European developers more innovative than American?
- Posted December 10th, 2007 at 19:28 EDT by
- 3,055 views
- 27 Comments
With the videogame industry becoming more of an entertainment outlet than ever before, many developers from countries outside of the US and Japan are starting to get into the business. EA Partners’ Nick Button-Brown recently elaborated that Europe is where the innovation comes from:
"There's more creativity in Europe than there is in America. The Americans are much more refined in their processes, it's all about the money. There are less chances taken and there is more money being thrown at developers in the US.
"Taking less chances means there's less failures, but I can't see the US having ever come up with Grand Theft Auto. There are a lot of really good European developers and they all bring slightly different things and there are big cultural differences as well, that they are willing to exploit,"
Later on he added that the cultural diversity of Europe gives depth to their creative ideas, thus promoting innovation through progression.
"So many developers are multinational. Go to Crytek and they have 27 national languages there. And that's interesting because they are bringing in so many different areas and ideas to the studio, particularly with the influx of Eastern Europe – you're getting such a wide range of experiences to pick from.
"We like that multiculturalism. What we're getting now are more worldwide titles. We used to have the German industry that produced German titles, the UK would deliver tongue-in-cheek games, but now it's become much more globalised and what we are seeing is European titles that can sell worldwide,"
Finally, he mentioned that Europe is a breeding ground for larger publishers to buy out, which creates increased attention in the European sector.
"There's still a lot of good European developers out there, they are being bought up with some frequency but that means there's room for new ones to come along as well," he said.
"EA doesn't normally pick up complete start-up developers because it's quite risky, but Crytek is a good example. We signed them up as they finished off Far Cry and they'd done the hard work of setting up the company and we felt they were ready to deliver something big."
It's very amusing to find that Electronic Arts, a primarily US-based company, talking about US game makers merely thinking about profit and not innovation. Either way, Europe’s videogame innovation is great for consumers from all areas, even Japan.
Source: Games Industry Biz
Comments
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gingo |
gingo- 7:50pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
- 2
psn id: gingo.. i agree with because although a select few companies in america try something different its a guarantee that a european developer will make a game that is totally new and just a bit different e.g. grand theft auto, rockstar, scotland.....haze and timesplitters, free radical, england...... heavenly sword, ninja theory, england (even though heavenly sword wasn't a bit revolutionary step it gave us the first showing of what the sixaxis can really be used for) but american developers dont innovate as much
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infernox92
- 7:50pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
- 3
yeah maybe thats y all EA games r crap
but that is saying european developers r bad
some of the best games are european i think that SCEE is even publishing Killzone 2
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InfernoReaper |
GrimDarkling- 7:51pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
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They're exactly right. Stupid money-hungry God of War... I had no idea God of War was made for the money. Stupid, stupid me.
Maybe the US wouldn't look so bad if EA would stop using franchise selling tactics. Just keep making crappy sequels EA. You're the biggest hypocrite.
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And congrats PV1980 for being the first idiot to not say a damn thing about that article.
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Gero |
Gregero- 8:26pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
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I can agree as well. American developers are very interested in top dollar, making them less likely to take risks. European developers though do take more risks and because of that they can create a much more wide variety of new and unique games. Comparing a company like EA to a company like Guerilla, Lionhead, or Media Molecule is a perfect example.
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pooingtons
- 9:12pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
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wipeout is from liverpool ,and where is it ,thought it was this year its released.
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TheRizeofWar
- 9:35pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
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Being that i live in america i see it in everything in america. Everything is about money. Not that it doesnt happen in every country but i see it alot here b/c i live here. If there is a way to decrease cost and increase profit most large companies or any company will do it. Kind of sad, wheres all the pride in making money from a quality product gone to. Oh well, what can you do?
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galaxyman14 |
Apollo15- 10:08pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
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I think that's a bit of a generalization, but ok, i'll bite. American developers haven't done anything great in a while. However, Will Wright, John Carmack, Sid Mier, and David Jaffe all prove that americans can do just as well as europeans. I would call it a stretch to say american devs are not as talented.
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Alpha2
- 11:01pm GMT - December 10th, 2007
- 10
You know, I'd be willing to accept the idea of Euro Developers improving in terms of conceptual ideas... it's implementation that they fall short on. Whether it be failing to fix bugs or bland visual identity there's always this feeling that it could have been a little better regardless of how it ends up.
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 12:09am GMT - December 11th, 2007
- 11
EA is proof that american devs only care about money.lol
I do agree,american games usually are been there done that.But there is a lot more diversity in European games.The best,most innovative games/gizmos from Sony come from SCEE.GG is european,right?And they're bringing us the most impressive fps of all time.
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IRONMAIDEN
- 1:03am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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if americans made all the video games, all we'd have are shooters. so i think anyone is more innovative than americans in videogames. im american too so dont scream at me lol
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Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 2:17am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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Yep us europeans are the best developers (after japanese of course)
just look at LittleBigPlanet !!
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Mattchewie |
Mattchewie- 2:46am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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I think another reason you see many more....risk taken idea in europe is that on some topics, they are abit more laxed. I bet you would of saw a GTA here in the states, but who wants to go against groups that try to squash these games because of what they present. I think its a little eaiser to give the middle finger when your a sea apart from these people.
However I will agree that most of these shops are also concerned about cash flow but that is in everything, like War said. The art of making a product of quality is almost a lost art here state side.
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prosecondbase7 |
prosecondbase7- 3:30am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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America is the most cultural diverse country in the world, so that idea doesn't hold. Most creativity and innovation starts in the hiring process. A company has to hire people who want to make a great game. Too often in America they hire the top college grad who aren't so creative or understand what gamers want. I think this is where other countries excell.
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[ZeEk] |
h3adjunk- 5:05am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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what's in question here isn't who's more innovative it's who "CAN" be more innovative, the US has more restrictive rules about the content of games than Europe , if it has blood or a little bit of violence in it the game will probably be criticized, (the parents raise the kids not the consoles or the games for that matter, F*** my son is 2 years old, I let him play GTA an Andreas because he likes the cars and the trucks and planes (the kid is a sycho for anything that has an engine and he never once behaved out of the normal padron for a kid of his age, he just wants do drive something finds it funny to smash things wich i believe is normal), back to topic how can someone be more innovative and invest time and money in something that will only be forbbiden to be sold or utterly criticized, this matter doesn't touch only the part of multiculturalism in developing companys, it's influenced by many things, including the search for profit like EA does, this kind of developers are nothing more than crowd pleasers and they prefer to keep the few fans they have than to broaden their horizons, go further along the way, and altough i'm european i believe this article may be offensive to some US developers, that because of boards of direction and subversive types of censorship cant make great games, because mommy who spends all day in the mall doesn't look after her kids. STOP BLAMMING THE GAMES!!BLAME YOURSELVES!!
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Muzikguy |
Muzikguy- 8:30am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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^ I'm lost as well. LOL this article is hilarious! I do agree that whole "it's all for the money" concept to a certain extent. BUT, how can EA say this? They ARE the ones that are only in it for the money and have NO innovation whatsoever. I live in America, and there are some pretty creative people here. If it was all about money, then why are games like Lair, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk, and Uncharted coming out on a system that has a small install base? EA is pathetic....
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D3v1lwqer23 |
conflict01- 11:51am GMT - December 11th, 2007
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What I see in this article, "Americaz is teh sux, eurpoez da rulez, cause EA is there." To elaborate I wholeheartedley agree EA has money thrown at them to rehash the same old s**t football/basketball etc. game every year, but dont think for a second people dont have ideas, people here have great ideas that would make lots of money, but bigger businesses do not want to listen to kids, they know what sells, and they will continue as long as they are making money, they will start listening when their games start losing money for them.
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motzo
- 2:16pm GMT - December 11th, 2007
- 23
so nuaghty dog is american is it hmm i was wondering becuase crash bandicoot is soo australian based and becuase i can relate more as an austrlaian to the humor in drakes fortune but mabye its connection to Australia or as the booklet says "a group of islands off the coast of Australia" is jsut cas they thought it would be a good setting for their apparent obbsession with aztec/ jungle themes. still dosent explain why almost eveyr charecter in crash bandicoot is an austrlian animal or strange cross bread between involving an austrlain animal crash bandicoot (bandicoot) ripperroo (kangeroo) Dingdile (dingo/crocodile) pinstripe potoroo (potoroo) Koala kong (koala) meh mabye they sjut felt like using an australian theme
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BD_BLACKAZZ |
BD_BLACKK- 9:12pm GMT - December 11th, 2007
- 25
EA games stink they need to step there game up big time!!!!! I wil never buy another EA game until they come out with quality games. They should be embarrass in the quality of games there putting out...... EA can kiss my a** !!!!!!!!!!!
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MatrixSixaxis
- 5:17am GMT - December 12th, 2007
- 26
Europeans in general are much more innovative and riskier that any other continents in this world and cyber world! Just look at some of their fine examples eg. Cars, buildings, food and WOMEN!!! :) Schwing! Also, their history is far more interesting and fascinating to hear about...in fact their history still stands in forms of architecture and life.....this is living?!?!?
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SoapCreek
- 1:17pm GMT - December 12th, 2007
- 27
How can GTA be considered creative or unique. The last two have been rip offs of old movies. Hasn't anyone seen Scarface or Boyz n the Hood/Menace II Society? Don't get me wrong. I love the games and can't wait for the next itteration, but the stories haven't been that unique.
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