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This week we’re quoting Michael Katz (Video Games Industry Expert)

What Katz said: 

“New games must be unique and/or better than what’s out there now.” 

He was talking about the gaming industry…

So we asked him what his all-time favourite games are.

He said:

1. Pacman – a favourite of many, this 1980 maze action game was developed and released by Namco for use in arcades. You (the player) control Pac-Man, who has to eat all the dots in the maze; while avoiding the ghosts. Sometimes though, you might get Pac-Man to eat a big flashing dot (a ‘power pellet’). And if you do that, the ghosts turn blue – and you can eat them for bonus points. 

2. Donkey Kong – another arcade game, this one developed and published by Nintendo. You control Mario, the player who rapidly navigates along platforms and ladders to get to the top of a construction site and rescue poor PAuline from a giant gorilla (called Donkey Kong). 

3. First Person shooter – this is a genre rather than a specific game, traced back to Wolfenstein 3D; a 1992 game that’d been credited with developing the archetype for first-person shooter (FPS) games. The games feature gun-fighting or other weapon-based combat from a first-person perspective – so you, the player, are experiencing the action as if you are the main character.

Why are these Katz’s favourites? 

Because they fulfil his criteria for a good game: easy to learn and play but hard to master. 

That means that barriers to getting started are low. Pretty much anyone can play them. 

But once you’re in, they’re loads of fun and have a strong “sustained play value.” Being hard to master means that it takes time and continued play to reach new levels of skill – and by extension, to unlock new levels of the game. 

Video developers in 2024 need to know…

If you want to create a game that can gain traction in the market and (maybe, one day) hit the top of an expert’s all-time favourite list, this is what you need to know (according to Katz): 

• Know the product needs of the publisher or manufacturer you’re working with, and design games to fit those needs.
• New products or games must be unique – “and/or better than what’s out there now.”
• Understand what players want in the current market.
• Study the research on what’s currently selling.
• Have a solid grasp of how you can “break through the clutter” of the market – how can you create awareness for your game?

And critically, evaluate the cost of creating that awareness. Because consumer acquisition doesn’t come free.

Read our full interview with Michael Katz: One expert’s journey through four decades in gaming

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Catch you next week,

Richard McKeon

Group Marketing Director

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