Bethesda Europe Interview, Part One

GamesIndustry.biz had a chance to sit down with Bethesda Europe managing director Sean Brennan for an interview about the division’s first twelve months in operation.

Q: Previously you’ve had a handful of titles that you’ve taken a very tight control of, and that seems to have been a very successful approach. By adding more titles, such as Wet, Rogue Warrior, Fallout: New Vegas and the Splash Damage game, will it still be possible to dedicate that same amount of attention to multiple products?

Sean Brennan: The idea is to really get in a situation where we’ve got three triple-A titles a year. We don’t have that this year, but next year we believe we will have three triple-A titles. You’re right, that’s three more than what we’re used to. Clearly there will be titles that we publish that are not triple-A, but in terms of the big brands we want to develop going forward that’s absolutely critical to us. We took the decision on Fallout 3, a year before it was due, to delay the title because we didn’t think we’d meet that quality threshold. Unless we can get close to 90 per cent ratings, there’s no point in us developing it, that’s not what we’re about. And the Splash Damage game will prove that point.