🎮 The Repetition Trap: Why "Sameness" Dominates the Gaming Industry

🎮 The Repetition Trap: Why "Sameness" Dominates the Gaming Industry

Welcome to a deep dive inspired by the lively discussions on the  (Episode 3). The core question that sparked this debate—and the one that often divides the gaming community—is: Are we playing the same games with different skins, or is "repetition" simply a natural part of artistic evolution?

The conversation, initially centered around the reveal of the Wolverine game and the fear of it feeling "repetitive," touches on the nature of creative inspiration, developer risk, and player expectations.

💡 The Philosophy of Creative Borrowing

One perspective asserts that true 100% originality is a myth in entertainment. Whether it's a movie, series, or video game, creators inevitably draw inspiration, or "borrow," from successful ideas that came before them.

• The Adventure Lineage: Consider the Uncharted series. It’s widely acknowledged that Uncharted took cues from the earlier Tomb Raider series. In turn, Tomb Raider itself drew heavily on the spirit of adventure found in the Indiana Jones films and, notably, the platforming and puzzle mechanics of games like Prince of Persia. This is not "theft" but a clear lineage of ideas, where each new work refines and evolves the genre.

• Borrowing to Innovate: Developers often build games based on what they love. Developing a platformer similar to Ori, but with unique story elements and mechanics, is a form of respectful homage and development, not mere replication.

The true problem, then, is not similarity—which is natural—but copy-pasting an entire product without adding genuine evolution.

📉 The "Ubisoft Syndrome" and Sony's Formula

The argument intensifies when looking at large publishers and their established formulas:

• The Repetitive Open-World: Games from certain major studios, often dubbed as having the "Ubisoft Syndrome," sometimes feel like a single product stretched across different worlds (e.g., Assassin's Creed and Far Cry). The core mechanics—clearing camps, unlocking towers, following a predictable mission structure—tend to recur, leading to player fatigue.

• The Sony Cinematic Model: A similar critique is leveled at Sony's exclusive games post-PlayStation 4. While they are lauded for cinematic storytelling and high-quality narrative, they often adhere to a few common gameplay patterns:

  
  

  • Third-person, narrative-driven action-adventure.

  • The "father-and-child" dual relationship (The Last of Us, God of War).

  • Visual language consistency (like the prominent use of yellow highlights for climbing paths).

The core strength of these PlayStation titles, which justifies their high sales, lies in their unmatched story and cinematic execution. Even if the gameplay framework is similar, the emotional depth and production value provide a new, compelling experience. You can find out more about how these narrative techniques drive sales on our dedicated Gaming Industry Analysispage.

🛡️ The Fear of Change: High Risk, High Reward

Why do big companies stick to what works? The answer is often simple: Profit and minimized risk.

As the saying goes, "A coach doesn't change a winning strategy." If a formula sells well (like FIFA or Call of Duty installments), companies are incentivized to stick to it. Innovating significantly is expensive and carries the risk of commercial failure.

However, sometimes high risk leads to high reward:

• FromSoftware's Evolution: The Souls-like genre, pioneered by Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, didn't just repeat itself. Bloodborne introduced a fast-paced, aggressive "regain" system, and Sekiro focused entirely on a new deflection/posture-breaking mechanic. Elden Ring then successfully transitioned this design philosophy into a vast open world. These small, significant changes kept the core genre fresh.

• The Success of New Concepts: Independent studios, or those taking a leap, often reap massive benefits. Games like It Takes Two introduced genuinely novel co-op ideas and were met with critical and commercial success. For further examples of successful innovation, check out our Innovation in Indie Gamingsection.

In the end, while creative borrowing is unavoidable, the gaming industry must balance the need for profit with the player's yearning for new, evolving mechanics to avoid a true state of repetitive fatigue.

🏆 Game of the Year Expectations (Historical Nominees)

During the podcast, the question of Game of the Year (GOTY) nominees was raised. While the original conversation was clearly looking ahead to an unannounced future list, we can examine the official nominees from a recent major event, The Game Awards 2023, to showcase the competition's high bar: