While God Hand remains a cult classic, fondly remembered by everybody except IGN, the game's creator, Shinji Mikami, believes he screwed up. The father of Resident Evil has declared that the game should not have been so obscure, and it was all because he'd been given too much creative freedom.
"I've released a lot of titles before and I feel that, perhaps specifically with regard to God Hand I was given too much freedom to make that game just as I liked," explains the Platinum Games boss. "It didn't sell too well."
Fresh off a successful Bayonetta release, it seems that Mikami is trying to appeal to a wider audience, and he believes this will continue with Platinum' next title, Vanguish: "We're definitely going for something a little more massmarket that will appeal to a wide audience. Certainly a bigger one than God Hand had. We knew that these were points we had to address from the very beginning, and Vanquish is a result of that."
Regardless of whether or not you agree that God Hand should have been more mainstream, I respect a developer who can look at his creation and realize that it was not perfect, and that he shouldn't have tailored it to his own needs only. So many developers these days live in a bubble where they spin only gold, and that's a damaging attitude for any creative person to have.
Mikami: God Hand not mainstream enough [CVG via Edge magazine]
Contest:
6:30 PM on 04.05.2010 | 
Not that God Hand is a remotely artistic game, but creative developers should make products for themselves. Only mediocre creators consider mass market appeal before all else.
I don't really believe that it was too niche either since the PS2 had a fair few games that thought out of the box. There's been a few games made by Capcom where I've thought they really should have upped the marketing budget but they decided against it, thus killing any chance of success in the process - Viewtiful Joe, Gregory Horror Show and Glass Rose spring to mind.
It does make me sad however when games sometimes have to forgo a bit of creativity to appeal more to the mainstream, but I guess they have to get their money from somewhere.
That said some is always required but you always do things with an audience in mind. In essence you're a slave to your audience. You need to be passionate about what you create but it doesn't give a license to self-indulge.
I think James Cameron and Avatar is a fine example. There are other examples all around us in every art and entertainment industry. There is a point where you need to stop and consider your audience. It's rule #1 of writing, performing, anything. You can't just go all out and do whatever the fuck you want. You take risk if necessary but don't be selfish about it.
This is one of the reasons I had hoped that a middle-ground of games would emerge in order to support these more creative, non-mainstream endeavors. A range of $30 or $40 games with a modest budget would be a great outlet for riskier ideas, in my opinion.
Both of these games were new IPs and neither received a good advertising campaign. Okami, by all rights, should have been Capcom's Zelda killer.
A couple of magazine spots with some small screenshots and a large picture of a dude punching through a man's skull (while awesome) isn't going to sell a game. A new IP needs to be aggressively advertised, otherwise it will never reach mass market appeal.
Godhand was a really fun game. It's a shame that Capcom has no confidence in new IP's.
Besides, God Hand was awesome because it was almost a love-letter to beat-'em-ups.
(says the guy in The Question avatar)
Jim, have you played Golden Sun?
My respect for Mikami just shot up a lot more, knowing that God Hand is what happens when he does whatever the hell he wants. Far as I'm concerned, this man can have all the "creative freedom" he wants.
If you disagree I will Dragon Kick your ass into the Milky Way. :)
Office Space bombed in theaters, and the OG Star Trek show was canceled after just a few seasons.
Wrong place, wrong time.
So yeah, I feel both are needed, but it'd be better if creativity had precedence over stifling business priorities.
I highly doubt that was even remotely close to his point. Even if you were just pointing it out.
That said mo' sales is better than no sales assuming sales are really that important to him.
my arm, my arm, my arm, my arm
I summon up the power of the GOD HAND!
Or something like that.
The Wii does have the most non-licensed/movie, enthusiast-centric retail titles to launch below the standard $50 MSRP.
RE4 ($30), Geometry Wars: Galaxies ($40), Endless Ocean 1 & 2 ($30), HOTD 2&3 Return ($30), Okami ($40), Blast Works ($40), Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon ($40), NPC Pikmin ($30), NPC DK: Jungle Beat ($30), Dokapon Kingdom ($40), Klonoa ($30), Trauma Team ($40), Shiren the Wanderer ($40), Marble Saga: Kororinpa ($30), A Boy and his Blob ($40), The Sky Crawlers ($30), and Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo ($40).
(Admittedly, many of these are ports. And a couple of them are *technically* licensed, though not from Nickelodeon or some other nonsense.)
Of course, the downside to launching at a lower MSRP is that the budget for these games do not leave much room for advertising. Thus, it's not as if the price alone is enough to entice consumers. Folks have to know what the games are before buying into them.
You think Bayonetta was more mainstream than God Hand? Heck no.
The man makes good games. The problem is that he doesn't have a good grasp of why his less successful games are less successful.
I would just rather not run out and buy a PS2.
Shinji Mikami stating that God Hand failed because he was too creative doesn't sit as well with me as it does with our Mr. Sterling. God Hand was a wonderful update and throwback to the days of side scrolling beat'em ups right down to the nonsensical storyline and beefed up difficulty. Gameplay was the star in the title, and if you reflect on how tight the controls were along with the customizability of your character, you'd see how much of a success this title really was (not in terms of sales obviously). What it comes down to, for me, is that Shinji Mikami is an incredibly talented game designer and director with a lot of inventiveness under his belt, and for him to stifle his free flowing creativity on a dubious whim that his game mostly failed because of "too much creativity" makes me concerned that his future projects are going to be missing the heart he puts into creating.
I have to disagree, in other medias (art, music, Film) it really shouldn't be about making the product with the most mass appeal, it should be about expressing your personal views and opinions, just like in games, Mikami expressed himself all over Godhand, and personally i thought it was fuckign awesome for it.
It's such a shame that a creative mind can go all out on creativity and make something that's exactly what they want to make then for it to be considered a failure because it didn't sell to such a wide audience.
As long as we're all chasing the mass audience, games will never be art.
Well, no. What's damaging for any creating person, in any field, is the concern of profitability and mainstream success for what they create. I don't think examples are even needed.
True, but shouldn't there be in theory a bit of "spare money" from the lower development costs? well as long as the budget given is decent and not pathetically low (i'm looking at you Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop).
Dragon kick your ass into the milky way!