Batman Delay Effective, Publishers "Backed It 100%"
Batman: Arkham AsylumGame delays are not normally seen as a good thing, especially as far as the publishers are concerned. The latter group will purposely push a title if they don't believe the estimated release window is optimal, but if the designer falls behind schedule, that's when the relationship gets shaky.
But it certainly helps to have a publisher who is utterly and completely confident in the developer, so when the developer says, "hey, we need more time," the intended distributors just say, "sure, you got it." This apparently happened when Rocksteady Studios asked for three more months before launching Batman: Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. and Eidos didn't balk at the question at all and they freely granted the extra time. In speaking to Kotaku, Batman game director Sefton Hill said the publishers were "100% behind" the idea:
"We discussed it with Warner Brothers and Eidos and said, 'Look, we believe we have a really good game here.' What we all agreed to do at the outset was put the time in and make sure we deliver a game worthy of Batman. ... [We] said what we really need to do here is spend this additional three months to make sure we tidy the game and deliver the game that we all set out to do. To give Eidos and Warner a lot of credit, they backed that 100%."
The delay only turned out to be two months in length and gamers ended up with one of the best experiences of 2009. The idea that they pushed the game in order to rake in extra sales is untrue; they were "still working on it like crazy," according to Hill. They were trying to finalize certain aspects of the project, like the game's fluidity; you never see any loading screens when playing, do you? They also worked hard to make sure the frame rate was solid, too. Now, you can bet this bit of polish is likely what vaulted the game into the generation's elite - and sales were excellent, too - so perhaps this little story will allow publishers to be more lenient with devs in the future.
Related Game(s): Batman: Arkham Asylum
12/28/2009 10:40:20 AM Ben Dutka
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Comments (27 posts)
to_far_apart
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 8:16:27 PM
I'm glad to see a publisher put 100% faith into Rocksteady, now like Ben said, did they deserve that kind of automatic confidence? I don't know. But It really makes the difference when you have a publisher blindly trusting you and backing you 100%.
Publishing companies should take a look of how Rocksteady and Warner Bros. worked together, it really is refreshing to see that. Not to mention it worked, one of the best games I've played this year. They didn't disappoint. Really looking forward to the next installment.
2 up, 0 down
Victor321
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 11:02:29 AM
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So I'm glad that they decided to give Rocksteady extra time =D
9 up, 0 down
Qubex
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 11:41:58 AM
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Q!
"i am home"
Last edited by Qubex on 12/28/2009 11:44:05 AM
2 up, 0 down
Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 6:48:51 PM
1 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 @ 12:58:04 AM
maybe eidos and warner saw the game, and could see it needed more polish.
will be interesting to see how rocksteady and SE get along now since they bought eidos and SE are notorious for delays.
SE games and delays go together like coffee and sugar.
1 up, 0 down
inkme101
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 12:08:47 PM
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1 up, 0 down
JackC8
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 1:55:14 PM
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I'm looking forward to everything being perfect next year.
1 up, 0 down
Alienange
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 2:38:44 PM
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1 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 3:08:49 PM
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I'd be tempted to say I hope the 10,000 delays for GT5 and LA Noire help as much! But yeah, we have no idea what the schedule is, if there ever was one. By my count FFXIII has been delayed about 3 years.
4 up, 0 down
to_far_apart
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 8:20:14 PM
1 up, 0 down
fatelementality
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 5:05:37 PM
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1 up, 0 down
Banky A
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 10:18:18 PM
or
Time / Happiness
Yes? ;)
0 up, 0 down
Club80
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 6:40:51 PM
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I have never been a huge fan of Batman, but after reading all the great reviews from fans and critics, I decided to give it a rental from Gamefly. After a day of having my hands on it, I decided to keep it. One of the best gaming experiences in recent memory!
Other publishers and developers can take a great lesson from this story.
2 up, 0 down
Snaaaake
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 7:48:34 PM
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But you know what's worse? Or should I say what's the worst?
Delay a game for months and then weeks after the game is released, the developers announce a DLC.
1 up, 0 down
Geobaldi
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 7:58:56 PM
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3 up, 0 down
Geobaldi
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 8:02:19 PM
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4 up, 0 down
BikerSaint
Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 9:54:33 PM
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And I'll go as far as adding that I predict that f*cking full page ad has already won the 2009 "AdOTY Fail Award" here.
0 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 @ 1:02:03 AM
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but than theres nothing worse than having such a brilliant game brought down by bugs, so im glad eidos gave them the extra time to polish things.
a perfect example of a game thats so good, had so much potential but did not live up to it because of the bugs is mercenaries 2.
that game had everything, tanks, hellis, massive explosions, NUKES, EVERYTHING!
i was soooooooooooo excited for that game, and since it released like 1 year after its original release date i was convinced it would be polished as chrome.
oooooooooooooo boy was i wrong :(
1 up, 1 down
telly
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 @ 2:15:08 AM
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As those of us who were around when Nintendo reigned supreme, that company would routinely delay games not just a few months, but a few YEARS. Seriously -- The Nintendo 64, originally the Ultra 64, was delayed at least a full year. Ocarina of Time was delayed endlessly. So was Perfect Dark. I knew I for one grew fed up with waiting for those jerks to finish up there friggin' games already, which inevitably would ship with a whole lot of polish, but still ultimately be just a game on an inferio piece of hardware when compared to the PS1.
These days, it's pretty amazing to think about all of the top shelf games that missed their holiday targets for the sake of improving their product -- Mass Effect 2, God of War III, Bioshock II, etc. If I was young and counting on Santa to provide me with a sweet title to last through the spring, then I'd be pretty ticked off. As an adult who doesn't mind waiting for the good stuff to be even better, this is a very welcome trend.
As long as all developers don't turn into Nintendo circa 1996-99, I'm ALL for taking a few months to get the product RIGHT before asking gamers to shell out 60 bucks. A fe months I can wait. If God of War III slipped until 2011, I'd light a goddamn torch and storm SCEA's offices ;)
1 up, 1 down
Gow49ers
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Monday, December 28, 2009 @ 11:00:38 AM