Activision Blizzard

[epmode]

According to recent posts and interviews, the Blizzard name will not actually be on any game boxes outside of games actually developed by Blizzard Entertainment. I don't forsee any changes to the way Blizzard operates apart from an outside chance of their games appearing on Steam.

[Frogacuda]

The adventure genre was on life support before that happened though. Sales had sunk into the toilet and Lucasarts had thrown in the towel.

This is kind of bullshit, actually. Ask anyone who was involved with either company and they'll both tell you the ENTIRE decision to drop the genre was based on the sales of Grim Fandango and Grim Fandango alone, which was released around the time Vivendi bought Sierra.

It was not a downward trend. Space Quest 6, King's Quest 7, Larry 7, and indeed all of Sierra's later adventure games were all among the most successful in their series. It was ONE FUCKING GAME that wasn't even released by Sierra.

[epmode]

Kind of unrelated: I'm playing The Longest Journey for the first time (on Steam). God, I miss adventure games.

edit: I had no idea about that Grim Fandango news. That's depressing.

[Scourge]

What a horrible name.

It could be worse. How about ActiBlizzion?

[Cowdisease]

Also revealed from the merger news is confirmation that Guitar Hero 4, Call of Duty 5, and Tony Hawk 11 (my god!) are on their way for 2008. I wonder if Activision will ever learn that these yearly updates will only dilute the brand. Honestly, are you looking forward to another Call of Duty game that is not developed by Infinity Ward?

[Mzo]

For the record, I bought Space Quest 6 and Grim Fandango on release.

I think the adventure game died because of the shitty control scheme that wasn't point and click.

[Frogacuda]

For the record, I bought Space Quest 6 and Grim Fandango on release.

I think the adventure game died because of the shitty control scheme that wasn't point and click.

I think that's a big part of why Grim Fandango didn't do well. Also it was a DOS game released in like 1998.

Of course in the long run Grim Fandango actually sold alright and they kept it as a budget release for many years, but that doesn't matter apparently. Damage done. Vivnendi got scared, canned SQ7 and Larry 8 in mid-development and fired everyone.

[epmode]

Do adventure games even need a ridiculous budget to be good? Outside of sound design, they can get by relatively cheaply and still make a decent profit with a reduced (but avid) audience. I mean, you'd think that they'd still be around, considering all the other niche games that manage to find a market.

[Frogacuda]

Do adventure games even need a ridiculous budget to be good? Outside of sound design, they can get by relatively cheaply and still make a decent profit with a reduced (but avid) audience.

They stand to benefit from production value as much as any game. The fact that they aren't given that prodcution value is the reason the audience has been reduced to only they avid. Sierra and Lucas dominated the genre and both bailed overnight based on a single game.

If you put A-list money into a good adventure game, you could probably get mainstream sales, but no one has really tried in a very long time. Indigo Prophecy, perhaps, and that did decent. As did Dreamfall.

It seems right now the genre has a lot more mainstream potential in Europe, where computer gaming was always more dominant than here. I think so much time away from adventure games has left them feeling a bit more alien to audiences than they should, but I think a really great one could still break that barrier down.