I was just discussing this issue last night with a fellow gamer my age (yeah, I know, it’s a bit something to be playing videogames at 32, but I plan to keep going until my damn thumbs fall out).
Anyway, the crux of the issue is this: all these wonderful videogames are being released lately that can be beaten in one sitting. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much. I’m speaking for the Playstation 3 community, but most of these games are multi-platform, so I’m also talking to 360 fans here.
I mean, let’s review. Call of Duty 4 is over very fast, probably about five hours of gameplay if you try to push yourself. Heavenly Sword is beautiful eye-candy and has some great gameplay, but it’s also over in about five hours (and has no online multiplayer mode, which makes it even worse than Call of Duty 4).
Assassin’s Creed is a great game, but any gamer worth his or her salt is gonna be able to finish that game in, again, 5 to 7 hours.
Now, Uncharted has just been released, and has been getting rave reviews, but it’s also only about five hours worth of gameplay. Ditto with Kain and Lynch. I believe that one is roughly 7 hours.
What gives, game-makers? Especially with the PS3. You have Blu-ray capability and you’re wasting it. These games could easily have been made much longer without having to write massive new amounts of code.
I’m telling you, industry folk, if you release a GTA IV that’s like five hours of gameplay, you’re gonna have a damn riot on your hands.
On the bright side, the games are really starting to impress me, especially the PS3 exclusives — but competition with the Xbox 360 is nothing but good news for everybody. Competition is great. And the 360 is also a fine machine that is getting shafted with small amounts of single-player gameplay.
Anyway, game makers are going to start to lose money from this. People are just not going to pay $60 for a five-hour experience, no matter how intense the five hours are.
I’m just begging you, Ye Vid Gods, make some games with significantly longer single-player time.
This is Abe Froman, Sausage King of Chicago ,signing off of his rant for the day.
Oh, and 360 fans — let’s band together for an evening and destroy as many Wiis as we can.
Hey Kip,
I enjoy your commentary on video games tremendously, but I must comment on your most recent rant on playable hours. I realize that you went to an extremely anti-establishment West Coast school that was likely committed to the idea that capitalism is a bad idea but what the hell? Wake up!
It doesn’t take a genius to realize a few things:
1. Much like Gangster Rap and Nike Basketball shoes, video games are not specifically marketed to you. The real purchasers of these video games are 16-25. You know what that means? You guessed it, short attention spans and a need for immediate gratification. You are certainly a part of the target, but you are not part of the demographic that is defining the market. Had you been in your thirties in 1997, do you really think you would have had a difficult time beating Shinobi, Goldeneye, Starfox, Mortal Combat or Gauntlet in 5 hours?
2. These games are made to sell. Do you think that EA Sports is going to come out with a version of Madden that allows you to update it every year and never buy a new one? Probably not. These adventure games are no different, they want you to buy Heavenly Sword, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty 4 and probably 6-10 more games within the year. If you spend all of your time trying to beat one of them, then their sales for the others will suffer. Given that 90% of a game’s sales are made in the first 3 weeks of its release, they need to make sure you’ve finished the game you bought 3 weeks earlier before they release the new one.
3. Finally, it’s their job to figure out what you will and won’t buy. For you to say that they are going to start losing money because the games do not play long enough is absurd. Look at history and please let me know when this grand era of gaming occurred – when the games played as long as one’s imagination would allow. It just doesn’t happen because it’s bad for business.
I think that’s pretty much it. What you should be really pissed about is the fact that your PS3 will most likely break before you’re able to talk a new chick into your bed.
I’m all for the Iraq war too. Keep up the good work Kip.
Okay. That’s a very well-written and interesting comment. There are people who can read and write who read my jabberings? Er…
First, let me assure you that while I did go to Berkeley, I managed to take a course that actually *touted* capitalism (our first day we put up death tolls of totalitarian regimes up on a projector, with Stalin’s Russia obviously at the top).
So let me respond…
1. The video game demographic is shifting. Now, it’s true I’m an old man playing young men’s games, but still…up to 30 is now becoming a marketable demographic. Isn’t the general target audience 18-32? I never played Shinobi, Goldeneye, or Starfox. Mortal Kombat isn’t “winnable” as such. Gauntlet, I only played the machine itself, and have no idea how long it takes. But what about games like Grand Theft Auto? That’s certainly geared towards a slightly more mature audience (although the 16-year-olds play it) and isn’t beatable in three hours. Ditto for Metal Gear Solid.
And I can’t listen to Gangster Rap anymore?
2. Good point, but you’re addressing the video game makers as a monolithic community. “They” can’t all release a game every three weeks in some kind of clandestine agreement. Yes, EA probably does that, but there (usually) are far more games coming out than I can possibly buy. But this is a good point.
3. I didn’t quite say they were going to lose money if they stop making games with a lot of playable hours. What I said was, if they release GTA IV and it’s five hours long, there’s going to be a damn riot. I stick by that. I don’t have the post in front of me, and I may have said more people are going to rent games, and I think that’s true. Although rentals are, in a way, sales…just not as lucrative as sales.
Unfortunately, my PS3 has given me no problems and I’ll probably be on my third one before I get a new chick into bed. Especially if I keep wasting my money on games that don’t last long.
And woot, one more for Iraq. That makes…um…I think three or four of us in favor of action there. Fourth guy is wobbly.
Anyway, good post.
Oh, I forgot: what about games like Oblivion and Final Fantasy? Yes, yes, they’re role-playing games, but that shouldn’t change the “short attention span” argument, right? And Final Fantasy is definitely geared towards a younger audience than folks my age, although I love those games. You can spend months playing Final Fantasy…and I still haven’t even cracked halfway in Oblivion, which was one of the first next-gen games I bought…
…please where can I buy a unicorn?
If you're saying videogames haven't been released with a lot of playable hours, obviously you missed Fallout 3, Borderlands, GTA IV, and Assassin's Creed II.