He also sees the issue in practical terms. "If you had a choice of doing something high risk or low risk, what would you do with your money? That's why I'm not saying [companies] are evil for this, just a little short-sighted. I think if it was my money, I'd be worried about risking it all."
As Tim sees it, there's an understandable tendency for big companies to be conservative with investments. Unfortunately, this also means playing it safe with sequels and diminishing original, often risky, properties. Still, there are big companies, such as Sony or Nintendo, which expressly invest a certain amount in original ideas.
"I think a big company can afford to explore [original ideas] economically, and win a bunch of awards and notoriety and maybe break new ground that will allow them to create a blockbuster version of the same game. That would be good for them and good for everybody."
During his long career at LucasArts, Tim saw the company begin with a specific mandate to create new properties -- "We could not make Star Wars games. George [Lucas] wanted the company to be able to stand on its own" -- which was eventually supported by careful use of big licenses like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. "For a while, it was a really great combination, because you had the original properties which were fun to work on -- both types of games were fun to work on."
But Tim believes LucasArts' eventual financial woes were a result of dropping most of its original properties. Many of the most creative people at the company left, he said, which hurts the quality of games, hurts morale, and ultimately affects sales.
