What EA fails to understand is that the world has moved past bad games, not past game archetypes.
It's big publishers that are trying to pigeon-hole games in archetypes, so that their MBA executives can make spreadsheets that add up to a nice, tidy, bottom line. Thus, in the case of EA, we have the butchering of DA:O into the "button-mashing-aka-visceral-combat" DAII, or "the let's-cash-out-of-the-franchise-and-move-on" MEIII.
Well, with tools such as Kickstarter and even Steam's "Early Access", the world has moved past that. The games we play don't have to be pigeonholed into "cRPGs" or "aRPGs" or "fast-paced" or "linear" or "open world" or "console-ports". Developers can make the game they want, the way they want it. And guess what, more often than not, the outcome is pretty astounding. What "mainstream" publisher would have picked up "Don't Starve" ? Or "Banished" ? Or D:OS for that matter. The video on Torment's webpage is pretty representative or that corporate mentality.
Frankly, I can't wait for Wastelands 2, Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera. Not because they are "classic cRPGs", but because they are made with making the game good in mind not whether they can fit the "c/aRPG" or "console compatible" or "fast paced" pigeonhole in mind.
It's not a matter of budget. Just look at big publishers that develop their own games like Bethesda and CD Projekt. Maybe they are not for everyone, but TES series or the Witcher are solid games and classics in their own right.
Yes, the world has moved on and it was about time if you ask me.
Last edited by Demuder; 05/08/14 09:52 AM.
