The Zen of Games

by Jason Della Rocca (December 2005)

As a follow-up to the relatively negative set of keynotes during the Montreal Game Summit, this panel was meant to look at the creative crisis hitting the industry - or, question if there is in fact a crisis - from both creative and business perspectives. Our illustrious panel was made up of two creative types (Ubisoft's Chris Crowell and DC Studios' Ollie Sykes) and two business types (A2M's Remi Racine and Jamdat's Alex Thabet).

While the discussion never quite made it to the point of fighting between the creatives and biz guys, the panel did touch on a broad range of topics. From pointing fingers to publishers' risk aversion, retailers' constriction over shelves and the media's inability to reach/inform a mass audience, to laying blame at developers feet due to lack of openness to outside ideas, having fear of innovative interfaces (eg, DS, Revolution) and a lack of marketing sense, etc. Of note, was the sense of individual risk (ie, the starving artiste approach) and the lack of recognition/respect for true industry talent like in Hollywood (a la Rubin rant).

In the end, much of the discussion came down to finding the right balance between creativity and business realities. As Chris described in a sort of industry zen, creativity and business are two forces that need to work in concert - domination by either side is not the optimal approach.

The evening ended with the traditional IGDA members' prize giveaway for game development books from Charles River Media, games from EA and Ubisoft and hardware/software from Microsoft Canada and High Road Communications. Networking activities took place afterwards. And, special thanks to our volunteers Isabelle Marazzani, Pierre Tousignant and Guillaume Voghel for welcoming everybody to the meeting.

December Pictures

The Panel: Chris Crowell (Ubisoft), Alex Thabet (Jamdat), Ollie Sykes (DC Studios) and Remi Racine (A2M), along with all the door prize goodies.

A blurzy shot of an audience member asking a question...

Chris Crowell taking questions after the panel.

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