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Bethesda Softworks - Interview @ GamesIndustry.biz

by Dhruin, 2009-05-18 22:59:20

GamesIndustry.biz has a business-focused 2-part interview with Bethsoft Europe managing director, Sean Brennan.  Most of the conversation will only be of interest to those that follow the business side, although the piece does reveal European sales of 2M units for Fallout 3 and has some insight into their DLC philosophy:

Q: Do you see a significant jump in sales of Fallout 3 boxed product when you release big downloadable content update like The Pitt or Broken Steel?

Sean Brennan: If you look at the market generally, what you tend to find in terms of the longevity of a product life-cycle, often you find that if it's a huge multiplayer game it tends to sell for longer. And you can directly correlate that to word of mouth. Opinion-formers are talking about Call of Duty because they're still playing it online, it's top of their consciousness. That's what multiplayer does for a title if it's good enough.

What DLC does, particularly with Fallout 3 as it's not a multiplayer game, what that again does is gets the word of mouth going, it revitalises the whole thing. People start talking about it and those that own the original game, they're playing the DLC and the word of mouth spreads. Fallout 3 came out in October and it's still very much being talked about now. It passes on by a process of osmosis in to the marketplace. It really does help sales. And it's a marketing tool to a large degree, it's extending the playing experience of the original game but it's also marketing the original game as well.

Part 1 and Part 2.

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