Id Software's Kevin Cloud
During Id Software's preview event for the console version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars last week, Tom's Games had a chance to sit down with Kevin Cloud, the longtime Id designer and artist, who talked at length about the differences between the growing console market and PC gaming.
We first spoke with Cloud about the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Quake Wars back in February during GDC 2008. One of the first questions we asked him was about the recent NPD group data regarding the decline in retail PC game sales in the U.S. for 2007. "I think overall in the PC landscape, sales were down across the board. But in that competitive landscape, we were really pleased with how Enemy Territory: Quake Wars sold," he said. "I don't know if I'd call it a trend, but it's disturbing to see the sales across the board drop off for PC games. You do have an impact on PCs game sales with piracy."
Cloud said that Id had planned on doing an Xbox 360 version of Quake Wars early on in the PC game's development, but plans for the PS3 version of the game came later. Going forward, Cloud said the developer will aim for simultaneous development and release plans for multi-platform games, including Id's current project called Rage, which is a first-person shooter for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as the Mac. "We're excited about the opportunities on the consoles," Cloud told us at GDC. "I'm a PC gamer, but the console can still be a fun and exciting gaming experience. And it's an opportunity to bring a great game to a lot of other people."
Cloud said the PS3 and Xbox 360 are currently "very capable systems" in comparison to what PCs are offering. But he also added that the gaming platforms run in cycles and that while the next-gen consoles are hot right now, there will be a point soon where the PC will offer far greater capabilities than the consoles. We spoke with Cloud again at the Quake Wars console preview and picked his brain about the differences and similarities between the consoles and the PC. Here's what he told us:
TG: Do you worry that given its complex, objective-based gameplay, Quake Wars might be too much for console gamers to handle?
Cloud: In years gone by, you could make the argument that there was a significant difference between the console and the PC audiences. But I think we're finding that in this age of cross platform development that what people's expectations are on the console are a lot different than they used to be. And a lot of people have multiple platforms, too. I also think that the depth of Quake Wars isn't something that players don't have to know when they step into the console version. You can get into an offline game with just you and some bots, and all you need to know is how to run and shoot, and you can still have a blast. As you want to explore more classes, you can do that. The bots will accomplish objectives, use shields, plant explosives and everything else, and players will learn a lot just by watching them. So it's a type of game that you don't have to know everything when you first step into it.
Quake Wars is coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next month.
TG: Do you have high expectations for the console versions? Do you think Quake Wars will do better sales-wise than it did on the PC?
Cloud: Yeah, I do. For one thing, we know the game is good. The reviews have all been really good. The gameplay has evolved from Return to Castle Wolfenstein's multiplayer and then to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory; we've taken this objective-based gameplay and evolved it, so we know that we have a really refined gameplay system. As far as the PC version, it had a lot acclaim. For the U.S., I think it's still in the top 10 sales for PC games for last year. So we've had a good showing, and I'm excited about the potential on the 360. I think what we're seeing is that multiplayer games are really becoming accepted on the consoles, so this feeds into that.
TG: What platform was easier to develop for, the Xbox 360 or the PS3?
Cloud: The architecture between the Xbox 360 and the PC is much more similar than the PS3, so it's a little easier to bring games from the PC to the 360 and vice versa. The PS3 with its seven-core processors and other things like that require a little bit more work. But once you're over those hurdles, both developers faced the challenge of how to take such a big game with lots of things to do and make it fun on the console controller and also meet people's expectations.
TG: You had said something previously about how you used to think that SDKs for Id games was a crazy idea. Can you elaborate?
Cloud: Yes, I did. When John [Carmack] said he wanted to release all of our game code for people in the PC gaming community to make maps and mods, I thought it was a bad idea. Basically, I felt we would be creating competitors for ourselves. In some respects, we did create competition for ourselves, especially back when mission packs were sort of the thing. But I think John had a larger vision, and he sees the mod community as something that is crucial to the entire game development process. People are able to explore new ideas, and new games come out of that and even new developers come out of that. Overall, it's a healthy thing for the industry.
TG: We're seeing consoles become more like PCs these days, especially with online multiplayer titles and downloadable content. Do you think with things like Microsoft's XNA tools that modding has a future on the consoles?
Cloud: Well, the PC is a development platform. Now, there are dev kits for the consoles, but the home user doesn't get those mod kits. So in order to create a development environment for the console that's the equivalent of the PC, you have to create development tools that will replicate or mimic the console environment. And that takes a considerable amount of effort.
I'm not good at prognosticating. John [Carmack] is very good at the future vision stuff, and I'm not. So my preference is that the console and PC should remain separate. I really think the console is a great system for creating a closed game environment. The PC is a bit different, and the advantage that it has is that it can be a pioneering development environment. There are things that you can do on the PC that you can't do on the console because there's no gatekeeper. You have the Internet, and there are all types of content that's occurring on the PC that's not getting registered on some sales report. And that evolving market is exciting. There's just a huge amount of stuff being created on the PC every month and every year, and I think if you try to make the console like that, you'd be harming the console market and vice versa.
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