Torment:ToN - Brian Fargo Interview @ TGG
 

The Gaming Ground has interviewed Brian Fargo about the old days, Torment: Tides of Numenera and future plans:

More information.

Nothing on Wasteland 3? What a wasted opportunity.

Not an interesting interview, hardly anything worth reading. The only surprise to me was the fact (or fake fact?) that Torment is selling well, while I was under the impression that it isn't? Could be that I should stop reading comments on the Codex though…

When has a developer ever said in an interview soon after the release of a game that their product hasn't been selling well?

The Steamspy numbers seem relatively low but I don't think there's any reliable data publicly available for consoles or GOG. Don't know how much of an audience this type of game would have on consoles, but I'd think this would be something that would sell quite well on GOG. It's #11 in their popular list.

And, well, it's not a AAA game, they don't need to sell so much to be a success.

This interview has some details on Wasteland 3, Bards Tale 4 and Torment. I think it was done prior to release of Torment through.

You should absolutely stop reading comments on the Codex, generally speaking.

Nawww

Read all of the Codex forum stuff.

Just learn to filter out the 90% or so that is hate-puke-idiot-speak.

The rest is good stuff.

Good luck!

Read everything you can, the more information at your disposal the better. Some people are just butt-hurt.

No, thanks. I've got better things to do with my time than sifting throigh a toilet looking for treasure.

Selling well? And you believe this liar? Just over 100K owners on Steam (80K backers, so it is easy to assume that just a fraction of those paid for the game at release). Torment has been at the top of the best-selling list for a day. After a couple of weeks it was selling less then PE or DOS, or even the EA of DOS 2. Heck, overall DOS 2 in early access has sold way more than the full released Torment (again, factor in the backers). Think about it for a minute, let it sink.

It is clear that inxLIE is in full damage control.

Hmm, the public PC digital sales aren't stellar, and as far as I know, the console version did not generate enough traction so far (due to my job, I've access to many retailer's data and early sales figures are not impressive).

So far, I'd say, it performs below expectation, but chances are that the game could be a slow-burner (as it happens with a few niche games)

HA! So you confirmed his words that it was on top. And still you dare to call him a liar. He didnt say its selling well, its your claim. He just notice the same thing as you. Its understandable. And there are 74k backers but not everyone gave enough to get the game. So IF there is some liar, its actually YOU.

And if sales are poor now, so what? They have KS and deal with Techland so I think they will be ok. Its worse for Techland.
And Planescape didnt have good sales too so its hardly surprising for a game with a LOT of text and weird original world. Unfortunately it seems that a lot pf players stick to the same old worlds.

Its okay folks - we have No Truce coming to help us forget about this abortion

I know a lot of people (especially here and on the Codex) are severely disappointed with inXile in general and Torment in particular. Personally I found the game really entertaining and would back a sequel without a second of doubt.

Currently playing WL2 DC for the first time and have to say it's pretty damn great. I do hope sales for Torment go well enough to keep the ball rolling for inXile, they're right at the top of my favourite developer list together with Larian.

Yea, I doubt this is going to hurt the company much, if at all… l'd guess that all those codexers who are hoping inxile goes out of business due to poor sales of this game are probably going to be severely disappointed. :smug:

if sales are poor, what do you guys think that'll mean for their next rpg?

Well, both BT4 and WL3 are pretty much funded already, and even if Torment doesn't make a huge profit I doubt it will actually end up costing them money? What Torments success or lack thereof will mostly affect is probably the chance of a sequel.

And a lot of RPGs are slow burns, as I think someone already mentioned. A lot of these isometic RPGs weren't huge successes immediately. Where games in other genres dry up quickly, a good RPG is often still making money 10 years later.

The problem with slow-burners is whether the company still exists when the game turns to be a good profit-maker?

For a small 1-5 ppl indie dev, it's okay, but if you have a 50+ ppl company, you just can't wait for your business turn eventually golden.

For InXile, I think their biz tactic is to make the development break even, or turn small profit with crowd funding, and the rest of income is a welcome extra (roll back to the company, or pay back the installment loan for that cherry red Ferrari).

I also think they use the extra income (if it arrives) to improve the game after release. They did quite a bit of clean up to wasteland 2; and hopefully, if torment sells ok, there will be some additional clean up.

Its a dangerous tactic because even if the final product is quite good the initial release is somewhat lack luster.
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To be honest of the big three last year (d:os, wasteland 2 and poe) i prefered the final cut of wasteland 2 the best. Mind you I loved d:os game play but wasteland 2 is more enjoyable to replay because of details in the story. To be honest I think i prefer dks over d:os but hard to say for sure because it has been a long time since i played dks.

Yeah, currently playing WL2 DC for the first time (I had already played through the game once when DC arrived) and I have to say it's my favourite out of all the games I've Kickstarter so far, and I've backed a lot of games. D:OS, Torment and the Shadowrun games are also high on the list.

Exactly my thoughts. The best KS RPG for me.

I've enjoyed it much, much more than Shadowrun games, Pillars, Tranny etc.

The SR Dragonfall was superb, SR Hong Kong was excellent. The first one was, meh.