Observations of an Industry Fossil

So the story which I have shared at many conferences goes like this:

Late 1980’s. Game Producer at Activision goes to Comic Book show in NYC, sees a comic that could be a sound basis for a video game. He negotiates a deal for worldwide rights for $20k or so. Remember this was a new comic book and back then, even a major film’s game rights could be had for under $100k.

At that time Activision ran focus groups with teens bought in during the weekend with soda and pizza. And as the title says, they were not interested in the comic which by now, you recognize as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of the most successful comics of all time.

I was reminded this because of a memo (possibly fake) from Bethesda Games that called its users “Insufferable Grognards” for flipping out over Fallout ’76. The item that stood out for me was this:

Whenever we start a new project, we like to ask ourselves, “What do the fans want?” Well, you don’t know what the fuck you want, and you never did.

As someone who spent a decade in the world of mobile game metrics, that is analyzing funnels, retention, revenue … this was a Fight Club “You are not your job…” revelation. And to be honest, when I look back at my time in mobile games (2000–2016) I’d have to admit that Bethesda or whoever penned this sarcastic screed, has a point, users (and designers) really don’t know what users want.

The most successful mobile game I was involved with was an afterthought, a promotional project to create an iPhone Bocce game for a Bocce Set vendor that was turned into an ad-supported game. One of the lowest budget games I worked on. A game that organically hit #1 in all apps in Italy and rose to the top 10 in the USA with a little help.

So, what I hope to do with this blog is to think about such things and see if I can come to some conclusions from my nearly 40 years in the business because we really don’t know what users want. At least if we’re talking about original ideas.