Go outside the box

Jun 25, 2009 07:04 GMT  ·  By

Game development is often a risky business, especially when studios that have experience in one genre or a specific franchise approach new things or genres that aren't completely grasped by its staff.

That is why studios like Infinity Ward or Bungie, which have specialized in the Call of Duty and Halo projects, respectively, are focused on recreating the same winning formula in order to make even more money out of it.

Such a thing is quite bad, at least according to Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, who talked about the two studios and revealed that they should tackle on the side, besides their already famous franchises, new things, in order to see just how much talent they actually have.

“I keep waiting to hear what Bungie is going to do that’s not Halo,” said Pitchford, whose studio is now developing Borderlands, a cell-shaded shooter RPG, different from its other projects.. “Those guys are amazing, right? They walk on water! And the same with Infinity Ward. It’s like, dude I’m totally psyched to get my Call of Duty fix every year, but you guys are amazing! What else have you got? Can you give me something I haven’t seen before?”

He says that if the studios are that good, then the gamble will pay off, “The folks that are innovating need to be rewarded so that the folks that are making big bets can take that risk. It’s too big of a risk for Infinity Ward to do anything but what they’re doing, because there’s too much value and there’s really big scope for it.”

Bungie promised to tackle new projects after departing from Microsoft, but until now, Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach are the only announced titles in development, while Infinity Ward is creating Modern Warfare 2, the next title in the Call of Duty series.

Would you like to see new IPs and games from the two famous studios? Or do you think they should stick to what made them famous? Leave us a comment with your thoughts.