Pandemic loves the Xbox 360, believes the PlayStation brand is not going anywhere and has five unannounced projects in the works. Read more in this Next-Gen interview with studio president Josh Resnick.
Last week in Las Vegas, Resnick was en route to a poker tourney, but he still took time to sit down with Next-Gen in perhaps the only bar within the extensive Green Valley Ranch Resort that had decent beer on tap.
Here, Resnick talks a variety of topics, including the progress of Pandemics big upcoming sandbox-action-blow-em-up game Mercenaries 2, managing and growing a 300-person independent studio, PS3 and Xbox 360 development and his reaction to outgoing Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowensteins farewell D.I.C.E. speech.
(The following are highlights from the interview
On Mercenaries 2
So exactly how far along is Mercenaries 2 right now?
Gosh, really far along. Obviously weve announced a publishing deal with EA, but [Mercs 2 is] announced for release in the second half of 07. We havent actually discussed the specific month yet, but were on target. Its a massive effort were putting behind this game because it is such a huge
undertaking. Its super, super ambitious but were feeling good about the second half of 07. Were going to hit that time period so that means were getting close to Alpha. Were a few months away from Alpha right now.
"Let me just say we have a wealth of experience right now working on the 360love the platform."Is it simply the overall scope and the sandbox nature of the game that makes this such a huge undertaking?
Yeah. I mean [Mercs 2 is] one of the most open-ended sandbox, go anywhere, do anything, blow anything up, interact with anything type games, and because of that theres just so much work to do. I mean, not only conceptually and art-wise but technology-wise too.This is going to be Pandemics first big jump into next-gen and its just a lot of foundation work weve had to do to support this kind of ambitious franchise.
What is Pandemic doing in the online space? Will Mercs 2 have online?
Were going to have an announcement coming out on that in the next little while but nothing I can comment on right now. Suffice it to say, again, Pandemic has always had a presence online with our products and I dont think Mercs 2 is going to be an exception.
On choosing the PlayStation 3
Now, Pandemic is entering the next-gen on the PS3. Why choose Sonys platform?
We made that decision a long time ago and we
think were known for pushing the limits of innovative gameplay, mixing genres, and kind of having a fun sensibility of kind of irreverence thats built into our games.
But another thing were known for is kind of eking out the firepower of the systems. On the PS2 we really got deep into that system and really made some great games on the PS2 that really stood out visually in terms of what we were able to push. With PS3, we looked at it and said we really think thats going to be the biggest challenge for us, its going to be the hardest nut to crack. We wanted to power through that first and foremost. And Sony was really cool, got us systems early on and we spent a lot of time powering through that and we wanted to be able to really establish ourselves there and then look at other systems and stuff if that makes sense, but thats where we started.
So the choice was simply because the PS3 was the biggest challenge?
Yeah, we wanted the biggest challenge. Sonys always been a great partner for us, and you should never count Sony out just [because of] all the talk about all the missteps Sony has made. Hey, Sonys not going anywhere. Its one of the biggest brands out there and to Phil Harrisons point in his speech at D.I.C.E., its like, Look guys, were coming out a little bit later than the other systems, were having a little bit slower start, but believe me were going to be there in force.
We know Sonys going to be there in force, were not coming out until the second half of 07, so do I want Sony to have a ton of platforms out there so that we can get Mercs out there to as many homes as possible? Absolutely. I want them to succeed. Im a big fan of the 360, big fan of the Wii, big fan of some of the [older] platforms, we just saw the Sony system as the biggest challenge and we wanted to kind of jump in and tackle that first.
On Xbox 360 and multiplatform development
So you mentioned Xbox 360, and there are rumors still floating around about a 360 version of Mercs 2. How much has Pandemic dug into the Xbox 360?
You know, we have six projects at Pandemic right now. We have a history of releasing games on multiple platforms. Five of these projects we havent announced yet. Let me just say we have a wealth of experience right now working on the 360love the platform.
You have six games going right now?
We have six projects, weve only announced one. All of them are next-gen