Amy Hennig Explains Problem With Players Not Finishing Stories

Amy Hennig, best known for her work as creative director on the Uncharted series, may be one of the most prolific video game storytellers alive, but even she can’t make a huge portion of gamers finish her stories. Hennig sat down with editor Ryan McCaffrey on this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered to discuss the issue plaguing narrative-focused games.

“The idea that our medium just makes peace with the fact that most people will never see the whole arc of the story we're telling, that's bizarre to me. The age when we could make games in the non-indie space that are six to eight hours long, don't have any second modes, don't have a live service, multiplayer, they're just about this finite interactive narrative experience that sticks the landing and is memorable, that's a harder and harder sell."

Hennig is of course referring to the growing trend of “games-as-a-service” that has allowed large publishers like Epic Games, Ubisoft, EA, Blizzard, and others to extend the lifespan of individual games and franchises. Games like Anthem, Fortnite, or Rainbow Six Siege are just a few examples. Back during the 2014 Game Developers Conference, research showed that somewhere between 30 to 60 percent of players finished popular Steam games, like Mass Effect 3, BioShock Infinite, or even Portal.

To hear more about where Hennig thinks video game storytelling is going, her year off working with VR, and more, check out the full episode of IGN Unfiltered above. On this month’s episode, listeners are presented with a two-part episode featuring Hennig and Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price (himself a former Unfiltered guest) reflecting on lessons learned from making Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Don’t forget to check out past episodes of IGN Unfiltered, where editor Ryan McCaffrey sits down with some of the industry’s most influential names to learn about their lives and careers through video games. Recent episodes include 343 Industries’ Bonnie Ross, NBA 2K’s gameplay director Mike Wang, Firewatch voice actress Cissy Jones, and more.

Joseph Knoop is a freelance writer for IGN, and he's in like Flynn. Hit him up on Twitter @JosephKnoop.

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