Never mind the virtualised micropolygons, here’s Roblox
If you want to make a triple-A game developer depressed, ask them why they bother spending so many late nights agonising over fiddly features barely anyone will ever notice when instead they could be cranking out Roblox concepts to an audience of millions of young people ready to reward them with hard cash in exchange for stupid-looking digital hats. Once upon a time, it was a kind of law that kids played Nintendo games, with all of the Nintendo quality guarantees built in, but the landscape has long since changed, and it doesn’t pay to be too Principal Skinner about it. For a new generation of players, the classic, supposedly critical ingredients – an engaging story, cunningly structured environments, and mechanics so polished you can see your face in them – sit way down the list of priorities, giving fledgling designers the chance to find success with fumblingly created executions that often make up for with heart what they might lack in creative flair. The scale of today’s DIY scene is staggering, helped along by Fortnite’s Creative mode, the existence of Roblox and Rec Room on mobile devices, and of course with Minecraft somewhere near the centre, defined as it is by the process of making things. To encompass it all would require an entire magazine, but for this issue we’re placing the spotlight on Roblox (p84), a phenomenon that doesn’t often get its dues.
One key differentiator between Roblox and some of the other gamemaking packages eyeing its audience size enviously is that it is multiplayer by definition, making it resonate with a young audience more inclined to social play than many of their older peers. Naturally, support for multiple players is only going to grow, and nearly a third of the games showcased at E3 2021 featured some kind of social aspect, as you can see in this issue’s analysis, beginning on p8. And if it’s multiplayer action you want, our cover game, Naraka: Bladepoint (p66), is overflowing with it. Or maybe you’re looking for something else entirely – in which case, take your pick from this issue’s E3 Hype special (p30), featuring 100 new games.