Warner Bros. has just acquired the rights to create a Five Nights at Freddy‘s movie from game creator Scott Cawthon, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee will produce the feature-length adaptation, along with Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg of KatzSmith Productions. Both producers at KatzSmith Productions are also working on a Beetlejuice sequel.

The producers will work closely along with the game’s developer Scott Cawthon to keep the distinct horror thrills intact, and make sure the movie is an authentic extension of the beloved creepy series.

“We’re looking forward to working with Scott to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie,” produce Grahame-Smith shared.

“The story really lends itself to being a movie and it taps into a largely unexplored niche of horror that a lot of people will be able to relate to,” Scott Cawthon, the game’s renown creator, said.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s games have a distinct cult following, and have become some of the most acclaimed indies of all time.

Taking place in a haunted Chuck E. Cheese-type restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, the games tell a truly eerie and chilling tale while utilizing some of the most original horror elements in the industry. There are currently three games in the Five Nights at Freddy‘s series, with a possible fourth chapter in the works.

It’ll be interesting to see how the movie will take shape over the coming months, but since Cawthon is involved, we think that the film will stay true to the mystique that’s enthralled millions of gamers.

No details on a release date have been revealed, and we should expect updates later this year.

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Telltale Games, developer of indie greats like The Walking Dead and Tales From the Borderlands, is working their story-based magic on the mega-hit indie Minecraft.

The studio announced today that they’ve partnered with Mojang to create a “new episodic game series” set in the definitive bit-style voxel sandbox.

Officially called Minecraft: Story Mode, the new joint venture will explore untold stories in Telltale’s narrative-driven tone.

The game will feature Telltale’s signature emphasis on player choice and unique playthroughs, and is set to “mix new characters with familiar themes in an entirely original Minecraft experience”.

Telltale reveals that the new game is largely inspired by Minecraft‘s massive player community and how every player creates his or her own unique adventure.

Minecraft; Story Mode will be available sometime in 2015. all consoles, mobile devices and PC.

Minecraft is a smash-hit phenomenon, and shattered multiple sales records to become the second best-selling game of all time with more than 54 million copies sold across all platforms. It’s now a household name in gaming, a pop-culture icon, and remains one of the most popular gaming franchises in the history of the industry.

Minecraft: Story Mode marks the first new title in the franchise since Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) bought Mojang for the tune of $2.5 billion, and after the acquisition, the Redmond-based tech giant affirmed that it wouldn’t make Minecraft an Xbox platform exclusive.

Now that Minecraft; Story Mode is planned for a multi-platform launch, it’s good to see Microsoft has kept their word.

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At the inaugural 2014 Game Awards, Hello Games showcased a brand new trailer for their breakthrough indie No Man’s Sky.

The footage takes players through the very heart of science fiction, exploring bizarre and alien worlds filled with shapes and colors the likes of which we’ve never seen.

The indie itself is a labor of love that hearkens back to the magical days of sci-fi, where mystery, fantasy and technology converge to form one of the most eye-opening conduits of splendor and awe.

The trailer incorporates that same magic that exploded during No Man’s Sky’s original reveal at VGX 2013, featuring an in-depth look at the game’s seamless universe and randomized planetary structure.

At it’s core, No Man’s Sky is a procedurally-generated space-sim; but it’s not your basic deep-space adventure. Hello Games has affirmed that there are billions upon billions of combinations, making every planet, star system, galaxy, and universe completely unique.

Players can go where they want at any time, explore faraway galaxies or drift in space and catalog strange and vast stars and bask in the eerie glow of interstellar nebulae. Starship battles will take place to keep things active, but the game puts emphasis on freedom and everything that makes science fiction an incredible genre.

The game will feature online multiplayer and co-operative action, but Hello Games has said that the game is so big that gamers could play for months and never meet.

During the awards ceremony Hello Games’ head Sean Murray also revealed that Debutante will be writing the soundtrack for No Man’s Sky. You might remember Debutante for their iconic song 65 Days of Static that accompanied the game’s reveal trailer.

No Man’s Sky is one of the most anticipated games of our era, and remains one of the most breathtaking indies we’ve see in recent memory.

The game is slated to release on PlayStation 4 and PC, and there will be more news released during tomorrow’s PlayStation Experience event in Las Vegas.

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Developer: Larian Studios
Publisher: Larian Studios
Release Date: June 30, 2014
Platform: PC
Genre: Action RPG, Turn-based strategy
MSRP: $39.99

Of Swords and Sourcery

Divinity: Original Sin is one of the most ingenious and original games in recent years. It was crafted by Larian Studios, a Belgian dev team made up of just 40 souls that worked tirelessly to create their own dream game.

The passion that went into Divinity: Original Sin remains a shining example of the craftiness that can be achieved when shredding the bonds of big-name publishers.

To make this ambitious game, Larian turned to the fans instead of relying on publisher investments. The game’s Kickstarter was wildly successful, raking in almost $1 million in crowdfunding support. Everyone wanted to play Larian’s dream game–in many ways it was our dream game, too–and after a few delays, the Belgian studio finally delivered the finished product to our awaiting hands.

The release of Divinity: Original Sin proved that Larian has held true to their original vision, and in many ways they’ve even one-upped it. The game remains a true testament to the team’s devotion and stands as one of the most inspiring RPG’s in modern gaming.

This is the fruits of their resolute dedication.

Zapping water with lightning blasts is just one of the examples of original mechanics found nestled in DoS.

The Stuff Dreams are Made Of

Divinity: Original Sin harkens back to the old-school days of RPG’s, where players’ mettle was truly tested every time they played. At it’s core, the game is smart and witty, but you’ll have to look below the surface to see its true charm.

There’s no hand-holding here; to figure out the quests, for example, you’ll need to do some sleuthing. Things aren’t straightforward–there’s no clear-cut indicators on where to go–so players are prompted to actually explore and interact with their surroundings.

Remember when games had that?

Investigating certain locales and–more importantly–talking to NPC’s can give you helpful clues to lead you in the right direction. Sometimes you’ll feel like an amateur gumshoe trying to put the pieces together, and honestly I haven’t had more fun figuring out the quests than my lengthy adventures in Vvardenfell.

The quests are sort of linear in nature but the real beauty is the different ways you can tackle them. Many objectives are optional–for example, one man wants you to assassinate an innocent orc named Viktorhya to make her pay for the dastardly deeds of her tribe.

Zixxzaxx may look like a small fellow, but his ambitions are actually quite large; infinite, even.

But this brings up a dichotomy that jeopardizes your valor as a hero; should you mete death out to the pure soul, or would your powers best lay elsewhere? To settle these differences, players can argue both sides in one of the most interesting character development mechanics I’ve seen in any game.

Now to understand how the characters interact, we have to first be introduced to them. Divinity: Original Sin tells the unlikely tale of two famed Source Hunters (yes, that’s Sourcery, not sorcery) who get tied up in a journey to save space, time and reality from certain doom.

The town of Cyseal is quite vast, and is filled with a whole manner of quirky denizens and hidden quests.

Gamers control not one, but two protagonists throughout their endeavors, forging a unique duo that’s the heart of

The Source Hunters are male and female, and are fully customizable from head-to-toe in terms of battle proficiency, skills and appearance–but more on that later. Their personalities are also mold-able through dialog interactions, many of which can have actual bonus effects on the characters.

Choosing to relent on the orcess, for example, will tack on Forgiving points that translate to in-game buffs. But when views clash, the hunters settle it the old-fashioned way: in a game of Rock Paper Scissors. The victor gets their way, with the loser still getting their bonuses tacked onto their building personas.

The dynamism of the dual-character approach is readily apparent, and serves as a reminder of truly innovative–if not often humorous–originality.

Elemental synergies can often turn the tide of any battle. It’s important to be able to uses these combos in tandem with the skills of your party members.

A Blend of Everything Wonderful: Combat, Skills and More

At its heart, Divinity Original Sin is a hybrid of epic proportions. The best way to quantify the game’s approach is a superlative blend of Final Fantasy Tactics‘ strategic excellence with Diablo‘s point-and-click action role-playing sentiments, with a helping of the turn-based J-RPG combat to boot.

The result is an incredibly dynamic battlefield that brims over with potential. Players are free to choose their own tactical approaches to any skirmish with literally thousands of different outcomes, making it take on a sandbox-style element where anything can happen.

The game also marries the liberties of MMO-style freedom with character creation and progression. Gamers can shape and form their two heroes down to the tee with a huge level of swappable skills, proficiencies, traits and talents.

Combat is an intuitive mixture of turn-based and tactical, utilizing a structure akin to FInal Fantasy Tactics, Diablo, and a standard JRPG.

Mixing and matching classes is a fundamental aspect of the game as some classes will naturally compliment one another–such as the classic Mage-and-Warrior team–but Larian has brought this age-old adage to the next level.

Every class has its own specialized skillsets and tiered spells, but like any great RPG, players can cherry pick their favorite abilities to make their own uber-hero. Pretty much all of the stats–from innate traits to persuasion skills and strength for melee attacks–are useful in their own way, providing for an almost stifling number of possibilities.

Combat is fluid and rather entertaining largely due to the chaos that ensues when certain elements are mixed. These elemental affinities are naturally logical and really outline the original soul of the game. For example, tossing a bolt of crackling lightning at an enemy who’s been doused with water renders the unfortunate soul into a living conduit of electricity.

Similar bonuses incur with oil and fire. Oil is an area of effect spell that slows enemies, but it’s also highly flammable. Igniting it with the Flare spell leads to well-cooked baddies. But you’ll need to be careful with your aim, as friendly fire is a big danger throughout combat.

Taking advantage of these synergies is an immensely enjoyable and helpful way to conquer foes. Players are encouraged to actively experiment and rely on both strategy, intuition and chance to find out new recipes for disaster.

The combat proper is held in turns, and everything from moving to activating skills spends a resource known as AP. This is akin to the “move” counter in a lot of tactical-type RPG’s, and players can augment their AP with items and spells.

The game will take players to the heart of fantasy, taking on a whole manner of beasts and baddies–each of which pose a deadly challenge.

The heart of any conflict lies in a party, and players will get plenty of opportunities to recruit members to their team. Having a well-balanced group of casters, healers and fighters is essential to victory–but you’ll also need to know how to operate them in their designated roles.

Formations are a key mechanic that ensure the beefy tanks stay up front, while the weaker “glass cannon” mages–or the archers that fastidiously pluck their bowstrings–stay in the back out of harm’s way. You can even assign party members to their own partners, making a “split” party, reaping certain benefits along the way.

Combat in itself is challenging, and often you will die and fail–but the key is to learn why you failed and build from those mistakes. Divinity: Original Sin doesn’t hold your hand, but it doesn’t fully restrict you, either. It’s up to players to find their own niche, but the game gives you the tools you need to do so.

The two main Source Hunters can be heavily customized in terms of stat-focus and skillsets to form the perfect dynamic duo.

Loot and Crafting

Since Divinity: Original Sin mirrors an ARPG structure, loot is an essential commodity–although it seems less pronounced than strategic cunning. Players will come across a wild assortment of treasures, miscellaneous items, potions and immensely helpful skill books throughout their journeys.

Crafting is entertaining and further embraces that experimental attitude. Many times you’ll feel like a mad scientist, trying to mix raw materials like mushrooms and water-filled flasks to make mysterious concoctions. It’s possible to mix some pretty advantageous brews that boost stats like Strength and Intelligence, as well as resistance potions that shield against elemental attacks.

Every party member has an inventory, stats, and can be equipped with your average gear slots found in most ARPG’s.

Recipes are incredibly varied, but crafting leads to some pretty hefty practical advantages.

Drag and drop a branch on a knife, for example, and you’ll get some arrow shafts. You can even take empty buckets and cups to wells and streams and fill them up, and drink them while in battle to refill AP. Combining nine-inch nails with a hammer yields lockpicks, and dropping an iron sword into a furnace will smelt some iron bars.

These recipes often seem quite random, but you’d be surprised how much they make sense at times. The game actively encourages players to continually interact and discover new things, whether it’s making a quill pen or a powerful two-handed axe to smite down foes.

Conclusion

Divinity: Original Sin is a true love letter to enthusiasts of the RPG genre, and bridges so many different beloved mechanics while preserving a life of its own. While it does adapt a smattering of sentiments both classic and new, it retains its originality and stylish flair throughout.

The game is tailored to experienced players who don’t mind having to investigate and experiment with their characters. The heart of the game is freedom, but the mind of it is ingenuity and intuition–and players have the liberty to discover their own playstyles and explore the vast webwork of skill combinations.

Larian has preserved the hallmark staples of any great fantasy-based RPG while also seamlessly reinvigorating the entire genre, creating a brand new vision that won’t soon be forgotten.

The post Divinity Original Sin Review appeared first on VR World.

I think we’ve all seen those giant fire towers while passing down a forest-side road. The towers stretch above the ceiling of trees like an airborne sanctuary, and there Forest Rangers sit in their endless watch.

We wonder who they are, how they cope with that seclusion, and what it’s like to be broken away from society to stay sentinel against a raw force of nature. What sacrifices do those brave men and women make for their vigil? What have they experienced in their toilsome journeys?

With Firewatch, Campo Santo is telling that story. And they’re even marrying it with what appears to be suspenseful mystery worthy of Twin Peaks.

The firewatch tower stands sentinll against the uncaring forest, serving as a beacon for sanctuary and safety.

All Along the Watchtower

The winds are rising, billowing in streams and steady whispery zephyrs. The sky is clear and and bright, and overhead a bird screeches from the heavens above.

Here in his asylum in the sky, a lonely firewatcher sits in his tower. He’s watching and waiting, safeguarding against the cataclysm of a roaring inferno that threatens to eat away the wilderness.

But even in this stronghold of safety an unnerving sense of the supernatural is at work. It feels like there is more out there to worry about than wildfire; something dark, something mysterious.

A force that turns the peaceful solitude of the Great Outdoors into an impartial graveyard of sorts even in its breathtaking beauty. So he gathers his survival gear; rope to scale cliff faces, a radio to keep in contact with others, and other necessities.

Thus armed, our watchman enters the unknown, unsure of what’s out there within the heart of the forest.

This is Firewatch.

The Wilderness, a Living Graveyard

Firewatch is the culmination of gaming talent from renown industry greats who’ve come together to form a studio called Campo Santo (which, curiously enough, translates to “cemetery” in Italian and Spanish).

The studio is made up of alums like graphic designer Olly Moss, Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman from Telltale Games (The Walking Dead series) and Nels Andersen from Klei Entertainment (Mark of the Ninja).

Since being revealed at PAX 2014, the Firewatch reveal trailer has been vastly disseminated, analyzed and acclaimed–and for good reason.

Despite its amazing beauty, the wilderness lacks empathy. It can be a cruel, dangerous place full of seclusion and despair.

Personally I find shades of Twin Peaks cleverly layered within the footage. There’s a very distinct sense of awe and mystery to the experience, which is amplified by the inclusive environments. Enshrouded in this mystery comes a feeling of otherworldly-ness that pierces the veil of wonder, letting darkness and unease bleed through.

If anything, this air of secrecy and peril doesn’t turn us away from the amber-crested forests of Firewatch; it pulls us in like a psiren’s harmonious song.

“Why are we even here?”

“To make sure the wilderness doesn’t burn down.”

“No. Our job is to be here when that happens. Henry, there are some things you can’t prevent. So just stay in your tower, okay? Stay in there. And watch.”

But in this beauty is a truly lonely sense of wonder that lacks humanity; the forest itself doesn’t care if you live or die, and if you should die, it would move on without a beat. The sun would still rise and fall, the rivers would flow, and nature would continue its never-ending cycle.

As we see in the footage, the inclusive environments seem to weigh on the psyche. What used to be a scenic vista is a vast expanse of loneliness. Players bridge this gap with radio contact with Delilah, a fellow co-worker, who tethers Henry to reality with human interaction.

Night time is particularly oppressive in the wild, with total darkness only being banished by the comfort of the tower’s light.

At its heart Firewatch looks to be a tale of human survival. Players take on the role of a firewatcher who delves into the heart of the unknown while battling the rigors of seclusion. For all of the splendor of the wilderness, there’s a true sense of detachment and danger, and one realizes soon enough that this may very well their grave.

Campo Santo is playing with fire, and I think it’s fair to say we all want to see what they conjure up. So far their pyromancy is keen and brilliant, and they’ve set our hearts and minds aflame with this one.

Firewatch may release sometime in 2015 and is planned for Mac, Linux and PC. For more info be sure to hop over to Campo Santo’s official website.

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The playing field of the gaming industry is changing.

In a market dominated by reboots and sequels, more and more gamers are turning to indie and free-to-play games (commonly abbreviated as F2P) — and as a result the industry is making a paradigm shift. Key companies like Activision and EA are finding F2P and indies as major competitors to their streams of AAA releases, and in order to stay on top, they’ll need to embrace these sectors.

But why move to indies when AAA is still reigning the charts ? What are the benefits of diversifying to incorporate indie-like titles and free-to-play franchises?

Call of Duty is Activision’s cash crop, but how much longer can it churn out AAA sequel hits?

AAA games are huge investments in terms of revenue and manpower. Big-name companies like Activision have massive research and development departments that analyze current trends in the market and compile sales figures of popular games. As more time goes by, publishers become wary of investing time and money into projects that ultimately “bomb”. Crytek’s recent radical transition serves as an apt warning of the dangers of putting too much stock into a single game.

Publishers understandably only want to invest in sure-fire hits which is why the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty games saturate the market. These franchises have been key breadwinners for the companies, but this tactic is a double-edged sword: how long before gamers get sick of sequel-after-sequel tactics and re-hashed gameplay mechanics?

The Framework for Change

Indies and free-to-play offer a vast amount of potential in terms of change while having the advantage of being comparatively lower-cost. If handled correctly, publishers can tap into this new stream of entertainment and create diversified games while sitting on the cushion of AAA releases at the same time.

The real challenge for these companies is creating fresh new franchises. In a sense this is the spirit of indies, and traditionally the whole concept of indies is that they’re not constrained by the overseeing hands of publishers. Indies are free to do what they want and tell the story they want, in the style they want.

This freedom is undoubtedly the core of creativity, and AAA publishers could learn many things from the indie process.

Journey was received as one of the best indies of all time for its amazing visual flair.

Key indie hits like Fez, Super Meat Boy and Braid have taken old-school gaming sentiments and incorporated something original and new.  Some games like Journey, Sony’s PS3 exclusive indie, make waves because they introduce gamers to incredible visual adventures that resonate with profound experiences.

Gone Home, Full Bright’s moving indie about personal exploration, was celebrated because of its captivating narrative and cultural overtones that engrossed gamers in a virtual world. This indie gem is a prime example of the myriad ways a game can shine without having to deliver over-the-top graphics and action-packed sequences.

But indies aren’t  just deep emotional narratives and nostalgic bit-style visual splendor: the scope is far greater, and some indies are epic in scale and deliver near-never-ending gameplay.

Minecraft is a superlative example of an indie that keeps on giving, and to date it’s become one of the best-selling games in the history of the industry. Larian’s newly released Divinity: Original Sin delivers a huge ARPG adventure set in a massive medieval fantasy world that you could explore for dozens of hours.

Indies are bold, they are powerful and deliver riveting and enjoyable experiences to gamers–and the represent a new spirit, a new movement in gaming. It may seem radical to advise AAA publishers to tap this magic, but their future lies in these momentum-gaining markets.

Minecraft is one of the most accessible games on the market, with ports on nearly every console that reach a wide audience of gamers.

Another huge benefit to indies is their accessibility.

Many indies are available across all platforms, from console and PC to mobiles and handhelds and are lower-cost on the market. This web of accessibility that brings content across many different mediums and digital stores is no-doubt attractive to publishers like Activision, who release their products across nearly every system. The cost factor, in turn, is attractive to gamers and they are more likely to take a chance on a $10 game rather than a $64 dud.

Big-name companies like Sony and Microsoft have realized that indies are not only a lucrative branch of gaming, but a sector that thrives and fosters the creative game-development process. Both gaming giants have embraced new horizons of gaming centered around the accessibility of indie games, bringing a swath of console-based ports to their respective consoles.

Ubisoft’s foray into the indie-like world culminated in Child of Light, an acclaimed original take on turn-based RPG’s and platformers.

To date Sony has cherry-picked some of the best known indies — from Don’t Starve to Rogue Legacy – to release on the PS4, introducing a swarm of entertaining titles to a brand new audience. Both Microsoft and Sony know the merits of indies and are using them to even out their catalog of AAA hits, making for some healthy competition.

Ubisoft, the label behind the popular Assassin’s Creed franchise, has started branching out into the indie realm. With the highly original platformer/turn-based RPG Child of Light, the company has proven that it’s possible for big-name industry giants to craft a successful indie-esque gem. Ubisoft has furthered its venture into indie-like titles with Valiant Hearts, yet another dynamic and original story accompanied with an amazing visual style.

No Man’s Sky, an upcoming procedurally generated space-exploration sim from Hello Games, is an example of how big an impact indies have over our present industry. Since its reveal at VGX 2013, No Man’s Sky has captured the hearts and minds of millions of gamers across the world and remains one of the most anticipated games in development today.

No Man’s Sky has made waves across every outlet, every publication, and is a truly magnificent specimen of the spirit of indies — and remains a huge signal to AAA companies on the kinds of games we want to play.

League of Legends remains one of the most popular MOBAs on the market, and is a major foundation of eSports.

Free-To-Play: MOBA’s and Gaming as a Sport

Free-to-Play is an obvious solution for publishers. Free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBA) like DotA2 and League of Legends have transformed the landscape of eSports, giving rise to a huge new profitable niche within the industry, and have laid the foundations for the entire genre itself.

Twitch-casters and YouTubers perpetuate the hype for many of these MOBA’s with in-game playthroughs and sporting matches, making gamers feel like they’re part of a sporting event–and given the heightened level of competition, MOBA’s are sports in their own right.

Esports is another profitable avenue to be explored. Millions of gamers tune-in and jump in the chaos to combat other players across the world, rooting for their favorite teams along the way. Under the eSports banner, everything from MOBA’s to Call of Duty matches have been deigned as official sporting events.

The international DOTA 2 championships alone generated a prize pool of over $10 million to be divided up between the finalists. Pro gamers are also sponsored by key tech companies in a way that mirrors the best-paid athletes of our era.

Bethesda Softworks (of Skyrim fame) has attempted to get in on the F2P market with its very MOBA-like game BattleCry, which focuses on melee-style third-person combat instead of dynamic RTS-style mechanics. While it may not win over the crowd when DotA2 and LoL are on the market, the owners of Elder Scrolls are doing their best to make an effort and test the waters.

Tera is a leading MMORPG that has gone free-to-play, foregoing the subscription structure in favor of microtransactions.

The Rigors of Pay-To-Win

Free-to-play MMORPG’s which give players free access to expansive virtual worlds, also incorporate micro-transactions as a means to fund development. MMO’s give players a long, winding experience while delivering new content via patches and updates–and more updates on the lucrative micro-transaction market.

Micro-transactions involve gamers shelling out cash for digital items, and often, for in-game currency to exchange for gear. In a gamer’s point of view this practice “free” (and many times pushes gamers away), and the community frowns upon these “pay to win” models.

But free-to-play doesn’t always have to translate to “pay-to-win”.

Path of Exile, a free-to-play indie MMORPG, only lets users buy cosmetic upgrades and abolishes the structure outright. Rather than unlocked powerful weapons and gear, the micro-transactions for PoE instead deliver flair that offers players the chance to distinguish themselves from the online crowd.

The micro-transactions in casual titles remain massive sources of revenue, with mobile “freemium” apps like Candy Crush Saga raking in over $600 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2014.

While the freemium market is generally looked down upon by most gamers, it can be a genuine goldmine of income for major companies considering just about everyone plays games on their phones.

Balancing the micro-transactions for freemium apps and F2P games is quite delicate, and gaming companies have to tread carefully or risk alienating their core gamers. The pay-to-win model can be profitable, sure, but it’s important not to press gamers too hard.

The very nature of indie games inherently celebrates freedom in an industry over-saturated with “FPS clones”, and revels in stripping the bonds of big publishers. Put too much weight on any micro-funded game with exorbitant pay models and it’ll collapse in on itself.

No Man’s Sky has gained incredible momentum, standing up against AAA games with its anticipation and acclaim.

Learning From Indies and F2P

Analyzing these trends it remains clear that publishers can embrace these new trends in the gaming sphere while turning a profit at the same time. Many of the companies already have the revenue to generate the huge development costs that indie devs face, and lower-budget lower-cost projects would in turn lower the risk of losing big investments from a commercial “bomb”.

With lower risks, the pressure is pulled off and gives key development times the time and resources they need to make something different, something special for gamers.

Micro-transactions are enticing to companies, but at the same time they have to weigh the stigmas that will be attached to the games themselves. It’ll take some balancing and experimentation to find the right mix of free-to-play and indie–and even more time to capture that distinct indie magic–but industry titans will need to start adapting in order to stay on top.

The key isn’t to keep churning out sequels and ports and reboots, but to take the time (and effort) to look around for new creative ideas. Gamers want something new, something different to catch their attention, and these companies have the power to make it happen. The answer isn’t to derive what’s successful, to make clones of big-selling indie names, but to take that risk to create something wholly unique, to let those games inspire new ideas.

Activision and EA could learn from indies and free-to-play games in this respect, and while we shouldn’t hope that they’ll invade the indie sector, we should hope that they will pay attention to what gamers want instead of spinning out yet another Call of Duty or Battlefield sequel.

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