Bigger isn't always better

In the early 1980s there was a small (by modern standards anyway) British software and games development company called Imagine. They were renowned for developing very high quality entertainment for the early 8 bit computers like the Vic 20 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. I remember playing many of these games. Arcadia was a personal favorite at the time, and I would look out for the Imagine name on any game, effectively knowing I was getting a AAA release.

Imagine had an idea that was unheard of at the time. They decided to release games (6 were planned) that would be developed as "Mega Games". Effectively they would be games so large and accomplished and fleshed out that you would for all intents and purposes never need to buy another game. They were supposed to be the ultimate games, an entire world to lose yourself in which would cover many genres and gameplay styles.

Volumes have been written about Imagine and the Mega Games, as the crash and demise of Imagine happened to occur very publicly, with the BBC busy filming a documentary at the time based on Britains fledgling games industry and focusing on the meteoric rise of Imagine. The whole mess was fully filmed and documented and is easily researched on the net. I highly recommend it for anyone with even a passing interest in games, business or soap opera.

The naivety and sheer arrogance of their Mega Game undertaking was a ridiculously short sighted for the time. For even though Imagine was a rising company at the top of their game, it would have taken massive resources well beyond their scope to achieve even a quarter of what they envisioned.

Last night I sat playing Far Cry 4 on my shiny new Xbox One. I bought it online for $10, and memories of the so called Mega Game came to mind right after finishing the prologue. Because the modern equivalent of the Mega Game is the open world, sandbox game which we have all come to take for granted.

Many Mega Games get released every year now. From Grand Theft Auto to Fallout to Far Cry to Saints Row, and hundreds more in between. These games exist today because the nature and scale of the publishing industry has changed dramatically. Back in 1984, Imagine would have spent $1 million to develop the game and tried to sell 50k to 100k copies of the Mega Game, in the hopes of covering development costs. Today Activision can bankroll a title like Destiny to the tune of half a billion dollars, and then quickly recover these costs within a day or two of a titles release. With DLC and micro transactions, these Mega Games can go on to make billions over a year or two.

But I hate Mega Games. There, I have said it.

The idea of making a game so big, so all encompassing and so realistic that it imitates life and allows you to get lost in a fantasy world is both its attraction and its downfall. If I wanted a sandbox where anything was possible, I would go outside and play in the real world.

I first experienced this phenomenon when I bought Elder Scrolls Oblivion on Xbox 360. This was my first exposure to a true Mega Game. They gave me a world where ANYTHING was possible. They asked me to go out into their universe and live my life like I wanted. Speak to anyone, do anything, go anywhere. It was an engineering marvel. And it was boring as hell.

Games need to be fantastic, entertaining and to the point. If I want to ride a car fast, I should be able to buy a game that allows me to drive a car fast. I should not need to buy a game that allows me to live in a world where I can be anything I want, and within this world I can decide to one day walk to a car dealership, buy a car, find an underground racing league after I level up to 30, then ask for a race. That's a chore. That's boring.

I will play Far Cry 4. I will struggle through the mundane moments of pointless travel, stupid conversations that add nothing to the story, and idiotic loot gathering (thank God there is fast travel). I will most notably enjoy the action sequences. And I will probably feel a measure of satisfaction and accomplishment when I see the credits roll. BUT everything in between is over-production. Its just not necessary.

Imagine was probably my favorite games company from the early 80s, and they will forever be known to the world as the company that went bust on TV. But to me, they were the genesis of the open world, sandbox, do-it-all Mega Game. And for that they cannot be forgiven. Damn you Imagine, damn you...