person and I’m not interested in that.”
“Journey was amazing,” he added. “It has nothing to do with what I’m doing. But it’s not so much about storytelling. It’s about emotion. It’s about trying something different.”
Taylor Made
Yes I’m sick of shooters year after year there is a shooter. We need more games like God of war, darksiders, trine 2 just different genre that doesn’t involve shooting.
Never played journey so can’t comment on a floating blanket
Forrest_01
You realise that you have mentioned 2 Hack & Slash games & a platformer right? Game genres that have been around since pretty much the dawn of gaming!
Also, you can shoot in darksiders. :P
Don’t get me wrong, i do agree with what you are saying, but i just think they are bad examples consiering what Mr Cage is banging on about.
Shakugan
I agree with Taylor, i’m also sick of shooters that’s why i have bought some WRPG, JRPG, Adventure games these past 8 months last time i bought a FPS/shooter was Resistance 3…. but about God of War series it’s also pretty boring now with the same combos, added some new features/upgrades and GoW 3 was best of the series and now they are milking series IMO… prequel to sequel, prequel to prequel etc. I’d rather play Bayonetta or DevilMayCry over God of War series even though i don’t like both of them that much.
Shakugan
*an FPS/shooter
My grammar -_-
Taylor Made
Dude how dare you! God of war can never be boring!! Lol but yeh I know what you saying though AC is the second biggest milker (COD) being the first.
I want a decent RPG that don’t lag (looking at you skyrim & fallout still the best RPG though) more games like heavy rain, ico & shadow of colossus, monster hunter eyc
Burgess_101
The industry will not die if games do not become more innovative. People will always buy COD (or another shooter). I know the majority of my friends only play FIFA and COD, my older brother only plays FIFA, COD and BF3. It is probably the most popular genre and it will never die out no matter how samey and boring it gets. I myself am not a big fan of shooters I think they are boring.
Dazbobaby
This is the reason why DayZ mod has become so successful, because its more of a survival simulator and less of a shooter.
Mirrors Edge didn’t pay that much for EA at launch, but once the ball got rolling it gained a massive (cult?) audience.
People will play alternative and different games, we just want the choice, so far our only real choice is Call of Duty or Battlefield.
Dazbobaby
I forgot to mention tablet/phone gaming.
They have to be innovative or die, and some of the best games are examples of “out of the box” thinking.
Some just twist current genre’s, but some redefine them.
BalramRules
Harsh words coming from David Cage, but I do think they’ve got some truth in them, but then again, I can’t imagine a world where nobody plays games, so I’m pretty sure that gaming’s going to stay as long as oxygen does. :P
jayjay119
Sounds like someone else thinks they have had a bigger impact on the games industry than they actually have had. While I do agree that shooters are becoming very tiresome now I’m not sure whether I’d rather a plethora of games such as Heavy Rain which are not far from interactive movies if the truth be told. I realise he is not saying every game needs to be more like mine, though. However, games that doo innovate and take risks can generally only go two ways; amazingly or badly and I know more which were the latter of that unfortunately. Mirror’s Edge being a recent example.
I do think it’s time for the games industry to stop focusing on shooters now, but there is still huge market for them so I do not think they will. With this in mind I highly doubt the industry would die. But, I do await the day when games are allowed to do their own thing again, instead of forced into the shooter bracket for sales, once more.
Forrest_01
Yeah, it won’t die, it just won’t be as ‘innovative’ as he would like it to be.
That said, there are a few too many ‘me-too’ shooters out there at the moment & things like Bioshock & Borderlands just go to show that if you innovate within a genre, you can still produce something quite different & special.
Dr_mohannad
the subtitle should have said “beyond two shooters” , Epic
bunimomike
He’s right and wrong, in a way. It won’t die out. It’ll just become even more generic than it is already. However, we’re innovation at every turn there’s just not enough of it. It’ll always be the case too (if we turn to the film industry for reference). The masses will want their Hollywood blockbusters but the more discerning punter also reaches for ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, Usual Suspects, etc. Sure, they won’t make as much money but will hopefully be financially rewarding regardless (and usually as their budget is that much smaller in the first place).
No.1 rule: Know your audience. Don’t like it? Go find another audience and cater to them. People will buy good stuff no matter where you are. Just be prepared to sell millions if you go niche.
Sympozium
I’ve been on about this since well…. I begun getting sick of shooters and the quality of recent games being a nightmare to play or navigate. What he says is true the industry must be more innovative with less of these generic shooters more of Borderlands and Bioshock is what we need not Call of Duty 0101010.
PSN, Steam and Xbl proves it can be with so many indie gems so more of that please.
Paranoimia
I notice people aren’t being as quick to knock him as they were when he said that the facial animation on LA Noire ‘wasn’t that great’. Seems since he proved it with the Beyond demo at E3, people have a little more respect for the guy. :-)