According to Splinter Cell: Conviction’s creative director Max Beland, “super hardcore” games are preventing the industry from progressing. He did not elaborate on his assertion, so one can only assume he is referring to games that typically do not appeal to a mainstream audience.
Speaking to Industry Gamers, Beland explained that his studio was striving for a “balance” with Conviction, between the core gamers Ubisoft knew were interested, and the less dedicated, the mainstream, who were not:
I think it’s a subject that is very touchy right now because as an industry we want to grow. We need to stop making games that are super hardcore. But we’re afraid because we don’t want to lose the hardcore people!
At the same time, it’s a challenge because the journalists – the people that rank us – are usually hardcore. So it’s a real challenge to find a balance and make your game [appealing to all].
Beland then went on to talk about how accessible a game should be, and whether a developer should tweak a game to make it more accesible to a larger audience:
I don’t like the word accessible because it makes it sound like you’re dumbing down your game. But to me, Call of Duty is very accessible. So yes, it is something we want to do – I’d love for 10 million, 60 million people to play the games we make.
While not destined for the PS3, Splinter Cell: Conviction is heading to the PC April 29th. Should developers, in an effort to attain a higher volume of sales, make their games easier to play, for a larger audience? By doing so, will they exclude the hardcore gamers? Post your responses in the comments section below.
