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  Navigating A Crossroads: David Jaffe Talks
by Christian Nutt [Interview]
6 comments Share on Twitter Share on Facebook RSS
 
 
January 25, 2008 Article Start Previous Page 3 of 5 Next
 

And speaking of casual games experiences, and the market, it's obvious that there's a lot of discussion about that right now, and I think people are finding it hard to define -- they're over-defining it, maybe? Making it more of a dichotomy, like, "Casual gamers are grandmas. Hardcore gamers are 18 year old guys." One end of the spectrum to the other. What do you think about that?

DJ: "What do you think about that, I just said to you, there?" I don't know if you ever watch Jiminy Glick but you just sounded just like him. But, what do I think about that? Well, I think on one end you're absolutely right about the 18 year old guy thing. Every game that we do now, one of the guys calls it the "Joe College Factor."



You know, you always think about, when you're spending the kind of money that we have to spend now to make console titles, and this is a mistake that we made on our Calling All Cars game. It's like, you know, "Is this guy" -- it's usually a guy, for better or for worse, it's usually a guy -- "going to feel comfortable and cool going into a game store at all, and saying 'I want to have that experience'?"

And that bar has changed dramatically. If you look at PS1 era games -- and I always called it back then "the 80/20 rule" -- that could survive. Which was: 80% of your title had to be grounded in some sort of thematic reality, and 20% of it could be fantastic.

And so, back in '95, '96, '97, a game like, for example -- with the guy with the mental powers, but he was also a soldier -- Psi-Ops. A game like that would've been a huge hit back in the day.

But as graphics get better, it's almost like the 80/20 rule on PS1 was 90/10 on PS2, and now it's almost 100%. It's like there's not a lot of room in the hardcore gamer's diet these days for -- not hardcore, sorry, that's wrong, hardcore has plenty of room for it. But in terms of the mainstream market of console games, it seems like there's not a lot of room for imagination on the part of the thematic. It's almost like it feels silly to them.

So we look at all of our games, and go, "How do we make sure that we are able to appeal to that very huge part of the market?" And the easiest way is to make a great sports game, or make a great military game, but those are really hard nuts to crack. So yeah, I definitely agree with the assumption that the console gaming market is really driven by that mentality. It's certainly how we decide what we're going to put into production on the console side.

Now on the PC casual side, we at Eat, Sleep, Play are absolutely looking to get into that market, and you'll be hearing more about that from us hopefully relatively soon, but we're not looking at it like 85 year old grandmas. You know, we're definitely -- I play casual games, and I play hardcore games.

We're looking at it, though, more from the sense that the thematics can be a lot more interesting, there are a lot more chances that you can take thematically. The game's meat has to be right there immediately -- it has to be fun within the first couple of seconds or else people are going to move on.

David Jaffe's PSN downloadable title, Calling All Cars

The other interesting thing is that people these days are used to doing this $19.99, download, try before you buy model. And people still do that, but if you talk to people now, they want the games free, they want them on Flash, they don't want to download an executable. Those are the things that are really starting to define that market. More of an expectation of the kind of experience they want to have.

And those people, who are looking for those experiences, I just think that there are more people who are willing to take on those experiences, and they go outside of the realm of the core gamer. So you will get the soccer moms, you will get the hardcore gamers, you will get the little kids trying those titles. Because the barriers of entry: A) It's free. B) You run it on your computer. You can get to the fun right away. So I think it makes sense that the casual games market is actually starting to grow in a significant way.

 

 
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Comments

Anonymous
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"So what it may really be saying is that the vast majority who want to play video games could really care less if they're playing the leading-edge graphics."

This sentence makes no sense, americans needs to learn that "could care less" and "couldn't care less" means completely different things.

Anonymous
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Actually they are very similar as "could care less" implies "could care less, but not likely". The reason is we Americans are generally sarcastic... as in "Most Americans could care less about our comments"... I'm sure there are various forms of vernacular in various countries that sound ridiculous... to those who simply care too much.

Oliver Snyders
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Thanks for explaining that ("couldn't care less" = sarcasm). I've always wondered why people say that when it sounds like they *mean* "couldn't care less". (This was not sarcasm. Or is today 'Opposite Day'? Now you're thinking!)



It's good that Jaffe is admitting to not knowing what the future holds because that is a real concern. Developers just need to do what they know with the data they have, strong and steady, and the crystal ball will become *less* murky in the next 6 months, I think.



My prediction - games based on advertising revenue cannot sustain themselves. Maybe for the foreseeable future (in that murky crystal ball) but relying on advertising as a financial model and expecting it to support your games for years into the future is a mistake. A few different models need to be used in a combination in order to create a reliable revenue stream.



This interview also got me thinking about the remakes on different platforms - isn't it funny how people go crazy over different levels of graphical achievement? A DS game could look 'gorgeous' while a PS3 game could also look 'gorgeous', only because they are capable of different things.



Well, I found it hilarious.

Anonymous
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Hmmf, Jaffe seems like, in this interview, that he's trying to act neutral and open minded to the whole 'console war' where, in fact, it is watered down hyperbole covering up his contractual obligations to talk good about his buddies at Sony. It's basically like him saying "Oh the Xbox has such and such features, but the PS3 has better. By the way we still wanna sell our PS2 brands". I wouldn't put it past Sony to pull a stunt like this, but Jaffe is a terrible PR agent. He's effectively pulling an opinion out of the air rather than coming up with one of his own.



My prediction? Sony will draw it's own crowd and standing with the casual gamer when the price cintinues it's accelerated drops. These are usually the most pliable bunch who often confuse marketing with true consumer information. It will however fall to second place in both the casual (to the Wii) and hardcore (X360) gaming markets, although it will be technically a success. Sony will trumpet on about another solid product made, while secretly trying to find out what the next generation's competitors will be doing, knowing they've barely escaped a massive failure with the PS3.



Jaffe will continue in the tradition of making GoW titles for Sony, further continuing the now stale stable of flagships that are churned out as the next big thing for the series. I'm sorry this is not Sony bashing, I was a fan of the PS2, but Metal Gear Solid 4? another Final Fantasy?



Also, I want to point out for Mr JAffe that Sony has no loyalties if it can impact Microsoft sales. Look at what happened with UT3.

Anonymous
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Reading the interview was tiring. The new insights I have got are these:

1. Look, I think I was like, you know, like -- the thing is, and I mean like, you know, like definitely those people -- and it's happening.

2. For a creator, it's "exciting" to be able to put ads inbetween levels of his games.



Also, "couldn't care less" is sarcastic without saying it the wrong way (that would be by leaving out the "not"). "Could care less, but not likely" doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Anonymous
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For some reason, this sounds me like when Paul Steed left iD to make some web games...


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