Piracy, Sex Scenes, and Future Projects
TG: Does it concern you that PC game retail sales are declining, according to NPD Group?
Greg Zeschuk: It's interesting, because that's one of the themes that we've been discussing. Here we are showing a PC product, and out there somewhere people are saying 'Hey, we're not sure about this whole PC game thing anymore.' You know, I think it's evolving. That's the way we look at it. Certainly, the PC was the top platform a while back. If you look at the hours of play on the PC versus other platforms, it's still the most. It's just a question of how it's working, whether it's a subscription-based model for MMOS or casual games or whatever. It's just a different market. We're pretty hyped about some of the EA strategies around things like free downloads and mid-session games and pay-for enhancements. It's kind of like what's happened to music. People are still listening to music. In fact, live shows and concerts are bigger than they've ever been. But the audience is changing.
Ray Muzyka: They still want to go to concerts. They still want to buy music, too. But the format is different. There's still a market there. There are still consumers, and there are still developers. So you have to evolve with the times. It's not that retail isn't an important part of the market. It still is. But there are new areas you have to explore if you want to be successful. Digital distribution. Episodic gaming. Subscription-based gaming. Micro-transactions. Those are all parts of the new business model.
TG: Do you worry about piracy for the PC platform? Is it a big concern for BioWare?
Ray Muzyka: It's bigger now than it's ever been. So you have to consider not just ways to prevent piracy, because people can always work around that, but also ways to pull consumers in and make them want to buy the products with some type of value add to them. Subscriptions are a good example, where you make something that's more valuable to play online with your friends. It's part of a social experience. There's also post-release content. So we released PDLC (post-release downloadable content) for Mass Effect on the 360. If you create that value-add long term then people feel like it's worth buying. So there's different ways to deal with piracy. There are technology solutions and there are also design solutions. So you need a mix of both of those to combat piracy.
TG: Speaking of PDLC, have you thought about how you're going to release Bring Down the Sky for the PC version of Mass Effect?
Greg Zeschuk: Yes. We announced Bring Down the Sky for the 360 and we have an overall strategy for all of Mass Effect's post-release content. How it's going to unfold exactly, we're still thinking about that. We want to get a sense of what the market looks like after the PC version is released. I think one of the keys is that's part of the value of the game now. How can you extend the relationship with the consumer? How can you continue to provide them with content they want? So it's a big part of our strategy, and we just need to work it out in a bit more detail after Mass Effect is released for the PC.
"Bring Down the Sky," Mass Effect's first downloadable content pack, was released last month for the Xbox 360.
TG: What was your reaction to the Fox News uproar about Mass Effect's sex scene?
Greg Zeschuk: I hadn't heard about that. What was it?[laughs]
TG: Very funny.
Ray Muzyka: On one level, it's successful if you're striving to create an emotional reaction. Really, we're trying to build in emotion for all our games. And if you provoke that kind of response in a viewer, whatever the response is, then you've succeeded. So in that sense it's gratifying. On the other, if you look at the accusations they made, they're blatantly untrue and false statements made by misinformed people that hadn't even played the game. That's very hard to stomach, especially for the developer team who are passionate and really care about the game. They're proud of the game, and we're proud of them. And that's hard to see. It hurts. But we're also proud to see Mass Effect stand as an example of an art form. We'll argue until we're blue in the face with anyone who says games aren't an emergent art form. They don't understand the medium. People need to understand this is the way of the future. It wouldn't be an art form unless people were talking about in this way. All art forms go through this evolution.
Greg Zeschuk: Another dimension it seems to reflect is the fact that there's still this lack of understanding about gaming out there. It is changing. There are some encouraging signs; you're getting people who are elected to public office that are gamers. You're getting judgers and lawyers who play games. Another challenge is that people who are criticizing games today are still thinking of Mortal Kombat from 15 years ago. They're not really with what gaming is about today.
Ray Muzyka: And the Fox New piece was an example of that. They were completely misinformed. It's perplexing. But it's also exciting in a way, because it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to be vanguard, to lead the way as video games as an art form. And that's what we want to do. Our games are about story, narrative, emotion, and we're proud of that content. We never put anything gratuitous or anything inappropriate in the game. We make matured-themed games about mature relationships. It's optional content, too.
TG: So what's up for BioWare after Mass Effect for the PC? Are you going to be working on other franchises? Maybe another Knights of the Old Republic title, perhaps?
Ray Muzyka: Well, there's lot of rumors. [smiles]
Greg Zeschuk: And tons of speculation. [laughs]
Ray Muzyka: We have lots of things in the pipeline. We have seven different projects we're working on right now, with most of them not announced. But there's a lot of good stuff.
TG: So what's going to happen with Mass Effect 2? Are we going to see the next title anytime soon, and will the trilogy be for the Xbox 360 life cycle?
Greg Zeschuk: That's certainly the hope. Of course part of that is dependent on Microsoft and what their timing is for that lifecycle.
Ray Muzyka: I think it's good if the console life cycles increase because it allows the artist to really craft the game and use the technology they've to its potential, instead of having to rebuild a movie camera every time you shoot a movie. It's a lot of work to make a new engine every time a new platform comes along.
Greg Zeschuk: Our next big thing is going to be Dragon Age [a fantasy RPG and reportedly a PC exclusive]. We've moved to an approach where we focus on one big project at a time. So the Mass Effect stuff has reached its twilight, and Dragon Age has come to the forefront. And Sonic Chronicles, the Nintendo DS title, will also be up soon. And well be potentially meeting again soon to talk about those.
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