Is Annualization killing Creativity in Games?

“It almost seems like this games are being manufactured a product line”

A lot has been said and written about how the gaming industry is so reliant on the success of established franchises. We’re being served sequel after sequel by the big publishers as the number of few IPs dwindles,  reduced to  the domain of the indie developers plying their trade via digital distribution platforms. However, my recent trip to the annual Xbox spring showcase made me realize that there’s some more serious problem within the sequel culture that’s starting to become a trend in the industry. Microsoft flagship racing series – Forza Motorsport, which seemed to have settled into a pattern of releasing a game every two years, will now seemingly, do so every year.

Talking a page out of the Call of Duty book, the Forza franchise is now set to developing by to  different studios i.e. Turn 10, the original developers of the Forza Motorsport sim racers, who released Forza Motorsport last year; and the playground Games, who will release ForzaHorizon – a more arcade-like approach to  the series,  this year. A near identical scenario is playing out at Codmasters, who released the rally focused Dirt 3 last year, and is set to release the more action-oriented Dirt Showdown this year.
Now, you may argue that annualization isn’t exactly new to the gaming industry; the likes of Need for speed and several sport franchises have been doing it for well over a decade now and with much success. Well, yes and no. Sports franchises like FIFA and NBA 2k are sort of the exception to the rule. Such is the following for these sports that simply new rosters and incremental gameplay changes are enough to prompt annual interest. Things haven’t worked about quite so well Need for Speed though. Only once in two years does EA manage to put a solid NFS game, with garbage like Pro street, undercover, and The Run shoved in between.

                           That said, you could still make a case for racing franchises being annualized, since they’re fairly technology driven and don’t really follow a set premise, allowing developers to put out something different each year. You could even make a case for annualization of Call of Duty, since the games made by two studios have no connection to one another. But what happens when a franchise with a rich backstory and a reputation for delivering great characters and memorable locations goes down the annual route?

              This is where Assassin’s creed finds itself. Ever since the phenomenal success of Assassin’s creed II, Ubisoft has trying to hold tight and replicate that success every year. And grated they’ve succeeded to an extend because the games that followed it weren’t bad by any means, but they didn’t really moved the franchise forward either. There are reports over, 1000 people working on Assassin’s  Creed alone, and it almost seems like that these games are now manufactured on factory production line rather than being the result of creative process.

             I hope Assassin’s Creed III proves me wrong that it reinvigorates the series the way Assassin’s Creed II did, because you can only be satisfied with the same formula year after year so long before it starts to get old and franchise fatigue starts to set in. Just ask Activision; they made that mistake with Guitar Hero.