When two medics decided to make Baldur’s Gate, they didn’t have experience with CRPGs. When Mr. Myiamoto directed FZero on SNES he wasn’t a veteran in racing games. When a marketing guy from Ubisoft decided to make a realistic-style JRPG together with a programmer, he didn’t have previous experience in the genre.
Still, many companies publish job offers for specific positions requiring previous experience in the specific genre they are developing. It’s because of the belief that higher skill means faster results, and more important, less risks. This happens a lot on high-quality games and mobile F2P, because these business models became managed in a McKinsian way. And that, kids, is why they are in trouble.
Still, games like PRAGMATA are showing that there are audiences eager to new experiences, with unique blends of mechanics. I don’t know their stories, but I am playing the game and I wouldn’t be surprised if among their team there are designers with no previous experience with 3D action-adventure games. Video games like PRAGMATA are only possible when you are open to a completely different perspective, and when you let people work. I believe it’s hard to find this fit if your job offer filters opportunities out.
Experience within a genre is very important, don’t get me wrong. But the more I work, the more I realize I am full of biases. The more experience I get, the more I push for research and playtesting. New audiences are playing in ways often ignored by a big portion of developers, a sort of tunnel vision you have when you make always the same thing over and over.
This is one of the reasons that led me to be a freelancer, also if it comes with a price as everything good in our life. Probably the worst one is when a client wants me to tell them the hour using their own clock. They close to proposal, because they don’t really understand (and they actively ignore) the opportunities of ideation stage.