PC Exclusives Can't Justify Triple-A Budgets, Says Brink Boss

[Andy Chalk]

PC Exclusives Can't Justify Triple-A Budgets, Says Brink Boss

Paul Wedgwood, head of Splash Damage [http://www.brinkthegame.com/], says it's impossible to make triple-A games exclusively for the PC because the projects just can't attract enough money from publishers.

Although Splash Damage's roots are firmly in the PC gaming scene and Wedgwood himself says he was a "hardcore PC guy" who initially resisted the move to console gaming, he recently expressed the belief that developers who want to create top-tier, "triple-A" games can't get the budget they need if they limit themselves exclusively to the PC market.

"About two or three years ago we realized that we really wouldn't survive if we only made PC games, since purely making PC games was incompatible with our goal of making triple-A games," he said yesterday at the 2009 EG Expo in Leeds.

"You just can't get the publisher budget to ever [use] an orchestra in London, and then go and record at Abbey Road and get the best voice actors if you're only going to release on the PC, where there isn't the sales to justify that kind of work," he added.

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game? It might be great for some ego-stroking in pre-release interviews but does anyone really care (or even notice) whether the background music in their game of the week was recorded by the Oblivion [http://www.lpo.co.uk/], but does anyone really think that was money well spent?)

Or is he just clouding his otherwise-valid point by saying something really stupid in order to distract us all from the fact that Splash Damage has never actually made [http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/splash-damage-ltd/offset,0/so,1a/list-games/] a triple-A game, or any game at all for that matter? Brink might turn out to be absolutely brilliant but if it does, it won't be because Wedgwood hired Sheena Easton and Mitch Pileggi to do voice work.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/10/28/brink-boss-pc-only-projects-cannot-justify-triple-a-budgets/]


Permalink

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Weasel words. I mean, I can't think of any Triple A games that are PC exclusives, like Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Audiosurf, NOLF, Black and White, Starcraft, American McGee's Alice...

Maybe he just meant TripleA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TripleA_%28computer_game%29] games.

...Age of Mythology, Dungeon Siege, Unreal Tournament, Starcraft, Diablo...

 

[SomeBritishDude]

He's right about PC exclusives. And, though he maybe the example he gave for stuff you couldn't afford wasn't a good one, there was no need to do 2 paragraphs explaining why he's wrong.

 

[Asehujiko]

Somebody inform that guy that there's an elephant in the room with that theory. It's called World of Warcraft and it devours the budget of any "AAA" title with less then a year's worth of server upkeep, not counting the costs or all the expansions and content patches.

 

[KSarty]

So says the head of a developer with little to no hit titles on the platform. Quake Wars is the only title of theirs that did well at all that I know of, and it isn't like it was a smash hit. I'll take his claims with a grain of salt thank you very much.

 

[Croaker42]

Im with you Maly. This dev is trying too hard at the things that dont make a game. I think good gaming music/voice acting, though important, can be done without blowing the budget on top tier actors or recording studios. I guarantee that is they took the time to brows through Acidplanet, they could come up with more then one artist that can make the kind of music the game needs. I also think most of those artists would be more then pleased just to have exposure and a paycheck (Not million dollar contracts.). Same goes for voice acting, you pass a guy on the street, like the sound of their voice and think they have what it takes give it a shot. That or look for one of the im sure is hundreds of quality voice actors that wont take your budget to the cleaners.

EDIT:
This could just be me but I would much rather see a "good" game over the high budget Hollywood style crap this "TripleA" tag seems to promote.

 

[Sparrow]

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game? It might be great for some ego-stroking in pre-release interviews but does anyone really care (or even notice) whether the background music in their game of the week was recorded by the Oblivion [http://www.lpo.co.uk/], but does anyone really think that was money well spent?)

Don't be ignorant Maly, some games only reach public eye because of their voice acting. You really think half as many people would have bought Brutal Legend if Jack Black wasn't the voice actor, or it was void of any kind of Metal rock?

The answer is, before you give me some kind of ironic statement, no. It wouldn't have. The majority of love for that game came from Jack Black and the entire Metal world he revolved around.

 

[KSarty]

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game? It might be great for some ego-stroking in pre-release interviews but does anyone really care (or even notice) whether the background music in their game of the week was recorded by the Oblivion [http://www.lpo.co.uk/], but does anyone really think that was money well spent?)

Don't be ignorant Maly, some games only reach public eye because of their voice acting. You really think half as many people would have bought Brutal Legend if Jack Black wasn't the voice actor, or it was void of any kind of Metal rock?

The answer is, before you give me some kind of ironic statement, no. It wouldn't have. The majority of love for that game came from Jack Black and the entire Metal world he revolved around.

And yet there are dozens of games that became phenomenons with absolutely no big name voice actors attached to it.

 

[Terramax]

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game?

He's talking about the little things that make the big picture. Take Uncharted 2. That game reached a high level of quality because of things such as top quality voice actors, music, etc. The same with other series' such as Silent Hill.

 

[Caliostro]

I'm gonna chalk this one down to "Bad developer burns away his money clueless and then ditches the blame".

It's cool to blame the PC now.

 

[Sparrow]

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game? It might be great for some ego-stroking in pre-release interviews but does anyone really care (or even notice) whether the background music in their game of the week was recorded by the Oblivion [http://www.lpo.co.uk/], but does anyone really think that was money well spent?)

Don't be ignorant Maly, some games only reach public eye because of their voice acting. You really think half as many people would have bought Brutal Legend if Jack Black wasn't the voice actor, or it was void of any kind of Metal rock?

The answer is, before you give me some kind of ironic statement, no. It wouldn't have. The majority of love for that game came from Jack Black and the entire Metal world he revolved around.

And yet there are dozens of games that became phenomenons with absolutely no big name voice actors attached to it.

Indeed, I'm not disputing that. However, what I am disputing is Maly's rage at what he said. Games sell because of voice acting and soundtracks. Games also sell because of amazing gameplay and graphics, don't get me wrong. However, Maly's dispute was that voice acting and soundtracks are irrelevant, in which sense he is horribly, horribly wrong.

 

[Xivilai87]

Leaving out the whole voice acting and music thing, lets look at piracy. how many millions did EA lose from the leak on Sims 3 a week before launch. hundreds of thousands of downloads, each meaning EA loses $50 a pop.

i always hear people complaining about how games dont come out for PC exclusivley any more, but its the same people who will go home and download the game for free instead of buying it.

if i developed a PC title, and only made back 1/4 of the development costs because everyone decided to steal the title instead, i'de be moving to consoles too

 

[scotth266]

Weasel words. I mean, I can't think of any Triple A games that are PC exclusives, like Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Audiosurf, NOLF, Black and White, Starcraft, American McGee's Alice...

Maybe he just meant TripleA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TripleA_%28computer_game%29] games.

...Age of Mythology, Dungeon Siege, Unreal Tournament, Starcraft, Diablo...

Most of those were made a while back. One or two of the others are indie games for $10 or less. The rest haven't exactly set the world on fire, despite being good.

So yeah, he's right when he says that PC exclusives can't justify their budgets.

 

[Slayer_2]

Actually I believe Splash Damage developed ET: Quake Wars. I'm not sure if it is a AAA title, but besides the terrible voice acting, it was a VERY fun game and had many traits found in games such as Battlefield.

 

[Andy Chalk]

However, Maly's dispute was that voice acting and soundtracks are irrelevant, in which sense he is horribly, horribly wrong.

Are you seriously suggesting that the music and voice-acting needs of Brutal Legend are the same as Brink? The game was about music.

And I don't think you really expect me to believe that the studio used to record Brutal Legend's audio has a substantive difference on its success, either. Do you?

 

[KSarty]

Even as a die-hard PC gamer I was almost with him on this, until he got to the part about orchestras in London and recording at Abbey Road. What the hell does that have to do with making a game?

He's talking about the little things that make the big picture. Take Uncharted 2. That game reached a high level of quality because of things such as top quality voice actors, music, etc. The same with other series' such as Silent Hill.

Big name voice actors is not the same thing as quality voice actors. The point I believe Malygris is trying to make is that many other developers achieve very high levels of quality without feeling the need to hire the London Symphony Orchestra or renting out Abbey Road. You can make a great game without going balls to the wall as far as budget is concerned.

 

[Bigeyez]

You may not like his reasoning but he's right though...If anyone truly thinks they can reach more people if they go PC exclusive then if they develop on a console they are sorely mistaken.

The PC market is smaller then the combined console market, period. Thats just a simple fact. It makes perfect sense that if given the choice to develop between a PC and Console a developer goes with a console. Thats just a sound business decision.

 

[Andy Chalk]

The point was never that the PC market can match the console market. The point is that Wedgwood seems to have some very confused ideas about what makes a "triple-A" game. Where I come from, at least, the measure is the quality of the product, not how much money you're able to blow on extraneous bullshit.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

Sounds like he blew the budget on crap so blames it on the PC.

 

[mambodog]

Wasn't quake wars a AAA game?