The new world happened when WOW shipped. I've got three level 70 WOW
characters, and a couple [level] 65s. I've put a lot of hours into it. I love
the universe, I love the game. Anything that Blizzard makes, I really dig, and I
really respect what they've done. They came in with a design that broke open an
entire new market. Madden did that a long time ago for sports games, and the
Sims did that for the people-creation games, and Doom a long time ago for
shooters.
There's always that ultimate killer app that comes out and creates a
mass-market opportunity, and WOW is that for the MMO category. And what they've
done is create millions and millions of players who are now comfortable with the
way MMOs play, they're comfortable with the models, and they're looking for
more.
Our job is to go after that new market and really grow a business. If it's a
situation where you're directly competing with WOW, so be it. The key is to make
sure that your product is different from theirs and bring something fresh to the
equation. Something that fans will find exciting, and we think we have that in
Warhammer. It's also important for us to come out with new concepts and
different IPs.
GS: An IP based on a popular science-fiction franchise,
perhaps?
FG: No comment. [laughs] So, we look at the models in Asia,
where there are bigger games than WOW. Now, no MMO is bigger than WOW globally,
but the market is growing here in North America. And it's not just with high-end
MMOs. You've got a lot of lighter titles like Runescape and,
hell, even Club Penguin is a bit of an MMO.
So I see it as much more diverse market than simply, "I must beat WOW." I
thank WOW for a great few hundred hours of gameply as well as making a market.
But we're gonna compete there and we're going to succeed there in a lot of
different ways by coming at it from a lot of different angles. I see it as a
very lucrative, long-term part of our business.
One other thing, the MMO space is a great place to design games. You can come
up with some really killer universes and experiences there, and a lot of my
teams are really fired up about not only doing it on the PC, but also on
consoles.
German Questioned Over Gamer's Murder
