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BioWare: Expanding audience will shift games appeal from violence to narratives

Posted Jul 6, 2009 at 1:57PM EST by Mabie A.

Listed in: Tags: BioWare, Greg Zeschuk, interviews, Ray Muzyka

Yes, it is possible that in the future, as gaming becomes more mainstream and its audience expands, the appeal of video games will shift from combat thrills to storytelling - a sign that the industry is maturing. This is the opinion of BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka in an interview with GamesIndustry.

Said BioWare's creative officer Zeschuk:

We talk a certain amount internally about whether you need to have combat as part of the experience. Are there possibilities to actually start separating pieces of the game and actually tailor it to the audience?

Certainly the core gaming experience, folks that are used to playing games over the last ten years, they want to have those battle moments, and the fighting. But there are different audiences that would maybe just enjoy the story. I think it's actually possible.

I think the interesting thing about it too is I don't even know if it's even necessarily a technology thin. I think once we've gotten the breadth of audience available to us, there could be really good opportunities created by different people coming to games that are story-driven.

Muzyka, meanwhile, parrots that notion, saying that:

I think the videogame industry is at that point now where you're going to start to see this blossoming of all kinds of really cool multiple dimensions of settings and genres and kinds of characterisation as the gaming industry moves from early adopters to early mainstream, to the mainstream who are now embracing games as their main form of entertainment.

It's exciting to be in the industry at this time particularly with something as compelling as emotion and engaging narrative. For BioWare, that's our vision, to really create these stories and characters that people believe in and they get emotional reactions to. They feel something. We're excited about it.

They talk more about the maturing games industry in the Via link below.

Via GamesIndustry

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a lot of games today are not as good as older gen games because developers are trying to make them mainstream. you would think that the newer generation would bring more quantity and quality, but thats not the case. in fact the only truly satisfying next gen game ive played is mgs4. i guess heavy rain is going to start a new ganre of next gen games, but lets hope we get what we pay for

# Hmmmm — Master Chef 2009-07-06 18:42

I love the games these guys have made, some of the best ever IMO, but I don't agree with them, however much I'd like to. I wish more games were like Bioware games with epic, very player-involved stories. But look at movies, the closest things to games. When movies were becoming mainstream in the 30s and 40s they became much more violent, not less, and they've only gotten more and more violent each decade. Of course there are still tons of gems with deep stories, and tons of great violent movies, but the majority of the blockbusters nowadays are filled with action and people getting shot/maimed/raped/punched/impaled etc. Of course there is nothing inherently wrong with that so long as the other facets of the movie combine with the violence and action to make it good, but it does suggest the opposite of what the Drs are predicting.

# oops didn't finish — Master Chef 2009-07-06 19:06

Meant to put that there is also nothing wrong with violent games, so long as the rest of the game is decent, voice acting, controls, game world etc. But most of the movies people make now are nothing but violent trash, with a terrible plot and characters.

I hope the Drs end up being right and my movie comparison ends up being way off, because I hope games don't go down the same path. Movies are not games so I guess anything could happen

# older gen games — Guest 2009-07-06 19:39

i totally hear you on that one.. about the only things that many current gen games have over the older ones are graphics and online features, which aren't always important..

indeed, here's to hoping that those games are worth their price tags..

# Indeed. — JediKnightJace 2009-07-07 05:31

I totally agree with these guys, and sentiments like this (as well as totally freakin' awesome games), are why I like BioWare so much.

# Well... — JediKnightJace 2009-07-07 05:43

The movies that have little violence, but a great plot usually sell extremely well, even among adults. Look at Pixar.

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BioWare: Expanding audience will shift games appeal from violence to narratives

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