RPG Roundtable #1, Part Three

The third installment of RPGVault’s first RPG Roundtable feature is now available. In it, several RPG developers talk about the link between CRPGs and the fantasy setting. An excerpt:

Casey Hudson – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare: It’s also true that although it’s certainly possible to create a good non-fantasy RPG (and it has been done a few times already), there seem to be barriers preventing these games from selling really well. Why do the barriers exist, and what can be done to breach them?

I think one of the most powerful barriers is familiarity. When a game appears on store shelves (or web previews etc.), there’s a moment where prospective buyers sense whether or not they “get” the idea of the game. If it uses an established license, the game instantly achieves familiarity; the buyer knows what to expect from it. If it’s a completely new intellectual property – and contains themes never seen before in an RPG – it will be difficult to sell people on what’s going to be great about the game.