Parallel Worlds – Is the Games Industry Following in the Footsteps of Hollywood?
A quick bit of history (everyone’s favourite)...
THE STUDIO SYSTEM
During the Golden Age of Hollywood (1927-1948), the film industry was dominated by ‘the studio system’. A handful of incredibly powerful companies ran everything: they owned the studios, the sets, the distribution models. Even, to some extent, the actors, who were often tied into exclusive multi-picture deals.
COLLAPSE
However, by the mid-1950s, with television competing for audience attention and antitrust laws forcing large studios to split up production and distribution, the system started to fall apart.
As actors became freelancers, they could negotiate much higher pay, since they were who audiences were coming to see. This meant that movies became more expensive to make. To counter-balance that investment, studios took fewer creative risks, relying on rote, assembly-line pieces, like war films, Westerns, biblical epics, etc.
The result was ‘genre fatigue’. After all, there are only so many times you can watch John Wayne get off his horse and drink his milk (I haven’t seen many Westerns).
Skilled equestrian John Wayne
IN GAMING
Something similar seems to be happening in the world of video games. There have always been indie developers, but the industry has been dominated by a handful of mega-publishers for decades.
Whilst games are not necessarily vehicles for talent in the same way movies can be, they have seen a steady increase in the cost of production. Putting aside the increase in scale, the Horizon franchise went from a budget of $49 million with Zero Dawn to a whopping $212 million for Forbidden West. GTA: Vice City cost just $5 million to make (I still haven’t forgiven you, Lance Vance), but GTA V cost $265 million. To put that in a currency we can all understand, that’s about three of these:
Mark Rothko's Orange, Red, Yellow
At the same time (with notable exceptions), we have seen the continued dominance of ‘safe’ titles. Every year, the charts are topped by COD, EA Sports FC, Madden, etc. These games sell more than the competition every single year, even though they are effectively remakes of the same game with minor adjustments to features, new maps/skins, etc.
Yet recently, there has been a shift in the appetites of the gaming community. Recent follow-ups to large franchises have underperformed. Player counts for live-service games are down, and much anticipated new IPs have fallen flat due to lack of features, uninspired game design, and cynical mechanics like the gambling analogue of loot boxes.
So how are games adapting to the challenges of genre fatigue, and bloated production budgets? The answer, again, lies in the history of film.
RISE OF THE INDIES
Hollywood was rescued in the 1970s by several commercial* and critical successes that came from a new school of creators. Chinatown (Polanski, 1974), The Godfather (Ford Coppola, 1972), and Star Wars (Lucas, 1977) were modestly budgeted films that inspired moviegoing audiences and showed that Hollywood did still have something to offer beyond more of the same old thing.
Like with movies, gamers seem to be growing tired of the same experience in a different wrapper, and are instead turning to indie games with smaller budgets.
Helldivers 2, from Arrowhead Game Studios, is a simple squad shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead. Yet its accessible price (as low as £26.99 on Steam), tongue-in-cheek jingoism, and unlimited replayability has seen it regularly outstripping its player cap. Deep Rock Galactic is another squad shooter made by a studio with only 32 employees. It sold 2.3 million copies in 2022 alone!
Larian Studios is a proudly independent studio** who just made the Game of the Year in Baldur’s Gate 3. Granted they had a beloved IP to work with, and backing from outside investment, but they focused on two things that both film and gaming audiences are crying out for: story and character.
*Chinatown, now considered a classic, is largely considered a financial flop by film execs. From a budget of $6m, it only ever grossed $29.2m after several re-releases.
**Tencent has a 30% ownership stake in Larian, but not a controlling share.
The hirsute heros of Deep Rock Galactic
VIDEO GAMES AS ART
So what has changed? What needs to change? I would argue it’s perception.
Like most new forms of media, film took a while to become as respected as it is today. It found its place originally as a vehicle for mass entertainment, providing escapism during the financial upheavals and global conflicts of the early-to-mid 20th century. Movie tickets were cheaper than theatre or opera tickets, and so it was often looked down upon as an empty form of consumerism.
However, by the 1970s, it had solidified its place as a unique form of art.
Video games have often been looked down on as children’s toys. We all know the stereotypical portrait of gamers as a bunch of ne’er-do-wells. Despite gaming being the fastest growing industry on Earth, with the largest and most diverse audience (outside of people who love Phil Collins and his music), the myth persists. Yet in the background, games have quietly been ascending the cultural ladder. Games like Journey, The Stanley Parable, Shadow of the Colossus, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice have gone beyond simply aiming for commercial success. Rather they have something to say about the human spirit.
CROSSOVER
Is it, then, any surprise, that after nearly two decades of genre fatigue in Hollywood, the world of film and television is mining video game franchises for its next big thing? Gone is the world of the rushed film-to-game adaptation like Enter the Matrix, or Return of the King (which, regardless of the impetus behind their making, are still two of the best games I have ever played). Instead, we have seen the adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us taking home gongs at the Emmys and SAG Awards, the Mario movie making over a billion dollars at the box office, and an upcoming slate of video game adaptations intent on taking over our screens for the next decade.
The upcoming Borderlands film releases this August
CONCLUSION
So what does this all mean, Basil? Well, if my comparison with the film industry holds water, it means we are about to enter the equivalent of Hollywood’s 1970s: a golden age of independent game production. In a world of AAAA games (not a typo), perhaps the most interesting place to spend your time will be amongst the AAs.
P.S. it also means the 80s are around the corner, so I will finally be cool.
Me living my 80s dream in a TV spot for CSR2