14 DAY TRIAL // John Smedley, the president of Daybreak Game Company, believes that the team at Valve would have been right to persevere in their attempt to introduce paid mods for video games launched on Steam, despite the negative reaction coming from the user community.
The executive believes that companies need to try to push innovation through despite the fact that there are times when the ideas they come up with are not welcomed by their audience.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Smedley states, "Modders getting paid is an awesome idea and I wish they’d stick to their guns, but sometimes you think you have a solid plan, and it gets in front of the players and they’re like, 'Yeah, we don’t like this', so it changes."
The executive acknowledges that it is hard to balance the need to innovate with the fact that the community needs to remain satisfied in order to continue playing and paying for a title.
John Smedley also says that he appreciates the fact that Daybreak Game Company can continue to develop a variety of titles while also listening to the fans when they need to.
At the moment, the biggest project at the company is a new EverQuest title, which is currently enjoyed by a small number of players who are helping the development team refine the core ideas.
The title is created for the PlayStation 4 as well as the PC, and it will probably be officially launched next year.
Before that, fans will be able to use a Landmark spin-off to create their own worlds, some of which will be used in the official release.
Daybreak Game Company is the continuation of Sony Online Entertainment
The new company was formed when Sony decided to spin-off its online-focused division and sold it to an investment firm.
Since then, Smedley explained that development on all already announced titles would continue.
Some of them might now be offered on the Xbox One from Microsoft and announcements will be made for each video game separately.
Daybreak Game Company is at the moment also working on H1Z1, a survival-focused game that is also created using input from the player community.
Valve has currently withdrawn its idea for paid mods on Steam, but it's probable that the company will seek a new way to implement them in the future.