At GDC 2009, Stardock's Brad Wardell gave a talk, and there was no shortage of people that were paying attention.
Stardock published Ironclad's Sins of A Solar Empire last year -- a hybrid 4X / RTS strategy game set in a classic mold of the deep, PC strategy game that went on to sell very well in stores, and online. The game's resounding commercial and creative success has undoubtedly caught the eyes of many people in game buisness; many of whom have to battle ambition in game design, with making enough money to stay profitable.
Brad Wardell spent much of the talk addressing the issue of the "core gamer." Although there has been a great deal of capitalization of the casual game market in 2008, Bard Wardell reaffirmed that there is still success to be found in games aimed at the more traditional and hardcore of the PC gaming audience.
In Brad's eyes, he sees much of the core gamer audience made up of people over 25, overwhelmingly male, tech savvy, and perhaps more willingly to purchase games that interest them, instead of pirating. Core gamers are also seen to appreciate modding ability, a strong, engaging single-player campaign, and involving themselves with other fans of the game, in places such as forums.
In the age of $20 million blockbuster games that are seen as failures if they break even, Stardock's approach seems like a refreshing throwback to the earlier days in game development: a smaller budget to make a game well-focused on a particular audience that will enjoy the title. While Ironclad Games would like to make Sins accessible, it seems the higher priority was creating a game with the necessary strategic depth required to engage gamers.
While Sins of A Solar Empire did not do blockbuster numbers like some AAA titles, when you consider their relatively lower development costs, on the business side of things, the game came out well ahead.
Dissatisfied PC 'core gamers' -- perhaps tired of seeing the same sort of game remade over and over, half-baked console ports, or the general simplification of the favorite genres -- might be encouraged by Sins commerical success, as it bodes well for more titles coming out in 2009 and 2010 that have enough depth to make them excited about gaming again.
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