Greg Zeschuk Interview
Greg Zeschuk Interview
Interview - posted by VentilatorOfDoom on Thu 15 July 2010, 11:50:30
Tags: BioWareBioWare's Greg Zeschuk gets interviewed by VG247.
You’ve made the decision to only have a human lead character in Dragon Age II, and not allow people to choose their race. Can you explain why?
Greg Zeschuk: With all our games, we don’t always want to create a true sequel in the sense that it’s more of the same. You can see it from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 that you’ve changed up quite a bit of stuff.
We decided to sort of change and create a different type of game at least on the surface. And the interesting thing is that in the case of Dragon Age II, we’ve only shown a little slice of it so far. And everyone’s very excited, right? If you’ll remember with Dragon Age 1, we had the Marilyn Manson trailer and everyone freaked out and we said, “Don’t worry: we’re just showing you a different perspective.”
Over time, I think people will kind of understand what we’re doing and probably really like it.
We like to challenge our players on a sequel. It’s still a Dragon Age game, that hasn’t changed. But it’s going to be challenging and interesting in many ways. We think it’s ultimately going to be a better game, so I think ultimately the fans will agree when they get to play it. That’s the fundamental thing.
Dragon Age has been a more successful product for you than Mass Effect. Why do you think that is?
Greg Zeschuk: Well, Mass Effect 1 is probably at a similar level, maybe even higher, than Dragon Age. It got a head start. I think it was a Christmas game versus a non-Christmas game. Second would be that there’s one platform short on Mass Effect.
It’s interesting when you look at it now. For example, Mass Effect 2 is still a top ten seller in North America. It’s still doing really, really well from the beginning of the year to now. I think over time, you’ll see it’ll probably even out. I don’t worry too much about the sales numbers of what’s more or less successful as much as the idea that each game keeps getting higher and higher quality.
I think they’ll find their fans. Mass continues to sell really well, so it’ll probably catch up and pass. You never know.
Also the other BioDoc entered the magic world of Poker:
We heard rumours over E3 that Ray may be thinking of leaving BioWare. Is there any truth in that, or do you think that was just poker-related?
Greg Zeschuk: [Laughs] No, Ray’s still very dedicated to BioWare, but he also loves poker. It’s his hobby, right? Ironically, he’s now at the World Series of Poker. He was supposed to do the talk jointly, but actually he went to Vegas. And if he won, if he started doing well, he was going to have to stay as he’s still in the tournament. And he is. So no, no: I think that’s probably a tongue in cheek question, as he’s still very into it. He’s on a bit of a sabbatical right now, which is a good thing because he’s got the whole group level management – he’s got GM at every studio. But he still thinks about BioWare every day.
Spotted at: GB
You’ve made the decision to only have a human lead character in Dragon Age II, and not allow people to choose their race. Can you explain why?
Greg Zeschuk: With all our games, we don’t always want to create a true sequel in the sense that it’s more of the same. You can see it from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2 that you’ve changed up quite a bit of stuff.
We decided to sort of change and create a different type of game at least on the surface. And the interesting thing is that in the case of Dragon Age II, we’ve only shown a little slice of it so far. And everyone’s very excited, right? If you’ll remember with Dragon Age 1, we had the Marilyn Manson trailer and everyone freaked out and we said, “Don’t worry: we’re just showing you a different perspective.”
Over time, I think people will kind of understand what we’re doing and probably really like it.
We like to challenge our players on a sequel. It’s still a Dragon Age game, that hasn’t changed. But it’s going to be challenging and interesting in many ways. We think it’s ultimately going to be a better game, so I think ultimately the fans will agree when they get to play it. That’s the fundamental thing.
Dragon Age has been a more successful product for you than Mass Effect. Why do you think that is?
Greg Zeschuk: Well, Mass Effect 1 is probably at a similar level, maybe even higher, than Dragon Age. It got a head start. I think it was a Christmas game versus a non-Christmas game. Second would be that there’s one platform short on Mass Effect.
It’s interesting when you look at it now. For example, Mass Effect 2 is still a top ten seller in North America. It’s still doing really, really well from the beginning of the year to now. I think over time, you’ll see it’ll probably even out. I don’t worry too much about the sales numbers of what’s more or less successful as much as the idea that each game keeps getting higher and higher quality.
I think they’ll find their fans. Mass continues to sell really well, so it’ll probably catch up and pass. You never know.
We heard rumours over E3 that Ray may be thinking of leaving BioWare. Is there any truth in that, or do you think that was just poker-related?
Greg Zeschuk: [Laughs] No, Ray’s still very dedicated to BioWare, but he also loves poker. It’s his hobby, right? Ironically, he’s now at the World Series of Poker. He was supposed to do the talk jointly, but actually he went to Vegas. And if he won, if he started doing well, he was going to have to stay as he’s still in the tournament. And he is. So no, no: I think that’s probably a tongue in cheek question, as he’s still very into it. He’s on a bit of a sabbatical right now, which is a good thing because he’s got the whole group level management – he’s got GM at every studio. But he still thinks about BioWare every day.
Spotted at: GB
