Friday the 13th: The Game Stabs Negative Reviews in the Face, Sales Surpass Expectations
Friday the 13th: The Game's co-creator Wes Keltner recently sat down with gamesindustry.biz to [...]
How did Friday the 13th: The Game Rise Above its Negative Reviews?
Keltner believes that a number of factors poured into this game's shocking success. The industry culture is changing, and consumers are more willing to make their buying decisions based on gameplay streams from their favorite Twitch channel than on a metacritic score.
"I think it's less about a mismatch and more about a complete upheaval of how consumers research and ultimately decide on purchasing a game. Metacritic scores used to be the lifeblood of games. For today's consumer, it's not as relevant," Keltner says.
"As for reviews and feedback, many of the low scores and negative impressions were based on performance and server issues, and not gameplay. At the end of the day it's difficult to rate a game highly if it isn't functioning as intended. So from a design perspective, it is great to know we succeeded. Looking at every single one of those reviews; it becomes obvious that people like the game, they enjoy playing.
"We can hold our head up high knowing that we created a fun game. The challenge now becomes a technical one. Once the technical issues get ironed out, we feel like consumers will get to experience our full vision. There's also a rise in 'Community Multiplayer Games' which only a handful of games are focusing on right now and they are proving to be a success and a shift in the industry."
Keltner also gave a really intimate look into what it's like pitching to investors, and how game publishers don't always know what's right.
prevnextWhat's Next for Friday the 13th?
Keltner says that they're still working hard on this game for you. "Our number one priority right now is stability and squashing bugs," he says. "That's what all of our engineers are focusing on. We've also nearly doubled our team size to help with this issue. But our content/art teams are free to work on new content, and that's what we've been doing. Players can expect new maps, characters, Easter eggs and other great updates in the near future. I think fans are really going to enjoy what we have planned, as some of this content comes directly from player feedback/requests, while some others are surprises we've had up our sleeves for several months now."
So what do you think about Friday the 13th: The Game? Have you been having fun, or do you regret your purchase? Have you been telling your friends about this one? Weigh in on the poll below and show the game some love.
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