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So I came across this video titled "Top 10 Video Game Auteurs". It listed 10 developers, with some of them being the usual suspects, so to say. (Fumito Ueda, Suda51, Hideo Kojima, etc) And it got me thinking.
A lot of game developers are framed like this. Like some kind of visionary that points with the whole hand, a sort of leadership figure that gets elevated to stardom as they sign copies of their games and does a ton of interviews. Like, it's not like "an auteur" is a loose, fluffy concept. Auteurs do exist in the common sense, and there are examples of game developers who really do have a great amount of creative control, and calls all the shots.
Auteurship can at certain times be a good thing, if you ask me. Sometimes, games and creative works can benefit from one whole, all-encompassing vision that is being brought to life without compromises or the risk of being filed down and streamlined to appease focus groups.
But in general, I think the auteur concept when applied to game developers more often than not feels a bit... weird. Take Hironobu Sakaguchi, for example, listed in the video mentioned. An excellent developer. But are Final Fantasy VII "his" game in the way that we typically think of auteur-made games? I would say no. That would be dismissing Kitase, Nomura, Nojima and the gang entirely. When people nowadays dislike Zelda, they are quick to say "Aonuma has ruined Zelda!". Sometimes, someone at some point does have to be some kind of public figure for a game or series, which can result in them taking the brunt of criticism, but still. He is not responsible for every game mechanic that caused someone to dislike the game. Yoko Taro (Someone that many likes to see as an auteur) also said that he thought Takahisa Taura and the junior Platinum crew was a blast to work with during the development of NieR:Automata, and that it was unfortunate that Hideki Kamiya was looked upon as the de-facto Platinum star.
This is what made me think for a while upon seeing the video, and I'm curious to hear other thoughts about this whole thing.
A lot of game developers are framed like this. Like some kind of visionary that points with the whole hand, a sort of leadership figure that gets elevated to stardom as they sign copies of their games and does a ton of interviews. Like, it's not like "an auteur" is a loose, fluffy concept. Auteurs do exist in the common sense, and there are examples of game developers who really do have a great amount of creative control, and calls all the shots.
Auteurship can at certain times be a good thing, if you ask me. Sometimes, games and creative works can benefit from one whole, all-encompassing vision that is being brought to life without compromises or the risk of being filed down and streamlined to appease focus groups.
But in general, I think the auteur concept when applied to game developers more often than not feels a bit... weird. Take Hironobu Sakaguchi, for example, listed in the video mentioned. An excellent developer. But are Final Fantasy VII "his" game in the way that we typically think of auteur-made games? I would say no. That would be dismissing Kitase, Nomura, Nojima and the gang entirely. When people nowadays dislike Zelda, they are quick to say "Aonuma has ruined Zelda!". Sometimes, someone at some point does have to be some kind of public figure for a game or series, which can result in them taking the brunt of criticism, but still. He is not responsible for every game mechanic that caused someone to dislike the game. Yoko Taro (Someone that many likes to see as an auteur) also said that he thought Takahisa Taura and the junior Platinum crew was a blast to work with during the development of NieR:Automata, and that it was unfortunate that Hideki Kamiya was looked upon as the de-facto Platinum star.
This is what made me think for a while upon seeing the video, and I'm curious to hear other thoughts about this whole thing.
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