Dear video game developers,
I love you. It’s unfathomable the amount of hard work you devote to your games. I can’t imagine how many family dinners go by without you or how many holidays you spend frazzled about the release of your game. It’s impossible to know how many dozens of hours you spend working from home, your car, or the local McDonald’s as you grab food for the first time that day at midnight. The stress and second-guessing must be intolerable at times. Never knowing how all of your hard work is going to be received, yet putting yourself out there for the internet trolls to rip you apart. It’s all very brave, gallant, and I salute you.
But let’s talk about this new IP thing, shall we?
A bubble must burst somewhere along the way. Sure sequels, prequels, reboots, and re-imaginings are all safe bets. They’re the sure-fire way to get food on the table for your little ones. It’s how you can afford that new car you have to get when your minivan decides to finally limp off to the vehicular graveyard to die. But they’re boring !
We want new IPs! And frankly, it’s really not that hard to come up with them!
There are so many concepts, ideas, and new stellar sites being created every single day by artists and creators. The world is a vast place, and the universe beyond it is so unfathomably big that we are consistently coming up with new words just to describe it. Have you heard of a googolplex? Neither have I! But apparently it’s a 1 followed by a googol of zeros. I didn’t even know a googol was a thing! And that was just a simple Google search away. The universe is far more vast than Google, believe it or not folks.
With such an unending amount of source material, and an albeit smaller, yet still impressive number of minds to choose from to provide ideas for video games, we should have a constant stream of AAA new IPs. It’s the greed of large producers that gets in the way some times. Yeah we could have another Deus Ex game or we could have Horizon Zero Dawn , which is a totally new thing! And you know what, it’s a huge commercial success!
There are so many smaller indie developers out there coming up with new ideas all the time. I just found a game earlier today that mixes elements of Shadow of the Colossus with a locale similar to the mountains of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , but it’s got badass bosses that are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. A feathered dragon thing with a bird skull for a head? Metal! (As a side note, the name of that game is Prey for the Gods if you’re wondering.)
Big studios already get a big part of their work force from smaller devs. Bring those ideas along with them! You know that kid in high school who always sat in the back of the classroom and doodled in his notebook? He’s still out there! One of those doodles could be the start of the next big thing. Guillermo del Toro technically is that kid. His drawings have inspired some of the most breathtaking characters in modern cinema. The same is true for video games.
The del Toros of video games are out there. Some are doing great work already. But it’s up to us to find the others that are slipping through the cracks. The ones that are too shy, or think their work isn’t good enough. It’s those creators that will bring us the next big IPs so we can stop trudging our way through a sea of sameness.
To any of the general public that finds themselves reading this letter, please comment below with your opinions. We can be heard, we just have to shout loud enough.
Signed in my humble opinion,
April Marie, Writer at Cheat Code Central