Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Amnesia was shit, didn't bother to look at Bay of Pigs or any of the games after it.
Do we know what are they gonna do next ?
Future
I mentioned above that a problem with SOMA is that it lies between two genres. Not only has this probably led to lost sales, it's also most likely the reason why SOMA cannibalized the Amnesia sales. The moment that SOMA came out, sales of Amnesia: The Dark Descent went down too, and has stayed down ever since. We saw the same happening when we released Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, but since SOMA is in many ways quite different from Amnesia, we thought it wouldn't happen this time. But it did, and the reason seems to be that people lump both titles under a "Current Horror From Frictional Games" label.
In order to combat this issue we're thinking about differentiating the games we make a bit more. So if we make another sci-fi game, we'll probably tone down the horror elements and make the sci-fi narrative more prominent. The reverse would be true if we made a new horror game. The idea is that this'll not only let us reach a new and wider audience, but also minimize the risk that people will mix up our games, and instead they'll see them as separate entities. With SOMA it feels we've made it clear that Frictional Games is not just about pure horror, and we want to take advantage of that and diversify the experiences we craft.
Related to the above is our new internal development strategy. For the first time in company history we're now developing two games at the same time. This will require non-trivial changes in how we manage the team, but in the end we're very sure it'll be worth it all. By having two projects going at the same time, we can release games at much higher frequency. In turn, this let us be more experimental as we don't have to rely as much on each new game being a big money generator. We're still in the early phases of this transition, but it's shaping up really well so far.
This also means we might do some recruitment in the near future. Watch this space for more news on that!
A fresh take on horror
So what of the other project – the horror game that Grip himself is not directing?
If you were thinking it might just be a retread of past glories, you’re likely to be in for a surprise here as well.
“We know we have an audience. We have a backing. And people will be interested. But we really want to bring something new.
“We want to be at the forefront of horror. We want to drive innovative things and have elements that people haven’t seen in a horror game.”
If there’s one thing you take away from a conversation with Grip, it’s this thirst for the new. And whether Frictional are working in horror or otherwise, you get the sense their games will always be striving to be different.
“Trying new things is what makes us a company that makes money,” he reflects.
“We want to be the ones coming up with games other people imitate.”
Concept art for the new unannounced project:
Despite a bloated budget and tough sell, here we are a year later having earned back every single dime spent. And not only that; we earned well past the break-even point! The project was a big success and we are able to keep doing games with scope and quality comparable to SOMA. In fact, our goal is to aim higher still.
Finally, I want to briefly go over where Frictional is currently at. As I said last time, our goal now is to be a two-project studio and so far it is going really well. One project, which most of the team is working on, is going to start production at end of the year and the other project is mid-way through the R&D stage. Unfortunately I cannot divulge any specific information on these two, and it will be a little while before there will be a proper announcement. However, we do have some smaller, cool stuff in store, one of each we will announced later this year. If all goes well, we should also have another thing for early next year.
So exciting things happen both in the short and long term, and I am really excited for the future of the company.
Maybe Frictional should get the memo: you are still in the business of making games. Games need gameplay, walking around and following a story unfold is not good enough. I mean, I watchd an LP of Soma and afterwards I certainly see no point in buying the game, much less playing it.