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Industry legend Ron Gilbert, the man behind The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion and the imminent DeathSpank, has told VideoGamer.com that video games must look to the movie industry model if it is to become more rounded.
Asked if there is a danger of the hardcore game dying out, Gilbert was adamant that these games still have a very important role to play in the growth of the video game industry.
“No, not at all. I look at hardcore gaming the same way I look at summer blockbuster movies,” explained Gilbert. “You know, the summer blockbusters are really important to the movie studios, and in some ways they fuel a lot of their profits. But the movie industry is able to make a lot of different types of movie. They make romantic comedies, they make weird little art films, they do all sorts of interesting things – and I think that’s where the games industry is starting to head.
“The hardcore games may always fuel the profits of large companies, but I see them [publishers] now looking to take chances on other types of games, realising that we need to become a more rounded industry, as films are.”
The emergence of digital distribution platforms has allowed these other types of games to gain traction, which is of particular interest to Gilbert.
“I think XBLA and PSN are wonderful platforms,” he said.
“They really allow games to go out there and not have to spend 30 or 40 million dollars to make them. You can have much, much smaller budgets, which allows developers and publishers to take more risks with things, to take chances and do things that are going to be a lot more innovative. I don’t think DeathSpank would ever have gotten made as a $30 million game, you know? It’s too quirky, but it’s absolutely perfect for the downloadable services. I love those services. I think in some ways they really are the future.”
Gilbert added: “I would much rather make smaller games. I think having smaller development cycles, being able to make more games, faster, being able to take chances and experiment with different things, these are definitely the things I’m interested in. I really hope those services continue to flourish, as I really enjoy doing stuff with them.”
Gilbert’s next game, DeathSpank, is scheduled for release on July 13 on PS3 and a day later on XBLA.
