"Distinguish Between Empty Hype and Valuable Innovations" — Former Nexon CEO Speaks Out Against Gaming Companies Chasing Trends
A couple of years ago, many developers and analysts called the metaverse and NFTs the future of the gaming industry, and even earlier, expected an explosive growth in VR. However, the promised revolution did not occur. Former CEO of Nexon, Owen Mahoney, wrote an article on his blog urging companies not to get carried away with trendy ideas but to focus primarily on the players.
Horizon Worlds*
According to Mahoney, the hype surrounding supposedly innovative technologies cost the game development sector massive amounts of time and tens of billions of dollars, which could have been invested in creating genuinely valuable products, instead all was squandered in vain. Moreover, after the "bubble burst," thousands of people lost their jobs.
Being able to recognize "empty hype," Mahoney believes, is critically important for developers. He suggests distancing oneself from analysts’ forecasts and trying to understand whether gamers will actually play what trend-driven companies produce.
To achieve this, Mahoney advises developers to answer three questions:
1. Will the discussed phenomenon provide new opportunities?
2. Will it improve the user experience significantly?
3. Is it real? Can you already interact and experiment with it, or are you left only to trust others' words and theories?
The manager points out that many of the loud trends of the past decade — from the metaverse to cloud gaming — do not pass this filter. Therefore, it is not surprising that betting on them did not fulfill expectations or did so only partially.
*Horizon Worlds is owned by Meta — recognized as an extremist organization in Russia, and its activities are banned in the country.