[Aaricia]

Hello Legion Gamers!

Here is an interesting thought: is it true that the larger the sheer number of games released, the more genuinely good games we'll get? For example, let's say 10 games are released each month, some bad, some ok, and one really good. So the ratio of good games to all games is 1:10. So then, if 100 games a month are released, then we get 10 good games a month, and so forth. Or does the quality of the games not depend on the total number of games at all?

I was thinking about this after reading the thoughts of Viktor Lee (Krafton’s Director of Investments in Europe) on the popularity of the roguelike genre and the approach to game development. In particular, two notions jumped out at me: firstly, Lee thinks that “roguelike” is not a genre, since this term could apply to many different games with different focuses. And he is baffled by how popular deck-building games are currently:

"I've had maybe 250 roguelike deckbuilders in the last 12 months. I don't know how to choose. Would you? Like, they're all Balatros with different cards. I don't know how to choose one."

And secondly, the way he advised developers to track popular tags on Steam and create games that fit those tags as quickly as possible:

"If you can pump out 12 roguelike deckbuilders in a month and see what sticks, sure do it, right?"

Not sure if I think that this is good advice, especially considering how, later, Lee mentions that he prefers to collaborate with studios that are passionate about a single genre, even if it isn’t very popular at the moment. According to him, such studios may experience and dedication to create something that will be successful regardless of passing trends.

And so we circle back to quality over quantity: is it better to try and release more than 10 games and hope one of them sticks, or master one narrow genre and make fewer games that you know are good?

[Telomina]

No, I do not think that is how it works at all (but what do I know, my statistics at masters level was focused on migration, equality, not games) . With companies pushing out games just because it's a popular genre will lead to more money grab attempts. That will never ever live up to the quality you will get from a true passion project.

I know some smaller studios that have made games in different genres, but because they are very passionate and dedicated to each and every game instead of just pushing out whatever is trending, all games have turned out really well! (examples: Showcastle Games, Chibig Studio, Tiny Roar).

[Aaricia]

@Telomina that makes sense, I guess being passionate about the project is the main thing, if someone is creating something just for the sake of sales, then it might not turn out to be a great experience in the end sadly 😥

[DoctorEldritch]

@Telomina goes to show how creators and salesmen think differently. Reminded me again of that A Dark Quiet Death episode of the first season of Mythic Quest.