The recession has been tough on all industry, except perhaps the repo business, but that’s still partly irrelevant now when it comes to risk associated with new IP.
Disney Interactive Studios’ Graham Hopper has said consumers are ”just being more selective” now than ever before, you need a title that ”performs at every level” to succeed.
”There is no doubt that a tougher economic climate makes consumers cautious. But cautiousness doesn’t mean they are not buying – they are just being more selective about what they are buying,” Hopper told MCV.
”So what’s happened is that launching something that is just a ‘good’ IP isn’t good enough.”
Split/Second is Disney’s upcoming racer from Pure developer Black Rock Studios, and it does have something beyond just ‘good’ IP reckons the top executive.
”You need something that performs at every level – that’s why we are excited about Split/Second. Because whether we launched in this economy or a better one, the pressure to get consumers up out of their chair and walk down to the store to pick the game up doesn’t stop.” Erm, we can order stuff online now Mr Hopper - even do this thing called ‘preorder’.
Waters will quite literally be tested in the future when Disney releases their new Pirates of the Caribbean game, which is certainly a good IP but will it ‘perform at every level’?
”A big one for us will be Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned. The last Pirates game was a big success, it sold 3.5m units. Armada is not tied to a movie and really opens up the world. It’s an action RPG but has broad appeal,” he said.
Split/Second is being released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2010, see the E3 trailer below.