A lot of games are boring and bland, with nothing really cool or original in them. With all the money behind modern games, you’d think games lacking that little extra something that makes a game stand out would be canceled so the budget can be better spent. Why isn’t it the case?
Here’s a short list of the people who can veto any idea in a typical licensed game:
- The designer of the game
- The studio’s producer of the game
- The owner of the studio making it
- The producer responsible for the game at the publisher
- The higher management of the publisher
- The producer responsible for the game at the licensor
- The higher management of the licensor
Optimistically, that’s 7 people who can say “No” to anything going in the game — realistically it’s probably more than that.
By definition, creative ideas are unproven. How likely do you think it is for an unproven idea to survive through 7 levels of approval? Most games are bland because only safe, boring, proven idea can get through this process. Truly creative stuff must usually short-circuit this process to get made.