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David Jaffe’s next game is a free-to-play, browser-based third-person shooter, despite the fact that he openly admits to hating free-to-play.
“I hate free-to-play but I love aspects of it,” Jaffe told Gamesindustry. “I love the instant-on, I love the low to no barrier of entry to get all kinds of people to jump in and play, I love the fact that you’re sitting there at lunch and can play for five minutes or you can get sucked in and play for three hours.
“You don’t have to sit there and power up your f***ing machine and go through legal screens and load screens and load the game.”
Jaffe is less keen on the business models of some free-to-play titles, where there seems to be a pay to win mentality.
“I hate how it’s like the tail wagging the dog and it’s the business model and all about getting people to pay [with more micro-transactions]. You can listen to developers all day long tell you it’s not pay to win, but you know, it kind of is pay to win.
“I’m not saying they’re evil or they’re lying – but one of the things they like to say is pay with your time or pay with your money. Well both of those are really s****y.”
According to Jaffe, he wasn’t short on offers over what to do once he left Eat Sleep Play – the studio he formed four years prior.
“I had people saying, ‘Hey Jaffe, we want you to come work on this big triple or quadruple-A next-gen thing’,” he said. “The kind of team you need for that is very different from what we’re ultimately doing, which is a free-to-play, browser-based, third-person shooter.
As far as funding for the new game goes, Jaffe wasn’t keen on crowd-funding as he’d effectively be asking fans to hand over money for a free game. He was also worried that some people might think he’s an asshole.
“I just don’t want to disrespect people and say ‘oh it’s free-to-play and give me 15 bucks’ because as a gamer I’d go ‘it’s f***ing free-to-play dude.’
“I’m kind of scared to go Kickstarter, truth be told. Because I’m kind of divisive. Schafer’s not only known but he’s loved. Who doesn’t love Tim Schafer? He’s a super nice guy and has given the world great entertainment. And while there are people who love the stuff I’ve worked on and I love that they love that, but there are probably an equal number of people who just think I’m an asshole.”
David Jaffe’s previous game was Twisted Metal for the PlayStation 3.
