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BattleForge screenshot

VideoGamer.com: Battleforge is an RTS but it's unlike any other that's currently out or in the works. Do you see it competing with the likes of Red Alert 3, StarCraft II or Dawn of War 2 or is it out there on its own?

SN: Well we're certainly looking at those games, but these will be great standard RTS games. I won't blame anyone that plays StarCraft II! I'm looking forward to that game! But BattleForge is a little bit different. The transition that RPGs have made throughout the years, that they've gone online now, that transition was never made by RTS. The only online modes that RTS had was PvP. Since we're online total we want to be the pioneer in the new era of RTS.

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VideoGamer.com: Those games I mentioned are remaining fairly similar to what's gone before in the RTS genre, and you're taking things in a different direction, more based in the social aspect. Is their focus on remaining quite hardcore a mistake?

SN: RTS is a hardcore genre. With our thinking, with our approach we're trying to make it a little bit more accessible. Giving the players the opportunity to play with each other instead of against each other, it makes it a lot easier for newbies to get into the game when they're guided by guild mates or by the community when they play with players.

VideoGamer.com: So you don't think it's a mistake for these developers to continue to focus on the hardcore aspects of the genre?

SN: Well I think sooner or later they will also do the movement online. That's what the passage now in PC gaming is for sure, the intention is to bring all those games online and I think these companies will do so as well.

VideoGamer.com: I wanted to ask you about one of the hot topics in PC gaming at the moment, which is piracy. I speak to many developers who say that the PC games market is dying. BattleForge is a PC only title. What's your feeling on the matter?

SN: For us as an online game I think the problem of piracy is not present at all. We encourage the player to pass around the BattleForge disc because when they go online you can only use the code once and then it's redeemed, it's kind of like World of Warcraft, where you need an account online to play the game but you can pass the disc around to all your friends, but they need an account to play. So BattleForge does the same thing. It can't be pirated in the way that other PC games can. It doesn't have that issue.

VideoGamer.com: So if you were to buy a copy of Battleforge, would that would save all your friends having to buy a copy? That sounds pretty good value!

SN: (Laughs) No it doesn't. There are different ways of distributing BattleForge. One is direct download. If someone has a low internet connection maybe they want to go over to their friends, borrow the disc, install it from the disc and go to the EA server buy it online.

VideoGamer.com: So PC gaming isn't dead then?

SN: I don't think so. We've seen developers moving to the console and I think that's a good decision, I can see why they're doing that, but PC gaming is not dead at all. The PC market has been for the last couple of years very World of Warcraft driven, as well as Sims driven, but I think in the future there will be a lot more titles that will get more players back to the PC again.

VideoGamer.com: Including your title I guess!

SN: Yeah, definitely our title!

VideoGamer.com: What's the situation regarding the possibility of doing a console version of BattleForge? It strikes me as being an RTS that might get around that control system problem on account of it being a little simpler than others in the genre.

SN: Yeah that's true. You know creating a console friendly RTS is mainly about the controls. I don't know one game that has found a proper solution. We're definitely looking at options, not for the near future, but we definitely want to evolve as a studio as well so of course we're looking at options to do a console friendly RTS.

VideoGamer.com: What was your take on Ubisoft's voice command solution to the problem with Endwar? Is that something you might consider?

SN: That's actually one game I'm looking forward to playing. I haven't tried it, I can't say much about it, but I will definitely try it. It sounds very interesting and a lot of players seem to like it. I think it fits perfectly to the setting, giving commands to military people is what users, if you would do it in a fantasy game, you would say, 'Unit X attack unit Epsilon', that wouldn't deliver the feeling that a fantasy RTS would need when playing such a game, but I think it's a good approach.

VideoGamer.com: Have you got some genius solution up your sleeve that you're keeping under wraps so nobody else can steal it?

SN: No! As soon as we've found the perfect solution we will ship a game with that perfect solution and then we'll tell you!

VideoGamer.com: Would you not just like the ability to be able to plug a mouse and keyboard into a console? Surely that's the best way to do it?

SN: Yeah... no. They need to go and play on the PC!

BattleForge is due out for PC early 2009.

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