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A collaboration between Relic and Creative Assembly could thwart creativity and result in “generic” games, Relic’s Quinn Duffy has told VideoGamer.com.
“I think there’s an opportunity for a meeting of the minds,” Relic’s game director Quinn Duffy told VideoGamer.com last week, when quizzed over whether he’d like the two studios to work together on future projects.
“[Creative Assembly] do great games, they’ve got a lot of infrastructure that we don’t currently have, and so I think there’s a lot that can be learned from them in that regard. And just the ability to talk game design, art direction and animation direction at a peer-to-peer level is always positive. You could literally have a mini-GDC between Relic and Creative Assembly about building strategy games.”
Relic, which is currently putting the finishing touches to upcoming RTS Company of Heroes 2, was acquired by SEGA earlier this year during THQ’s assets auction.
Soon after the studio’s acquisition, however, Creative Assembly game designer Jamie Ferguson told VideoGamer.com that it would be keeping its identity separate from Relic – despite the two studios being renowned for their expertise in strategy titles.
“The whole philosophy that we’ve had in terms of when SEGA bought us is that we were our own team, and as long as we kept on doing the right thing they would leave us to get on with that,” said Ferguson.
“Obviously we’re going to talk with the guys from Relic. We love their games and I hope they like ours, too. It’s one of those things. I wouldn’t see us as being in direct competition as they’re much more about squad combat and small engagement, whereas we are very much about epic engagements and grand strategy on a campaign map.”
“I can see their perspective of keeping us a bit distinct from a cultural standpoint,” Duffy said in response, “not that we’re going to pollute each other, but I think ideas and the kinds of games we build are formulated out of our studio experience and culture.
“The ethos of the people and personalities involved contributes to the way a game feels, and maybe if there’s too much back and forth there’s a risk that they could end up being generic.”
SEGA has plans to make Relic more independent than it was under THQ, too, Duffy adds, who says that the studio needs to “build [its] own confidence back up” following events earlier in the year.
“There haven’t been any reductions or anything, which is really positive,” says Duffy, discussing the studio’s acquisition. “We’re running pretty lean at this point but my understanding of how SEGA operates their studio is that they’re more independent, so we’re going to be building up the teams, building up supporting groups, like, we’re going to have marketing in the studio, and so we’ll be able to work with marketing on a daily basis. They’ll be involved early in the process and the development of the game, and all that kind of stuff…
“I think what we need to do to fully re-establish ourselves is focus on our core competences,” he adds, “and internally – this isn’t even external because I think [consumers] really like what Relic does and what Relic means – internally build our own confidence back up.”
Relic’s next title, Company of Heroes 2, launches on PC on June 25.
Source: VideoGamer.com Interview
