How do you feel about Amnesia putting the spotlight on Frictional?

[NGW]

Prior to the success of Amnesia, Frictional Games...while having a pretty loyal fanbase, were pretty unknown by the majority. It was mostly big horror fans, Lovecraft fans, and a select set of gamers that really knew them from the Penumbra days. And it was like that pretty much leading all up to the release of Amnesia. As word of mouth of the game spread from various previews, and reviews and with the big push made on Steam the game picked up a lot of momentum, and after it was released with a slew of reaction and let's play videos for it because of just how reputably scary it was, things just kinda blew up, Amnesia is pretty well known online whereas Penumbra was much more of a cult hit, Frictional Games had their hit, their name is a lot more out there.

I'm really glad that they are, I mean especially with the troubles the team had been having, for Amnesia to be the hit that it has become is a God send, they really really deserved it.

But at the same time, it almost takes away a bit of that..special feel. Seeing all these memes and funny let's plays and stuff, it's gone mainstream (not saying that is a bad thing, it really isn't). As I said I'm so happy for Frictional, but I do kinda miss that cult fanbase/following feeling.

[Droopy]

To be honest, Frictional is only going to get more popular from here.
This is a common reaction for pretty much any media, people tend to find something special and see it as a part of who they are, and they tend to get mixed feelings when said media gains more exposure.

At this point you have to make a choice, of either embracing the company's exposure and success. Or you can decide to be cynical and bitter towards those who are just discovering and appreciating it for themselves (much like you were 6months, 1, 2 or 3 years before).

If you're worried that because of their increased popularity that you are going to get piled in with everyone else who is a fan, try and remember why you enjoyed their games in the first place, if a good chunk of it was the social exclusivity of knowing about them well you'll have to become at peace with that.

It's not like we aren't going to be able to enjoy the nuances that make us love their games, instead we'll be able to share our appreciations with others that may have alienated us before.

Besides, video game developers in general aren't like superstars, being able to appreciate them in general regards us within a kind of cult status. At least for now.

[dph314]

I was kinda thinking about something similar. I read the one statement they made on the site, about how they hadn't signed any contracts prior to Amnesia so they could do what they wanted to and keep all the income for themselves and stuff like that. Which is all good, so I was hoping they never decide to sign some big contract and have to make a game that's mainstream, like what I heard happened with Left 4 Dead with having to 'tone things down a bit' to appeal to a wider range of an audience. I'm glad that Frictional is doing something not many companies do, making adult games. R-rated movies can come out all the time with the sickest and most twisted plots and images imaginable (which I totally enjoy as well), but as soon as something like Grand Theft Auto became popular, every news channel had a story on how terrible and violent video games are. Do they ever do a news broadcast about movies? No. There shouldn't be a bias towards gaming either. So far I think Frictional has done a great job at making games for an adult audience, and whatever keeps happening with the rediculous media stories, I hope Frictional keeps doing exactly what they have been, which is making games for us in the 18+ group and not trying to make a game that every parent will buy for their 13 year old son. Adults need games too.

[NGW]

^agree completely.

[Tanshaydar]

That good ol' days will never come back. You should be thankful that you actually experienced something like that.

I'm quite happy that Frictional Games can stand on its own now, really. However seeing people talking about how great is Amnesia and when mentioned Penumbra getting the reaction 'What is it? A game?', and encountering this countless times is more than frustrating. One thing I'll say: there are a lot of people in my country that think they are the only one who played Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth in the world. Some days I think I'm gonna kill myself.

Frictional already conquered my heart with one sentence of an end of Penumbra. It's other people's misfortune that they couldn't experience something like that.

[hollowleviathan]

I look forward to the day when Frictional has the ability to make a game with the same pure dedication to the craft and indifference to time and money constraints that VALVe and id Software can.

[Serena]

Resist urge.... to post.... Hipster Kitty pix.......

[Duskofdead]

My main concern with *any* dev getting mainstream success is that then their games, either due to selling out or external pressures by whoever is working with them/distributing for them/funding them, wind up degenerating into the same pc-xbox crossplatform McGames as everyone else, for exactly the same target audience, and heavily lobotomized from the depth and challenge of what they were making earlier.

That is, sadly, the path that EVERY dev that has achieved mainstream success has travelled down. People forget that Blizzard started off as 3 college friends who dropped out together and made Diablo 1... and look at it now, a monstrosity enslaved to its own mass success and now incapable of doing anything truly unique anymore, just farming the dollars off its namebrand at this point, not too different from Disney or any creative business that gets "too successful" and abandons its vision and talent in favor of a business paradigm of "anything for maximum sales."

So do I hope Frictional does well enough to keep making more games like Amnesia? Yes. Do I hope they fail to ever get huge enough to turn into yet another dev house churning out cross-platform McTitles? Yes.

[AnttiApina]

I've been playing Frictional's games since the 2006 tech demo for Penumbra.
Their games only get better and better.

[Darkchef]

Well the popularity can only be a good thing as it will allow them to get publishers/distributors a lot easier and the increased cash flow can only mean better games.

Frictional games don't seem like the kinda of company to sell out so easily so I wouldn't worry too much, would be nice if amnesia could be on xbox 360 though, would certainly get them more coverage. I disagree that cross platform is a bad idea, seems a bit backward to just dismiss it.

Keep it going strong Frictional Games!