Mortal Kombat creator says complexity of fighting games hurts sales
The Mortal Kombat reboot had to have been one of the more interesting surprises around E3. We certainly enjoyed what we saw at the show, which seemed to depict a game very much back to its roots -- you can't get more "MK" than splitting a guy in two with a metal hat, after all. And in speaking with Gamasutra, Ed Boon confirms that he's really gunning for the hardcore players with this latest installment.
"Oddly enough, this [new Mortal Kombat] is the first one in a while that we've really made a conscious effort that we are going to focus hard on the hardcore player," he said. While Boon concedes that there are far more casual players out there than hardcore, he values the "opinionated" fans who go online and make their voices heard.
Despite the existence of those passionate individuals, Boon thinks it's tough to sell a fighting game nowadays. "While I certainly think there is an audience for that, there's not a very huge audience for the really complex [fighting] games. Unfortunately, the sales numbers kind of demonstrate that," he added. While we certainly understand what he's saying, we'd be hard-pressed to agree.
What about games like Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6? How about newcomers like BlazBlue? And that's not even taking into account the success of digitally distributed titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 -- so while we'd concede that fighting games can sometimes have a steep learning curve, we'd say now is a wonderful time of resurgence for the genre. Embrace the love, Boon!
"Oddly enough, this [new Mortal Kombat] is the first one in a while that we've really made a conscious effort that we are going to focus hard on the hardcore player," he said. While Boon concedes that there are far more casual players out there than hardcore, he values the "opinionated" fans who go online and make their voices heard.
Despite the existence of those passionate individuals, Boon thinks it's tough to sell a fighting game nowadays. "While I certainly think there is an audience for that, there's not a very huge audience for the really complex [fighting] games. Unfortunately, the sales numbers kind of demonstrate that," he added. While we certainly understand what he's saying, we'd be hard-pressed to agree.
What about games like Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6? How about newcomers like BlazBlue? And that's not even taking into account the success of digitally distributed titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 -- so while we'd concede that fighting games can sometimes have a steep learning curve, we'd say now is a wonderful time of resurgence for the genre. Embrace the love, Boon!
