Sid Meier says monetisation causes some games to 'stray a little bit further from the path'
Sid Meier needs no introduction on PC Gamer, but let's whizz through a brief highlight reel: co-founder of Microprose and early simulation pioneer, one of the first developers to become a 'name' on the box with Sid Meier's Pirates!, then later founder of Firaxis and the driving force behind the Civilization series. Meier has been working in the industry since 1980 and over four decades later has an incredible living legacy: the guy knows what he's talking about. And right now, Sid Meier reckons the industry has gone down the wrong path on monetisation.
«The real challenge and the real opportunity is keeping our focus on gameplay,» Meier told the BBC, in an interview discussing the Civilization series three decades on. «That is what is unique, special and appealing about games as a form of entertainment. When we forget that, and decide it's monetisation or other things that are not gameplay-focused, when we start to forget about making great games and start thinking about games as a vehicle or an opportunity for something else, that's when we stray a little bit further from the path.»
It's hard not to relate Meier's words about games being a vehicle to the current and rather tiresome attempts to integrate NFTs, or convince everyone they're going to live in the metaverse.
Meier thinks that when it comes to stuff like this, some studios can't see past the dollar signs to the game they're making. «People can assume that a game is going to be fun and what it needs for success are more cinematics or monetisation or whatever—but if the core just is not there with good gameplay, then it won't work.
»In a sense gameplay is cheap… The game design part is critical and crucial but doesn't require a cast of thousands in the way some
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