GoW not really about innovation says Epic Games’ Fergusson

As a gamer, which do you prefer first – fun or innovation? For Epic Games Producer Rod Fergusson, he’s after the “fun” factor and he is clearly dismayed by the criticisms Gears of War is getting from people who think that the video game lacks innovation. The official even said that the gaming industry doesn’t impose a mandate on making innovative titles.

Fergusson shared these sentiments during the GO3 Conference held this past weekend in Australia. He suggested that you can’t focus on innovation too much because that will totally take away the fun. It’s about finding that sweet spot between the two, the producer added. Then he moved on and talked about evolution and revolution,

By taking more evolutionary steps rather than revolutionary ones, it allows you to take something gamers know and improve on it. And I think that’s what a lot of the game industry is about. Gears was able to say OK, we’re going to take this, and we’re going to evolve it and make it stronger. And I think a lot of games do that.

Somehow conceding, Fergusson said that on some level, the industry needs revolution. But that should be left to independent video game developers because, according to Epic’s official, these people don’t have to worry about selling millions of copies. According to Rod Fergusson, this is the price to pay for working with giant companies and all the commercial pressure they are imposing.

After that, Rod Fergusson somewhat shifted gears (no pun intended) and mentioned that Microsoft has been good at executing its marketing strategy for GoW. He said in length,

I think this is one of the strengths of Microsoft, that they have this continuity of message, this idea of having visual identities, making sure that their marketing is consistent. It’s something relatively new but they’re executing well on it. There are not a lot of games that you can put an icon up and have people immediately recognize what game it is, but we have that with the Crimson Omen.

Lastly, the game producer talked freely on the upcoming movie adaptation for Gears of War. According to Fergusson, the film would carry on the same themes as the video game but they are giving a lot of creative space to the film company handling the movie. He commented,

We had to come up with some creative guidelines where we set out the do’s and don’ts of our IP. But ultimately, you have to give control to the creatives in that medium, and let them do what’s best for that medium. Is it scary? Sure. But you have to allow them to create in their own space.

Via Gamespot

As a gamer, which do you prefer first – fun or innovation? For Epic Games Producer Rod Fergusson, he’s after the “fun” factor and he is clearly dismayed by the criticisms Gears of War is getting from people who think that the video game lacks innovation. The official even said that the gaming industry doesn’t impose a mandate on making innovative titles.

Fergusson shared these sentiments during the GO3 Conference held this past weekend in Australia. He suggested that you can’t focus on innovation too much because that will totally take away the fun. It’s about finding that sweet spot between the two, the producer added. Then he moved on and talked about evolution and revolution,

By taking more evolutionary steps rather than revolutionary ones, it allows you to take something gamers know and improve on it. And I think that’s what a lot of the game industry is about. Gears was able to say OK, we’re going to take this, and we’re going to evolve it and make it stronger. And I think a lot of games do that.

Somehow conceding, Fergusson said that on some level, the industry needs revolution. But that should be left to independent video game developers because, according to Epic’s official, these people don’t have to worry about selling millions of copies. According to Rod Fergusson, this is the price to pay for working with giant companies and all the commercial pressure they are imposing.

After that, Rod Fergusson somewhat shifted gears (no pun intended) and mentioned that Microsoft has been good at executing its marketing strategy for GoW. He said in length,

I think this is one of the strengths of Microsoft, that they have this continuity of message, this idea of having visual identities, making sure that their marketing is consistent. It’s something relatively new but they’re executing well on it. There are not a lot of games that you can put an icon up and have people immediately recognize what game it is, but we have that with the Crimson Omen.

Lastly, the game producer talked freely on the upcoming movie adaptation for Gears of War. According to Fergusson, the film would carry on the same themes as the video game but they are giving a lot of creative space to the film company handling the movie. He commented,

We had to come up with some creative guidelines where we set out the do’s and don’ts of our IP. But ultimately, you have to give control to the creatives in that medium, and let them do what’s best for that medium. Is it scary? Sure. But you have to allow them to create in their own space.

Via Gamespot