I've been following Steve Hood's Twitter account for a couple of weeks and I tell you, I am really frustrated by some of his replies. I don't want to make this thread into a rant. I'm honestly just trying to understand the direction CM is taking with this franchise.
For years now, it's been clear that Codemasters have been trying to appeal to a wider audience. This is logical since they want to make more money out of their games: It's a business. I get that. The Young Driver's Test as well as other additions to the game are solely for the new blood. I also understand that this F1 franchise is not a sim, and let me be clear with this, I do not want it to be a sim. If I wanted a true sim I'd be looking at other games.
However, it just seems to me that 99% of the focus for this Company is aimed at either getting new people or catering to those players who pick up the game very infrequently. I cringe every time Hood replies to someone with "Not a lot of people would use that, no point in us developing that feature". And it's incredibly funny to me that he uses this reply to answer the same questions: 'Will 3x Free Practice be back?' 'Can we get Multiplayer Practice Sessions?' 'Can we have more control over the race settings in a Multiplayer Lobby?', among others. I mean, if so many people ask the same question, wouldn't it be fair to say quite a bit of people would use it? Furthermore, how can you even use that reply when you spend time making features such as 'Champions Mode' which has no replay value whatsoever?
Don't get me wrong: I do not want CM to stop trying to do new things. Innovation should always be encouraged. Champions Mode isn't ground-breaking and it doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize you would never want to play it again once you beat it. On the other hand, the YDT was something I hadn't seen before and even though you never do it more than once, it's very clear to me that it's a very valuable addition. So I don't really condemn CM for trying new things... I just cannot wrap my head around why they ignore the people that use their games more frequently.
I use the term 'League Drivers' in this thread's title because I wanted to avoid the 'hardcore/casual gamer' connotations which carry too much baggage at this point. However, I do want to bring the League Driver into this discussion because it has dawned to me that there's a TON of F1 2012 leagues out there. There's a huge number of people who are taking part in them and it's there that you will probably find those gamers who are spending the most time with this game. Don't they understand that there's more money there than anywhere else? This is the people that would spend money on DLCs that would help their leagues or to get more fun out of what they're doing weekly. I mean, dedicated servers anyone? I get it that it's a big investment on their part. But how many people here wouldn't pay a small, yearly fee to get that implemented?
I see other sports franchises that release their games yearly. The Madden Franchise had a game mode where you could basically organize a Football Season, with 32 players, including a draft where you could choose who'd go in your team. I'm not incredibly familiar with FIFA but I've been told they have features that increase the fun for those people who are playing their games everyday.
Anyways... I think my ideas didn't come out as organized as I hoped them to be. I'm also a bit out of time so I couldn't say everything I wanted to say. However, I am interested in hearing what you guys think - Maybe I am wrong and I am in the minority. Maybe most of you are happy with the way the franchise is being run. I don't know. I only know that I really loved F1 2012 and all the people I met through it, by organizing a League here in RD.com. However, I also know that it could be a lot better with minor additions to it... But it seems those are not important, or no one would use them.
What do you guys think?
For years now, it's been clear that Codemasters have been trying to appeal to a wider audience. This is logical since they want to make more money out of their games: It's a business. I get that. The Young Driver's Test as well as other additions to the game are solely for the new blood. I also understand that this F1 franchise is not a sim, and let me be clear with this, I do not want it to be a sim. If I wanted a true sim I'd be looking at other games.
However, it just seems to me that 99% of the focus for this Company is aimed at either getting new people or catering to those players who pick up the game very infrequently. I cringe every time Hood replies to someone with "Not a lot of people would use that, no point in us developing that feature". And it's incredibly funny to me that he uses this reply to answer the same questions: 'Will 3x Free Practice be back?' 'Can we get Multiplayer Practice Sessions?' 'Can we have more control over the race settings in a Multiplayer Lobby?', among others. I mean, if so many people ask the same question, wouldn't it be fair to say quite a bit of people would use it? Furthermore, how can you even use that reply when you spend time making features such as 'Champions Mode' which has no replay value whatsoever?
Don't get me wrong: I do not want CM to stop trying to do new things. Innovation should always be encouraged. Champions Mode isn't ground-breaking and it doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize you would never want to play it again once you beat it. On the other hand, the YDT was something I hadn't seen before and even though you never do it more than once, it's very clear to me that it's a very valuable addition. So I don't really condemn CM for trying new things... I just cannot wrap my head around why they ignore the people that use their games more frequently.
I use the term 'League Drivers' in this thread's title because I wanted to avoid the 'hardcore/casual gamer' connotations which carry too much baggage at this point. However, I do want to bring the League Driver into this discussion because it has dawned to me that there's a TON of F1 2012 leagues out there. There's a huge number of people who are taking part in them and it's there that you will probably find those gamers who are spending the most time with this game. Don't they understand that there's more money there than anywhere else? This is the people that would spend money on DLCs that would help their leagues or to get more fun out of what they're doing weekly. I mean, dedicated servers anyone? I get it that it's a big investment on their part. But how many people here wouldn't pay a small, yearly fee to get that implemented?
I see other sports franchises that release their games yearly. The Madden Franchise had a game mode where you could basically organize a Football Season, with 32 players, including a draft where you could choose who'd go in your team. I'm not incredibly familiar with FIFA but I've been told they have features that increase the fun for those people who are playing their games everyday.
Anyways... I think my ideas didn't come out as organized as I hoped them to be. I'm also a bit out of time so I couldn't say everything I wanted to say. However, I am interested in hearing what you guys think - Maybe I am wrong and I am in the minority. Maybe most of you are happy with the way the franchise is being run. I don't know. I only know that I really loved F1 2012 and all the people I met through it, by organizing a League here in RD.com. However, I also know that it could be a lot better with minor additions to it... But it seems those are not important, or no one would use them.
What do you guys think?
