After playing Titanfall beta... (Destiny)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Tuesday, February 25, 2014, 13:49 (3932 days ago) @ narcogen

I'm sort of amazed that by this point the games industry hasn't adopted a more Hollywood-like model, where companies are formed specifically for the purpose of making a single title, and a re-formed if there's enough interest to make it a franchise.

The games industry is dead set against unionizing, and a model like this would pretty much only be feasible if folks working on the project were protected through union labor agreements, benefits and retirement, etc. If it moved to this, it would happen because it would suck even more than it does now if it were non union, and I don't think that those in the industry now would want a step down.

As it stands, it's sort of like riding a mechanical bull: you get a hit and then you keep trying to stay on top until something knocks you off. You become a prisoner of success, forced to keep doing the same thing over again because it made money last time, and only crazy people say no to steady money. Another way Bungie is doing things a bit differently-- leaving a franchise near the peak of its popularity and choosing to do something else that's just as expensive and risky to make without any guaranteed market or known intellectual property hooks.

I'm not sure I follow. If as a development studio you don't want this, then you could simply NOT sign a contract that says you have to work with the same IP for 10 years, publish a certain amount of sequels, and offer DLC. Or do what Valve does and what Bungie did, which is self publish.