14 DAY TRIAL // The leader of developer Obsidian says that publishers need to drop barriers linked to second hand sales and focus on creating gaming experiences that encourage players to return to the game over and over.
Speaking during an interview with Gamespot Feargus Urquhart, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Obsidian, has stated, “One of the recent issues is not putting the full game in the package and requiring downloadable content to move on. Also, including DLC in the package that will have to be repurchased for secondhand buyers. I think you have to go in and forget those gimmicks, and say, ‘How do I make them want to keep the game on the shelf?’”
The developer says that games should make players want to spend time with them on the long term, which first person shooters can do by creating a complex advancement system in the multiplayer space while role playing games can do the same by creating a lot of alternate paths.
For Fallout: New Vegas the developers thought about DLC before they actually launched the game and sure that there were choices, with the aim being to make gamers keep that game on their shelf rather than give it back in exchange for store credit.
Urquhart added, “Ultimately, if they felt that the game was worth it, if the vast majority of the players feel like they got their fun out of the game–I wanted to play Mass Effect 2, and I played it for 35 hours–they’ll feel like they got their $60 out of it and will be open to DLC. As long as the core of it makes people feel like ‘I got my fun out of the game,’ I think most people won’t have a problem.”
At the moment the only Obsidian project that is confirmed is a video game adaptation of the Wheel of Time series.