Top 5 video game developers that have wasted their talents – Reader’s Feature

A reader lists the five developers he believes have squandered their abilities, from The Last Of Us maker Naughty Dog to Metal Gear’s Hideo Kojima.

There is a problem with video games that has become very apparent in recent years, which is that they now take a lot longer to make than they used to (and need a lot more money). Even casual gamers are becoming aware of the problem but one of the knock-on effects of a game taking six or more years to make is that some developers are producing only one game a generation, and sometimes not even managing that.

Not only that but they have to choose what it is they’re making even more carefully. You can’t risk anything too experimental if it’s going to cost a fortune and be your only way of generating money for another six years.

I feel this is a big reason behind the problems in gaming at the moment and I also think it’s making some of the already self-destructive tendencies of some developers even worse.

Sadly, I had quite a few ideas for this list and at one point was going to include FromSoftware, because they seem stuck making nothing but Soulslikes. But since they’re all really good, and they did make that weird VR game that nobody played, they didn’t make the cut.

I also considered Bethesda, but their problem is not that they’re wasting their talents but that they refuse to learn from their mistakes or get other people to help them. We should be on Fallout: New Vegas 3 by now but either Bethesda are too arrogant or too controlling to stop with the micro-management.

5. Bungie

In the 2000s, Bungie would’ve easily made the top five of anyone’s list of the best developers. They were on fire with the Halo series, and they seemed to do the right thing by leaving it while they were on top and making a big hit of Destiny. But then they fell out with Activision and Destiny 2 went on a sharp decline that it’s clearly never getting out of.

For the last few years there’s been talk of Bungie doing lots of other games that aren’t first person shooters but in the end all they’ve announced is Marathon, which is clearly dead on arrival. They’ve completely wasted the last 10 years (bad management is the reason always given) and if they’re even still around by the end of the year I’ll be shocked.

4. Naughty Dog

The problem with Naughty Dog is that, in terms of basic gameplay, they’ve been making the same game for nearly two decades now. Uncharted and The Last Of Us might have different tones but they still play the same and I’m really getting tired of it. There never needed to be a The Last Of Us Part 2 – there certainly never needed to be a remake of Part 1 – but they’re kind of trapped by their own success, like a typecast movie star.

I’m hopeful that Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will be something different but I have a feeling we’ll still be throwing rocks to distract bad guys at some point. I’d just like to see them do something different and inventive, not the same old games where the only thing that’s different is the story.

3. Rockstar Games

In their early days Naughty Dog used to make Crash Bandicoot and Jak And Daxter but Rockstar used to be even more varied, with everything from Smuggler’s Run to Midnight Club, Oni, Manhunt, and Max Payne. Heck, technically they used to make Lemmings. Now though they make GTA or GTA in the Wild West and that’s it.

When Rockstar were coming into their own they used their success to do whatever they wanted, whether it was a table tennis game or a game of The Warriors. They didn’t seem to care as long as it was something that interested them. But now that GTA is the biggest thing ever, that success has got too much and they’re stuck making only sequels and never inventing anything new.

2. Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima isn’t quite like these other picks because not only is he just one guy but none of his games, not even Metal Gear Solid, have been that big. But that’s not the point. The problem is that one of the world’s most celebrated developers has been stuck working on the same franchise (that was past its sell by date by the fourth entry) for 80% of his career.

And then, when he broke away and started up his own company, he made a weird, bonkers game and then followed that up with… a sequel that hardly did anything different and completely didn’t need to exist. I say this as a fan too, because I do admire the man, but there’s an alternative timeline out there where he’s made a completely different game every time and I wish that was the one we lived in.

1. Valve

No matter what these other companies have done, whether it’s being victims of their own success or management problems, Valve will always be the most disappointing. When they made Portal 2 in 2011 they were on top of the world, unstoppable and unquestionably one of the best video game developers in the world. Now? They just run Steam and don’t really make games anymore.

They definitely haven’t made a normal single-player game since Portal and at this point I don’t think there’s any reason to expect they ever will. But why? Why throw away all that expertise? Didn’t the people at Valve enjoy making video games? Wasn’t it satisfying, and lucrative, to have so many hit games, one after another? I just don’t get it; it’s such a waste.

By reader Goldie

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