Innovation in a technological sense is typically not the creation of something brand new that has never been seen before.  This rarely ever happens.  Instead it is taking product A that has been around for awhile and adding B to it to make it better by B.  So in the gaming world with our current technology pretty much the only innovation you will see is people adding and expanding to the tech from games that came before it.  There had been no leap in technology to allow for super AI's to control NPC's, super virtual reality graphics to put you in your game, or any other stuff like that.  What do people expect.  Do any of you know how scarey it would be to tell someone they can have millions of your dollars to try...I repeat try...to make something new and never seen before.  Mostlikely you just flushed your money down the toliet...atleast then you would see it swirl and you could laugh at it before it is gone. 

I keep seeing people say a new game is only an old game with some of the new features or only one new feature...well welcome to the world that is what innovation is really. 

   I tend to agree.  In the end as long as the people making the games are in some way supporting themselves off the products, they wont take really huge risks. Not to say risktakers dont exist. Take fallen earth. Definitely took a few risks. 

The short answer: Because it's a very limited market and people despise change.

 Innovation: http://www.quelsolaar.com/ 

Check out what the Verse tools that made the game possible are.

The dev made all tools himself from the ground up.

Nuff said.

Innovations means devs need to take risks and risks do not equate into money these days.

only few that made these risks became successful, so usually devs go for the best formula that can earn them big bucks with less or without any risks, and sadly, this doesn't include innovation.

How people perceive the term "innovation" is largely defined by how crudely companies throw the word around in order to make their product sound different to the competition. All too often the meaning of the word is bastardised in interviews, and used as an ambiguous security blanket when the interviewee cannot think of anything more to add which could actually be defined as different to the competition.  These people need to learn that just because someone in the marketing department says something is innovative, doesn't make it so.  It's like using the term "New and improved". How can something be truely new if it's an improvement over something?

I'm not saying that using tried and tested elements (such as a User Interface and a level system) is wrong.  On the contrary in fact.  However, if a company has a product which incorporates elements that have previously been tried and tested, then the  company should just stop trying to feed the public bullshit buzzwords, just say it and go on to show how the product differs to the competition.  If the company has done its homework right and truely listened to its desired market, then the differences will speak for themselves and may even be accepted.

And so, whenever I happen to read interviews regarding an MMO, I look to see how often the MMO company uses the word "innovation" or "innovative" as I use it as a means to gauge just how much bullshit they are using to cover up either the inherent flaws in their product, or how similar it is in certain respects to others.

I prefer "Evolution" over "Innovation".   Public opinion has shown that it generally prefers a product that is an evolution, rather than a radical innovation.  Sometimes, its no use making a truely "innovative" product if there isn't enough interest in it to justify the time and resources.

I'm just tired of seeing yet another reskinned wow-knockoff.  Dammit, *somebody* do something different.  There used to be variety within the genre.

sadly, some companies only cared of just  earning money over giving new kind of games

Originally posted by reimaru

sadly, some companies only cared of just  earning money over giving new kind of games

The days are gone whereby little johnnie can sit in his bedroom, and churn out a game and a couple of thousand people would buy it because EVERYTHING in that industry is new.  Back then people could afford to take risks and churn out what could be viewed today as complete crap because everyone else was doing the same. 

The games industry has moved on from just being an enthusiasts hobby, to being a business that employs lots of people in many different fields.  Whether we like it or not, everything costs money including overheads such as lighting the office, heating it, water, sanitation, food, etc, etc. And that money has to come from somewhere.  And just like any other business, each person in that business works for a wage in order to feed themselves and their families.  Why do they work for a wage?  Because people, like businesses, need money to survive.  And just like businesses, everyone needs to be assured of a certain degree of security and success in their job / project / business venture.

Now, imagine a company who has a great deal of enthusiasm for its product, but market research has shown that in all probability will not be popular enough to recoup the costs involved in making and maintaining the product, and therefore won't make a profit.

As the employer in this business, how do you hope to pay the bills?

As an employee in this business, how secure would you feel in your job? 

As an investor who is looking to put a lot of money into a business idea, would you want to invest a large sum of money into a business if you knew that it was going to fail?

In essence, sometimes the risk is just too great to take.  Blind faith is admirable, but it does not put food on the table. Neither does working for free when the rest of the world demands money. 

What the above posters have said are, sad to say, true. Most game companies nowadays just focus on profit, and making something new that might not sell is a risk they're not willing to take. I'd also like to add that its also getting harder to come up with new ideas as a gameplay element one developer comes up with, might have already been done by another. Then there's technological restrictions. Game devs may come up with something new but only runs decently on uber high-end machines.