A portion of a GamesIndustry interview with Sean Brennan, managing director for Bethesda in Europe…
Q: You product is more adult-orientated, so you must be watching a company like Sega who are trying mature titles like House of the Dead and Mad World on the Wii. Do you see a market for product like that on the Wii?
Sean Brennan: House of the Dead is great brand and the product is great too. I think it’s difficult, I’ve got consoles at home but I wouldn’t sit and play an 18-rated game with my family on the Wii. Is there space in the Wii market for that? I think there is, but again, it’ all about finding out how big that is. Is it 5 per cent? If it’s five per cent of the market and you can own that space it’s worth doing because you can achieve volume. If you can’t own it at five per cent, it’s not worth doing, quite frankly. We are going to make an announcement on a really big Wii game this year, we’ve got a couple of other things in the pipeline, and it’s a format we’re really looking at with the right approach. We’re not going to establish a new range and call if ‘My Girly Game Range’ or whatever these other companies are doing, it’s so me-too and boring.
Q: A number of publishers jumped on the Wii a little too early and didn’t really know what to do with it, and now they trying to get back on it with an adult slant.
Sean Brennan: Yes, and it was a problem with the DS space as well, because as soon as you spot the bandwagon, it’s already too late. People don’t get that. There are still some people jumping on the bandwagon but it’s not within our business philosophy.
