With so many series resorting to annual releases, Rockstar still keeps things interesting with GTA, but how?
I know that you may have missed it, but guess what?GTA Vis out.
Chief amongst its many successes is, of course,Grand Theft Auto.
Now, as a counterpoint, take another hugely popular franchise,Call Of Duty.
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Why is this?
The answer is simple saturation.
The series had exploded into a massively popular online shooter, and it was an enormous critical hit.
Every year a newCall Of Dutywould be released, alternately developed by Infinity Ward and Treyarch.
Return toGTA,which didnt even appear at E3, and youve got the polar opposite.
Both are great at what they do.
However, the simple fact is thatGTAs core gameplay has changed very little over the years.
The major difference here is quantity, and this is where Rockstar nails it.
Fan demand is clearly through the roof, so why is this not happening?
Rushing to meet yearly deadlines would limit this kind of Q&A.
Of course, thats not to sayCall Of Dutytitles are shoddy.
Originality is, and weve already established that both titles are guilty of rehashing content.
Again, its the number of release thats the key.
Compare this toCall Of Duty.
Over the course of the series, its also had many different developers.
Another big reasonGTAmanages to keep things interesting via a several year gap is technology.
Partly due to the restriction in the genre,Call Of Dutycant do that.
An FPS is usually nothing more than a glorified shooting gallery.
No deep, complex and lifelike world is required, just the action.
Its probably about now that youre shouting, what aboutAssassins Creed!?
Its also the closest in commercial success toGTA.
Much likeCall Of Duty, the yearly release schedule has also damaged it a little.
People had grown weary, and the story had floundered a little.
The yearly releases were eating away at the brand.
It remains to be seen how long Ubisoft can keep the series fresh with an annual release schedule.
It works with everything, in almost every medium.
TV series do the same, and so it makes perfect sense that games benefit from this too.
Too much of a good thing?
Series likeCall Of Dutyinstead saturate the market, leaving little room for innovation or interesting new content.
Yearly releases also lose that technical wow factor, as little changes each time.
Ill be sat in my cozy flame bunker…
