At Gamescom 2018, we spoke with the CEO of Trion Worlds about the difficult launch of Defiance 2050. Scott Hartsman talked about the hurdle of communicating to the community exactly what Defiance 2050 is.
With Defiance 2050, Trion Worlds aimed to renew the MMO shooter Defiance released in 2013 and bring it to the current consoles Xbox One and PS4. The game received a major graphical update, systems were adjusted, and new content was added.
The remake was also heavily criticized.
Mein-MMO: When Defiance 2050 was released, it was received poorly by the players. How was it for you when you realized that the players might not be so happy?
Scott Hartsman: When we look at what players say, we also look at what they do. You have to consider both together. When we look at the actual player statistics […], we’re actually quite happy. It was the number-one free game on Xbox One, even ahead of Fortnite. I was really happy when I saw that it was up there.
Viewing how well [Defiance 2050] is performing for us as a company, it does exactly what we would have expected. We see it as a major update to the original Defiance that we released many years ago. The new graphics and the overhaul of the gameplay are a big improvement. There’s also a lot of new content.
There are a lot of players who have never come into contact with Defiance. They never played it on the old consoles or on PC. We saw Defiance 2050 as an opportunity to introduce the game to a new generation of players.
It was a challenge to communicate what Defiance 2050 is
Mein-MMO: When you look at feedback from veterans and new players, is there a big difference between the feedback?
Scott Hartsman: Yes, we had a lot of players who played on the old consoles. […] There were definitely those who expected more of a sequel, instead of a major overhaul. That was the thing, Defiance 2050 is not a continuation. We are very transparent about that. However, it is also a bit more than just a rework.
It was a major challenge to communicate to the players exactly what Defiance 2050 is. That’s why we call it the “Re-Imagined Edition” of Defiance.
Mein-MMO: Yes, I just spoke with the developer team. They told me that their own vision of Defiance 2050 was somewhat different from that of the players.
Scott Hartsman: Definitely. Every time you develop a game – and this goes back a long way for me to when I developed MMOs years ago – you have a certain picture in your head. You have your vision of what will be special about the game and what players will like and dislike. Just as what is important to them and what is not.
All those assumptions are eventually tested. Sometimes you hit the mark, sometimes you are partially right, and other times you are completely off. I have never seen anyone be completely right. But I would say we were as close to being partially right as we could be.
Veterans prematurely judged according to Hartsman
Mein-MMO: In what parts were you right and in what parts wrong?
Scott Hartsman: It was really mostly about the expectation for the game content. The players who were new to Defiance 2050 found it just great. Players who had played the original Defiance saw the same content at first and immediately thought: “Is this the same game?” because they didn’t realize that there was actually a ton of new content they had never seen later on. There are also new systems that they had never seen.
They simply saw only the first five minutes and immediately judged that Defiance 2050 is the same game, even though it really is not.
Defiance 2050 delivered exactly what Trion Worlds expected
Mein-MMO: That has naturally also brought you some negative headlines from the press and worse reviews.
Scott Hartsman: That’s true, but Defiance 2050 delivered exactly what we expected. We’ve actually never been so close with our forecasts about what would happen with a game.
Mein-MMO: That’s interesting. Defiance 2050 is publicly perceived as if the game is not doing well.
Scott Hartsman: Yes, when we are on specific forums or Subreddits, we also see that it doesn’t take many voices to make the overall tone seem negative. Negative voices also tend to be louder. However, when I look at the statistics about how many actually play Defiance 2050, the world looks very different.
But please don’t get me wrong. I want as many players as possible to enjoy Defiance 2050. […] We are here to entertain. We are, of course, working towards getting as much positive feedback as possible.
Mein-MMO: Thank you for the conversation and your time.
The focus is now on improving performance and new content
Before I interviewed Scott Hartsman, I also talked with two of the developers of Defiance 2050. They want to focus on processing player feedback now.
According to the developers, the highest priority right now is improving performance. Players have strongly criticized lag and crashes. As a second priority, the developers mentioned new content. Enthusiastic players are constantly asking for new content, and they are actively working on that.
New content for Defiance 2050 will be released in the fall. This will include new boss enemies and systems.
If you want to get a sense of the free-to-play shooter, here are some tips for getting started:
