Former BioWare GM Aaryn Flynn thinks developers over-promise and under-deliver with their content release schedules. Numerous titles in recent years have suffered issues at launch, frustrated fans into asking for refunds, or saw their DLC delayed. Some fans have even asked for refunds following extended delays. Flynn says players have fair expectations and want games to be worthy of their time.
“I think players are ultimately pretty fair,” he said. “They want games to be great, they want them to be polished, and they want experiences to be respectful of their time.”
“I think our industry has underdelivered and overpromised on some of those things. A lot of times when you see disappointed players, it’s often because a studio or team has set an expectation that they can’t hit. I get that… I can relate to that.”
“It’s about being honest about this stuff and just saying, ‘this is where we’re at… some of these things are hard and we’d rather spend a little longer giving you something great than something compromised earlier’,” he explained.
“Again, I think the vast majority of players want that too. Players have so much choice now… they’re going to go play something else in the mid-term if you don’t have content, and that’s a good or bad thing for certain studios.”
Source: VGC
Discussion (3 replies)
Join Discussion →Oh, now he has an epiphany moment after so many AAA franchises flopped from his management. Maybe this **new perception** (?) has something to do with his hopes that his past failures won't disrupt the future sales for his new title Nightingale.
I mean... a Flynn and Tencent collaboration, what possibly could go wrong?!
Unpopular opinion: There should be no post release content schedule. The game should stand on it's own, and not rely on post release content to fix it or fill the holes. Sure you can make expansions to a game, but it must be an organic thing that you do because your game is successful and not an escape plan for a sucky game.