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Old Posted Apr 7, 2012, 7:40 AM
Jeeper Jeeper is offline
Jeepus Africanus
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Umudugudu, Rwanda
Posts: 1,820
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doady View Post
This new SimCity is just an example of how much the games industry has regressed in recent years. Game design isn't about making games great anymore. Here we have a needless multiplayer feature shoehorned into a traditionally single player games series solely for the purpose of DRM and preventing piracy without actually enhancing the gameplay in any significant way, if at all.

Being a gamer sucks these days, especially a PC gamer. But at least there is some hope on the horizon with the advent of crowdfunding of games through Kickstarter (e.g. Wasteland 2).

In the meanwhile I'll just stick with my Wii and old PC games from GOG.
Well said. I wonder if EA ever does an objective cost/benefit analysis when it comes to these decisions. I wonder if the conversation in the meeting goes something like:

Greedy Exec #1: "Man, Simcity used to have a huge loyal following. Many people are still modding and playing SC4 and even SC2000 after all these years. We need to tap that market again! Let's make Simcity 5!"

Greedy Exec #2: "Yeah and make sure an always present Internet connection is mandatory so we can slap some bloated DRM into it to stop all those pirates, even if the time developing the DRM takes away from the game's quality. Also, multiplayer. Every game must be multiplayer because FPS's are multiplayer and they sell really well."

Marketing Exec: "Well Simcity has always been a standalone single player game. We tried making it multiplayer in the past, and that other company also tried it with CitiesXL and both games bombed miserably. We should stick to the formula that worked so well for Maxis all those years and made a ton of money for us at the time."

Greedy Exec #1 to Greedy Exec #2: "Um, we're executives, so we know what the market wants. Let's grab lunch."
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Last edited by Jeeper; Apr 7, 2012 at 8:00 AM.
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