QUOTE | “I wouldn’t want to see virtual reality wasted on a few hardcore gamers because it has such a big opportunity to offer something to everyone” – Resolution Games CEO Tommy Palm calls on developers to make VR games for wider audiences, saying it will be a long time before hardcore crowds get the VR Skyrim-like experiences they want.
QUOTE | “I laugh now when people say or tweet me things like ‘I can’t wait to see what your next VR game will be!’ Honestly, I don’t think I want to make any more VR games. Our staff who work on VR games all want to rotate off after their work is done. Privately, developers have been talking about this but nobody seems to feel comfortable talking about it publicly – which I think will ultimately be bad.” – RocketWerkz CEO Dean Hall has soured a bit on the tech after releasing his first VR game, Out of Ammo.
QUOTE | “When you’re new, you have to be clear about what you stand for as a brand. And I think that particular idea really encapsulated everything that we were trying to represent as a new brand in the video games industry.” – Microsoft’s European advertising manager Harvey Eagle explains the thinking behind a banned ad for the original Xbox in 2002 that featured a baby being born and shot through a hospital window, ageing in mid-air, and landing in a grave.
QUOTE | “The Q4 holiday rush is still important; it is just not make or break for most of these companies.” – DFC Intelligence’s David Cole downplays concerns about sluggish retail launches for recent games because publishers depend so much more on post-launch revenue than they did previously.
QUOTE | “That is where some of the attraction of games like this lies, obviously. We want to have that kind of social tension… It’s not just a playground. Yes, you need to feel safe to some point, but this is a PvP game.” – NaturalMotion CEO Torsten Reil explains why the studio’s new mobile game Dawn of Titans includes a feature that makes it easier for players to have their alliances harass specific other players.
QUOTE | “I go to sleep every night and know that we made a game that some people have called a cultural landmark and that folks have called cathartic and how often do you get to do that? I think maybe once or twice in your career you’re going to get an opportunity to make a game that’s hailed as a cultural landmark, right?” – Hangar 13 creative director Haden Blackman talks about the press reaction to Mafia III.
QUOTE | “Niantic has been able to make all the mistakes and deal with all the expensive fallout of people being silly with a new medium and working it all out” – Mantle CEO Dean Gifford explains how his company’s game engine that generates a 3D world based on map data is benefiting from Pokemon Go.
QUOTE | “We knew just generally we’d have to evolve the business model. We could see the market. We could see customer expectations changing. If the game is to outlive itself, it has to evolve – like any living being, in a way.” – CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson explains why the company finally introduced a free tier to its EVE Online 13 years after it launched.
QUOTE | “We need to shine a light on the gaming industry, much like with movies, and all smoking imagery should be removed from video games played by youth.” – Truth Initiative CEO and president Robin Koval, calling on the ESRB to have tobacco use in games trigger an automatic M-for-Mature rating.
STAT | 25.15% – The percentage of Ubisoft stock now held by Vivendi. If it exceeds 30%, Vivendi is required by French law to make an offer to buy the publisher outright.
QUOTE | “Around one third of our developers were hired from the Farming Simulator community. One of the reasons for this is that they are usually experienced Farming Simulator modders and therefore already have proven experience in creating content for the game.” – Giants Software PR manager Martin Rabl lays out one benefit for studios working on niche appeal titles like Farming Simulator.
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