Heavy Rain director tells game industry it's time to grow up

[Blacksite]

In a new interview at Gamescom, the outspoken director of Heavy Rain talked to Gamasutra about his frustration with the industry and its refusal to move to more mature subject matter.

At the show, the developer showcased his studio's upcoming title, Beyond: Two Souls, an adventure game starring actress Ellen Page. The story follows the lead character's life from age 8 to age 23.

"I think we should have more courage in our industry and take more risks, because I think this is what the industry needs now. I mean, how many first person shooters can you make? How many monsters/aliens/zombies can you kill in games? There's a moment where we need to grow up. We need to grow up," Cage told Gamasutra.

"I often think that the industry suffers of the Peter Pan syndrome. It's the fact that we don't want to grow up, so we stay kids. But there is a moment where you need to grow up as an industry. And you cannot keep up with the Peter Pan syndrome. You need to grow. And I think this is the right time," he said.

The full interview with Cage will be live on Gamasutra in the near future.

via Gamasutra.

[radgamer420]

Getting tired of listening to these pompous developers talking out of their ass while acting like their shit dont stink. Time for the Heavy Rain director to take his own advice.

[Soldier 95B]

Pathetic comment.

[radgamer420]

Pathetic comment.

I agree.

[Lethal_NFS]

Getting tired of listening to these pompous developers talking out of their ass while acting like their shit dont stink. Time for the Heavy Rain director to take his own advice.

I actually agree with the developer. We need more adult games. A lot of devs make kid friendly games because they think they will sell more copies.

[radgamer420]

I actually agree with the developer. We need more adult games. A lot of devs make kid friendly games because they think they will sell more copies.

I dont. Shooting zombies, etc. doesn't sound "kid friendly" to me. Games like Doom, etc. seem pretty adult to me.

[Blacksite]

I'm pretty sure David Cage is talking about taking risks in the industry, seeing as how we're essentially playing the same games every year. Unless we're suddenly against games that are new and exciting.

[radgamer420]

I'm pretty sure David Cage is talking about taking risks in the industry, seeing as how we're essentially playing the same games every year. Unless we're suddenly against games that are new and exciting.

Yeah that sounds like a more accurate interpretation to me.

[imINxile]

To me it seems like he makes these comments to gather attention for his new projects, and I don't blame him..they've been really innovative. But there's a reason why developers keep coming out with the same style..it makes them money.

In the end it doesn't matter what he says, if his games are good ill buy them.

[radgamer420]

To me it seems like he makes these comments to gather attention for his new projects, and I don't blame him..they've been really innovative. But there's a reason why developers keep coming out with the same style..it makes them money. In the end it doesn't matter what he says, if his games are good ill buy them.

I agree with all your points in this post.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

David is clearly a very passionate and talented guy and is an underrated pioneer in the gaming industry imo...But not all games genres are ready or capable of shedding the "Peter Pan Syndrome". You can argue that killing zombies and monsters is mature content but I don't think that's what he's getting at. Just because you cut the scalp off of an elephant like monster or blow a zombies head off with a shotty doesn't make it mature in the sense that he's talking about. The industry, for the most part, isn't interested in the kind of maturity in narration that I think Cage is alluding to.

[DreDayDetox]

He has a point with the over-saturation of these genres, but then he refers to it as Peter Pan and he kinda loses all credibility by saying that, and sounding like the David Cronenberg of videogames.

[Forcedme]

God damn. I hate thisfat mother fucker. Maturity in art (or, in this case, games) comes from execution of narrative and theme, and is found in the work's ability to showcase both, be it subtle or grand.


It does NOT come from a "mature" setting, inexplicably forced sex, a poorly written dialogue, and moody music made simply for the sake of being moody. We've had mature games: Flower, Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, so on and so forth. They tackled mature themes through creative setting.

Heavy Rain was a mediocre soap opera extended into twenty five different piss-poor directions. I doubt the new Ellen Paige movie is going to be any better.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

God damn. I hate thisfat mother fucker. Maturity in art (or, in this case, games) comes from execution of narrative and theme, and is found in the work's ability to showcase both, be it subtle or grand.


It does NOT come from a "mature" setting, inexplicably forced sex, a poorly written dialogue, and moody music made simply for the sake of being moody. We've had mature games: Flower, Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, so on and so forth. They tackled mature themes through creative setting.

Heavy Rain was a mediocre soap opera extended into twenty five different piss-poor directions. I doubt the new Ellen Paige movie is going to be any better.

I agree with all of this, bar heavy rain being mediocre crap. Well, of course to some it was, but it has had one of the highest completion rate of any game this gen (72%). The average completion rate is about 25%, ME2 got 56% and ME3 got about 40%. It didn't sell billions and billions, but most the people who bought the game enjoyed it enough to finish it.

[Sub-stance1]

Cage is at it again. I like his games but maybe he should just go into movie directing since his projects are more movie than game.

[Soldier 95B]

QTE does not equate to mature. This guy is on my last nerve. Heavy Rain is an epic experience But keep the pompous act up and he will lose a sale of his new game.

[Sir_Scud]

Where I agree that the industry needs more risk and games with more mature themes, I found Heavy Rain to much like Forcedme describes. Especially I felt the game was just trying to pander to young teens with putting Madison in scenes with no or little clothing. I felt very little of the mature content was genuine and instead to pander to the lowest common denominator.

[Sub-stance1]

QTE does not equate to mature. This guy is on my last nerve. Heavy Rain is an epic experience But keep the pompous act up and he will lose a sale of his new game.

Exactly. Its great that he takes risks on projects but there are others out there doing the same.

[admartian]

I kind of agree with him.

While I agree that zombies etc are not necessarily kid games, they still pander to our juvenile senses. Having more mature and serious themes that don't necessarily involve much action (but replaced with thought evoking sequences etc) can make for a very engaging adult game.

It doesn't mean they all have to be like that, but they don't all have to be zombie games or dudebro games either. I don't see how it is pathetic at all nor how anyone can or should take offense from it.

It's a valid point.




EDIT:

Picking on QTE is unfair as it's a mechanic of the game, and not the overall theme(s) or what it's about. It's simply the vessel to progress the gamer along.

[MacP]

I agree with Cage 100% it's a bit cliche playing the same type of games alll the time.

[Blacksite]

Picking on QTE is unfair as it's a mechanic of the game, and not the overall theme(s) or what it's about. It's simply the vessel to progress the gamer along.

David Cage was also not the first to utilize the QTE game mechanic.

[admartian]

David Cage was also not the first to utilize the QTE game mechanic.

I don't think he was strictly talking about innovation or being "first" though. To me, it seemed like a commentary on the attitude of developers to make games with 'mainstreamy' themes, as opposed to making something that is layered whilst not necessarily being full of action or contemporary ideas.

I mean, even something like Bioshock or Mass Effect, whilst providing deeper themes, are still relatively 'juvenile' or aim for the 'kiddish' nature in all of us. As in, playing the hero, being 'the man', so to speak.

I understand not everyone wants to play a fully serious game, but he is on the right track.

There is a balance to everything, we can still have fun games without taking itself too seriously, and conversely, we can still have serious games without them being a drag.

[mickice]

More of the same sells but ultimately holds the industry back.

[Bio]

Ironically, the industry is growing up. Just not as fast as he likes. Can't blame him for feeling that way, though.

It's no surprise the cash cows are stifling the industry the most. Money is the root of all evil, as it has been said.

[Soldier 95B]

EDIT:

Picking on QTE is unfair as it's a mechanic of the game, and not the overall theme(s) or what it's about. It's simply the vessel to progress the gamer along.

It's not unfair to me.

David Cage was also not the first to utilize the QTE game mechanic.

Not sure anyone has said that.