Are 3D games better than 2D?
3D games make up the bulk of console game sales just like 3D animated films make up the bulk of animated box office receipts… but are they better than 2D?
Unfortunately I have to say no…
The reason studios are making 3D games is because there is a premium associated with them. Consumers are willing to pay more for 3D than 2D. About 8 years ago you could have come up with any animated 3D show idea and made a killing (i.e. charge $500k per episode). There was a premium for 3D content due to the success of ReBoot and the overall difficultly/cost of making an 3D show.
Fast-forward 5 years and the entire market (broadcaster-driven sales) dried up… you’d be lucky to receive $100K per 3D episode. Now all studios are reverting back to making 2D animated shows because:
- They are cheaper (by a large factor)
- They are better (less worrying about technology and look)
In about 5-10 years, we’ll see 3D become so commonplace that it no longer can charge for a premium and then 2D games will make a return… or at least a 2D/3D mix will make a return. On the Wii this is true already – fancy 3D graphics are no longer the key selling point. Certain games will remain 3D like all first person shooters and sports games. Everything else will blur the boundaries:
- Super Paper Mario
- Crush
- Echochrome
- Okami
- Viewtiful Joe
In the interim, we have to deal with the “Flashing Triangles” problem – low budget 3D art to workaround the expensive of making 3D models/textures. In the future, 3D game art will be much easier to create due to better/mature exporters to more universally accepted game engines… i.e. Flash version 20 with 3D.
Add comment November 24th, 2007