February 5th, at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Los Vegas, Electronic Arts Chief Creative Officer Richard Hilleman decided to address a very serious issue popping up lately: video games are too hard.
“Our games are actually still too hard to learn,” Hilleman began. “The average player probably spends two hours to learn how to play the most basic game.”
“And asking for two hours of somebody’s time–most of our customers, between their normal family lives…to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask,” he added.
Looking at recent history, it’s particularly easy to notice the trend of video games getting harder. Take the jump from Morrowind to Skyrim for example–even though they weren’t made by EA. Morrowind’s advanced combat algorithms, complete magic customization, multi-layered story, linear character journal, and realistic fast travel were so much easier than Skyrim’s real-time combat, streamlined magic, uni-layered stories, convenient quest logs with waypoints, and map-enabled fast travel. Riiiiight.
“Our games are actually still too hard to learn.”
-EA
Published by EA–but developed by BioWare–the Dragon Age franchise has also seen a dramatic increase in difficulty and complexity since their Origins.
This is obviously the best decision the Chief Creative Officer could have ever made. It’s what the player’s want! They want easier gameplay.
EA….. No, bad boy. Go to your room.
Video games have been getting easier over the years, in case you’ve missed the memo. Don’t believe me? Go pick up a copy of Dragon Age: Origins and try playing it with Dragon Age: Inquisition fresh on your mind. If you’re a fan of the series, you may be able to bear through it, but the game is significantly less forgiving in numerous ways.
Why are non-gamers producing products for gamers?
The problem isn’t in how hard your games are, EA. It’s with how you are presenting the controls to the player, and how masterfully you can create a learning curve. If you feel like your games are too hard, you are either screwing up your learning curve, or you were never gamers to begin with.
Why are non-gamers producing products for gamers? Why do they think they can appeal positively to the gamer population this way? Why, EA, why?
