KZ2 and game budgeting in general *spin-off
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More quotes, this time from Martyn Chudley, Bizarre, on reasons for moving from second to third party.
EDGE
A long-lived, successful and prominent independent developer with a strong relationship with Microsoft, Bizarre Creations' sale to Activision was a surprise to most onlookers. But from the inside, Bizarre wasn't so comfortable. "I think that PGR4 was the strongest Gotham game we did," says Chudley. "But towards the end of that project they wanted us to bring it in early, to chop six weeks off development." But the way Bizarre works is "really right up to the wire," so the game would be nowhere near finished. He had to insist that his team worked to the terms of the contract. "That got us concerned about the future with Microsoft." But even before this he had misgivings. He feels that PGR undersold because it was a launch game for Xbox, PGR2 undersold because Microsoft used it to sell Xbox Live, PGR3 undersold because it was a launch game for 360 and because Bizarre received final hardware only six months before release, and PGR4 undersold because Microsoft concentrated instead on marketing Forza 2.
On aquisition by Activision under its independent studio model, which gives Bizarre a broad degree of freedom, it was the third biggest publisher in the world, but a couple of months later the Activision-Blizzard merger went ahead and it became the largest. "We went from being the only racing studio for the world's third biggest publisher to the only racing studio in the world's biggest publisher. We've the full weight of this monstrosity above us, which has good and bad connotations - the greater the expectation, the greater the pressure, and the exposure."
EDGE
A long-lived, successful and prominent independent developer with a strong relationship with Microsoft, Bizarre Creations' sale to Activision was a surprise to most onlookers. But from the inside, Bizarre wasn't so comfortable. "I think that PGR4 was the strongest Gotham game we did," says Chudley. "But towards the end of that project they wanted us to bring it in early, to chop six weeks off development." But the way Bizarre works is "really right up to the wire," so the game would be nowhere near finished. He had to insist that his team worked to the terms of the contract. "That got us concerned about the future with Microsoft." But even before this he had misgivings. He feels that PGR undersold because it was a launch game for Xbox, PGR2 undersold because Microsoft used it to sell Xbox Live, PGR3 undersold because it was a launch game for 360 and because Bizarre received final hardware only six months before release, and PGR4 undersold because Microsoft concentrated instead on marketing Forza 2.
On aquisition by Activision under its independent studio model, which gives Bizarre a broad degree of freedom, it was the third biggest publisher in the world, but a couple of months later the Activision-Blizzard merger went ahead and it became the largest. "We went from being the only racing studio for the world's third biggest publisher to the only racing studio in the world's biggest publisher. We've the full weight of this monstrosity above us, which has good and bad connotations - the greater the expectation, the greater the pressure, and the exposure."
grandmaster
Veteran
I know Bizarre fairly well and they are some of the most level-headed, realistic and professional business people I've met. My guess about going for the Activision deal is simply that they could see the way the wind was blowing for medium-sized studios. Chasing down publishers each time you start a new project is an incredibly risky affair, and as Free Radical will tell you, you're only as good as your last game.
It was a lot bigger than you think. The WWW was starting up around that time and the userbase was broadening from students on university lans to end users with SLIP accounts. USENET was far less balkanized than the internet today. There weren't hundreds of different forums for gaming, there was just one or two groups which were all subscribed by dozens of servers. That meant you had more people discussing a topic in the same place.
The internet was also a feeder for other distribution networks, whether they were BBSes or swap meets.
That's a pretty sad conversion ratio for such an iconic game, but then again, at the time, I was the only person I knew who registered. The game was not distributed at retail, which I'm sure cut off a lot of potential sales.
DOOM II, on the other hand, was a retail release, like Spear of Destiny. The anticipation for that game was tremendous. It was one of the earlier, and better, games to be distributed on CD.
I honestly think shareware was just an improvised publishing solution cobbled together by small independent developers with limited resources. Certainly, once successful developers like Id or EPIC started utilizing traditional publishing channels, they didn't stop.
The point wasn't about how Master Chief helped Halo1's sales, it was about MS showing how to make a shooter like Halo2 or Gears stand out from the crowd by heavily using its main character in the advertising; and how Sony has completely failed to follow such an obvious and successful example with KZ2 and how it could have added to its less then expected sales numbers.
And not all of us agree with you. What crowd was Gears trying to stand out from in late 2006? Microsoft did use Master Chief intelligently, but it's not like Halo 1 wasn't enormously-well received itself.
The PS3 and Wii launches.
I thought Sony was doing a pretty good job on its own there.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Actually the original post that started this whole thing is about main characters selling games. KZ2's main character being held up as being bland and thus part of the reason KZ2 didn't sell well.
The problem here is that Doom Guy and Gordon are orders of magnitude more bland than KZ2's main character and yet those games still sold phenomenally well...including the first game.
Master Chief was equally as bland. But contrary to Doom Guy and Gordon was actually used as a focal point for advertising for a later game (Halo 3).
If anything, it shows that main characters for FPS shooters rarely sell games.
Deus Ex. Well I remember his name was Alex (I think) but other than that not memorable. One of my favorite games.
System Shock 2. Another bland un-memorable main character.
Medal of Honor. Call of Duty. Hexen. Quake. Unreal. Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Noone Lives Forever. The list goes on and on.
007: Goldeneye is about the only game I can think of (off the top of my head) that arguably could have had a large volume of titles sold due to the main character... I'm sure there are others, but it's a very small exception to the rule. I suppose you could put the Star Wars games in there, but that's more the franchise selling it than any character. Dark Forces for example who ever heard of the main character from that before the game was popular?
In fact, in almost all gaming genre's, it's the game that makes a main character memorable rather than the other way around.
If it's a character that sells a game rather than the franchise selling the game, you should be able to move a character to a different genre and have instant hits. And yet the only place that is seen really is Nintendo's trademark characters. Banjo Kazooie also has gotten to that point somewhat by also selling racing kart games.
In the end, I don't think we can attribute even a tiny bit of KZ2's current (lack?) of blockbuster success on the fact that the main character was more bland than other FPS games that have succeeded...
Regards,
SB
Sigfried1977
Legend
Well, the name's Alex in the sequel. Can be both a he or a she.
I don't think No One Lives Forever sold that great (so it's hard to measure main character appeal), but Cate Archer was definitely part of the appeal -- a hot woman in brightly colored 60's clothes was very visually distinctive. It was a shooter that looked nothing like other shooters out at the time (and really, shooters since).
She was even on the box of the first game:
She was even on the box of the first game:
All the other X360 releases?
Halo1 was simply doomed by the press at its launch and the first level inside the spaceship wasn't exactly selling it either. But then word of mouth begin to spread about it being a good game.
Anyone want to post the metacritic score? I can't from work, but it may halt this revisionist history before it gets to laughable.
Edit: 97/100 Metacritic, ya what a critical flop.
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Silent_Buddha
Legend
I don't think No One Lives Forever sold that great (so it's hard to measure main character appeal), but Cate Archer was definitely part of the appeal -- a hot woman in brightly colored 60's clothes was very visually distinctive. It was a shooter that looked nothing like other shooters out at the time (and really, shooters since).
She was even on the box of the first game:
OK, she was a hot little tart, eh?
Regards,
SB
Which ones? In November, CoD3 was the only other 360 game to chart. Same for December. Otherwise it was competing against the PS2, and my argument is that against the PS2's lineup, all Gears of War needed to show was 'next-gen graphics', which it did in spades in the Madworld commercial. Marcus Fenix was irrelevant, IMO.
Is a 97 aggregate score 'doomed by the press'? Are you arguing just for the sake of arguing, or are you saying that Halo's legs was because of Master Chief as a character, which is the topic at hand?
It's probably fair to say that game characters (i.e. story) were as responsible for Halo's success as anything else. The fact that you were this badass super soldier that was just as powerful as the most powerful enemies in the game was pretty damn cool. Even the way the friendly AI reacted to you was kind of empowering. Cortana was also a big part of it too imo. The teamwork between the two and the way Bungie used her dialog to help you out and move the story along was brilliant. But ultimately, the Masterchief was the central focus. And even moreso after "The Fall of Reach" was released. After that, the Masterchief definitely became iconic (if he wasn't already). Hell, a friend of mine even dressed up like him for a Halloween party once.
As a matter of fact, I think Halo is all about iconic characters. Masterchief, Cortana, Sgt. Johnson, Capt. Keyes, the Arbiter, Tartarus, Miranda Keyes, the asshole Prophets, the Gravemind, etc. And the Masterchief is the most iconic of them all.
As a matter of fact, I think Halo is all about iconic characters. Masterchief, Cortana, Sgt. Johnson, Capt. Keyes, the Arbiter, Tartarus, Miranda Keyes, the asshole Prophets, the Gravemind, etc. And the Masterchief is the most iconic of them all.
I agree. If he wasn't iconic in the first game, he definitely was by Halo 2. I remember how many people were upset that they had to play as the Arbiter.
There is something noble and at the same time sad about the character. Even at the end of Halo 3, the Chief seems more tired and sad than euphoric that the war is finally over.
I'm talking about the time before its release, mostly E3 previews (the game was released in november). Which is why the high review scores were said to be MS buying off the press.
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