Major Labels and Why They Want Sameness

I'm gonna keep saying this "When I was a kid" we had a plethora of different game ideas being hurled at us.  The reason being is that the developers didnt know what would be a hit and what wouldn't.  Literally anything could be made example here  http://www.honestgamers.com/reviews/9233.html yeah a guy made out of vegetables fighting other foods...yeah.  Why not?  Seemingly there was nothing too bizarre to be made. But there were more successes than failures in my library-not sure if I was savvy or if the devs had great ideas.  I suppose it doesnt matter since my point here is that back then we had options.

Let's not make any mistakes video games are a billion dollar industry.  The right one could make your studio go from eating out of a soup can to driving lamborghinis.  When Blizzard started up they couldnt afford to pay their employees and issued promissory notes in some cases.  Now they are worth quite a bit.  Zynga started out with investment capital of 24 million (nothing to sneeze at) but within 5 years is now worth over 10 billion.  Yeah the B word.  Zynga is a good example of what this post is about.  Sameness.

Farmville Cityville Frontierville Castleville hell there is enough sameness in those games where I dont consider them to be separate of each other.  But it made them a shitload of cash.  How?  Lots of people played them...they sold ad space...the end pretty much.  Draw something?  Well they bought that off some kid for 30 million so I dont count it as their own and Dream Heights well that was stolen http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-tower/id422667065?mt=8  In a fair world Zynga would lose a testicle for this but we arent living in a fair world.

Now that picture is just for fun I do not hate Zynga.  I think that their business practices are deplorable and they are morally bankrupt but I do not hate them.  I simply make the point that they steal from small devs who dont have the legal muscle to go toe to toe with them.  They are unoriginal cowards but I do not hate them.  Anyway people line up to play the same game just re-skinned.  Tons of major labels do this.  I think the worst offenders are FPS games.  I grew up on Doom Quake and early COD.  Game mechanics are virtually the same.  It is basically the same game with different weapons and whatever loose story is roped in.
Or sometimes the story is overly complicated to the point where it doesnt even matter.

But people try and copy success and they are playing around in a field where there is a lot to be gained and a lot to be lost.  Major labels think copying and sameness will be safe.  To a degree they are right.  Sameness at best will grant you some stability but it will never grant you those huge sums you are chasing.  It is basically treading water.  The minute you go outside copying a game a large lead weight is tied around their ankles and they sink into the abyss...after some wonderful lay-offs.

As I said I have been around in games since the very beginning.  I have seen it's golden age.  What I am seeing now is greedy fools concerned with the profit margin rather than being inventive.  But it takes creativity and hard work to be new and fresh and any lazy fat idiot can copy something.  It is easy.  I am seeing a lot of major labels and devs concerned with easy money rather than givng the fans something new to cling to.

It's sad-I saw gaming go from fun and originality to "Who cares? people will buy it."  I promise you that we are working hard in my company to bring fun back to bring back how games SHOULD be...games...focus on fun and the money will happen-focus on money and the fun will never happen.