Discussing the huge impact that Remember Me could have had on the gaming community.
A future I want.
In a world where hundreds of games are released at the $50 or above price point, review scores mean all the more for the average consumer with a limited income. An average metacritic score of 70 is going to hurt Remember Me's ability to take in a boatload of money. I don't know what level of expectations Dontnod Entertainment had for sales, but I am sure a score of 70 was not in their plans. And all of this disappoints me because you know that one dude in a suit is sitting somewhere, sipping his 21 year old scotch, laughing and screaming "I told you!!!"
Well hell, pardon the people for not throwing their money on a close, but not quite there, product. While I know for a fact that the majority of the gaming community wants to see a shift to more diverse products and more realistic examples of video game "heroes", this will never change as long as the business people behind the scenes don't feel like it will make them money.
Can you imagine a world where Remember Me got a perfect score on all its reviews? Would all the publisher suddenly start re-thinking their strategy? Probably not. At least not until the consumers showed that they were willing to throw money at the product. Let's hope that by some miracle the sales numbers are great for Remember Me. Only then would they be willing to finally step outside of the dark ages and actually give the people what they really want. The next BioShock game might actually have a female character on its cover. Video game writers might actually get the freedom to share the stories that they really want, as opposed to shaping narratives to pre-determined gameplay mechanics. Fuel for the fires that are being stoked by the likes of Anita Sarkeesian and the band of random lunatics harassing her would slowly start to fade. All the craziness might stop and we could actually get back to seeing this awesome art form grow into the greatness we all know it can achieve.
Unfortunately, not this round. Sure, the almost guaranteed success of The Last of Us, with Ellie front and center on the cover, will help to give some support to the argument that strong female characters can sell games. Still, I am sure the first keen eye will point out that the main attraction to the game was the prospect of playing a gruff looking middle aged dude who shoots people in the face with a shotgun. *sigh*
I believe in us. I believe that there are publisher's out there that believe in true creative freedom. I believe that there are developers out there with great ideas not constrained by the teenage male stereotype. I believe there is gaming media out there that wants to shine a light on how archaic some of gaming's culture is. I believe there are consumers out there that want to see diverse games with complex themes and even more complicated characters. I believe in ALL OF US. I just hope we all believe in ourselves as well.
