For all of the gamers who complain about the lack of originality in modern video games, there are just as many who clamor for sequels, remakes, and reboots for series they enjoyed many years ago.

This has become especially apparent over the last few years, with several high profile (and extremely successful) crowdfunding campaigns for genres that some had assumed were dead, such as space sims (Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous), 3D platformers (Yooka-Laylee), and of course, classic computer role-playing games (Divinity: Original Sin, Pillars of Eternity).

Game creator Chris Avellone was a fixture of RPG game development during a time when shooters were dominating the video game industry, during which he worked on critically acclaimed games like Fallout 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. More recently, he worked on Obsidian Entertainment’s Pillars of Eternity before leaving the company. In a recent interview with GameInformer, Avellone admitted that the growth in crowdfunding platforms has certainly contributed to the resurgence of classic game genres, but he explained that there were a few other factors in play as well.

“It felt like there was a perception that some PC games simply weren’t… well… worth publishing, and if so, only as a SKU of a primarily console title,” Avellone said. “Even if not expensive, it wasn’t worth a larger publisher’s time to bring them to market because many small games versus a few larger games is a bit easier for a publisher to wrap their head around, especially from the ROI angle. Plus, having a few larger games ends up being less distracting. If I was to make a poor example of why, it’s like having to count a hundred pennies vs. counting four quarters. They might be the same value in the end, but the larger titles ‘chunk’ together easier without needing to expand your QA and marketing teams to deal with all the noise.”

Avellone explained that one of the biggest reasons this has changed is how much easier it is to create and distribute a game without going through the traditional publisher track.

“PCs are now pretty easy for most developers, especially indies – there’s Steam, Unity, digital distribution, and while it can be a challenge to get noticed, at least you can bring your product to market on the PC with a lot less fuss than other avenues, so that’s made the channel stronger.”

Avellone is currently working on Divinity: Original Sin II, a classic-style RPG that raised over $2 million on Kickstarter, more than double the amount raised by its predecessor.

Image courtesy of Obsidian Entertainment via Steam Store