Why are there no low budget games?
Films made on the cheap regularly compete with big budget blockbusters. Films like Zombieland and District9 win their opening weekends and many films with budgets under $25 mm out-earn AAA films with $100+ million budgets. Why don’t we see this with games?
I realize there are plenty of independent games made on a low budget. I realize Braid and Splosion Man are stunning independent successes. Not only do these games fail to come close to a big budget Madden or Halo release, however, but they don’t even attempt to go up against the big boys. Instead, they choose much simpler visual styles and gameplay mechanics.
I want to discuss why there are no low budget videogames, and whether they will ever become a staple in the industry.
The comparisons are fair
You might point out that Zombieland and District9 earned $25 and $37 million in their opening weekends, a far cry from the $160 million opening of The Dark Knight. While this is true, there are more extreme examples in the film industry such as The Blair Witch project, which cost $35k and earned $250 million.
You might then point out that while slightly more profitable, The Blair Witch Project is exactly equivalent to Braid or Castle Crashers in that they are identifiably low budget and have modest goals vs. a big budget ‘effects’ picture, and it was merely once-in-a-lifetime successful.
This doesn’t apply to a film like Mad Max ($200k budget, $100 million earnings) or Halloween ($325k budget, $70 million earnings) both of which had action sequences and all the ‘big budget’ elements seen in other films released in the same years.
Directors don’t limit themselves in terms of what they try to create based on budget in the same way game developers do. This disparity is going to widen as computer effects become easier and easier to produce on home equipment. What is holding back games?
Our budget was so low we couldn’t even afford a back half to my costume. You should see the outtakes
Lifelike characters are free to film
One important consideration is many non-action big budget films are so expensive because of their cast, and although you’ll be lacking some celebrity star power, you can make a comparable film fairly cheaply. Your film will look 90% as good on a $5k pro-am camera, and as long as it’s not a period piece, costumes are just clothes.
AAA games, on the other hand, regardless of topic, require full realization of a living world which requires thousands of hours of work by dozens if not hundreds of people. Nothing is free in a game; to see anything your cheapest option is most likely to license an engine, and if you’re going to compete with AAA games on the Unreal engine, that’s going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars right off the bat.
You look like a million bucks! Literally ...
Independent creators know their limitations
It’s no coincidence that serious independent films that gained not just widespread recognition, but competed in popularity with big budget productions, didn’t come about until more than 50 years after the birth of the film industry. One might use Star Wars as a convenient (if not quite accurate) marker for when independent films could depict any subject matter. Early technical limitations and production hiccups had to be streamlined.
With the game industry growing to relevance in the 1970’s, we’re still a decade removed from the 50 year mark. Independent game developers know that they have to cut back on art materials, scope of the game or programming sophistication if they’re going to create a compelling experience that isn’t hamstrung from the outset.
How far away are we?
Is it at all realistic that in ten years the prospect of a low budget independent game going up against the next Halo or Half-Life might become a reality?
The main barrier to creating a low budget AAA game is the massive content generation required just to get off the ground. Anybody can make a Modern Warfare map or even a huge campaign if they’re willing to record some cutscenes, but total conversions are built off the huge existing infrastructure of a game.
What if ten years from now you license not just engines but entire sets of game resources? Photoshop users used to have to generate everything by hand, now there are prerendered brushes that you can plug and play in artwork. Might games become the same thing?
An interactive future version of the ‘Massive’ software’ used by WETA effects to automatically create armies in the Lord of the Rings films might be used in independent game projects to fill in character routines outside of the protagonist’s actions.
We’re on the cusp of seeing independent films using special effects created by videogames such as the City 17 Half-Life live action film or the History Channel using Rome: Total War to recreate historical battles. Once prefabricated sequences are sophisticated enough that you can drag and drop them into games convincingly, the potential for independent AAA titles becomes reality.
$500 budget! Put that in your golden pipe and smoke it Spielberg
That is a day we should all look forward to as it benefits us every time a barrier between execution and creativity is removed.
I’m interested in your thoughts on the matter. Hit up the comments!
