Brian Fargo - We No Longer Answer To The Walmart Buyer

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Brian Fargo did another interview this time with gamesindustry.biz. The topics included kickstarter and the role of the traditional publisher.
The intense focus of publishers on AAA titles amuses Fargo when he considers the origins of the biggest sellers. "All of those franchises started off small," Fargo said. "I think the only franchise that I've seen that was truly built to be a billion-dollar franchise was Skylanders. Outside of that, Tomb Raider, GTA, Madden Football, they didn't start that way."

The way publishers handle risk for AAA games is to minimize innovation and stick to sequels. Given what InXile is able to build with a few million dollars, couldn't a big publisher take $40 million and make 10 bets with that money instead of one title, and have a greater chance of a hit? "Isn't that what King.com does, but at a different scale?" asks Fargo. "They made a hundred ten thousand dollar bets, or whatever their number is."

The Kickstarter method is preferable, according to Fargo. "Our game certainly has less risk because it's being pre-ordered," Fargo notes. "I specifically make the game for that audience, and then I let the chips fall where they may. I think people that like roleplaying games are going to love it. Some people say, 'How do you make it for the younger generation,' and I don't think about that. I'm just going to make something that's smart and intelligent, nuanced, and the audience will figure it out."

The ideal situation for Fargo, assuming Wasteland II and Torment do well, is to continue to do RPGs that are interesting. "I don't want to be in a situation where we finish Wasteland II and I have to hurry up and get Wasteland III out the door. I don't ever want to be in that situation," Fargo said. "You do a sequel when you have the right idea." In other words, do a sequel because you want to, not because you have to.
More information.
 
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I don't ever want to be in that situation," Fargo said. "You do a sequel when you have the right idea." In other words, do a sequel because you want to, not because you have to.

Sounds nice, but you have to pay the rent, you have to make the car note, you have to eat.

Nothing wrong with sequels when they are "smart and intelligent, nuanced, and the audience can figure it out."

:biggrin:
 
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Sounds nice, but you have to pay the rent, you have to make the car note, you have to eat.

Nothing wrong with sequels when they are "smart and intelligent, nuanced, and the audience can figure it out."

:biggrin:

Well it's a nice thought and he is on a kickstarter high, but your right. The bills will have to be paid eventually.:)
 
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Well it's a nice thought and he is on a kickstarter high, but your right. The bills will have to be paid eventually.:)

Except if they are budgeting everything right, as long as they continue to get games funded by Kickstarter, their bills ARE paid.

Sales of the games to gamers who didn't donate will be pure profit.
 
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The Kickstarter method is preferable, according to Fargo. "Our game certainly has less risk because it's being pre-ordered," Fargo notes.
He tells it like it is.
"I specifically make the game for that audience, and then I let the chips fall where they may.
The game has audiences.
 
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I'm just going to make something that's smart and intelligent, nuanced, and the audience will figure it out.

In other words, he's going to go ahead and assume we're all not so stupid as to walk off the nearest cliff. It's a nice feeling that a developer out there believes we might be able to finish a game without ! and ? over NPCs heads and other conventions that have ruined the single player RPG.
 
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I hope it works out for him, and a number of other small and mid tier developers. If it does, I need to start considering early retirement plans ;)
 
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I hope it works out for him, and a number of other small and mid tier developers. If it does, I need to start considering early retirement plans ;)
Why? {extra characters}
 
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Why do I hope, or why early retirement?
 
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The latter.
 
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Because even now I can't play all the game's I'd like to. If these guys regularly produce great RPGs, I clearly need more free time :biggrin:
 
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Ha! I've got the exact same dilemma. I thought you were saying that you were part of some indie team that the trend indicated would make a fortune, thus early retirement.
 
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Right there with you guys. I keep hoping I'll get canned with a nice package so I can catch up! (though something tells me that would not sit well with the wife. Maybe I'll need to buy a laptop and just 'keep going to work' each day!)
 
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Because even now I can't play all the game's I'd like to. If these guys regularly produce great RPGs, I clearly need more free time :biggrin:
Yep same here - with my already massive backlog and this influx of new quality RPGs I'll never get through it all!

I think I'll start a Kickstarter for early retirement - but it has to be a creative product right? So my product will be writing RPG reviews. Yeah that's the ticket...
 
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If you guys are so well pleased with the games that have been coming out in recent years that you don't have time to play all ones you'd like to play then you aren't the target audience Fargo wants to reach. You're the target audience he's saying he can now bypass. I mean no offense by that, but it seems like it should have been obvious but somehow got missed by some people here. Just pointing it out.

Anyway, I hope Fargo is sincere about what he's saying. However, having been a witness to the old breed of major PC game developers abandoning their bread and butter franchises to chase the mass market in the early 1990s, I'm less than convinced that it was nefarious men in suits in far away big cities that were the initial cause of the problem, though that certainly was an issue once it had become a mantra in the industry that development had to reach out to the largest possible demographic.
 
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If you guys are so well pleased with the games that have been coming out in recent years that you don't have time to play all ones you'd like to play then you aren't the target audience Fargo wants to reach. You're the target audience he's saying he can now bypass. I mean no offense by that, but it seems like it should have been obvious but somehow got missed by some people here. Just pointing it out.
Actually it's not as black and white as that. My backlog includes a great many old-school titles I never got around to which I now own on GOG. There are RPGs from the 80s and 90s I still haven't played but would like to if I had the time. And shocking as it may seem, it's possible for someone to enjoy both modern action RPGs and old-school RPGs. Depends what mood I'm in really.
 
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If you guys are so well pleased with the games that have been coming out in recent years that you don't have time to play all ones you'd like to play then you aren't the target audience Fargo wants to reach. You're the target audience he's saying he can now bypass. I mean no offense by that, but it seems like it should have been obvious but somehow got missed by some people here. Just pointing it out.

Anyway, I hope Fargo is sincere about what he's saying. However, having been a witness to the old breed of major PC game developers abandoning their bread and butter franchises to chase the mass market in the early 1990s, I'm less than convinced that it was nefarious men in suits in far away big cities that were the initial cause of the problem, though that certainly was an issue once it had become a mantra in the industry that development had to reach out to the largest possible demographic.

Yeah, because it's immoral to enjoy more than one type of game, right? Or maybe people have just been able to settle for lesser quality RPGs.

If I ever find myself in the midst of a famine, I'll not accept anything less than a steak, lest CraigCWB think less of me.
 
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Yeah, because it's immoral to enjoy more than one type of game, right? Or maybe people have just been able to settle for lesser quality RPGs.

I've been playing Saints Row II recently. I got it off Steam for like $5 last Christmas when they were having a special. I got Saints Row III plus all DLC for about $10 a couple days earlier, but then when I visited the fan sites I noticed everyone was saying the second one was better. And it is. It's also a better RPG than most the RPGs that have been coming out lately. If you haven't played it yet, I highly recommend it. The other games I've been playing are World of Tanks, World of Warplanes closed beta, and War Thunder. I find myself liking WoT best of the three, though, even though I've been playing it since beta over two years ago. Last fall I was spending a lot of time binging on the last three Total War games, even though I played them all way more than I should have when they were first released.

What's my point? Simply that I'd rather replay old games I actually enjoyed, or search long and hard for games I missed when they were released, than I would settling for games I know I'll be disappointed with. I'm failing to understand how anybody who calls themselves a hardcore RPG fan could possibly look at a list of recent releases and see so much there they're eager to play that they don't have time to get to all of it.

If I ever find myself in the midst of a famine, I'll not accept anything less than a steak, lest CraigCWB think less of me.

I think less of you because you style yourself a dedicated fan of the genre when you're actually one of the easily amused casual gamers that lots of people here like to ridicule. You probably look down on people like you, yourself, so why complain when I do it?
 
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Well I'm a gamer first of all, and don't really care about casual or hardcore labels. I have been enjoying games for over 20 years.

Frankly label's mean nothing to me lately. To me the only things that matter at the end of any game is was it fun, and was it enjoyable. I don't pine for the good ole days I just play games.

Now that being said keep it civil on these topics.;)
 
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