Chair's Mustard: In-App Purchases, Quick Updates Will 'Inevitably' Come To Console

Author: by Staff

In Gamasutra's latest feature interview with Chair Entertainment, developers of iOS hit Infinity Blade, creative director Donald Mustard says that quicker, user-driven updates to console games are "inevitable." The team at Chair recently updated Infinity Blade with a large free content update -- as well as delivering improvements and requests gleaned from forum posts, email feedback, and other user communication. Gamasutra asked if Mustard would like to do this for Chair's Xbox Live game Shadow Complex if he could. His reply? "Absolutely." When it comes to Infinity Blade, he said the ability to "put in new content and adjust quickly to what the market's doing is key." Said Mustard, "It's empowering to us, and it's empowering to the consumer. The ease with which we can do it is the lessening of the barrier; that means that we can do it frequently."

 He believes that console manufacturers will be forced to open up this style of updating on console games. Presently, even in downloadable titles, all patches and updates have to go through a lengthy certification process. Contracts are also not structured, in some cases, to allow for it. However, said Mustard, "I think that the market will demand it, and that's inevitable at this point." "I think that the things that are happening in the social space and the handheld space are going to completely change the way we look at console games moving forward. I think in five years the console games will look very, very different than they do now, and it will be because of the work that's happening in these spaces and the agile -- I think 'agile' is probably the right word -- just the agile way that the market's developing," Mustard said. 
 The full interview, which goes into much greater depth on Infinity Blade's development process and success, and which contains insights from Chair technical director Geremy Mustard and senior producer Simon Hurley, is live now on Gamasutra.