Evolve launched nearly two months ago, but true to the game's title, Turtle Rock Studios is still working feverishly to bring changes and new content to the 4v1 multiplayer shooter. We talked with Turtle Rock co-founder and creative director Phil Robb about Evolve's launch, their plans for the future, and coping with the unwavering cynicism of the Internet.
2K released some
impressive gameplay stats shortly after the launch of Evolve, but the number of players has
declined substantially since then. How is Evolve's player base trending? Are you happy
with where it's at so far?
Ha! We're never satisfied. There
is always room for improvement and we're always looking for ways to get
better. That said, Evolve's player base
is trending as most triple-A online game player bases do: There's huge
concurrencies day one, and then it settles out over the course of the game's
lifetime. We see Evolve as a living entity. Our plan is to continue to support
and grow the game over time. We're in this for the long haul, and part of that
is riding the concurrency waves through the highs and the lows. We've got a lot
of cool stuff in the pipe and expect that as we grow the game, the community
will grow with it. So even though our concurrencies may be lower in week five versus
week one, we believe that we'll be able to boost concurrencies with all the new
content and challenges we have planned.
Countless games have
had day-one DLC, but a surprising amount of anger has been directed at Evolve's
offerings. Why do you think Evolve has become the target of such scrutiny in that
area?
Honestly, I'm not sure. It
definitely took us off guard. There was certainly some misinformation early on
that seemed to take hold and spread; we were catching flak for doing things
that we weren't doing and had never planned to do. Triple-A game development
just keeps getting more expensive. DLC is one of the ways publishers and
developers are able to stay profitable. It isn't going to go away anytime soon,
but there are ways that you can offer it that are better than others.
End of the day, we worked really hard to come up with a DLC plan that we felt good about as gamers. No pay-to-win, no splitting the community. We achieved those goals and feel good about it.
Other players have
complained about the pricing of Evolve's DLC– $7.50 per hunter and $15 per monster.
What is your response to those who say the DLC is too expensive?
It's a tricky question, and I
don't think there is a definitive answer. The idea of "value" is completely
subjective; everyone has their own value meter. The price of the Evolve DLC
characters and monsters is largely based on how many resources it takes to
develop them.
We've all seen games charge $15 for cosmetic items that don't really offer any value outside of making your character look different. The stuff we're offering with Evolve is completely new.
Each new character and monster is a unique packet of assets and gameplay. These things are definitely not easy to make and it takes us a lot of time and money to do it. But in the end we feel good about the value you're getting when you buy a new monster or character because we're adding real depth to the Evolve experience.
The A.I. hunters do a commendable job of working together
as a four-player team, but once you start to mix in human players, they become
less efficient. Are you trying to improve the hunter A.I., or is reacting to
the way humans play a problem that can't really be solved?
Short answer, yes. We're
always looking for ways to improve the game. A.I is no exception. That said, we
are really happy with the A.I. team. To get all the different hunters each doing
their own individual thing consistently and in a way that makes sense was a
monumental task. The dev team who works on A.I. kicks ass. I don't know if you
could ever perfectly translate human behavior into a piece of software; that
would require making sense of the sh-- we do everyday...and let's be honest,
humans are messy, irrational creatures.
Coming Up Next: Robb discusses future content, dream monsters, and staying positive in spite of the unwavering cynicism of the Internet...