Livingstone: Videogame is all about gameplay

Ian Livingstone is considered as one of the foundations this industry was built upon. He is currently manning the Product Acquisition Director post over at Eidos. Livingstone has seen a lot and gained enough experience for his words to be taken as wisdom. Recently, our guy gave shed some light once more about the relationship between gaming innovation and technology.

He explained that some developers and publishers are afraid to take risks these days. The problem, as he pointed out, can’t be blamed on just one matter. First, Livingstone argued that the industry has chased the same market for so long. He explained:

We’ve chased the same market for far too long and now the economics are not working out. Games are costing too much in the front line market for hardcore gamers. Plus, there’s innovation as the market permeates through society on different platforms and therefore attracts a new audience – PC downloads, online games, mobile and other wireless devices that broaden the market, such as the PSP and DS.

This actually not the first time he reiterated this belief. His latest project in fact, involves classic book series Fighting Fantasy being adapted for the PSP and DS. In this upcoming release, Livingstone teamed up with fellow veterans Steve Jackson and company Bad Management.

Speaking of which, the Eidos boss also mentioned that giant publishers’ control of the market is beginning to become a problem. He lamented:

The problem is that on consoles the major genres are jam-packed full, and you have a few genre-owning games. First-person shooters, war games, they’re all dominated by big franchises, so it’s hard to be original in those genres. Publisher’s don’t want to take extraordinary risks, they want a balanced portfolio of products. They may take a risk on a few things, but they still want to bank the big titles in the big genres that do well.

Lastly, he admitted that Nintendo has taken a few good steps in changing the face of the industry’s stagnating pool of innovations. He highlighted that there are only three important things when it comes to gaming. They are gameplay, gameplay and more importantly, gameplay.

Ian Livingstone is considered as one of the foundations this industry was built upon. He is currently manning the Product Acquisition Director post over at Eidos. Livingstone has seen a lot and gained enough experience for his words to be taken as wisdom. Recently, our guy gave shed some light once more about the relationship between gaming innovation and technology.

He explained that some developers and publishers are afraid to take risks these days. The problem, as he pointed out, can’t be blamed on just one matter. First, Livingstone argued that the industry has chased the same market for so long. He explained:

We’ve chased the same market for far too long and now the economics are not working out. Games are costing too much in the front line market for hardcore gamers. Plus, there’s innovation as the market permeates through society on different platforms and therefore attracts a new audience – PC downloads, online games, mobile and other wireless devices that broaden the market, such as the PSP and DS.

This actually not the first time he reiterated this belief. His latest project in fact, involves classic book series Fighting Fantasy being adapted for the PSP and DS. In this upcoming release, Livingstone teamed up with fellow veterans Steve Jackson and company Bad Management.

Speaking of which, the Eidos boss also mentioned that giant publishers’ control of the market is beginning to become a problem. He lamented:

The problem is that on consoles the major genres are jam-packed full, and you have a few genre-owning games. First-person shooters, war games, they’re all dominated by big franchises, so it’s hard to be original in those genres. Publisher’s don’t want to take extraordinary risks, they want a balanced portfolio of products. They may take a risk on a few things, but they still want to bank the big titles in the big genres that do well.

Lastly, he admitted that Nintendo has taken a few good steps in changing the face of the industry’s stagnating pool of innovations. He highlighted that there are only three important things when it comes to gaming. They are gameplay, gameplay and more importantly, gameplay.