In an interview with Eurogamer during this year’s E3, Electronic Arts’ CEO Andrew Wilson discussed whether or not the bigwig publisher had learned anything from the major negative backlash that the mobile version of Dungeon Keeper received when it was released in October last year.
When Wilson was approached with the question regarding Dungeon Keeper Mobile , he admitted that what went down with Dungeon Keeper was “ a shame, ” and that EA had “ misjudged ” its economy.
“For new players, it was kind of a cool game,” Wilson told Eurogamer. “For people who’d grown up playing Dungeon Keeper there was a disconnect there. In that aspect we didn’t walk that line as well as we could have. And that’s a shame.”
” We misjudged the economy, ” Wilson then added when discussing the feedback that was returned from Dungeon Keeper . From what he told Eurogamer, there were two types of feedback: one, the game didn’t feel like the Dungeon Keeper old-school players remembered; and two, the game’s free-to-play business model made players feel like there weren’t getting any value for their money.
In regards whether or not EA actually learned anything from the debacle, Wilson insisted that the publisher learned much from the reaction to Dungeon Keeper Mobile , adding, ” you have to be very careful when you reinvent IP for a new audience that has a very particular place in the hearts and minds and memories of an existing audience. ”
He went on to say that he personally offered feedback of his own to EA’s developers once the game had released.
” You have to think about value irrespective of the increment of spend that is being made, ” he said. ” And as we look forward, the two lessons we get are, one, where you are dealing with IP that has existed in the past, even though you’re reinventing it for a new audience, you have to do your best to stay true to its essence. And that’s a challenge. The Star Trek J.J. Abrams was very different from the first season I watched, but I still felt good about it.
The second is, when you’re thinking about any business model, premium, subscription, free-to-play, value has to exist. Whether it’s a dollar, $10, $100 or $1000, you have to delivering value, and always err on the side of delivering more value, not less, ” he added.
You can read Eurogamer’s full interview with Andrew Wilson via the source link below.
[ Eurogamer ]