What have been the most important changes in videogames, videogame technology and in the wider videogame industry, over the last ten years?



Jeremiah Slaczka (Co-Founder and Creative Director, 5TH Cell): This is an easy question for me, the availability of platforms. We went from devs only being able to make big budget console and PC games to opportunities in flash, iPhone and mobile, downloadable titles like XBLA/PSN/WiiWare, the PC casual market and even Facebook games. It's an incredible time to be a game developer or to try to get into the industry because you have so many avenues for success.

J. Allen Brack (Production for Director for World of Warcraft, Blizzard): From a technology standpoint I think the rise of multi-core processors as we hit the maximum speed on CPUs has really allowed PC games to do a lot more of what they wanted. The advent of – more or less – infinite, cheap hard drive space has allowed us to really explode the number and variety of assets that we have. That's certainly been a huge change from, let's say, the previous decade. Memory is far more cheap and plentiful than it ever has been in the past in a way that I think is very significant. So the hardware advances have really allowed developers to see a lot more of the vision that they've wanted to reach.

Dan Greenawalt (Game Director at Turn 10 Studios): I think one of the most important changes in videogames is the cultural embrace of gaming as a national pastime. As the videogames industry continues to grow and attract new audiences, interactive entertainment has become deeply engrained into modern life as an expression of how we spend our free time. And gaming's foray into "personal expression" has lead to two other huge innovations for our hobby: social media integration (e.g., Xbox LIVE, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and user-generated content. New audiences means new genres and ways for designers to craft experiences for a variety of players, while social media and UGC give videogames a rich connected ecosystem not really even possible just 5 years ago. The exciting thing is that I feel we're just in the very early evolutionary stages of social media and UGC integration in games – I can't wait to see what the next 5 years will bring.

Online multiplayer gaming was just the start for networked consoles.

Paul Denning (Senior Gameplay Programmer, Rocksteady Studios): The boom of broadband has enabled us to really go to town on online features. Games with large player limits just weren't possible back on the old phone modems. This in turn led to another big improvement in gaming. Xbox Live. Microsoft's entry into the console world was so important. They came along with their vast knowledge built from years of PC development and launched Live. Sony in turn had no choice but to innovate to compete and that's great for everyone.

Kelly Zmak (President, Radical Entertainment): [Since 2006 it has been] the Wii and the new consumer audience it has found. Others changes include 3D graphics and its focus on realism, and the increase in casual/social gamers. [In terms of the wider videogame industry over the last ten years it has been] the decline of the PC retail market and the "democratization" of development tools for multiple platforms (i.e. - iPhone, Web, Flash, etc.).

The Wii has been one of the driving forces of expanding gaming's audience.

Yoshinori Ono (Producer, Super Street Fighter IV, Capcom): The entry of Xbox in 2001 created the 'multiplatform' trend for the first time, and this was a refreshing concept for us, leaving much room for reconsiderations in the whole process of 'producing' a game, not specific to particular hardware. The Xbox set the bar for games to have high quality graphics and audio, and as a result lead the industry to rival TV and Films in the entertainment field. This has also brought a new era, increasing the importance of cash flow for development as the titles get larger and larger in scale.

Randy Pitchford (President, Gearbox Software): Over the past 10 years, there have been a number of really big changes that have had a dramatic impact on the industry and which continue to influence the industry: connectivity, storage capacity, digital media, user generated content and user managed content. First, there's connectivity. Today, we can play with anyone, anywhere in the world via the internet. This connectivity allows for other opportunities to develop via specific social networks and digital distribution tools thus in turn creating a more direct relationship between the players and the game makers. Secondly, storage capacity and digital media technology has permitted us to store a life-time of audio, video, text and interactive entertainment into a device that can fit in the palm of my hand. These two significant changes converge and lead me into two other important aspects that have changed this industry: user generated content and user managed content. They have accelerated the rate of new ideas entering the entertainment space and they have amplified the volume of options we have for our creativity or amusement.

Denby Grace (Senior Producer, 2K Games): Before technology became what is it today, videogames were a specialist area that required you to have some mad skills in hooking up your PC, sorting your connection, getting lobbying software etc. Now, online gaming is a huge mass market and it's become super accessible and easy to use for everyone. Moreover, due to the advancements in technology with broadband and accessibility in online services such as Xbox LIVE I'm able to sit here is San Francisco and fire up a game of FIFA against my old man who's in Europe at the press of the button… now that is sweet!

XBL leveraged Microsoft's networking experience, and was a true game-changer.

Hermen Hulst (Managing Director, Guerrilla Games): Wow, compared to what we have today it seems like there hardly was an industry ten years ago. I think one of the most important changes is the transition of the bulk of the industry from PC to console. This completely changed the dynamics of the industry. Another important change is the popularization of the subscription-based business model by World of Warcraft; it cemented the notion of games as a service, rather than a one off purchase. In terms of technology, I'd say the rapid development of the physics engine was an important change which greatly improved realism in games.

Jamie Jackson (Creative Director, FreeStyleGames): For the videogame part, choice! 10 years ago the videogame market was still very much a hardcore, some would say geeky, pastime. Girlfriends thought you too childish if you played videogames. Now, you have to fight them for the Wiimote! Now, we have so much choice in the industry as to what we want to consume. Yes, the industry is still producing unbelievable hardcore games, with amazing graphics, complex control systems and ragingly hard difficulties, but you can also just play table tennis with your mum, or Frisbee with your 3 year old nephew. Through choice, our industry has matured (a little) and is now considered shoulder to shoulder with movies as a source of home entertainment.

Technology wise, I think I am the most happy I have been about what we can do graphically, than I have in my 12 plus years in the business. We have the tools to truly make beautiful games. And this is a very important part of continuing to expand the business we love and work in. The success of animated films, from the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks, have, in my honest opinion, made it more acceptable to appreciate games, which in turn has shown newcomers that games are no longer just for solo geeks in their bedrooms.

Ged Talbot (Lead Designer, Bizarre Creations): Online gaming – Since the early part of this decade all videogame consoles and nearly all games have included built in internet connectivity. This more than anything else has dramatically changed the nature of gaming. Playing games has now become a much more social experience than it was ten years ago which has come as a direct result of the move from Dial up internet connections to broadband.

The future is now!

Chris Pickford (Associate Producer, Bizarre Creations): For me it's got to be acceptance. For years videogames were classed as an incredibly niche hobby – a 'geeky' pastime to those who didn't play them. Now our industry is regularly grossing more than Hollywood films – and the media industry as a whole has completely turned around on its pre-millennium opinion. When you're being talked about in parliament on a regular basis you know that you've hit the mainstream.

Peter Johansson (Lead Game Designer, Avalanche): I think the most important change to gaming is that it has diversified and broadened its appeal so much. It has finally transitioned from being seen primarily as a somewhat geeky children and teen pastime to a cultural phenomenon for everyone. If anyone would have told me 10 years ago that my mother would own a game console in 2009 I wouldn't have believed it.

Steve Stamatiadis (Creative Director, Krome): The biggest change has to be the focus on connectivity and social interaction. Services like Xbox Live and the general ubiquity of the internet has made it possible for players to easily connect to other players. It's really changed the landscape of gaming in a good way.

Also the mainstream incursion into gaming is another important milestone. Though I really can't say if it's a good or bad thing just yet, there's the worry that hard core gamers will be neglected while publishers look to the larger sales they hope to get from a bigger audience. I'm hoping that there's plenty of room for both eventually and everyone can get to enjoy their favorite types of games.

Is this the face of the modern gamer?

Hideki Kamiya (Game Director, Platinum Games): Gaming has come to be broadly considered as one of many entertainments, not a subculture in a closed world. It is an interesting evolution that some consoles are now accepted by families. However, gaming culture is still developing, and I hope all of the games and the surroundings become [more] mature as time goes by.