Cheyenne: We have to keep our promises to users
Stargate's ambitious post-launch content roll-out will prove a key challenge, says studio boss
The developer of forthcoming MMO title Stargate Worlds has admitted that the company's plan to release additional content patches every 6-8 weeks following launch is ambitious, but that it will be important to keep that promise to the game's users.
"We're hoping that shortly after launch, 6-8 weeks, we're going to release that content and people will go from 50 to 52, and then 52 to 54 - and keep doing that until we get to an expansion pack and then we take it a higher level after that," explained Dan Elggren.
"It is very ambitious, but for me - as studio head - in order for us to be successful, that content complete date is powerful, because then I can have part of my team going through and polishing the game, while I can break off another piece of the team to focus on post-live content. I want them developing that content... it essentially needs to be in the can by the time the game is out.
"So I should be able to just flip a switch and start releasing that first patch, have that ready, and then be at least two patches ahead of what's already shipping now. And you're right - if you promise your end user that you'll be delivering stuff every 6-8 weeks, or 12 weeks, or whatever and you miss that, you lose that trust."
Elggren went on to reveal first hand experience of a project that suffered when its development team was unable to fulfil commitments to users.
"I worked on a game called Earth and Beyond a while back and shortly after we launched they closed Westwood, and that's where all the developers were," he said. "So they were trying to get as much of the team as possible up to Redwood Shores, but at the same time we'd promised them a 3-month patch that would add content.
"We delivered the first one, Westwood closed probably 8 or 9 months later - but then you probably lost all your base. People don't care if you closed, it doesn't matter what type of hardships that individual went through - if the product isn't what they're saying it is, they're absolutely going to have a hard time making it to the next level."
The full interview with Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's Dan Elggren is available now.