Wasteland 2 - Interview @ Screen Robot

Screen Robot interviews Brian Fargo to talk about crowdfunding, and Wasteland 2.

Crowdfunded projects by the biggest names in gaming have now become commonplace, but when Brian Fargo and inXile Entertainment began their Kickstarter campaign to fund Wasteland 2 back in 2012, it was something of an outlier. Keeping on the cutting edge of the industry seems to have paid off for Fargo, as nearly three million dollars that the Kickstarter raised has produced a game that is wowing fans, and critics alike.

“I feel fortunate to be on the forefront of such an important games development movement,” says Brian when asked about the campaign. “Partnering with our audience via crowdfunding allows us to greater control our destiny, and make the games we want in the fashion that works for us.” The crowdfunding model dominated videogames headlines in 2013, and as discussed in a feature two weeks ago, this years games, that have already been paid for by fans, will start being released into the wild.

Buying a game  two years in advance of its release bears a greater risk of disappointment for audiences, so inXile opted to release it via Steam Early Access to gauge response from fans. “Having more players meant more feedback, and we can’t get enough of that. This interaction is going to provide us with the assistance to create an RPG that could not have possibly have had the nuance and smoothed- out edges had it been developed with a more closed approach,” Brian says. “The beta testers get to have fun with the game early and watch it get shaped by their comments and the buyers of the final game get an experience that is far better than it would have been without. It’s a win-win situation to me.”