Oddworld Studio Quits Games for Movies

Frustration with the current state of the industry leads to Lorne Lanning pulling out of game development.

Making games is a lot more difficult in today's risk-averse climate than ever before. Just ask Lorne Lanning, CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, the developers behind Abe's Oddysee, Munch's Oddysee and the recently released Stranger's Wrath. After nearly a decade of making critically acclaimed games, Lanning has pulled the plug on game development and gone off to make CG movies and TV shows.

Lanning is quick to blame publishers - who are forced to take fewer chances as the cost of developing games rise - for the void of original concepts in the gaming landscape.

"What we see is an industry which is rapidly discouraging innovation because people don't want to take chances on more innovative types of titles," Lanning told the Hollywood Reporter.

Lanning also had stern words for EA, which published Stranger's Wrath. Lanning accuses EA of not putting its marketing muscle behind the game after Oddworld Inhabitants killed the in-development PlayStation 2 version. This led to less media exposure and, according to Lanning, lower sales.

With the arrival of the next hardware generation, the current situation is only going to get worse, as companies need more people and more money to make better-looking games that don't necessarily provide anything new other than the wow factor of more impressive audio and visuals.

Sequels and games based on existing licenses from movies, television and comics are seen as a safer bet by most publishers - to the detriment of original ideas. Next month's E3 should provide a good indicator of the direction developers and publishers are headed.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games