Warren Spector says 100 Hour Single Player Games are bad ... mmmkay

Warren Spector is one of the old school developers. He has been in the industry for many years and has experienced development over a number of platforms. Gamasutra has published an extensive interview with the man inwhich he makes the statement, "One-hundred hour games are on the way out… How many of you have finished GTA?"

Of course, this creates a discussion topic which will be limited by two defining facts: (1) the increase in the number of casual gamers; and (2) the increase in the cost of game production. Unfortunately, people in the industry confuse these two problems with the notion that gamers don't complete long games which is completely bogus.

Two years after its release Oblivion is still going strong. You would assume that with the amount of play time available to gamers that this game would not have been completed by most. How do you then account for the high volume of expansion sales which have been made since the games release? With two lengthy expansions for the game which have sold well. To make the assumption that gamers don't play or finish long games is untrue. Consider Diablo 2 which was released eight years ago has just received another patch. To complete Diablo 2 under each difficulty would have taken quite some time (not 100 hours maybe but it would be up there). Yet, there are still many gamers still playing this game.

The cost of creating games has gone through the roof, this is an unfortunate fact of our capitalistic society. As a result developers want to spend less time and money developing content in order to maximise the return on their investment. Once again this does not mean that gamers do not finish long games.

Here is the complete quote from Gamasutra:

"Game costs are going to be $35-40 million, even $100 million, and the expectations are huge. You have to differentiate yourselves. One-hundred hour games are on the way out… How many of you have finished GTA? Two percent, probably. If we're spending $100 million on a game, we want you to see the last level!"

This is a problem within the gaming industry which discriminates the hard core, long term player in favour of the "casual" gaming market. Warren Spector is not the first person to say it and he certainly won't be the last. Look at the above quote where he says "Two percent, probably". He has manufactured a statistic for the purpose of making a quotable quote. He hasn't stated that it is, in fact, two per cent.

If this is the way the gaming industry is going. Unable to understand that there is more than just the "casual" gamer who purchases games then more serious gamers are going to start seriously lacking in content which suits their tastes. Statements such as the above by Warren Spector are just like saying that all gamers love playing Tetris. It is just untrue and a gross overstatement of a complicated and diverse marketplace.