That’s the gist of his observation. We’re ”famous” for creating a great property and then ”running it and running it.” Are we just a software dairy farm?
Pretty much, yes. Although it’s not strictly true that every IP released that was ‘hot’ has been milked until boredom - unfortunately it is a widely practiced bad habit. ”I reckon it Call of Duty series will go on until people get bored of it,” said BBC’s Daniel Emery.
His comments are on the major launch of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops, of which Bobby Kotick is proud he milks that udder dry - he’s admitted it himself. ”The Games Industry is famous for taking a franchise and running it and running it,” he said.
”There’s a Football series called Football Manager (formerly Championship Manager) and that’s been running nearly 20 years and it’s still very very popular. When they get a magic formula they’ll milk it for all it’s worth.” Gamers are just as much to blame.
Studios and publishers may exploit their properties but mostly it’s because we’ve been clambering up the walls for more. Of course this isn’t limited to the videogames industry - film makers are just as guilty. Terminator anyone? Alien?
