Horizon as live service

It doesn't reveal much we didn't already know - They are working on an unannounced Action-RPG and have purchased a 2nd studio building to do so, along with development continuing at the main studio building. Horizon 4 is already a live service, so that's nothing new either. It's interesting to see what their offices look like though.
 
"Fulton reiterates that the live service team is dedicated solely to updating Forza Horizon 4, which avoids diverting resources from the inevitable sequel or its unannounced project. Far from management pressuring them to maintain the pace of additions to the game, conversations between Fulton and the live team suggest that the biggest pressure comes from the community."

This makes me sad. The team working on Horizon 4 shouldn't feel like they need to run themselves into the ground, just to placate their customers. I can definitely understand why they feel that pressure though. Good on Fulton for making sure they don't give in to that impulse.
 
ShakesMcQueen
This makes me sad. The team working on Horizon 4 shouldn't feel like they need to run themselves into the ground, just to placate their customers. I can definitely understand why they feel that pressure though. Good on Fulton for making sure they don't give in to that impulse.
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It's good that Fulton isn't pushing for crunch, but this is a common theme within the games industry. Customers are very very demanding these days and will jump on the slightest bug or issue to really run it into the ground. The outcome is that the studio feels the need to react to this to stop the negative attention, and inevitably the staff suffer. It's very easy for people to forget this when they're leaving sweary rants on forums or reddit threads.

(Ironically this message was typed from in a games studio at 8:30PM on a Friday evening when I was due to finish 3 hours ago, but that's my own fault :lol: )
 
Moglet
It's good that Fulton isn't pushing for crunch, but this is a common theme within the games industry. Customers are very very demanding these days and will jump on the slightest bug or issue to really run it into the ground. The outcome is that the studio feels the need to react to this to stop the negative attention, and inevitably the staff suffer. It's very easy for people to forget this when they're leaving sweary rants on forums or reddit threads.

(Ironically this message was typed from in a games studio at 8:30PM on a Friday evening when I was due to finish 3 hours ago, but that's my own fault :lol: )
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I think Fulton's response that it's futile to try and ask the community to collectively be realistic or understanding with when things can be delivered, and instead you have to internally just make sure your devs aren't working unhealthily in response to those demands, is a smart one though.

As was the part where he says they learned that the community are generally quite understanding as long as you're open and honest with them about what you're doing, and giving realistic timeframes for delivering them. I think that's very true. Even if it's bad news (ie. the brake caliper painting thing), the community generally appreciates you being open and honest with them about the fact that it can't be done, and an explanation of why.

It's when you go silent, or promise unrealistic things you then don't deliver, that things turn sour.

This was a really good article. Everyone should read it.
 
Moglet
It's good that Fulton isn't pushing for crunch, but this is a common theme within the games industry. Customers are very very demanding these days and will jump on the slightest bug or issue to really run it into the ground. The outcome is that the studio feels the need to react to this to stop the negative attention, and inevitably the staff suffer. It's very easy for people to forget this when they're leaving sweary rants on forums or reddit threads.
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The thing that sucks is that they either crunch and likely accidentally let more bugs seep through, or the delay it to address any issues. Both resulting in the same outcome really.
 
ImaRobot
The thing that sucks is that they either crunch and likely accidentally let more bugs seep through, or the delay it to address any issues. Both resulting in the same outcome really.
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Exactly, and in Horizon's case especially, it's compounded by the fact that at least to me, there's been a massive teething process for Playground to get accustomed to games as a service.

Though at least I'm glad that both PG and T10 are vocal enough about the process to players, and are keeping it as open as possible. I'd prefer that to the Polyphony way of shoving an update out every two months or so, and then basically having no fan communication that isn't through the head honcho speaking in riddles (Though how much of that is due to the language barrier or Polyphony's position as one of the top Japanese first party studios, plus their iceberg like movement towards the future of gaming, I don't know)
 

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