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CCP hires new Executive Producer for DUST 514, Jean-Charles Gaudechon
It makes sense to hire people based on what they've already proven capable of doing. That's obvious. If someone has built seven houses that have all stood up to hurricanes, you're probably going to hire that guy to build your hurricane shelter. And if someone's familiar with making multiplayer first-person shooters work in the free-to-play market, well, you'll hire him to manage DUST 514. That's what CCP Games did with their newest Executive Producer for the game. Jean-Charles Gaudechon previously worked for Electronic Arts in Stockholm, Sweden, where he worked on both Battlefield: Play4free and Battlefield Heroes. He also worked on Need for Speed World, which is less of a shooter but still an online title with similar needs to DUST 514. Gaudechon will be responsible for overseeing further development of the title at CCP's Shanghai studio and will report directly to senior VP of product development Sean Decker. [Source: CCP Games press release]
CCP's Sean Decker and Hilmar Petursson on the future of EVE, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and mobile gaming
Earlier today, CCP Games announced that industry veteran Sean Decker is coming on board as Senior Vice President of Product Development. Sean's laundry-list of industry experience includes a recent 12-year stint at EA, where he headed up the Play4Free division. This has naturally led to some trepidation within the EVE Online community, which has been extremely wary of free-to-play and microtransaction-based business practices since the Monoclegate scandal in 2011. I caught up with Sean Decker and CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson last night to get the low-down on Sean's role, how he will influence EVE and CCP's other products, and what the future has in store for DUST 514 and EVE-VR. Sean is to be the head of product development across all of CCP's games, not just the free-to-play titles, but I wouldn't worry about EVE going free to play any time soon. "I don't think [free-to-play] is the be all and end all business model," Sean told me, adding that he understands that the subscription model better fits some games. Read on for more information on the future of EVE Online, DUST 514, EVE-VR, and CCP's first foray into mobile gaming.
CCP taps EA's Sean Decker as new VP of product development
Big changes from Iceland today, as CCP announced that it has brought on Sean Decker as senior vice president of product development. Decker is a 12-year EA veteran and recently headed the publisher's free-to-play focused games group, along with previously overseeing DICE and EA Los Angeles. EVE Online, as crazy as it sounds, is entering its second decade of being a game about internet spaceships, and CCP is looking toward the future. The company referenced Decker's extensive industry experience as a valuable asset in helping guide EVE Online through its next 10 years and in ensuring growth through the eventually-maybe launch of World of Darkness and the expansion of DUST 514. Decker will be based out of CCP's Atlanta studio. Massively's Brendan Drain spoke with Decker and EVE's Hilmar Petursson at a press event yesterday. We'll have more information on how the new hire will impact EVE this afternoon! [Source: CCP press release]
Cryptic, Riot, and more weigh in on free-to-play growing pains
Anyone adamantly wanting a return to gaming where a handful of publishers and platforms run the show might need to acquire a time-machine to do so. In a recent article, various development studios -- including Cryptic Studios, Riot Games, and EA -- discussed the growth of free-to-play and how the model is affecting the games industry as a whole. According to these publishers, there's no argument that F2P will become a major force in the industry. Cryptic Studios COO Craig Zinkievich remarked that although F2P is stigmatized as evil in the social market, the recent influx of titles has gotten the core gaming audience more excited about the model. More consumer excitement, of course, leads to higher-quality games. Sean Decker, VP of EA's Play4Free label, noted, "The good thing about so many companies moving into the free-to-play space is that it's great for the players: the quality of graphics are going up, the quality of the gameplay is going up." However, in the rush to capitalize on F2P, some are going to crash and burn. Zinkievich said, "I think there will definitely be failures within the next 12 to 24 months. Many who are entering the market right now are doing it as almost a money-grab." He added, "But subscription is dead. [Star Wars:] The Old Republic was the biggest possible swing for the fences. There is no longer any argument over whether that can be done. Free-to-play is the way of the future. It is the new world." Does that include console gaming? According to these folks, yes.
Mirror's Edge team praises tilt controls, Cell architecture
Click for high-resolution image. Sean Decker, general manager of Battlefield developer DICE, spoke to VideoGamer.com about their upcoming Mirror's Edge. The first-person platforming/action game made its debut at PlayStation Day, which led some to believe the title was a PS3-exclusive. It's not, but the team is promising to make the most out of the PS3's unique architecture. For example, the team plans on utilizing tilt controls: "The great thing about it is that there's a lot of little things like, Faith there when she's walking like this (points to Mirror's Edge trailer showing Faith tightrope-walking across a beam), Sixaxis controls, super easy to implement and say, OK well just balance it and then you've got it there, as opposed to teaching a player to say, oh let's push this button or that button.""The other thing is the Cell really allows us to push the resolution of our textures much higher and we've taken full advantage of that as well. So there's a lot of little quirks to it that we really like and our engineers love as well as our designers." However, Decker wouldn't go so far as saying the PS3 version is superior to the Xbox 360 version -- they're simply "different."%Gallery-22498%
