Game Over!

Who doesn’t have a “fond” memory of a “Game Over” screen? If you’re a child of the eighties or nineties, you probably remember the days there was no such thing as a saved game! The creativity that used to go into these end screens were usually on par with the game itself. Talented developers would turn an in-game death into its own work of art, and this truly fascinated me.

Behold, some of the classics: Behold, some of the classics:

“Thing #23 you will never experience: Accomplishing your dreams. (Unless your dream was dying alone in a mansion, in which case -good job.)” -Quantum Conundrum.

“Go Home & Be A Family Man” — Street Fight II

“Return of Ganon” — Zelda II

My favorite belonged to the 8-bit NES version of Friday the 13th: “You and Your Friends Are Dead.” Sadly, at some point the Game Over screens went the way of all flesh.

Perhaps an even more relevant analogy would be the extinction of the flip phone. With the surplus of mobile games over the past decade, Game Over screens have lost their purpose. You see, the screen signifies the end of the game. An avid gamer might interpret that message as a sign that it’s time to move on to something else. That’s exactly what game developers wanted back in the day, when fans would happily pay $60 for a physical copy of a game. Developers and game companies wanted replay value; it made no sense to release a title that players could defeat in a couple of days.

However, in the era of mobile games and in-app purchases, a developer would rather replace the “Game Over” screen with a “Please Try Again” screen, premium turn button included. At least that is my theory.

Now, I have a mobile developer friend who gave me a much deeper answer, an answer that for him hits too close to home. My friend — let’s call him Kyle — had been developing a mobile game for nearly three years. Kyle programmed the foundation by himself, and then ransacked his own savings account to employ several other developers and rent out a studio.

His game was amazing; it combined two classic franchises together in an amalgam of absolute fanboy wonder. Kyle took his game on the road and toured several conferences, and he always received overwhelmingly positive feedback. As investors continued to hop on board, his studio kept growing. Such was Kyle’s passion for his project that he even hand-drew a comic book as a promotional tie-in. The outlook was very bright indeed.

Then the time came for release. But the major app stores blocked him. Kyle’s game had major similarities to a popular movie that had just been released, and a large AAA company had developed a mobile tie-in game. Hastily made and not of high quality, the game based on the movie nonetheless enjoyed the financial backing of a major studio and the organic PR associated with a summer blockbuster film. Sure enough, the app stores pushed that movie-game title to the top. However, this was not enough! Fearing the potential competition from Kyle’s passion project, the apps stores completely blacklisted his game from their platforms.

Kyle lost all his investors and his studio shut down. Knowing they would be fighting a losing battle, publishers declined to pick up his scraps. As Kyle had sunk his life savings into the creation of his game, he also lost his house, and eventually his marriage. In hindsight, it may not have been very smart to invest everything into an original IP, but he had the passion to take the risk and it probably should have paid off.

Kyle is doing okay now, working for a larger studio, and he still aspires to resurrect his original project. BOOSTO would have made the difference for him. With BOOSTO protocol, Kyle could have released the game on the decentralized app store. He wouldn’t have had to worry about censorship or internal conflicts of interest. And he could have teamed with an entity that had an existing fanbase, say, a gaming influencer like Markiplier. Hypothetically, Kyle could have had a version of his game marketed directly to Makiplier’s 15-million-plus fans. The two could have split the profits fifty-fifty, and the game would have constantly evolved to meet fan expectations, while escaping all the bureaucracy associated with the app stores.

If anything in this world requires decentralization, it is the modern-day app store. Kyle is living proof of that until that day comes, it’s just “Game Over.”

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