Auteur Theory
In Film Studies we learn about the Auteur. Auteur theory generally refers to someone who is a respected person (usually a director) in the film industry who has a solid body of work, which are of good quality and fit within that director’s “creative vision”. For example, Quentin Tarantino is an auteur to many. Martin Scorsese is an auteur. The most obvious one would be Alfred Hitchcock.
Auteur theory began in the roots of French New Wave, and was originally reserved for only directors, but today it can apply to Actors, Directors, or even institutions like Pixar. Auteur theory brought film into ’seriousness’, as it were. So why can’t Gaming have Auteur theory? Videogaming has advanced further in 20 years than film did in 80 years.
For more information on Auteur theory, Wikipedia has a nice article here.
So, who would be Auteurs? Developers, Publishers, or individuals? Here’s a few of my picks, along with a few of their “standout” games.
Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, Bully, Max Payne, The Warriors)
Relic Entertainment (Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Homeworld)
Bungie (Halo, Marathon, Myth)
Infinity Ward (Call of Duty)
Konami (Metal Gear Solid)
Ubisoft Montreal (Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia)
Valve (Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead)
id (Doom, Quake)
I could probably go on for a while. Perhaps some of the ones in that list are more deserving of ‘auteur’ status than others. But what about individuals?
Hideo Kojima, famous for Metal Gear Solid,
Sam Houser, famous for Grand Theft Auto,
Peter Molyneux, famous for Fable,
Warren Spector, famous for Deus Ex,
Ken Levine, famous for Bioshock, System Shock 2,
Gabe Newell, famous for Half-Life 1 & 2.
We can see that the gaming world has plenty of auteurs to offer us, both visionary leads and groundbreaking developers. But what about others? Do you have any thoughts on applying auteur theory to Gaming? Does it work? Comment away!
