“The way we develop games has got to change,” says Molyneux

By Stephany Nunneley

Peter Molyneux has said the way games are developed now and days has got to change. For the better, obviously.

Speaking with Joystiq following an Engadget Show appearance, Molyneux was asked is feelings on the way games are developed in the industry, and according to the Lionhead boss, developers need to look at how Bungie, Naughty Dog and Quantic Dream handle things.

“The way we develop games has to change. It’s always had to change,” he said. “Now, if you look at the big shift — there’s this huge panic that’s happening in the computer games industry at the moment. I think the industry is feeling that what defines us is slipping through our fingers. Is what defines the computer games industry more to do with social and mobile and Facebook and iPads and iPhones and iTouches? Or is it to do with Call of Duty 3s and Call of Duty 4s and the huge sequels?

“There’s a gulf in between and we need to resolve this, because these consumers are over here — these casual consumers — they’re starting to get a bit bored, because we keep on supplying experiences which I have seen that are very similar to casual experiences we gave casual gamers in the 1980s. And these people here are just demanding so much more and more quality — every holiday season we just raise the bar a little more. And the real secret here is to change how we make games. Definitely. The whole production process.

“The insane thing — and I’m gonna go off on a rant now — when we’re forced to make an announce date not only by someone coming down and saying, ‘Thou will announce,’ but we’re forced by the very nature that we make games. The whole thing’s concentrated on the holiday season.

“What ended up happening was we end up implementing, implementing, implementing, implementing, and then we have this tiny amount of time to actually polish. It’s like making a car, and before it goes into the production line, never test driving it. Or it’s like — actually, this is more what it’s like — shooting a film, but never editing it. Just literally saying, ‘Okay, we shot that footage.’ And that has got to change. Definitely. And already some companies are changing that and you can see some really fine results from them.

“I think some of the processes that were put in place by games like Heavy Rain and Uncharted 2, and Bungie are very very good at doing this — finishing their game way before they need to launch it.

“I think they’re the professionals that we all kind of aspire towards here.”

You can’t argue with that, actually.

The full interview with Molyneux is through the link up top there, and in it he talks about Kinect, Milo, and even about being head of MGS Europe as well. Oh – he talks about Fable III too, obviously, which he calls his “favorite” so far.

Fable III is out in October.