Ben-DutkaAtomic Games never did get a publisher to produce Six Days in Fallujah , the controversial title based on the war on terror. Konami was initially pegged to distribute it but eventually caved under the pressure of media scrutiny.
Now, Atomic president Peter Tamte reveals that despite all the advances video games have made over the years, many people – even those within the industry – still consider games to be "nothing more than fancy toys." It's an unfortunate sentiment ; we really thought we were well beyond the "games are toys for kids" mentality.
"For us, Six Days in Fallujah has always been much, much more than just a game. I am surprised by the large number of people in senior product positions in our industry who truly believe we sell nothing more than fancy toys."
Unsurprisingly, major publishers wanted no part of the Six Days in Fallujah outcry, and Tamte believes this unwillingness to take chances indicates a dark future for the interactive entertainment industry:
The culture of most publishers is built on repeating what has already been successful. By definition, this eventually fails because new franchises are always created by offering something new. Unfortunately, publishers are getting even more cautious as games have become ridiculously expensive to build."
That's very true. Maybe they should approach Sony, as they seem to be one of the few publishers that are willing to take a big chance. However, they're usually willing to take the risk based on creative reasons; this is more about political controversy (regardless of what Tamte says), so that may be a more challenging risk to take.