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Big publishers and developers can’t afford to allow unbridled creativity, says Peter Molyneux.
Speaking in a newly published interview with Develop, the 22Cans boss said large firms had to have elements of process, or risk developers spending all of their money on testing new ideas.
He said however that whilst process was necessary, it also hampered creativity at these studios, and that smaller teams allowed a nimbleness and swiftness that could lead to the creation of new kinds of games.
“Part of the problem is that any big developer – or any big publisher – has to have process,” said Molyneux.
“They can’t allow unbridled creativity, because if they did us creatives would run off into the sunset spending all the money. There has to be process, be it through greenlighting, concept approval practices or something similar. But, that process does hamper creativity.
“There’s no way that you could stand up and say, ‘I’ve got two people in the office, and within four months I’m going to be releasing a game that’s going to be completely different’. At a big organisation you’d need that long just to get the concept approved.
“For me, at a smaller studio and working with Unity, there’s a nimbleness and swiftness to being a start-up that can lead to a game like Curiosity. In that setting there’s an insane mount of that ‘just do it’ mentality.”
