GameDaily Biz had an article last week entitled, “Where Have All The Game Gods Gone?” The piece’s main thrust can be summed up by this quote:

The big developer names that most often appear in the enthusiast press are still the big names we knew in the nineties: Molyneux, Carmack, Meier, Miyamoto, Wright, Kojima, and Spector are all still more recognizable than almost all of the developers that got their start in the last ten years. Furthermore, there is a very good chance the situation will be the same five years from now.

There are a few exceptions, but it’s true that none of them have the kind of fan recognition as individuals that the aforementioned have. GameDaily goes on to explain why they think this is, listing seven reasons (with explanations, but you’ll have to read the article). The one I find most persuasive is that teams are the new game gods. Bungie, Blizzard, Rockstar, Bioware, and so on. In the West, at least, I think that is the case, and I’m not sure I see a problem with it.

One thing I’ve always disliked about the games industry is the attitude that we should emulate the movie industry. I get tired of hearing the nonsensical claims that the games industry is bigger than the movie industry (it’s not even close), that we need to turn the industry in games into stars on the level of movies, that we need to do this like movies, that like movies. It all strikes me as the insecure kid pressing his nose up against the fancy restaurant window.

Now, if the reason we should hope to generate individuals as the stars in games rather than teams is because we think it’ll get us better games, then I’m all for it. That serves the needs of the people we’re (hopefully) making games for. If, on the other hand, it’s motivated by a desire to emulate the glam culture of the movie industry, then I think the motive needs to be examined carefully. There’s nothing wrong with desiring the Hollywood culture fast life, but I’m not really sure how well it meshes with what we actually do in games.

I’ve never worked in Hollywood, but I know that most Americans couldn’t tell you the director’s name in most movies they see, much less, say, the head of special effects. The people they see are the people appearing on the screen, which is why Hollywood stars get paid so much: They aren’t easily replaceable because they have a direct link with the end consumer. You can replace a director and the undiscerning viewer may not know the difference, but you replace a star (in a sequel or series) and everyone knows.

When you get right down to it, in fact, I’d say the number of widely recognized director names, within the American movie-viewing public, is about the same as the number of widely recognized designer names within the American game-playing public. Other than that, people recognize teams. Dreamworks. Miramax. Pixar, and so on. So even beyond whether you think there’s a good reason to compare the games industry to the movie industry, I don’t think the situation is that different and I’m not really sure I believe that more designers as stars improves games, inherently, any more or less than teams as stars.