I must have missed this interview with Midway Chief Marketing Officer Steve Allison on Gamasutra a few days back, but, boy am I glad I caught up with it. This is the best thing I’ve read all week:
We killed [Snoop Dogg videogame] Fear and Respect because we have enough data-points to know the hood thing is basically dead. It would be dead before it came out. And you don’t want to come out on a dead vibe.
The hood vibe is dead? No more urban games? No more Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure? No more FIFA Street? No more True Crime? Okay, okay, I know this is only coming from one man at one company, but it’s a real good start. I am breathlessly fucking happy to hear that. (Mind you, the smart money’s on a 50 Cent: Bulletproof 2 coming out, seeing as how the original sold over 2 millions copies…)
Aren’t “hood games” banned in Australia anyway?
Unfortunately, not all of them are - Getting Up is, but no one had the sense to ban Final Fight: Streetwise…