I think a lot of the indie games that have come out the in past several years have been at least interesting and in some cases, innovative. Look at those like world of goo, minecraft, braid, space chem, sanctum, etc.
Nearly every game has many derivative elements, but the problem is that Zynga's M.O. is to blatantly reproduce games. The other issue is that Zynga's "games" are more cow clicker monetization vehicles than entertaining games.
"I don't fucking want innovation," the ex-employee recalls Pincus saying. "You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers."
In a market where hardcore gamers know how to circumvent paying, it's difficult to get 'gamer' games to recoup the resources that went into making them.
Coincidentally, hardcore gamers are the types who are generally more open to new gameplay mechanics. That's not to say you can't get a new concept through to the masses, but typically there's only a handful of new concepts that can be expected to gain traction a year. When you think about this in relation to other entertainment mediums (e.g. Movies, Music) that's not too bad.
As for the rest of the game fairing public, let's call them casuals, or people who don't typically know how to pirate. They would prefer to just play something quick and familiar. Thus many developers begin to cater their wares to what the public is willing to consume.
Now, to counter all this, there is real innovation happening on the mobile platforms. It's just not being covered very well.
True, I agree with your points. The problem with mobile as an "innovation" platform is that it's heavily slanted towards the top. I would argue that over 50% of the app downloads come from the Top 50 list. It's really hard to break that without a substantial paid ad campaign
I agree with your statement whole heartily, and have a some experience in the field to back those comments as well.
Even with the weighted nature of the App Store there are still a good number of new concepts making it through to the top each year. However the visibility issue is, over and above even piracy, is the main problem.
I think Apple does a decent job of giving apps a chance through their 'features' program. A consistent group of individuals go there to consume new wares each and every week. From here word of mouth can rise a good game/concept to the top very quickly. (I wanted to mention Tiny Wings, even that was a derivative of a flash game before it.)
I would like to Apple develop the program further. Something more along the lines of a magazine, with humanistic features on what goes on behind the scenes.
I know there are third party sites out there that do their best to cover what's going on. Only a very limited number of people visit these sites, when as compared to the whole of the community/market.
These are the problems of a new platform, and a new medium. Right now more games miss their potential audience than hit, but some day that won't be the case. I hope to still be making games then.
There will always be imitation, but to me the innovation going on right now is staggering. Touch screens are still fairly recent, and so many games have been created to take advantage of the new controls like fruit ninja for instance. And it's not just big players anymore, but thanks to app markets, anybody can publish and have friends play their games. Nintendo Wii is also fairly recent. I spent last weekend at a party playing Just Dance with friends - something innovative, but also just another link in the chain of gaming evolution - PaRappa, DDR, Guitar Hero, etc.. The Sony Vita is just about to be released and the thing has a full touch screen on it's back side. 3DS, Wii U - I still dont get how the tablet as a controller for a console is going to work, but at least their innovating.. and how about that minecraft innovative yet evolved ;)
The barrier to entry to getting a game published developed and published with a decent chance at significant exposure is much lower than it was in the past. More games are getting made, many more. That means more copycats. It also means more innovation. I'm not too worried about it.
innovation is hard and high risk. Franchises sell predictably. blasting out Call Of Duty 17 is a matter of staffing a bunch of artists for less money than you will bring in.
Same thing for movies, and books, and music, and basically every big company business model ever.
