With such an exciting year ahead of us, what better than to turn to games industry experts and ask them for their thoughts on various trends and stories as and when they happen?
As part of an ongoing series, SPOnG gets the unedited, open and highly informed opinions of developers, producers and more in the vast world of computer games.
Industry Figure: Dominic Matthews
Job Title: Comms Manager
Company: Ninja Theory
Best Known For: DmC Devil May Cry, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Heavenly Sword
Considering the critical acclaim of titles such as The Walking Dead and Journey in 2012, is digital now the real viable means of getting games in gamers' homes?
Yes. It’s the future of games distribution. Anyone who has successfully delivered a digital title is one step ahead of anyone else. Digital episodic content has always felt like a very risky proposition. Every episode has to sell the next one. If it doesn’t you’ll end up not having the finance to finish the story. The Walking Dead has proved that its possible to deliver video games like TV shows and make it work.
What are the biggest and most exciting challenges you're looking forward to in the next year?
Adapting to a new way of delivering games and thinking about games as a service rather than as a standalone boxed product is very exciting for me. Seeing how DLC evolves and what opportunities lay ahead for engaging players anywhere at any time is really interesting.
Halo 4 is great example of how I think the future of games will look. The boxed game is really only the start of a far wider experience.
What are the benefits to you and to gamers of the new console generation after Xbox 360 and PS3?
Console hardware restricts developers – you’re constantly having to make trade-offs between two competing needs. For example making a frame rate sacrifice for the sake of having more dynamism. These trade-offs will still exist on the next generation of hardware, but there won’t be so many sacrifices to be made.
We’ll be able to pack a lot more in, meaning we can go further and deeper with our creative vision. For the gamer this means better performance, more believable worlds and characters and, I believe, new and exciting ways to play games.
Thanks to Dom for his time. Check out SPOnG's recent industry insights below.
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31/01/13: 2013 Industry Insights with Dan Webb, X360A
29/01/13: 2013 Industry Insights with Antti Ilvessuo, RedLynx
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