Will Wright Talks 'Fractal Entertainment Experiences'
'Entertainment experiences' to go 'fractal'
Will Wright
According to Sims creator and leader of Stupid Fun Club, Will Wright, the 'chasm' between hulking great blockbuster games and smaller, creative games is shrinking at a fair old rate.
The problem is, however, that we're not sure what exactly the chasm is: we're assuming it's sales as it can't be creatively.
"...Right now, there's still a deep chasm between the big, money-making hits like the Hollywood blockbusters and the more independent game creative area that doesn't have a lot of financial draw, but I see those two converging pretty rapidly actually.
"I think we're going to start seeing a much more diverse set of business models deploying – basically a smooth ramp where somebody can start making nice little Flash apps, then iPhone apps, and then work their way up" says Wright.
He said that simultaneously "entertainment experiences" will be "deployed on a more fractal basis". Yeah, we've got no idea what the hell that means either. So, we're saying that he meant, "As usual each of the entertainment media will cannibalise each other, no change there."
But don't mind us, this is what he said in context, "There might be the 'lite' experience, almost like the creature creator in Spore that you downloaded for free, but at the same time if you're really into it you can go out and buy the $50 game. Or you can watch the TV show. I think that's where working from a hub outwards, we're going to see these entertainment experiences deployed on a more fractal basis".
That doesn't, it must be said, take a rocket scientist to figure out. Flash games are already scattered about websites for TV shows and the iPhone app store is chock full of 'Lite' games aimed at making you spend money on a deeper version. What Wright's talking about is really just an extension of that.
Industry Gamers (formerly GameDaily) has been sitting on its Wright interview for a while - scraps of it were released back in April - but there's still more interesting stuff to be had through here.
The problem is, however, that we're not sure what exactly the chasm is: we're assuming it's sales as it can't be creatively.
"...Right now, there's still a deep chasm between the big, money-making hits like the Hollywood blockbusters and the more independent game creative area that doesn't have a lot of financial draw, but I see those two converging pretty rapidly actually.
"I think we're going to start seeing a much more diverse set of business models deploying – basically a smooth ramp where somebody can start making nice little Flash apps, then iPhone apps, and then work their way up" says Wright.
He said that simultaneously "entertainment experiences" will be "deployed on a more fractal basis". Yeah, we've got no idea what the hell that means either. So, we're saying that he meant, "As usual each of the entertainment media will cannibalise each other, no change there."
But don't mind us, this is what he said in context, "There might be the 'lite' experience, almost like the creature creator in Spore that you downloaded for free, but at the same time if you're really into it you can go out and buy the $50 game. Or you can watch the TV show. I think that's where working from a hub outwards, we're going to see these entertainment experiences deployed on a more fractal basis".
That doesn't, it must be said, take a rocket scientist to figure out. Flash games are already scattered about websites for TV shows and the iPhone app store is chock full of 'Lite' games aimed at making you spend money on a deeper version. What Wright's talking about is really just an extension of that.
Industry Gamers (formerly GameDaily) has been sitting on its Wright interview for a while - scraps of it were released back in April - but there's still more interesting stuff to be had through here.
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Will Wright
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