In that vein, building games for the new consoles does open up some new alleys for Avalanche as it moves forward.
So it’s a different balance from actually… what it used to mean with user generated content.” “If you look at Clash of Clans for instance, actually it’s the players creating all the bases that you play and fight against, so in a sense it’s user-generated content but obviously Supercell creates all the assets and all the rules and everything. “I think also there’s a difference between allowing the players to influence the game… and to completely have them create the game,” Sundberg said. From Avalanche’s standpoint, user-generated content is great, but in the modern sense rather than the old meaning for that term. But when there’s money involved, and the risk of losing it, the people in charge are going to be cautious.īut it’s also about control, to an extent. We may think a balls-to-the-wall, more-is-better approach on something like Just Cause will always be for the better - after all, that does seem to be how community mods have helped keep Just Cause 2 rolling along. It makes a huge difference, but also it changes the game immensely," - Pim Holfve, Expansive Worlds "The Hunter has been out for four years and the community asked for multiplayer. “It makes a huge difference, but also it changes the game immensely, so you need to make it right so you don’t alienate your existing fanbase and scare them off with all this new stuff.” It’s been out for four years and the community asked for multiplayer, and we finally released it,” Holfve told me. Expansive Worlds CEO Pim Holfve explained how they’ve learned a few lessons from taking that plunge. That game is operated by Avalanche subsidiary Expansive Worlds - a studio which focuses its efforts on free-to-play - and last year The Hunter was retrofitted with co-op play after being in release since 2009. In making those future plans, the team at Avalanche is incorporating the wisdom it has gained from maintaining its free-to-play game The Hunter.
“But definitely it’s very inspiring to see players actually enjoy playing against each other and with each other, and that’s something we’re trying to get into our plans for the future.” If we were to charge money for that, then players would expect a bit more structure. “We could never release something like that. And the mod, it was kind of an eye-opener because it sort of set the bar for us,” Sundberg said. “Multiplayer has always been something we’ve struggled with a little bit. It does, however, give them a baseline of quality that Avalanche would have to live up to should they build Just Cause multiplayer themselves in the future.
Sundberg said he believes that what that mod does would not fly with consumers were it part of a retail game.
Manage cookie settingsīut while the folks at Avalanche may love and enjoy the mods on a personal level - not to mention the brand-building and cashflow that comes with tangible support from the community - it does not necessarily mean the studio will be taking cues from, for example, the JC2 multiplayer mod in building Just Cause 3. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. “The multiplayer mod has obviously helped sales massively and increased the lifespan of the game. It’s really helped keep the game alive and selling for four years after release, which is quite unheard of, being a single-player game,” says Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg. “It’s the coolest thing that could happen. At this point, Just Cause 2 is the Minecraft of third-person action games. Of course, you no longer have to play Just Cause 2 by yourself thanks to a massive mod that enables cooperative and competitive play all across the island of Panau. For a game built as a solo experience, that’s remarkable.
Modders have run wild with it, and so even without any real word on a third Just Cause title that franchise name remains all over the PC gaming scene.
Avalanche made a gaming sandbox with potential that perhaps goes beyond even what we expect from the PC versions of Grand Theft Auto games. Just Cause 2 was released just over four years ago, and it’s still making the news. The mod was kind of an eye-opener because it sort of set the bar for us," - Christofer Sundberg, Avalanche "Multiplayer has always been something we’ve struggled with a little bit. While Avalanche is keeping tight-lipped about another Just Cause game, the community-made mods and co-op play in The Hunter are clearly influencing the developer's thinking.