Schafer: Gamers Worry Too Much About Sales

[John Funk]

Schafer: Gamers Worry Too Much About Sales

Worried that Brütal Legend might go the way of Psychonauts - critically acclaimed, but lukewarm sales? Well, Tim Schafer isn't, and he doesn't think you should be, either.

Ah, Psychonauts. Beloved by most of those who actually played it - including some notoriously hard-to-please [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2-Psychonauts] critics. Sadly, despite critical acclaim for its originality and funky aesthetics, Psychonauts' mediocre sales hardly lived up to the game's critical success.

So, this begs the question: What's to stop Schafer's upcoming face-melting heavy-metal adventure Brütal Legend from suffering the same fate as its mind-bending predecessor ... and what are the ramifications for Schafer and his studio Double Fine if it fails? MTV Multiplayer [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/04/06/tim-schafer-gamers-worry-too-much-about-sales/] caught up with Schafer in San Francisco and asked him precisely that.

As it turns out, Schafer isn't concerned. "Fans worry too much about sales, to tell you the truth," he told MTV's Stephen Totilo. "As long as you make a cool game, publishers want to talk to you... [They say,] 'We liked Psychonauts. and we think we could have sold it better.'"

Fortunately, Schafer sees Brütal Legend as a game with far more commercial appeal than Psychonauts, though he stressed that the decision was made for creative reasons - a desire to vary the studio's games - than from commercial market pressures. Whereas Psychonauts' bizarre visual style and mechanics might not have grabbed the eye of Joe Q. Customer, Brütal Legend "is a game that naturally has more commercial hooks, like hot babes and Jack Black."

I can buy that, though I don't quite believe that at no point anybody ever said "Hey, you know what - let's make sure our next game makes money." But hey, it's all relative, right?

Permalink

 

[Random Argument Man]

Well, since they teamed up with the giant EA, I think it will be more successful than its counterpart.

 

[Doug]

... I'm somewhat perlexed by Tim Schafer now. Surely actually selling games is what puts food on his plate and his company from bunkrucy?

Either he's a genius or a financial madman

 

[Brotherofwill]

The reason that Psychonauts flopped I think is because of the piss-poor marketing. I honestly didn't even know about it until that hard-to-please critic came along (and I loved Schafer's previous games).

"Hey, you know what - let's make sure our next game makes money."

Haha yea like that's ever gonna happen. Next thing you know someone releases some useless DLC, like armor for your horse or something, and charges for it.

 

[Skeleon]

I don't think he doesn't care about sales at all, I guess he just wants to make sure his fans know he'll still try to make interesting, creative and above all WEIRD games in the future, too. It's all about marketing politics. ;-)

 

[oliveira8]

A game with Judas Priest soundtrack cant go wrong...Or maybe it can?

 

[sirdanrhodes]

A game with Judas Priest soundtrack cant go wrong...Or maybe it can?

I'm guessing a 70% chance of win!

 

[NinjaKirby1322]

Whereas Psychonauts' bizarre visual style and mechanics might not have grabbed the eye of Joe Q. Customer, Brütal Legend "is a game that naturally has more commercial hooks, like hot babes and Jack Black."

I don't know why, I just love this quote.



Schafer's right, though. A lot of gamers put an emphasis on how well the game sells. If it doesn't sell as well as another game, then it's seen as a worse game. Does that mean that Wii Play is the best game made in the current generation? Far from it! How good a game is shouldn't be solely determined by numbers.

Schafer should have the respect of everyone involved in the video game industry. He keeps a mindset that most developers seem to have forgotten: the video game industry is there to grant an amazing form of interactive entertainment to the public, not just to gather money off of pointless sequels. Schafer definitely has my respect, and I look forward to giving Brütal Legend a try.

 

[randommaster]

I'm thinking that he already paid his staff, so the sales really just matter as far as when we see his next game.

As long as everyone is happy with their work at DF studios, there doesn't need to be this rabid worrying about sales.

As for Psychonauts, releasing the same weekend as Halo really didn't help.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Man, I really have to find these games and play them. Everyone loves the pants off of Psychonauts, and Brütal Legend sounds kick-ass.
Plus, from the sounds of things, Tim Schafer is more concerned with making awesome games than good sales figures.

 

[Doug]

The reason that Psychonauts flopped I think is because of the piss-poor marketing. I honestly didn't even know about it until that hard-to-please critic came along (and I loved Schafer's previous games).

That's true - didn't the first publisher fall through? and the other went bankrupt not long after Pyschonauts was released? I wonder if the sales have increased now its on Steam? I know the trailer on Steam was so funny it convinced me to buy it.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, its not his JOB to sell the game, its his job to make it good, if it then doesn't sell the blame falls on two groups, marketing.

And us.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

... I'm somewhat perlexed by Tim Schafer now. Surely actually selling games is what puts food on his plate and his company from bunkrucy?

Either he's a genius or a financial madman

Or someone who doesn't really care about making a lot of money and just likes to make a good game.

 

[dcheppy]

Schafer's commerical failures didn't start with Psyhonauts; it started with Grim Fandango(even better game IMO). 3 strikes and you're out.(or at least you don't get the leeway to make unique creative games.) When his next game features a cover mechanic, blood, and online stat tracking, remember you heard it here first.

 

[Lios]

A lot of hype and popularity never means a great game (just look at Halo..). There are loads of games out there that people barely ever hear of that are amazing. When STALKER first came out, it was relatively unknown, then when I found it, I found the most unique FPS I've ever played. Sins of a Solar Empire is a good example too.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Schafer's commerical failures didn't start with Psyhonauts; it started with Grim Fandango(even better game IMO). 3 strikes and you're out.(or at least you don't get the leeway to make unique creative games.) When his next game features a cover mechanic, [b/]BLOOD[/b], and online stat tracking, remember you heard it here first.

Have you seen the Brutal Legend trailer?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM5lMHbq9j8

Anyway, I think Brutal Legend has a much higher chance of success that Psychonauts. Just stick "JACK BLACK" in big letters on the front cover. That's a million copy's in the bag right there.

The rest goes down to advertising. We've had two trailers already, plus this whole thing is being published by EA, so your almost bound to get a few bill boards scattered around.

Hopefully Tim Freaking Schafer will get the money he deserves for this one.

 

[Doug]

... I'm somewhat perlexed by Tim Schafer now. Surely actually selling games is what puts food on his plate and his company from bunkrucy?

Either he's a genius or a financial madman

Or someone who doesn't really care about making a lot of money and just likes to make a good game.

Can't make a good game, or survive, without money. Tis an economic reality.

 

[Doug]

Schafer's commerical failures didn't start with Psyhonauts; it started with Grim Fandango(even better game IMO). 3 strikes and you're out.(or at least you don't get the leeway to make unique creative games.) When his next game features a cover mechanic, [b/]BLOOD[/b], and online stat tracking, remember you heard it here first.

Have you seen the Brutal Legend trailer?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM5lMHbq9j8

Anyway, I think Brutal Legend has a much higher chance of success that Psychonauts. Just stick "JACK BLACK" in big letters on the front cover. That's a million copy's in the bag right there.

The rest goes down to advertising. We've had two trailers already, plus this whole thing is being published by EA, so your almost bound to get a few bill boards scattered around.

Hopefully Tim Freaking Schafer will get the money he deserves for this one.

Nice...! Another good one from Schafer, I think

 

[Aardvark Soup]

... I'm somewhat perlexed by Tim Schafer now. Surely actually selling games is what puts food on his plate and his company from bunkrucy?

Either he's a genius or a financial madman

Or someone who doesn't really care about making a lot of money and just likes to make a good game.

Can't make a good game, or survive, without money. Tis an economic reality.

Of course. I'n not saying that. But you can have a decent but not incredibly high income and still make great games.