Witcher Boss Reckons Over-Exploiting Gamers is Not Good
But simply exploiting them, that seems ok
CD Projek's Marcin Iwinski has stated the kind of obvious statement that doesn't get stated enough regarding gamers as consumers and publishers as exploiters.
Speaking to Gamasutra (via VG247) the Witcher developer Mr Iwinski points out how a free market is supposed to work when it comes to publishers vacuuming gamers' pockets:
“Sadly, I see the industry trending toward over-exploiting the gamer, and I think this will come back to the publishers that are doing that, and eventually, people will stop buying their stuff", he says.
Interestingly, there would appear to be an optimum level of consumer exploitation though.
Thankfully, however, Mr Iwinski appears to be seriously against any form of exploitation, saying that:
"Well, we had a lot of discussions with The Witcher 1's Enhanced Edition. It was a bit different then because we had a publishing deal whereas now we have distribution deals. When we had that publishing deal, we went to the publisher, and said, "So we have this idea where we make all this stuff, all this new content, and you don't pay anything for it, we give it away for free. How about that?" The publisher went all big-eyed and said, 'Whoa! Let's charge 10 dollars! 10 Euro!' But we believed that we would sell more units if we put it out for free.
"And when we put it out for free, we saw a boost in the sales with the Enhanced Edition because it just created good will, and it refreshes the product. You can always do it from two angles, and sadly I see the industry trending toward over-exploiting the gamer, and I think this will come back to the publishers that are doing that, and eventually, people will stop buying their stuff. That's just not the way things work."
What do you reckon, are there levels of exploitation that are acceptable? Tell us in our Free and Friendly Forum!
Speaking to Gamasutra (via VG247) the Witcher developer Mr Iwinski points out how a free market is supposed to work when it comes to publishers vacuuming gamers' pockets:
“Sadly, I see the industry trending toward over-exploiting the gamer, and I think this will come back to the publishers that are doing that, and eventually, people will stop buying their stuff", he says.
Interestingly, there would appear to be an optimum level of consumer exploitation though.
Thankfully, however, Mr Iwinski appears to be seriously against any form of exploitation, saying that:
"Well, we had a lot of discussions with The Witcher 1's Enhanced Edition. It was a bit different then because we had a publishing deal whereas now we have distribution deals. When we had that publishing deal, we went to the publisher, and said, "So we have this idea where we make all this stuff, all this new content, and you don't pay anything for it, we give it away for free. How about that?" The publisher went all big-eyed and said, 'Whoa! Let's charge 10 dollars! 10 Euro!' But we believed that we would sell more units if we put it out for free.
"And when we put it out for free, we saw a boost in the sales with the Enhanced Edition because it just created good will, and it refreshes the product. You can always do it from two angles, and sadly I see the industry trending toward over-exploiting the gamer, and I think this will come back to the publishers that are doing that, and eventually, people will stop buying their stuff. That's just not the way things work."
What do you reckon, are there levels of exploitation that are acceptable? Tell us in our Free and Friendly Forum!
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Comments
liting44 17 Jul 2012 13:31
1/1
The publisher went all big-eyed and said, 'Whoa! Let's charge 10 dollars! 10 Euro!' But we believed that we would sell more units if we put it out for free.