I don’t see a lot of hiring principles to learn from here. Artists are oversupplied, and these aren’t particularly good ones, the character designs are really dull, compare to 2010s pokemon and trainer designs.
For me it’s more of a cynical reaffirmation of the profitability of offering people something they already think they want. It’s pokemon, but also a shooter. There’s a reason no one made that until now. From a gameplay design perspective it doesn’t make sense. But it sure is intuitively appealing as a concept. It takes actual boldness sometimes to go ahead and make a thing like that, to know that it wont really be that good but that people will buy it and talk about it enough that you’ll sell anyway. Another example in this genre would be Mr Beast. He makes videos like “driving a lamborghini off a cliff” and gets more views than god.
Personally I’m enjoying Palworld (playing for “free” on Game Pass) and I doubt it would have kept such a high level of concurrent players/interest even after a few days if it wasn’t fun at all and only a marketing gimmick. It’s a case where the whole of the core gameplay loop is more appealing than you’d think by just looking at the somewhat incongruous collection of parts. (How long the fun lasts is another question).
edit: I’d agree that the CEO may be overstating how much of a “genius” his employees are but I do think the pal designs are pretty good if not especially original. And the post seems to be more about his relief and gratitude at getting a difficult project over the line rather than objective claims.
But I think the reason so many talented directors don’t build these concepts is that they have zero cultural impact. If you give people something exactly shaped the same as their pre-existing cravings, they leave unchanged.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t produce things that at least have those sorts of premise. As a creator, maybe you don’t get to choose what questions get asked, but you can put anything you want in your answer, and I don’t see why those who provide more enriching and surprising answers shouldn’t end up winning in the long run.
I don’t see a lot of hiring principles to learn from here. Artists are oversupplied, and these aren’t particularly good ones, the character designs are really dull, compare to 2010s pokemon and trainer designs.
For me it’s more of a cynical reaffirmation of the profitability of offering people something they already think they want. It’s pokemon, but also a shooter. There’s a reason no one made that until now. From a gameplay design perspective it doesn’t make sense. But it sure is intuitively appealing as a concept. It takes actual boldness sometimes to go ahead and make a thing like that, to know that it wont really be that good but that people will buy it and talk about it enough that you’ll sell anyway. Another example in this genre would be Mr Beast. He makes videos like “driving a lamborghini off a cliff” and gets more views than god.
Personally I’m enjoying Palworld (playing for “free” on Game Pass) and I doubt it would have kept such a high level of concurrent players/interest even after a few days if it wasn’t fun at all and only a marketing gimmick. It’s a case where the whole of the core gameplay loop is more appealing than you’d think by just looking at the somewhat incongruous collection of parts. (How long the fun lasts is another question).
edit: I’d agree that the CEO may be overstating how much of a “genius” his employees are but I do think the pal designs are pretty good if not especially original. And the post seems to be more about his relief and gratitude at getting a difficult project over the line rather than objective claims.
But I think the reason so many talented directors don’t build these concepts is that they have zero cultural impact. If you give people something exactly shaped the same as their pre-existing cravings, they leave unchanged.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t produce things that at least have those sorts of premise. As a creator, maybe you don’t get to choose what questions get asked, but you can put anything you want in your answer, and I don’t see why those who provide more enriching and surprising answers shouldn’t end up winning in the long run.