D.I.C.E. Summit begins with a bang
Explosive video game footage on a huge screen, set to blaring rock music, kicked off the sold-out 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit — which stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain — at the Red Rock Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.
Explosive video game footage on a huge screen, set to blaring rock music, kicked off the sold-out 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit — which stands for Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain — at the Red Rock Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.
Game developers, analysts and journalists packed the Pavilion Ballroom on Wednesday, to mark the first of many seminars and workshops designed to celebrate achievements in interactive entertainment and explore new creative directions and business models to ensure a healthy future for the multibillion dollar business.
Yours truly attended this first roundtable discussion — or more accurately, a debate — on whether or not company consolidation kills innovation and risk. Squaring off on the stage was Mitch Lasky, game industry executive and now with VC firm Benchmark Capital against game veteran Keith Boesky, Principle, Boesky & Company.
Inspired by the movie Fight Club, this "Visual Fight Club" event had people on stage, behind Lasky and Boesky, writing key arguments and quotes in real-time on a huge backdrop, and then following the debate, verbally summarizing each position to the audience. This was a lot more interesting and off the cuff than a PowerPoint presentation. The audience was invited to come up at any time and throw verbal punches (i.e. challenging their opinions) at the presenters.
Lasky defended game consolidation, maintaining it could help innovative developers "on the fringe" get the funds they need to bring their product to retail. Developers often sell out — for money and security — such as Harmonix, the makers of the hugely popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which is now part of the Viacom empire.
Boesky, on the other hand, argued there hasn’t been any innovative games coming from within the inside of a major publisher over the past 10 years, and thus consolidation could stifle innovation. This is especially true since a risky project — which could cost $25 million dollars to make for a current generation consoles — could mean a huge financial loss to a publicly-traded company if it misses the mark.
If the developer is big enough, however, such as BioWare and Pandemic, which is now part of the 800-pound gorilla known as Electronic Arts, they could be left alone to make their games "and still innovate" says Boesky. "If you prove yourself to a publisher it can give you latitude." "Though this acquisition means we’ll also likely see many more Mercenaries and Mass Effects for the foreseeable future" adds Boesky, with a laugh.
"Somewhere along the line EA forgot how to make good games" adds Boesky, which drew laughs and applause from the audience. "But customers will vote with their dollars, such as choosing Call of Duty 4 over Medal of Honor Airborne." Acquisition could bring innovation, in other words, if a big publisher acquires a developer who innovates and leaves them alone to do their thing.
For those development studios who want to remain independent, there are many ways to get money these days, confirms Lasky. "But instead of approaching big publishers for funding, VC [venture capital] firms like taking risks to some extent."
In the end, Lasky and Boesky agreed all the innovation happens on the fringes, but not everyone wants, or should be, consolidated into a mega-publisher in order to have their game see the light of day.
Filed Under: Games