Part 1: E.T.
begins the video game crash of 1983 and is literally buried in a desert.
Key Takeaway
Forgotten: “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever
bad”
(Well the title
screen is legit. Credit: Youtube.com)
Back in the early 1980’s the video game industry was still
in its inception. Arcade cabinets had recently become popular and consoles
were just beginning to enter households. At the forefront was Atari whose
Atari 2600 console was the most popular in the industry by far, with games
ranging from adventure, to sports, to action and more. Atari had a dominant
share of the market, and all developers wanted a piece of the pie. As a result,
Atari allowed developers to make cartridges for its platform without a formal
quality control procedure, leading to some poor and inappropriate titles.
Furthermore, additional console companies (including the Intellivision,
Colecovision, and even Apple) appeared to capture market share. Without the
proper quality control in place though, Atari ended up dooming itself, and
potentially destroying the entire industry, all of which was largely attributed
to one game, E.T.
E.T. the Extra
Terrestrial is one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest cinematic achievements.
Its tie in game is the face of the video game crash of 1983. The film, released
in June 1982, was a critical and commercial success, and an icon of the
1980’s. To profit off of the success of the film, Atari jumped at the
opportunity to claim the licensing rights to the brand, and after acquiring the
rights to the game in July 1982, immediately moved into development for
Christmas that same year. Because of the manufacturing and marketing campaigns,
the game’s development needed to be completed just under 6 weeks. Now while
games may have had short development cycles in the 1980’s, a 6 week
development cycle is simply too short to come up with an entertaining product.
There needs to be additional quality assurance testing, focus groups etc. Atari
however, determined to remain the market leader, did not believe the time frame
was too short, and in turn released a game that holiday season that was buggy,
uninspired and not fun. The game revolves around the titular alien, where the
players searches to find three pieces of a cosmic telephone to phone home.
During the game the player can randomly fall off screen and is constantly
hunted by men in trench coats representing the government. After finding all
pieces the cycle begins again. Needless to say, with a game very different and
less entertaining than the movie it was panned by both
critics and fans. However, because Atari thought the brand recognition alone
would generate sales it overproduced the number of cartridges significantly. So
many cartridges were made that Atari decided to bury them in a landfill in
Alamogordo, New Mexico, which were later excavated in 2014 (Google it to check
it out, really interesting).
(Talk about buried treasure. Credit:
Variety.com)
The legacy E.T.
left on Atari and the gaming industry as a whole was extremely detrimental for
the evolution of the business. Atari was forced to take huge losses, and though
it remained in the console industry for a considerable period of time, was never able to fully
recover to a market leader status again. Consumers shied away from home
consoles and arcades for years until Nintendo came into the market with its
Nintendo Entertainment System. Arguably most importantly though, E.T. left a horrendous black mark for
any licensed games, one whose effect can still be felt today, as good licensed
games tend to be the exception, not the norm. What’s most frustrating is that
the potential for a great E.T. game
was extremely high, it just needed additional time to come up with a feasible
and respectable concept. Nevertheless, we are left with the E.T. game that was produced, one that
will live in infamy forever.
Part 2: John Romero vexes consumers and then puts out a
horrible product.
Key Takeaway
Forgotten: “Unique marketing campaigns may be necessary for an inherently artistic
game”
(I see no way this ad could go wrong. Credit:
Kotaku.com)
Admittedly, Daikatana was not an inherently artistic game. Nevertheless, it’s
imperative to understand its marketing campaign to realize what a failure it
was, even before the game was released. For those who don’t know, Romero is
best known for his work with John Carmack on Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake, all first person shooters that
help galvanize the genre. He and Carmack were thought to do no wrong. Romero
was the more vocal of the duo, and after an extended period of time the two
grew apart, specifically during the development of Quake where Carmack did not think Romero was doing enough work.
Romero resigned and formed his own company, Ion Storm, where he went on to make
Daikatana, a futuristic first person
shooter about rival clans. At E3 1997, Romero announced the game for release in Christmas
1997; however, it did not see release until 2000. Although that was a
significant problem, the real issue was in the advertising campaign. As early
as 1997, a print ad appeared where a red poster backdrop stated in black
lettering “John Romero’s About To Make You His Bitch”, with a small additional
“Suck it Down” at the bottom of the ad. Naturally, this ad was not well
received by just about everyone (even Romero was known to be hesitant before
signing off). Personally, testing the boundaries of advertising seems like a
solid way to garner attention; however, if you plan to antagonize potential
consumers you better bring a product that’s going to blow them away, otherwise
you’ll be setting your product up for failure.
(I know it’s
2000 but that looks awful. Credit: Superadventures in Gaming)
After countless delays where the product
builds were scrapped and reborn, the game was finally released in 2000 with a
resounding thud. Averaging mixed reviews for everything from content (including
brain dead AI sidekicks) to graphics to technical prowess, the game did not
live up to expectations. Romero would later apologize for the infamous ad,
citing that he had previously had a great relationship with the gaming
community (which is true) and that the ad ruined everything (which it did).
Romero has gone on to make other good games, but Ion Storm closed within a year
of release, and unfortunately the memory of Romero is left tarnished to some
degree.
Part 3: Mighty No. 9 gathers a lot of money at the expense Mega Man fan
emotions and then proceeds to do almost everything wrong.
Key Takeaway Forgotten: "Do not blame
the fans for your mistakes”
(Blue bomber or bust. Credit:
Kotaku.com)
First of all, I
believe in Kickstarter campaigns. Shovel
Knight is a retro
romp for the ages and was born through a Kickstarter campaign, so I know that
in the right hands young developers can still create incredible games.
So with that being said, imagine the joy that came to my face when I saw that Keiji
Inafune, the “father” of Mega Man, was creating a new game, Mighty No. 9. The game was largely influenced by the
Blue Bomber, and even more exciting to me was that I could help contribute to the game’s fruition via
Kickstarter. The year was 2013 (the month was March if I recall correctly), and Mega Man had not seen a new entry since 2010 when Mega Man 10 was released. Since then, numerous games had been
cancelled and Inafune had left Capcom. Things looked bleak for the future of the franchise, but here was a brand new IP, specifically for Mega Man fans.
Mighty No. 9 was a way to get excited
again – the team was made up largely of individuals who had worked on previous
Mega Man games, the music was being composed by Manami Matsumae, one of the
original composers for the franchise, everything seemed perfect. I bought in
hard, and ended up donating $251 to the cause. I wanted the rewards, the game,
and really to show Capcom that I would go to these lengths to get my hands on a something similar to a formal Mega Man game. With a goal donation amount of $900,000, Mighty No. 9 grabbed over $3 million in donations in 48 hours, and
raised a total over $4 million in its lifetime. Everyone was excited for the
new beginning. After the Kickstarter ended anticipation began to swell, even
though it would be years before the product was actually released. The forums
were ablaze, and backers of the Kickstarter seemed to be in good spirits. Then
things began to turn. Inafune asked for more money via Paypal (he actually
managed to get around $150,000), which seemed odd and unnecessary. Next,
controversy after controversy began to spring up. The first controversy I can
recall was over the community manager, a young woman who had little experience
with Mega Man games that managed to get a role at Inafune’s company, Comcept. She
supposedly banned several members of the forums for questioning her expertise, and then was questioned on how she got the job. The whole controversy was extremely
ugly, and while her qualifications were fine to question, the misogynistic and boorish
nature of some of the backers was completely unwarranted. Soon after the fans
began clamoring she lost her job. Now I
recall reading that she may have had her own opinions on certain issues, but it is unfair to accuse her of using influence on the game. Furthermore, I think the
cruel and unusual attacks on her person were unnecessary. Unfortunately, she
did herself no favors by responding to the text assaults. Regardless of the
final outcome, it was an ugly look for the game, which had backers wondering
where their money was going.
(Wait how much
money did they get to make this? Credit: Youtube.com)
The next controversy came approximately a year after the
game was announced. Inafune went on to announce a cartoon featuring the
characters of the game. Mind you, we are still another year from the supposed
release of the game, and he begins trying to drive up interest in a cartoon for
an unreleased game. This is a case where the exposure is a little too over the
top. Considering the cartoon promotion seemed very childlike while the
individuals who funded the game were probably not the core demographic, I had
absolutely no idea why the team would consider this. A year later around the
supposed release date there was little news, until Inafune unsurprisingly
delayed the game to September 2015. While all of this was frustrating, gamers
were still being patient, hopeful the game would still be fun upon release. While
announcing the delay, Inafune made sure to note that live-action film would be
adapted for the game. Now there would be a movie that no one wanted along with
a cartoon no one wanted.
(Hey can you give us more money for another game before the original
game you donated towards comes out? OK thanks! Credit: 1080plus.com)
Then, even with Mighty
No. 9 in development hell, Inafune attempted a second Kickstarter, called Red Ash. The game was going to use the
same characters from Mighty No. 9,
just redesigned to look older. The concept of the game was similar to the Mega Man Legends’ series, where the
player assume the role of Mega Man Volnutt, who goes on an adventure unlike the
original series (more like a Legend of Zelda game, just with a mega buster instead of a sword). The game consists of travelling to ruins (dungeons), searching
for treasure, and fighting huge bosses along the way. They are underrated games in the Mega Man lore. One of the biggest
issues with Inafune’s departure from Capcom is that Mega Man Legends 3 was cancelled shortly after he left the organization, even though a
prototype was promised to the community. Red
Ash was simply meant to take advantage of the loss of Mega Man Legends 3, the only problem was that with over two years
waiting for Mighty No. 9 and foolish
side projects in the way, fans did not take the bait. With a goal of only
$800,000, the funding was not met, although apparently the development for the
game is still happening thanks to a timely rescue from a publisher. Overall, patience for Mighty No. 9 was now wearing thin. Before a fan would invest again it was necessary to play
the game that was originally promised. Unfortunately, as September 2015 came
about there was still no game, and a subsequent delay to February 2016
followed. Fans’ patience was all but gone. You can only imagine how in January
2016 when the game was delayed a third time (to a vague Spring 2016) what
happened. Fans were irate and hope in the game was all but lost. Meanwhile,
Capcom released Mega Man Legacy
Collection, an extremely fun compilation of the original NES games with a
ton of challenges for the longtime fans. I highly recommend it if you’re
interested in the franchise at all. Being able to come out with a compilation title after announcing the game later than Mighty No. 9's original announcement while also releasing it to the public well before the Mighty No. 9 release was a suave way of still demonstrating the superior Mega Man brand.
Finally, in June 2016, Mighty
No. 9 was released to the public. Since its release it has received
extremely mediocre reviews, with most critics saying that the soul of Mega Man
is nowhere to be found. Inafune shrewdly has taken responsibility of the
issues, but still had the audacity to say that “it’s better than nothing” in an
interview. While he’s not entirely wrong, I know that if I could have a do
over, I would’ve paid $20, just so I could get the game. Although Inafune may
want to create a franchise out of this character and game, I have to believe
the future is strongly in doubt given the negative experience and reaction. If
Inafune and his company had not spent so much time poorly communicating (and
occasionally alienating) with the fans, perhaps there would be a better
outcome. The entire campaign did not seem to be remotely professional, and that
lack of experience showed over the time it took to develop the game. I do
believe that limiting the amount of communication and tempering expectations
with the fans would’ve lead to a more successful project. Instead, Inafune
presented the fans a concept that was simply too difficult for him and his team
to live up to, resulting in an unmitigated disaster on multiple levels. The
worst part is that this experience has changed my views on Kickstarter
campaigns. I absolutely love independent games. Indie games are one of the few
areas where I can get that old school challenge I love (ex. Elliot Quest, Limbo, Shovel Knight, etc.) and occasionally
artistic qualities you won’t find in big budget releases. However, because of Mighty No. 9, I do not see myself
overpaying for a game anytime soon. If I see a game I’m interested in I’ll
pledge enough to just get the game, but I believed in Mighty No. 9, and it took my faith (and money), thought about other
ways to make more money, and put out a mediocre product. I know for a fact I’m
not the only fan left scorned after this game. At this point, I have play time
with the game and can safely say it has not hooked me like the blue bomber’s
outings. It’s not bad by any means, but it did not live up to the hype that I
previously thought it could. Now, I can only hope Capcom brings back Mega Man
soon.
Speaking of alienating the fans, check out the trailer
below, officially released by the publisher, followed by a parody of said
trailer…
