“To be honest, it doesn’t look too great.”
After a post-mortem presentation at GDC Europe, Spec Ops: The Line design lead Jorg Friedrich spoke to Joystiq about the underwhelming sales of Yager’s debut and the developer’s future. Though Friedrich wouldn’t give any details about the project, he hinted that it would not be a Spec Ops sequel.
“Not every title will meet our sales targets,” Take-Two Interactive chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said last month, during an investor call. Despite a strong marketing push and positive reviews (the Xbox 360 version currently has a 76 on Metacritic), Spec Ops failed to find an audience that would justify the game’s long development cycle and budget.
What Friedrich regrets most is the use of achievements in the game that rewards players for their moral choices. He called it a mistake and a failure. I think this is a pretty dramatic response to something that has been present since the release of Bioshock. It’s never bothered me one bit and players are always able to turn off notifications.
I volunteered to review Spec Ops with a heavy amount of skepticism, but I enjoyed the game quite a bit. Here’s hoping that whatever Yager do next will be an even greater game that finds the financial success it deserves.
