Much like the film industry, an overemphasis on blockbusters is one of the industry’s biggest weaknesses as far as encouraging innovation and creativity, say observers. “Future titles need to offer more than wild shootouts, violent explosions, and the wholesale cheapening of life,” says game designer Howard Sherman.

“We’ve been moving in the wrong direction,” says Steve Meretsky, a designer and industry veteran, “toward bigger budgets, centralized decisionmaking by fewer big companies that has led to more licensed games [based on movies and books], and fewer experimental games.”

Many of the young talents that might help create those games are also discouraged by the industry’s focus on money. —Gloria Goodgale —Video-game industry mulls over the future beyond shoot-’em-ups (Christian Science Monitor)