Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

[Ice Cream Truck]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

My take on this is because GTA1 came out in like 96 I think? Rockstar has been working on this series for 9 years. People have seen what Rockstar can do, so they are willing to help with the game in ways they can.

True Crime came out last year and it needs a bit more time to catch up with GTA. Alot of what we saw in TC we had already saw in GTA.

[Leon]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

One factor that I think is also important is the developer's dedication to releasing a quality product. Some developers don't have that luxury since they have to meet a deadline to be able to release their game and hopefully make a profit. Some of the bigger companies can delay their games to make it better, an example of which is Blizzard (Starcraft, Warcraft 3), and it shows by the quality of their games and how much they sell.

If most of the gaming-bigs did this we'd probably have far more quality games rather than mediocre to crappy games.

[Leon]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

One factor that I think is also important is the developer's dedication to releasing a quality product. Some developers don't have that luxury since they have to meet a deadline to be able to release their game and hopefully make a profit. Some of the bigger companies can delay their games to make it better, an example of which is Blizzard (Starcraft, Warcraft 3), and it shows by the quality of their games and how much they sell.

If most of the gaming-bigs did this we'd probably have far more quality games rather than mediocre to crappy games.

[BTB]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

Lol... on the point of just discovering new stuff, every day I see something new in this game its nuts. I wouldnt be surprised if the developers secretly programmed Vice City and Liberty City in there so that some nut in 3 months will decide to boat for 3 hours in the open waters and hit dry land and then start a massive thread on IGN. That would be the ultimate easter egg lol

[BTB]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

Lol... on the point of just discovering new stuff, every day I see something new in this game its nuts. I wouldnt be surprised if the developers secretly programmed Vice City and Liberty City in there so that some nut in 3 months will decide to boat for 3 hours in the open waters and hit dry land and then start a massive thread on IGN. That would be the ultimate easter egg lol

[Tmacattack]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

So in other words, a company like EA, who I'm sure works on dozens of games simaltaneously , allocates a certain amount of money on each game right?

And if thats the case, I cant help but ask, are they looking to make the greatest games ever, or the most money ever? Same question can be applied to other companies who work on multiple projects.

i think they are DEFINATELY trying to make the most money

[Tmacattack]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

So in other words, a company like EA, who I'm sure works on dozens of games simaltaneously , allocates a certain amount of money on each game right?

And if thats the case, I cant help but ask, are they looking to make the greatest games ever, or the most money ever? Same question can be applied to other companies who work on multiple projects.

i think they are DEFINATELY trying to make the most money

[jfsolo]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

[jfsolo]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

[mgoblue]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

I think you're right...sports games have an inherent market, sports game fans, and that group of people doesn't grow much. Having Madden, Live, ESPN NFL, NBA, whatever be the best game ever isn't going to have everyone and their mother buying the game. People who aren't sportsgame fans won't try it, no matter how good it is. Games like GTA have a larger market of people they target, so if it is a stellar game more people who wouldn't have bought the game will now buy it.

[mgoblue]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

I think you're right...sports games have an inherent market, sports game fans, and that group of people doesn't grow much. Having Madden, Live, ESPN NFL, NBA, whatever be the best game ever isn't going to have everyone and their mother buying the game. People who aren't sportsgame fans won't try it, no matter how good it is. Games like GTA have a larger market of people they target, so if it is a stellar game more people who wouldn't have bought the game will now buy it.

[Graphik]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

Good post, but its a good theory for sports games only. You cant really say the same for the other genres cause its plenty of games made for each catergory.

Lets take Fable for instance. How good would Fable have been if the size of the world was comparable to GTA:SA? If they put as much content in that game as GTA? I think it would of been much, much better than it was originally. What turned me off about that game was its simplicity and lack of depth and it was immediately known with no more than 1 full hour with the game.

Despite all the promises that were made by the devs and were axed by the time of release, the game still did well. But what went wrong in the developing process? Why did so many features get axed? Was it because they never exsisted? Was it because of money restraints?

Fable defitnitly would be a classic game if the ideas and concepts were utilized better. Were the intentions of the devs to release a sloppy, thrown together game? I doubt it but I cant help but wonder what if......

Back to the point though, games like Vietnam and Shellshock had the potential to be something really big but turned out to be another mediocore drink coaster sitting on the shelves. If the devs had more time or more money, could they have possibly created a classic game?

Thats all I wanna know. The number of pure and utter garbage games far exceeds the number of good quality games. And that not counting the games that are alright to decent to acceptable. How many good quality games do we have for our current consoles? Not many. Why, thats what I wanted to find out. Its enough info here to come up with a legit theory though.

[Graphik]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

PC games like Myst or the Sims and console games like GTA or Halo have no ceiling when it come to potential sales. The better the game the more it will sell there is a simple financial advantage to making the best game possible. Rockstar has good leadership and vision and talented people and with their past success, money to spend.

Sports games don't have that unlimited sales potential. Lets take the upcoming college basketball games. There's probably a customer base of 1.5 to 2 million people max. Reguardless of quality, MM will probably outselll CHoops at least 2 to 1 based on name brand and marketing alone. Lets say IGN, Gamespot, and all the large non sports oriented reviewing sights review CHoops and declare it not only the best sports game of the year, but declare it one of the top ten games of all time in any genre. Do you think that the game would have an exponential increase in sales? I say no. I think it would still lose to MM and would have less than a 30% increase in sales. The market just isn't there. Especially for sim sports games.

We all want companies(especially EA-because they would seem to have the money to do so) to spare no expense in making the best possible game they can make. With sports game there is no financial incentive to do so, only a ethical/moral one. If someone thinks I'm wrong and being too cynical please speak up.

Good post, but its a good theory for sports games only. You cant really say the same for the other genres cause its plenty of games made for each catergory.

Lets take Fable for instance. How good would Fable have been if the size of the world was comparable to GTA:SA? If they put as much content in that game as GTA? I think it would of been much, much better than it was originally. What turned me off about that game was its simplicity and lack of depth and it was immediately known with no more than 1 full hour with the game.

Despite all the promises that were made by the devs and were axed by the time of release, the game still did well. But what went wrong in the developing process? Why did so many features get axed? Was it because they never exsisted? Was it because of money restraints?

Fable defitnitly would be a classic game if the ideas and concepts were utilized better. Were the intentions of the devs to release a sloppy, thrown together game? I doubt it but I cant help but wonder what if......

Back to the point though, games like Vietnam and Shellshock had the potential to be something really big but turned out to be another mediocore drink coaster sitting on the shelves. If the devs had more time or more money, could they have possibly created a classic game?

Thats all I wanna know. The number of pure and utter garbage games far exceeds the number of good quality games. And that not counting the games that are alright to decent to acceptable. How many good quality games do we have for our current consoles? Not many. Why, thats what I wanted to find out. Its enough info here to come up with a legit theory though.

[nkhera1]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

Let me make a few points:

1. Sports games will never be as good as other games, because they don't have as much time (as mentioned above)

2. I think that ea definetely has the financial ability to blow sega/espn out of the water, but why should they when they are already selling enough games. Besides, companies don't care about making great games, they care about getting money anyway possible.

3. Most companies don't have the money it takes to make this kind of game. Only a few select companies can. The reason why GTA is so good is because their game caught on well with the public, so they were able to just keep modifing their base structure. Another publisher would have to come up with some kind of new twist. Also, most of us would buy GTA over some game that an unknown publisher came out with even if it is better for the most part.

[nkhera1]

Re: Why are games like GTA so few and far between?

Let me make a few points:

1. Sports games will never be as good as other games, because they don't have as much time (as mentioned above)

2. I think that ea definetely has the financial ability to blow sega/espn out of the water, but why should they when they are already selling enough games. Besides, companies don't care about making great games, they care about getting money anyway possible.

3. Most companies don't have the money it takes to make this kind of game. Only a few select companies can. The reason why GTA is so good is because their game caught on well with the public, so they were able to just keep modifing their base structure. Another publisher would have to come up with some kind of new twist. Also, most of us would buy GTA over some game that an unknown publisher came out with even if it is better for the most part.