Video game industry veteran Yoko Taro expresses disappointment over the decrease in 'unconventional' creators in the industry compared to past times.

Loose Canons and Strange Visionaries: The Decline of the Weird in the Gaming Industry

If Yoko Taro, this oddball pioneer of the gaming world, was a mascot for the industry, he'd fit right in, being a master of producing games that manage to be both provocative and ingenious in equal measure. He even presented at GDC in 2014 with a talk titled "Creating Weird Games for Weird People". So, it's no wonder that when someone asked him recently about the dwindling numbers of peculiar folk in the industry, he had some thoughts.

As pointed out by Automaton Media, Taro expressed his observation that there appear to be fewer "oddballs" in the gaming scene these days. He pondered whether this was just a phenomenon within his realm, or if the entire industry or even world had changed.

"I've been in this industry for 30 years, and it seems like there are fewer 'quirksters' around," he essentially said, translating from Japanese (via a machine translation). "I'm not sure if this is only a phenomenon that I'm witnessing, or if the game industry has transformed into this state, or if the whole world has followed suit."

While Taro may have a point, I reckon there are less peculiar video games surfacing nowadays, particularly among larger-budget titles. After all, anyone with Unity or a dream may concoct any number of peculiar experiences and upload them to itch.io, or attempt to list them on Steam.

However, I can't shake this feeling that the bigger developers have become more cautious these days. We see more sequels, remakes, and remasters now, stuff that people seem to already like simply because they recognize the brand name. I wouldn't be surprised if it's become more challenging to even sell something unconventional to a publisher, let alone secure funding for it.

The question also arises whether the baseline of what is considered "weird" has merely been raised over the years. In England back in 2007, I was considered a bit odd for indulging in anime, and now I'm a bit odd if I haven't watched the latest episode of My Cat Turned into a 4,000-Year-Old Demon Enchantress or whatever's trending these days. Our perspectives have shifted, and I can't help but feel like the past decade has seen people's understanding of "weird" evolve significantly.

But if the gaming world were to see a new wave of Taro-like savants, I, for one, wouldn't mind. Peculiar games are my cup of tea, and it might be high time for some brave visionaries to captivate Taro's attention with some delightfully strange, quirky gaming adventures to lose ourselves in.

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The decrease in the number of unusual or unconventional video games and developers in the gaming industry can be chalked up to a variety of interconnected factors:

Economic Pressures and Changing Trends

Shrinking Budgets for Non-AAA Titles: Tighter budgets particularly for indie and smaller-scale games make it financially difficult for developers to explore unusual or niche game concepts. studios gravitate toward safer, more mainstream projects that guarantee a return on investment due to the high costs of development[1].
Increasing Development Costs: Rising overall development costs due to advancements in technology, graphics, and wages exert economic pressure on studios, particularly smaller or independent developers, pushing them towards more commercially viable, less "weird" projects that appeal to larger audiences[5].
Rising Prices of AAA Games: With AAA titles becoming pricier (e.g., $80), major studios prioritize big-budget, refined experiences that cater to broader audiences instead of riskier projects that might alienate mainstream consumers[5].

Industry Consolidation and Technical Standardization

Market Dominance of Popular Engines: The gaming industry is controlled by a few major game engines, primarily Unity and Unreal Engine. Though these engines promote efficient development and multiplatform portability, their widespread usage encourages homogenization of game design patterns and mechanics. This favors familiar and successful designs over more experimental approaches[1].
Departure from Proprietary Engines: Large publishers tend to move away from in-house engines in favor of engines like Unity, thereby standardizing development pipelines and possibly limiting opportunities for innovative, unusual development that nurtures a more diverse gaming landscape[1].

Workforce and Industry Changes

Frequent Layoffs and Economic Turmoil: Layoffs and job losses within the tech and game development sectors lead to fewer teams available to tackle riskier projects, causing companies to focus on operations that promise stable revenues over experimental or niche games[1][3].
Major Companies Focusing on Scale and Efficiency: Major firms emphasize cross-platform releases and economies of scale to maximize profits, which favors proven genres and designs over unusual or "weird" ideas that might deter mainstream consumers[1].

Changed Consumer Preferences

Growing Popularity of Mobile Games and Free-to-Play Models: The increasing popularity of mobile games and free-to-play setups, which tend to rely on familiar mechanics to maximize income, has influenced game development towards safer, more conventional designs. Yet, there remains a market for indie games, but economic survival often forces developers towards familiar gameplay styles over highly experimental ones[1][5].
Prospects for Indie Developers: Smaller studios and indie developers continue to create innovative and peculiar games, but economic hurdles and the market's dominance by big players make it hard for such games to gain visibility and commercial success, reducing their overall representation in the market[5].

In conclusion, the decline in the number of unusual video games and developers can be attributed to rising development costs, market pressures favoring commercial success, the dominance of a few game engines encouraging standardization, personnel layoffs and industry consolidation, and evolving consumer preferences that favor more familiar game types. These combined factors create an environment where risk-averse, predictable projects displace experimental endeavors.

As the gaming industry moves forward, there seems to be a decline in the number of unique and peculiar games being developed, causing concern among seasoned developers like Yoko Taro.
One possible reason for this shift could be increasing economic pressures, as tighter budgets and rising development costs make it difficult for developers to invest in unconventional projects.
The gaming world today might also be seeing changes in consumer preferences, with a growing preference for mainstream titles and familiar gameplay mechanics, limiting the opportunities for more unconventional games.
Despite these challenges, the prospect of a new wave of innovative and peculiar games remains exciting, as social media, entertainment platforms, and technology continue to evolve, potentially opening up new avenues for gaming gadgets that facilitate the creation and distribution of strange, unique gaming experiences.