The Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is one of the most important international gaming events of the year. — dpa
The technology-focused games medium is one where innovation thrives and new devices can instantly render old ones obsolete. But the gaming world can also be a bit stubborn in the type of content it releases. And if the rhetoric out of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo is to be believed, it's time for some outreach.
Before the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center even opened, when more than 66,000 people got a look at a number of the most anticipated upcoming games, the messaging from some of the major companies was clear: Games need to broaden beyond their core audience.
Ubisoft Chief Executive Yves Guillemot has repeatedly vowed to increase the number of global game players, from an estimated two billion now to five billion over the next decade. Electronic Arts, in promoting its subscription service, highlighted a commitment to broad, diverse indie content such as Sea Of Solitude, a game about battling loneliness, and Microsoft has been bullish about its "gaming for everyone" initiative, efforts focused on broadening its developer roster and making its online communities more welcoming.
All are acknowledgments, in one way or another, that there are multiple barriers to entry in gaming, ranging from cost to inclusivity. "We love the capability of gaming. We love that it brings people together, but we also understand that it's definitely not a perfect environment, and there's work that we can do," said Phil Spencer, who leads Microsoft's Xbox division.
And yet if one were to judge the game industry solely by E3, both in what is shown in the large developer press conferences and given prominent display space on the show floor, one may notice a contradiction. With a few exceptions – Microsoft, for instance, highlighting Psychonauts 2 and domestic indie thriller 12 Minutes – one would see largely more of the same; that is, vast games with vague conspiratorial or dystopian plots and lots of violence.
No one not already in tune with the gaming world will be swayed by E3. "No," agreed Pete Hines, a top marketing executive with Bethesda. "There's no reason why you would expect that they would."
But that may change, said Hines and other industry experts, as subscription models become the norm and streaming technology is finessed. The hope is that the ability to stream a game on, say, a smartphone, will make the medium more appealing to those who either don't want or can't afford a gaming set-up.
Add in what's seen as an eventual shift to a subscription-driven market, and smaller, more indie-minded games could see additional players giving them a shot, in turn broadening the audience for less mainstream content.
Role-playing game Moonlighter, published by Polish indie studio 11Bit, sold 500,000 copies, said the company's Piotr Bajraszewski. "But still there's a high potential to sell more," he added. He hopes those who try the game via Electronic Arts' subscription platform, with price tiers ranging from US$4.99 (RM20.64) to US$14.99 (RM62.01) per month, will eventually buy the game. But even if they don't, he said, to avoid the network is to ignore "an additional channel to reach out to players".
There's still much to sort out. Google is pitching a streaming service that allows players to forgo owning a pricey PC or console while Microsoft, for now at least, is envisioning a near future in which its subscription-based Game Pass can tap into the streaming tech of xCloud to allow its players the freedom to play anywhere.
There's sure to be some confusion in the short term. Should a player link with Microsoft's US$9.99 (RM41.33) Game Pass, Ubisoft's US$14.99 UPlay+, Google's US$9.99 Stadia, or a combination of multiple services in the same way a television fan may subscribe to Netflix for Stranger Things, Hulu for The Handmaid's Tale and CBS All Access for Star Trek: Discovery?
While there's some trepidation over how streaming will shake up a studio's business model, the ultimate hope is that nonplayers will stop seeing "games" as one all-encompassing genre and discover the breadth of content available within the medium. One could argue that all three aforementioned shows exist, in large part, because of the growth of streaming services.
If consumers buy in, the video game industry, which long ago turned a plumber into a superhero, may start to get even odder. A studio, for instance, accustomed to largely taking big bets may readjust its own approach and go for more niche audiences.
"We have some big tentpole stuff that we do very well at US$60 (RM248), but a lot of games don't," said Todd Howard, Bethesda's studio head. "There are certain types of games that people have kind of stopped making because it's not going to sell X at US$60. Well, maybe it doesn't have to? Maybe it can go into a subscription service." – Los Angeles Times/dpa
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