Making a Best-Selling Video Game

Making a Best-Selling Video Game
Video gaming is society’s new favourite activity. People of all ages start their gaming engines in order to play the games they like both individually as well as in groups of multiple players. The ability to start a new digital adventure from anywhere is a pretty strong selling point, and because of that, more and more people buy into the idea of joining the gaming world. Some like e-sports, others like strategy games and more than just a few players enjoy spending their time playing games of chance. The more the gaming audience increases, the more gaming developers try to create and release games that have something special to offer.

The Elements of Award-Winning Games
Every studio creates games in order to make money, but in order to do that, the game has to offer something special. For some players, special means great graphics, while for others, it means great storylines or great gameplay. If one were to put all of the above elements in two words, then one would call it "user-experience". For a game to be successful, the UX needs to be outstanding. This does not only apply to AAA titles like God of War but also to casino games like Age of Gods, to AR games like Pokemon Go and to interactive games such as the VR version of Resident Evil. Games offering a poor user experience will be forgotten in no time, regardless of the amount of money the studio needed in order to create them. A very good example of a game struggling to remain relevant is Cyberpunk 2077.
Short-Term Successes and Timeless Money Makers
Every year, hundreds if not thousands of new games are being released for consoles, computers and mobiles. Some become short-term sensations, earning awards for their gameplay, while others end up becoming just another flop. However, there are only a handful of games one can categorize as timeless. For some, it is MMORPG games like Warcraft, while for others it is games like Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. Gaming reviewers will occasionally convince players that a game is better than many others, but at the end of the day it is the players that can turn a game from just another title in the gaming library to a goldmine for its gaming studio.
When it comes to technology, newer is almost always better. However, this is not always the case in gaming. Bethesda has released several games after Skyrim, but the popular Elder Scrolls game is still generating more money than any other game. Getting remastered can have something to do with Skyrim’s success, but at the end of the day, it is still the same ten-year-old game. This shows that some games have that extra something that can keep players coming back for more.

Turning a Gaming Concept into a Series
Every gaming studio wants to see its game succeed in order for it to allow for the creation of sequels, prequels or special editions and in every genre, there are games that manage to do just that. Tekken has managed to remain relevant for almost thirty years and every Tekken release generates more money than the immediately previous game of the series. This is not always the case with franchises, so Tekken’s success is a case study worth discussing in board meetings of gaming companies, in gaming conventions, and in universities to educate the future generations of game developers.