So I started to ask myself what has been the one key point that has caused multiple things produced for the Forza franchise to be considered by many a failure. This list includes but is not limited to:
-the fact that many consider FH5 as lesser than FH4 and is often termed fh4.5
-DLCs for FH5(and even FH4) that were considered by many as ‘not what the community wants in a Horizon DLC’
-Motorsports entire launch, ‘CarPG’ especially
-the vouchers they recently added to Horizon 5
-there’s a multitude of other things that can be added to this list but I will leave it at this for now
Now, you may ask “What is the common point of failure between all of these points?” Well, you’re looking at it. They have a site, full of community members, many of which are people that play their games very heavily. But they never utilize it to its full potential do they?
If they came to the community and went “Hey, we’re thinking of doing this but before we implement it we want to run it by our fans to get some feedback and see where the community stands on this decision.” You see indie developers do this ALL THE TIME. And indie games generally do significantly better than expected as they’ve produced a game with their fans and not just what eight guys in a board room decided is what their fans want.
If T10 came here and said "What do you guys want for a new Motorsport I feel a SIGNIFICANT proportion of us would say “Remake Forza Motorsport 3 and/or 4. Take all the cars (that you can get the licences for), all the tracks (that you can get the licences for), all the progression and just redo all the textures (with accurate models).” If they did exactly that than 90% of us would be elated. And they could still add in content every 6 weeks and have rotating series added in. {If maths isn’t your strong suit 90% is greater than the 36% (and still dropping) that Motorsport is currently sitting at.}
And this is just one example of what they could’ve done to utilise the community. Get input for the next Horizon and run ideas through us before they implement stuff that will aggravate the community. We could’ve told them that none of us want vouchers and that many of us want a backstage pass. A second Hotwheels DLC? If you want high-speed racing add a racetrack to the main map that you dont need to go through a bunch of menus and loading screens to get to. It can be off in the ocean attached to the mainland by a bridge. UTILIZE THE EVOLVING WORLD YOU PROMOTED SO MUCH DURING YOUR MARKETING.
And lastly, before I wrap this novel up. I for one, and i assume many in the community, would gladly playtest the game for them and provide feedback. (I have a multitude of problems I’ve encountered but haven’t reported because I don’t work for free and refuse to playtest not under contract.) They could have even released it to the community as ‘early access’, they would’ve still received payment, albeit not as much, and received myriads of playtesters.
So to summarize, the absolute (in my opinion) point of failure for this franchise is their inability to come to the community for direct feedback. And I honestly don’t understand why they don’t. Do they believe they’re infallible? Because if so they should read steam reviews until they understand just how capable of failure they are.
Join in on the conversation below. Give me your thoughts, opinions, random memes, whatever.