Spector on Games: Change, Please

Acclaimed designer and producer Warren Spector, best known for his work on games such as Deus Ex (PC), Thief: Deadly Shadows (Xbox, PC), Crusader: No Remorse (PS1, SAT, PC), and various Wing Commander and Ultima titles, gave a keynote address at the Montreal International Game Summit in which he called upon developers to push the boundries with games, rather than relying on tired formulas with graphical updates. "Sadly sticking with the tried and true is going to result in financial success for some, for a time. But stagnation is not the friend of any medium. And anybody who thinks it is (is) going to go out of business," he claimed. Spector echoed concerns made by other industry professionals that as costs continue to rise--pointing to how greatly he has seen budgets increase over the last ten years--it will become continually more difficult for independent developers to succeed in the marketplace. In terms of content, Spector also noted that as the average age of the game-playing populace is widely known to be raising, he would like to see more games targeted towards an older audience. "Older players have different life experiences, trust me. And they want and demand different kinds of content," he said. "Skateboarding? Not part of my life particularly. Urban thuggery? Not interested. Extreme sports? It's been a while for me." Spector also touched on the growing global games market, particularly in various Asian countries, and also lamented the lack of more gender and ethnic diversity in the development side of the industry, noting "By and large [female developers] work on guy games, which is the only kind of games we make." In news that may or may not be related, publishers such as Electronic Arts and Take Two Interactive have recently warned (free reg. required) that they are facing "soft demand" from retailers this holiday season, compared to past years. Take Two has lowered its revenue forecasts for the quarter, and Electronic Arts has lowered its full-year forecasts. This comes soon after a recent survey by research firm Piper Jaffray indicating that "75 percent of teens say their interest in video games is declining and 78 percent indicated they spent less time playing in 2005." Video games have enjoyed staggeringly explosive popularity growth in the last few years, and people who had never previously played video games have been exposed to a form of entertainment that is entirely new to them. Is it possible that if, as people such as Spector claim, games are failing to sufficiently evolve, people who were once driven to games as a new and interesting form of entertainment are getting tired of strings of similar products? Or might it be that the industry's growth has been so sharp that it simply cannot be sustained? Is none of this true at all, and video games are doing just fine? The comments thread will surely reveal all.