On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of Warframe our author Leya conducted an interview with Rebecca Ford, Live Ops and Community Director at Digital Extremes (DE). We discussed the past and the future of Warframe. In this future, open-world maps like the Plains of Eidolon will play an important role.
Warframe is a free multiplayer online shooter from Digital Extremes that is often compared to Destiny. You play as a Tenno in a futuristic setting, equipped with various biomechanical suits. These suits are referred to as Warframes and have different abilities.
In March 2013, Warframe came to light, launching as a pure lobby shooter with exactly one level. Since then, Warframe has undergone a significant transformation and offers players a complete star system.
Rebecca Ford is the Community Director at Digital Extremes and answered some questions for us at Mein-MMO about “5 years of Warframe”.
Warframe has evolved into a different game in 5 years
Mein-MMO: We are currently looking back at five years of Warframe. During the beta, you had some problems keeping the game alive. You had a smaller player base and received mixed reviews. Today you have more than 35 million registered players and are known for being close to the community. Could you give us a brief summary of how Warframe has changed over the last 5 years?
Rebecca: Hmm…a brief summary of Warframe over the last five years? That might be the most difficult question I’ve been asked to date.
Briefly: “Take many risks and recognize when to celebrate success and when to admit mistakes.”
A little more specifically, I would say that Warframe has grown in content and character, as we have attracted a huge group of enthusiastic and engaged fans who love the game. We give them plenty of reasons to hang out, play, and come back.
Secondly, we provide players with the opportunity to play together. Thirdly, we regularly invite them to challenge us, talk to us, and meet us.
If Warframe disappeared from your radar two years ago or if you played it when it first came out on PlayStation 4 and then stopped, there are now so many improvements and changes that Warframe is almost a different game.
“It is important to seize opportunities”
Mein-MMO: When you brought the “Plains of Eidolon” to Warframe, you opened up the corridors of your lobby shooter and introduced the first open-world map. In what way did a risky update like this impact you as developers?
Rebecca: Presenting the Plains of Eidolon at TennoCon 2017 was one of the scariest and most exciting reveals we’ve ever had. We had already taken other risks, but that was something different!
We put an enormous amount of work into this creation, and we had no idea whether players would love it or hate it. But seizing opportunities is really important for a “Games-as-a-Service” title like ours. We are constantly moving, always creating new content, and feel that we should always challenge ourselves in our own perception of what Warframe is and could be.
The Plains have given us new energy, creativity, and a new purpose. Since then, the Plains have already received several updates, including “Shrines of the Eidolons” and we have more innovations planned. After the Plains, we also want to travel to Venus to introduce another open-world expansion there.
The future focus of Warframe is the open-world areas
Mein-MMO: The Plains of Eidolon brought a lot of new players to Warframe, and the update was overall well received. Since then, you have moved important mechanics like the Arcanes as a raid substitute to the Plains. Some players feel that you are forcing the Plains on them with such actions. Is the future of Warframe in open-world maps, and what would you say to players who are concerned about this?
Rebecca: Definitely, the future of Warframe will have even more open-world expansions. We received a lot of positive feedback indicating that players love the overall idea.
Earlier this year, we conducted a survey in which we found that a large portion of players likes the Plains of Eidolon and is looking forward to more open zones in Warframe.
However, this does not mean that we are now solely focusing on open-world content. That is part of our direction. As you may have noticed, Lotus is undergoing some changes, and her future is a small part of a larger story that we want to release this year.
New Umbra form of the Warframes comes along with the story expansion
Mein-MMO: Although Warframe is at its core a loot grinder, you have integrated a moving and immersive story within Warframe over the past five years. Could you give me a teaser about the upcoming lore of Warframe?
Rebecca: Well, I’ve already revealed as much as I can in my last answer without it turning into spoilers. But let’s just say that there will be a lot more new story this year, along with a long-overdue visit from Umbra.
For explanation: Umbra Warframes will be a special version of the suits. The Warframe Excalibur is set to receive the first Umbra version. The introduction of Excalibur Umbra has been planned by Digital Extremes as something special and will likely come with a unique acquisition method.
On the new open-Venus map, everything will be different
Mein-MMO: You have already published the first images of the open-world map on Venus. It was clear that you are taking a different direction than with the Plains on Earth. Can we expect a new kind of content and gameplay here? Will there be new bosses that require a different approach than the Eidolons in the Plains?
Rebecca: Venus is the second of our open-world expansions, and with it, you will see a new world. This means there will be a different set of enemies, different weather conditions, and different bosses. Such as spider bosses!
About the story of the Venus map, I can reveal so much: The Orokin undertook terraforming on Venus to make the planet habitable for them. The Corpus faction populated Venus as the Orokin fell and continued their work. Venus has a coolant that ensures a low temperature on the planet.
On Venus, there is a remaining civilization that lives underground. They are called “Solaris United” and are unfortunate laborers of the Corpus. They are responsible for processing and refining coolant so that it can be used on the surface of Venus. The cold on Venus then leads to ice storms.
Digital Extremes takes Warframe in a different direction than Bungie with Destiny
Mein-MMO: Have you ever thought about starting over completely and developing a Warframe 2 with your current experience? Bungie has taken this path and developed a sequel to Destiny. Can you relate to the problems that Bungie is now facing after deciding to redesign their game?
Rebecca: When we released the Plains of Eidolon, some players asked us if they could just call it Warframe 2. We like the idea of a Warframe 2, but Warframe is a game that is constantly evolving.
We want to continue supporting Warframe with updates, develop it further, and listen to our players. That has served us well so far! We are not planning a sequel.
So there will be no Warframe 2, and the world of the online shooter will continue to evolve in its current form. However, it is expected that there will be a strong focus on open zones in Warframe in the coming years, which fans have already referred to as Warframe 2.
What would you think of a Warframe 2? Would it be good for the game to wipe everything and start fresh?
