What game franchises need a change of developer?

System Wars, there are a whole lot of franchises out there that are old, and have a lot of baggage behind them; franchises with history and heritage, that still survive, and yet arguably are struggling to even stay relevant. I believe that a franchise can be fully reinvigorated if a new development team, with fresh ideas and a new perspective, comes in and attempts to develop a new game in a struggling franchise. Of course, I believe that the core essence of the franchise still needs to be maintained at all costs, and that thus the new developer has a grave responsibility of maintaining the franchise's legacy, but also reinventing it and making it relevant again. It's a fine line to walk.

With all of that out of the way, these are the franchises I think should change developers, at least for the time being, and these are the developers I think they should go to:

The Legend of Zelda:I love Zelda, but the series is growing stale. It peaked on the N64, and since then it has been in a mad race with itself to recreate the glory of those days, even as its developers and custodians continue to completely miss the point of what made Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so great in the first place. i respect Aonuma for what he has done, but after having wasted nearly 100 hours of my life on Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I think he needs to step back from the franchise.I think either Monolith Soft or Retro Studios should develop the next Zelda game.

Final Fantasy:Another classic franchise that has completely lost its way, Final Fantasy's fall from grace is perhaps symbolic of the decline of its genre as a whole. Final Fantasy hit its peak in the Playstation era, and Square Enix, in an admirable attempt to keep things fresh, has continued experimenting with the games, until now, they are borderline unplayable, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and reduced to parodies of their former selves. Square needs to stop developing Final Fantasy and perhaps pursue something new. Meanwhile,I think Final Fantasy should be handed off to Level 5, since they are perhaps among the only developers that aren't owned by Nintendo who can make a competent JRPG anymore.

Fallout:Fallout 3 was widely acclaimed, but it was equally widely reviled by the fans; Fallout New Vegas, the follow up developed by Obsidian, is often held to be the true successor to the classic Fallout games, and general consensus holds that Obsidian 'gets' Fallout better than Bethesda. Therefore, I believeObsidian should be handed Fallout.

Resident Evil:Resident Evil's rapid decline was saddening to watch, as we saw the franchise completely lose sight of what it had been, and lose its hold on being a compelling horror game, to become in turn an incompetent action game. Honestly, I do not know how Capcom screwed up so royally, but they did.I think Platinum Games should be given Resident Evil,as I am confident that they can craft a great game that stays true to the roots of the series.

Prince of Persia:Whereas I loved Ubisoft's take on the classic franchise, adn I honestly don't think there has been a single Ubisoft developer or published Prince of Persia title that I did not enjoy, I still believe the franchise could benefit from a change in developers that would endow it with a sense of freshness again. To this end, I believePrince of Persia should be tackled by Naughty Dog;I would love to see what their motion capture techniques could do to the franchise.

What franchises do you think need or would benefit from a change of developers?

Devil May Cry. Ninja Theory should not have touched that series.

Devil May Cry. Ninja Theory should not have touched that series.

BPoole96

Wall o'text, bro.

Give us a TL: DR version. It's late here.

Battlefront 3 is the first game to come to mind. Strip it away from whatever is left of Free Radical/Crytek and give it to Bungie. Either that or resurrect Pandemic and let them finish this game. Super highly unlikely but oh well.:(

Battlefront 3 is the first game to come to mind. Strip it away from whatever is left of Free Radical/Crytek and give it to Bungie. Either that or resurrect Pandemic and let them finish this game. Super highly unlikely but oh well.:(

Blazerdt47

System Wars, there are a whole lot of franchises out there that are old, and have a lot of baggage behind them; franchises with history and heritage, that still survive, and yet arguably are struggling to even stay relevant. I believe that a franchise can be fully reinvigorated if a new development team, with fresh ideas and a new perspective, comes in and attempts to develop a new game in a struggling franchise. Of course, I believe that the core essence of the franchise still needs to be maintained at all costs, and that thus the new developer has a grave responsibility of maintaining the franchise's legacy, but also reinventing it and making it relevant again. It's a fine line to walk.

With all of that out of the way, these are the franchises I think should change developers, at least for the time being, and these are the developers I think they should go to:

The Legend of Zelda:I love Zelda, but the series is growing stale. It peaked on the N64, and since then it has been in a mad race with itself to recreate the glory of those days, even as its developers and custodians continue to completely miss the point of what made Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so great in the first place. i respect Aonuma for what he has done, but after having wasted nearly 100 hours of my life on Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I think he needs to step back from the franchise.I think either Monolith Soft or Retro Studios should develop the next Zelda game.

Final Fantasy:Another classic franchise that has completely lost its way, Final Fantasy's fall from grace is perhaps symbolic of the decline of its genre as a whole. Final Fantasy hit its peak in the Playstation era, and Square Enix, in an admirable attempt to keep things fresh, has continued experimenting with the games, until now, they are borderline unplayable, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and reduced to parodies of their former selves. Square needs to stop developing Final Fantasy and perhaps pursue something new. Meanwhile,I think Final Fantasy should be handed off to Level 5, since they are perhaps among the only developers that aren't owned by Nintendo who can make a competent JRPG anymore.

Fallout:Fallout 3 was widely acclaimed, but it was equally widely reviled by the fans; Fallout New Vegas, the follow up developed by Obsidian, is often held to be the true successor to the classic Fallout games, and general consensus holds that Obsidian 'gets' Fallout better than Bethesda. Therefore, I believeObsidian should be handed Fallout.

Resident Evil:Resident Evil's rapid decline was saddening to watch, as we saw the franchise completely lose sight of what it had been, and lose its hold on being a compelling horror game, to become in turn an incompetent action game. Honestly, I do not know how Capcom screwed up so royally, but they did.I think Platinum Games should be given Resident Evil,as I am confident that they can craft a great game that stays true to the roots of the series.

Prince of Persia:Whereas I loved Ubisoft's take on the classic franchise, adn I honestly don't think there has been a single Ubisoft developer or published Prince of Persia title that I did not enjoy, I still believe the franchise could benefit from a change in developers that would endow it with a sense of freshness again. To this end, I believePrince of Persia should be tackled by Naughty Dog;I would love to see what their motion capture techniques could do to the franchise.

What franchises do you think need or would benefit from a change of developers?

RulerofGondor

[QUOTE="Blazerdt47"]

Battlefront 3 is the first game to come to mind. Strip it away from whatever is left of Free Radical/Crytek and give it to Bungie. Either that or resurrect Pandemic and let them finish this game. Super highly unlikely but oh well.:(

DarkLink77

Exactly. Everything would just be...incredible. The latest screen art from their game Destiny just shows how a Battlefront game would look. Not to mention the fact that over a dozen employees from Pandemic now work for Bungie after EA shut down their studio. It's a match made in gaming heaven.

Prince of Persia doesn't need to have a different developer making it, it simply needs to be made. By anyone.funsohng

Zelda by retro studios please. jg4xchamp

Zelda by retro studios please. jg4xchamp

I'd love to see Nintendo make a Ratchet & Clank game and Insomniac a Super Mario Galaxy game.

[QUOTE="funsohng"]Prince of Persia doesn't need to have a different developer making it, it simply needs to be made. By anyone.DarkLink77

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"][QUOTE="funsohng"]Prince of Persia doesn't need to have a different developer making it, it simply needs to be made. By anyone.charizard1605

Letting level 5 develop a Final Fantasy game isn't a bad idea, really...

Zelda by retro studios please. jg4xchamp

[QUOTE="jg4xchamp"]Zelda by retro studios please. BPoole96

Splinter Cell. I was willing to put up with a lot of your sh*t, Ubi, but replacingMichael Ironside??? Get the f*ck out of here. Just put it in a cardboard box outside the studio with a "free to a good home" sign.

System Wars, there are a whole lot of franchises out there that are old, and have a lot of baggage behind them; franchises with history and heritage, that still survive, and yet arguably are struggling to even stay relevant. I believe that a franchise can be fully reinvigorated if a new development team, with fresh ideas and a new perspective, comes in and attempts to develop a new game in a struggling franchise. Of course, I believe that the core essence of the franchise still needs to be maintained at all costs, and that thus the new developer has a grave responsibility of maintaining the franchise's legacy, but also reinventing it and making it relevant again. It's a fine line to walk.

With all of that out of the way, these are the franchises I think should change developers, at least for the time being, and these are the developers I think they should go to:

The Legend of Zelda:I love Zelda, but the series is growing stale. It peaked on the N64, and since then it has been in a mad race with itself to recreate the glory of those days, even as its developers and custodians continue to completely miss the point of what made Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so great in the first place. i respect Aonuma for what he has done, but after having wasted nearly 100 hours of my life on Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I think he needs to step back from the franchise.I think either Monolith Soft or Retro Studios should develop the next Zelda game.

Final Fantasy:Another classic franchise that has completely lost its way, Final Fantasy's fall from grace is perhaps symbolic of the decline of its genre as a whole. Final Fantasy hit its peak in the Playstation era, and Square Enix, in an admirable attempt to keep things fresh, has continued experimenting with the games, until now, they are borderline unplayable, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and reduced to parodies of their former selves. Square needs to stop developing Final Fantasy and perhaps pursue something new. Meanwhile,I think Final Fantasy should be handed off to Level 5, since they are perhaps among the only developers that aren't owned by Nintendo who can make a competent JRPG anymore.

Fallout:Fallout 3 was widely acclaimed, but it was equally widely reviled by the fans; Fallout New Vegas, the follow up developed by Obsidian, is often held to be the true successor to the classic Fallout games, and general consensus holds that Obsidian 'gets' Fallout better than Bethesda. Therefore, I believeObsidian should be handed Fallout.

Resident Evil:Resident Evil's rapid decline was saddening to watch, as we saw the franchise completely lose sight of what it had been, and lose its hold on being a compelling horror game, to become in turn an incompetent action game. Honestly, I do not know how Capcom screwed up so royally, but they did.I think Platinum Games should be given Resident Evil,as I am confident that they can craft a great game that stays true to the roots of the series.

Prince of Persia:Whereas I loved Ubisoft's take on the classic franchise, adn I honestly don't think there has been a single Ubisoft developer or published Prince of Persia title that I did not enjoy, I still believe the franchise could benefit from a change in developers that would endow it with a sense of freshness again. To this end, I believePrince of Persia should be tackled by Naughty Dog;I would love to see what their motion capture techniques could do to the franchise.

What franchises do you think need or would benefit from a change of developers?

RulerofGondor

Your statement about Fallout isn't true IMO. Fans probably made that claim because of diehard loyalty to Black Isle studios. The orginal creative mind behind any game is always important, but only half important. The other half depends on the company itself....everything from financial stability, talent, manpower, management and such.

Obsidian may get Fallout better than Bethesda, but Fallout 3 is still a better game than New Vegas. Herein lies the fundamental question. Is it more important to have the original creator with a volatile company? Or new creators with a stable company? It's been proven time and again that it takes both the company and the creator to make a good game.

Did any of the original Diablo creators make anything close to the quality of Diablo without Blizzard? Hellgate London bombed. Torchlight is decent but meh. What was John Romero without id Software? Daikatana bombed as well. What about Peter Molyneux? Are any of his games comparable to that of Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate and Populous when he was in Bullfrog Productions?

Although it's not the norm to compare the gaming industry with football, but i'll do it anyway. When a goal is scored, the striker gets the credit, akin to how the producer or creator does. However, everyone tends to forget about the midfielder who sets up the right circumstance for the striker to score. A striker is nothing without his home team. Similarly, a game creator/producer is nothing without the right company. Time will tell if Cliffy B will ever be able to contribute to the gaming industry the way he did in Epic, ever again.

Your statement about Fallout isn't true IMO. Fans probably made that claim because of diehard loyalty to Black Isle studios. The orginal creative mind behind any game is always important, but only half important. The other half depends on the company itself....everything from financial stability, talent, manpower, management and such.

Obsidian may get Fallout better than Bethesda, but Fallout 3 is still a better game than New Vegas. Herein lies the fundamental question. Is it more important to have the original creator with a volatile company? Or new creators with a stable company? It's been proven time and again that it takes both the company and the creator to make a good game.

Did any of the original Diablo creators make anything close to the quality of Diablo without Blizzard? Hellgate London bombed. Torchlight is decent but meh. What was John Romero without id Software? Daikatana bombed as well. What about Peter Molyneux? Are any of his games comparable to that of Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate and Populous when he was in Bullfrog Productions?

Although it's not the norm to compare the gaming industry with football, but i'll do it anyway. When a goal is scored, the striker gets the credit, akin to how the producer or creator does. However, everyone tends to forget about the midfielder who sets up the right circumstance for the striker to score. A striker is nothing without his home team. Similarly, a game creator/producer is nothing without the right company. Time will tell if Cliffy B will ever be able to contribute to the gaming industry the way he did in Epic, ever again.

jhcho2

God no, don't give Obsidian Fallout. Bethesda releases buggy games but Obsidian releases broken games. Plus New Vegas wasn't as good as FO3. It made a lot of nice improvements to the gameplay but the setting was terrible and the story and missions weren't nearly as memorable as FO3. I think if Bethesda gets another go at Fallout next gen it is gonna be amazing. Skyrim was such a big jump from Oblivion, I can't wait to see what Bethesda does for next gen consoles.mems_1224

[QUOTE="mems_1224"]God no, don't give Obsidian Fallout. Bethesda releases buggy games but Obsidian releases broken games. Plus New Vegas wasn't as good as FO3. It made a lot of nice improvements to the gameplay but the setting was terrible and the story and missions weren't nearly as memorable as FO3. I think if Bethesda gets another go at Fallout next gen it is gonna be amazing. Skyrim was such a big jump from Oblivion, I can't wait to see what Bethesda does for next gen consoles.DarkLink77

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"][QUOTE="mems_1224"]God no, don't give Obsidian Fallout. Bethesda releases buggy games but Obsidian releases broken games. Plus New Vegas wasn't as good as FO3. It made a lot of nice improvements to the gameplay but the setting was terrible and the story and missions weren't nearly as memorable as FO3. I think if Bethesda gets another go at Fallout next gen it is gonna be amazing. Skyrim was such a big jump from Oblivion, I can't wait to see what Bethesda does for next gen consoles.mems_1224

Interesting idea.

Might even be true. But most people consider New Vegas the better game than Fallout 3, Romero was successful before id (and id was never the same once he left) and to an extent, after (Daikatana was the product of a number of terrible decisions, and by the end of if, it really wasn't his fault), Molyneux is more limited by Lionhead than anything else, and Cliffy B was a successful designer before he joined EPIC.

I mean, it's a great idea, but there's a lot more to these stories than just the creator and the studio.

DarkLink77

The part about the studio can be influenced by various things, like whether the studio is in debt, or whether you have a publisher like EA or Activision who are more interested in churning out sequels, or even as simple as programmer talent or staff experience. A big time studio has more negotiating power in terms of demanding a budget or even a dateline. A new startup studio is at the mercy of the publisher, and is normally pressured greatly to produce something, often stifling creative talent. I can go on and on about this, but it's one simple fact. A talented creator needs a company who can compliment his talent. And looking at Obsidian's current situation, i don't think anybody can possibly show any talent there. Obsidian has been in financial turmoil for some time. Half of their staff had been laid off during the development of Dungeon Siege 3. All their games after NWN2 were diclining in quality. One man can't make a difference there.

As you said, Daikatana bombed because of various reasons. And Molyneux is limited by Lionhead. All these reasons fall back to the relationship and circumstance of the creator and the studio.

The part about the studio can be influenced by various things, like whether the studio is in debt, or whether you have a publisher like EA or Activision who are more interested in churning out sequels, or even as simple as programmer talent or staff experience. A big time studio has more negotiating power in terms of demanding a budget or even a dateline. A new startup studio is at the mercy of the publisher, and is normally pressured greatly to produce something, often stifling creative talent. I can go on and on about this, but it's one simple fact. A talented creator needs a company who can compliment his talent. And looking at Obsidian's current situation, i don't think anybody can possibly show any talent there. Obsidian has been in financial turmoil for some time. Half of their staff had been laid off during the development of Dungeon Siege 3. All their games after NWN2 were diclining in quality. One man can't make a difference there.

jhcho2

[QUOTE="mems_1224"]God no, don't give Obsidian Fallout. Bethesda releases buggy games but Obsidian releases broken games. Plus New Vegas wasn't as good as FO3. It made a lot of nice improvements to the gameplay but the setting was terrible and the story and missions weren't nearly as memorable as FO3. I think if Bethesda gets another go at Fallout next gen it is gonna be amazing. Skyrim was such a big jump from Oblivion, I can't wait to see what Bethesda does for next gen consoles.DarkLink77

I guess how good New Vegas is remains subjective, but we can draw a conclusion from Obsidian's previous games.

Let's start with Black Isle.

Bioware made the superior BG series. Black Isle made the inferior Icewind Dale series

Bioware made the superior KOTOR 1. Obsidian made the inferor KOTOR 2. Good game, but inferior to its predecessor

Bioware made the superior NWN1. Black Isle made the inferior NWN2. Vanilla NWN2 is a good game, but still inferior. NWN2: MotB was a severe decline. NWN2: SoZ is basically medieval merchant tycoon bearing a NWN name.

Then we have Fallout 3. And since we are disputing this, we'll exclude it. But general reviews seem to indicate that Fallout 3 is a better game. Metacritic score of 93 for Fallout 3 vs 84 for New Vegas?

Then we have the atrocious Dungeon Siege 3. If it wasn't for the credits which made clear of Obsidian's involvement, I would have thought that some low budget indie studio made the game

I know. They made the Fallout games and Planescape torment. But that was way back during the BG era when they were at their peak. The Black Isle from the 1998 period is long gone, and Obsidian's history of games doesn't seem to support your claim that New Vegas is necessarily better than Fallout 3. But anyway, to digress a little, I think Interplay was probably a good publisher. Companies like Black Isle and Bioware flourished under them. Both Black Isle and Bioware never made games better than those under Interplay ever again.

[QUOTE="RulerofGondor"]

System Wars, there are a whole lot of franchises out there that are old, and have a lot of baggage behind them; franchises with history and heritage, that still survive, and yet arguably are struggling to even stay relevant. I believe that a franchise can be fully reinvigorated if a new development team, with fresh ideas and a new perspective, comes in and attempts to develop a new game in a struggling franchise. Of course, I believe that the core essence of the franchise still needs to be maintained at all costs, and that thus the new developer has a grave responsibility of maintaining the franchise's legacy, but also reinventing it and making it relevant again. It's a fine line to walk.

With all of that out of the way, these are the franchises I think should change developers, at least for the time being, and these are the developers I think they should go to:

The Legend of Zelda:I love Zelda, but the series is growing stale. It peaked on the N64, and since then it has been in a mad race with itself to recreate the glory of those days, even as its developers and custodians continue to completely miss the point of what made Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so great in the first place. i respect Aonuma for what he has done, but after having wasted nearly 100 hours of my life on Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, I think he needs to step back from the franchise.I think either Monolith Soft or Retro Studios should develop the next Zelda game.

Final Fantasy:Another classic franchise that has completely lost its way, Final Fantasy's fall from grace is perhaps symbolic of the decline of its genre as a whole. Final Fantasy hit its peak in the Playstation era, and Square Enix, in an admirable attempt to keep things fresh, has continued experimenting with the games, until now, they are borderline unplayable, stuffed to the brim with tropes, and reduced to parodies of their former selves. Square needs to stop developing Final Fantasy and perhaps pursue something new. Meanwhile,I think Final Fantasy should be handed off to Level 5, since they are perhaps among the only developers that aren't owned by Nintendo who can make a competent JRPG anymore.

Fallout:Fallout 3 was widely acclaimed, but it was equally widely reviled by the fans; Fallout New Vegas, the follow up developed by Obsidian, is often held to be the true successor to the classic Fallout games, and general consensus holds that Obsidian 'gets' Fallout better than Bethesda. Therefore, I believeObsidian should be handed Fallout.

Resident Evil:Resident Evil's rapid decline was saddening to watch, as we saw the franchise completely lose sight of what it had been, and lose its hold on being a compelling horror game, to become in turn an incompetent action game. Honestly, I do not know how Capcom screwed up so royally, but they did.I think Platinum Games should be given Resident Evil,as I am confident that they can craft a great game that stays true to the roots of the series.

Prince of Persia:Whereas I loved Ubisoft's take on the classic franchise, adn I honestly don't think there has been a single Ubisoft developer or published Prince of Persia title that I did not enjoy, I still believe the franchise could benefit from a change in developers that would endow it with a sense of freshness again. To this end, I believePrince of Persia should be tackled by Naughty Dog;I would love to see what their motion capture techniques could do to the franchise.

What franchises do you think need or would benefit from a change of developers?

jhcho2

Your statement about Fallout isn't true IMO. Fans probably made that claim because of diehard loyalty to Black Isle studios. The orginal creative mind behind any game is always important, but only half important. The other half depends on the company itself....everything from financial stability, talent, manpower, management and such.

Obsidian may get Fallout better than Bethesda, but Fallout 3 is still a better game than New Vegas. Herein lies the fundamental question. Is it more important to have the original creator with a volatile company? Or new creators with a stable company? It's been proven time and again that it takes both the company and the creator to make a good game.

Did any of the original Diablo creators make anything close to the quality of Diablo without Blizzard? Hellgate London bombed. Torchlight is decent but meh. What was John Romero without id Software? Daikatana bombed as well. What about Peter Molyneux? Are any of his games comparable to that of Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate and Populous when he was in Bullfrog Productions?

Although it's not the norm to compare the gaming industry with football, but i'll do it anyway. When a goal is scored, the striker gets the credit, akin to how the producer or creator does. However, everyone tends to forget about the midfielder who sets up the right circumstance for the striker to score. A striker is nothing without his home team. Similarly, a game creator/producer is nothing without the right company. Time will tell if Cliffy B will ever be able to contribute to the gaming industry the way he did in Epic, ever again.

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]As you said, Daikatana bombed because of various reasons. And Molyneux is limited by Lionhead. All these reasons fall back to the relationship and circumstance of the creator and the studio.

The part about the studio can be influenced by various things, like whether the studio is in debt, or whether you have a publisher like EA or Activision who are more interested in churning out sequels, or even as simple as programmer talent or staff experience. A big time studio has more negotiating power in terms of demanding a budget or even a dateline. A new startup studio is at the mercy of the publisher, and is normally pressured greatly to produce something, often stifling creative talent. I can go on and on about this, but it's one simple fact. A talented creator needs a company who can compliment his talent. And looking at Obsidian's current situation, i don't think anybody can possibly show any talent there. Obsidian has been in financial turmoil for some time. Half of their staff had been laid off during the development of Dungeon Siege 3. All their games after NWN2 were diclining in quality. One man can't make a difference there.

DarkLink77

Lack of time and money is still a 'studio problem'. Yes, the lack of money is because the publisher is unwilling to pay more, but that's still a studio probem. That was the reason why Hellgate London bombed. In Blizzard, Max Schaefer and Bill Roper had the luxury of reiterating and refining Diablo till it met Blizzard's quality standards. At the end of the day, Blizzard is the kind of company who emphasizes quality over time. The end result is a game that was finely tuned. In Flagship studios, they ran out of time and money. Why? Probably because EA and Namco Bandai isn't as forgiving with datelines as Vivendi Games. All of that falls under the 'studio problem', because it has something to do with the relationship between the studio and the publisher.

[QUOTE="jhcho2"]As you said, Daikatana bombed because of various reasons. And Molyneux is limited by Lionhead. All these reasons fall back to the relationship and circumstance of the creator and the studio.

The part about the studio can be influenced by various things, like whether the studio is in debt, or whether you have a publisher like EA or Activision who are more interested in churning out sequels, or even as simple as programmer talent or staff experience. A big time studio has more negotiating power in terms of demanding a budget or even a dateline. A new startup studio is at the mercy of the publisher, and is normally pressured greatly to produce something, often stifling creative talent. I can go on and on about this, but it's one simple fact. A talented creator needs a company who can compliment his talent. And looking at Obsidian's current situation, i don't think anybody can possibly show any talent there. Obsidian has been in financial turmoil for some time. Half of their staff had been laid off during the development of Dungeon Siege 3. All their games after NWN2 were diclining in quality. One man can't make a difference there.

DarkLink77

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"][QUOTE="jhcho2"]As you said, Daikatana bombed because of various reasons. And Molyneux is limited by Lionhead. All these reasons fall back to the relationship and circumstance of the creator and the studio.

The part about the studio can be influenced by various things, like whether the studio is in debt, or whether you have a publisher like EA or Activision who are more interested in churning out sequels, or even as simple as programmer talent or staff experience. A big time studio has more negotiating power in terms of demanding a budget or even a dateline. A new startup studio is at the mercy of the publisher, and is normally pressured greatly to produce something, often stifling creative talent. I can go on and on about this, but it's one simple fact. A talented creator needs a company who can compliment his talent. And looking at Obsidian's current situation, i don't think anybody can possibly show any talent there. Obsidian has been in financial turmoil for some time. Half of their staff had been laid off during the development of Dungeon Siege 3. All their games after NWN2 were diclining in quality. One man can't make a difference there.

jg4xchamp

Or the time allocated by the publisher may just be unreasonable for anyone to make a AAA game. Give James Cameron a million dollars and 9 months. I doubt even he can make a blockbuster movie

Capcom needs to give all of their franchises to Platinum Games and then go bankrupt.

Kotor should be in the hands of From Software. Harry Potter too.

-

ND would do well be The Walking Dead.

Letting level 5 develop a Final Fantasy game isn't a bad idea, really...

Sagem28

[QUOTE="Sagem28"]

Letting level 5 develop a Final Fantasy game isn't a bad idea, really...

siLVURcross

[QUOTE="siLVURcross"][QUOTE="Sagem28"]

Letting level 5 develop a Final Fantasy game isn't a bad idea, really...

jg4xchamp