Hare: ‘Games are now sold as products, not fun’

Ex-Sensible softer Jon Hare has given his thoughts on the current state of the games industry in an interview with MSN UK.

Hare, who also discussed his pleasure at the authenticity of Codemasters’ recent Xbox Live port of Sensible World of Soccer, said: "I think the modern tendency of games being sold as products rather than as something for fun has given us a different focus on gaming."

Elaborating further on the problems faced by smaller developers, Hare added:"I think that games are bought by software retail buyers who say that they are buying what the public want, but in actual fact the public wants what the public gets – to quote Paul Weller.

“Buying something with an established audience is safe so you can understand why it happens, but I think we have become very Americanised as an industry."