Why can't game developers take a cue from the movie industry, and let their directors work on new franchises instead of sticking them on the same hit property for years?
"Movie directors create all sorts of movies, and the movie industry is healthy. I wish the game industry was like that as well."
- Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Yuji Naka criticizes the game industry's tendency to stick their directors on the same hit property for years, instead of letting them create and work on new properties. It's something we've seen with a lot of prominent Japanese developers, like Eiji Aonuma on The Legend of Zelda series, Hideo Kojima on the Metal Gear franchise, and Katsuhiro Harada on the Tekken games. Naka says that's one of the reasons why he left Sega several years ago to form Prope: "If I stayed there, I would have had to just make Sonic games. Right now I don't have to make Sonic anymore, so I'm enjoying that freedom a lot." How many other designers and directors have left their jobs in order to get away from working on the same franchise again and again? Why can't more developers learn to let other team members take over the reins for a series? And are developers missing out on opportunities to let directors bring their fanbases to a new IP?
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