Arcania - Interview with JoWooD CEO Franz Rossler @Boerse-Express

Austrian investment site Boerse-Express sat down for a short interview with JoWooD CEO Franz Rossler. Of course the just released Arcania: Gothic 4 was one of the main topics.
Here are a couple of translated excerpts from Mr Rossler's answers:
On the Arcania release:

[...] We had 28.000 [Arcania] activations yesterday - I consider this a success.

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JoWooD put 200.000 units on the shelf in Europe.
On the criticism in games forums:

The classic Gothic fan might be disappointed because the game no longer follows the classic Gothic approach. But we did this intentionally. We wanted to reach a broader audience, to make the game more marketable internationally. It's the old problem: I can't please everybody. It is clear, Arcania comes at the expense of Gothic's long time community [the German "Urgemeinde" is untranslatable; Ed.]. But the sales success seems to prove us right.

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Arcania's budget is a "high one digit sum in millions". The PS3 conversion will come out next year, and a couple of add-ons too.

So it was no accident - Arcania was meant to be so casual.
200k sell-in for release on two platforms in Europe, for a game which cost ca. 8-9M EUR (ca. 11-12.5M $US) to make? Interesting concept.
More information.

The classic Gothic fan might be disappointed because the game no longer follows the classic Gothic approach. But we did this intentionally. We wanted to reach a broader audience, to make the game more marketable internationally. It's the old problem: I can't please everybody.

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Yes, apparently you just can turn everybody off. If this *** knew Gothic fans would be disappointed, why did he approve to rename it to "Arcania: Gothic IV"?

Sorry, I'm just disgusted when I read such ignorance and arrogance.

With 200K units I think they break event. Jowood probably didn't have the cash to print more copies...

But sell success prove them right? Did Gothic sell so poorly?

He didn't approve it. The guy before him did. As you may remember JoWooD had a sudden change of management a couple of months ago.

I don't see arrogance there. Just the opposite, I like that he is talking straight.

azarhal said:

With 200K units I think they break event. Jowood probably didn't have the cash to print more copies…

But sell success prove them right? Did Gothic sell so poorly?

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200k is not even close to break even. They need much more.

Gothic 3 quickly sold 500k. On one platform.

PC copies are pretty cheap, but console replication is expensive. So it is possible cash was a reason for shooting so low.

200k is just the physical copies. Don't forget that digital sales rival physical now, with far less overhead on cost.

Gorath said:

He didn't approve it. The guy before him did. As you may remember JoWooD had a sudden change of management a couple of months ago.

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And they didn't change it back. After three or four name changes, that wouldn't have done any more harm.

I think after changing it 3 times (according to Wikipedia), I think they just had to stick with it. Personally, I preferred Arcania: A Gothic Tale to the others as it hinted at the connection, but also alluded to the fantasy world at the same time.

I think they've made the right move. All the Gothic fans (and I'm one as well) should really just move on to Risen and not get so excited about Arcania. Take it for what it is - a light action-RPG. I think more options in this marketspace is always better. What's our alternative at the moment? Fable II? I've been trying to play and like that but it is so incredibly, forcefully linear, I just had to put it down. It annoyed the heck out of me the way everything stops/pauses the action and then forces me down a narrow path to my goal.

At least with Arcania, you have a reasonable sized world to explore. I gave up on both Gothics (I don't consider 3 to be a real game, let alone a Gothic game seeing as how the community finished it for the devs) due to the unfun and punishing difficulty. I'm looking forward to Arcania...

^ditto

...But the sales success seems to prove us right.

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This is exactly why I'm disappointed every time I read that someone on the Watch is going to buy ArcaniA.
This game is yet another example of what's wrong with our genre.

Gorath said:

So it was no accident - Arcania was meant to be so casual.

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Hm, wasn't it clear from the early stages that Arcania will be a casual game for a broader audience?

Well, it doesn't help…they took my favorite PC RPG series, kicked out the original developer, and intentionally had a "sequel" created which does nothing to even try to live up to its predecessors. That they did this in an attempt to sell more copies, is understandable and expected, but it also just confirms that they do not care at all about the games themselves, just about the revenue. At least they are honest about it. But as someone who cares about the actual games, I find myself very far from the JoWood way of thinking, and honestly, I wouldn't mind to see them go out of business. Let the developers work for someone who will give them the opportunity to make something great instead.

Kay

The higher the development costs, the more likely it will become a "dumbed-down" mainstream game.

Because only the main stream is able to get the costs back.

So, we are a dying race; at least if we want "real" RPGs.

It would be interesting, though, to "reverse-deduce" what the mainstream believes of, then, given these games as examples.

It would be the same as marketing research - because marketing research is the basis for most mainstream games.