calling all cars server shutdown
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:21 pm
This past Wednesday, the servers for David Jaffe's PSN multiplayer game Calling All Cars were taken offline, meaning you'll likely never be able to play it online gain. And on his official blog, Jaffe shared a number of fascinating thoughts on the occasion -- looking back at both what they achieved with Calling All Cars, and want went wrong (via Joystiq).
"I'd say she had a good run online, but she really didn't," Jaffe began. "With the exception of the first few hours when the game hit PSN, there were never more than 3-5 people playing at a time." Jaffe explains that ultimately the biggest problem with the game was what he called a "lack of stickiness."
"I think we did a really good job making a fantastic piece of bubble gum that was sweet and jam packed with sugar and had a hell of a bang when you put it in your mouth," he wrote. "But for some reason I still have not totally figured out, the flavor faded VERY fast. You could come back to it after 2-4 weeks and have that same great experience, but it was always a really short ride."
And ultimately, Jaffe concluded it was a problem with perception, even for a $10 game. "I guess it really came down to us gambling wrong in terms of what kind of and how much entertainment people wanted for their 10 bucks on a -- at the time -- $600 HD state-of-the-art game machine," he wrote. "We just thought, for 10 bucks, people woulda been trying these things and sampling them like candy. But alas, much of the same logic that applies to what people buy for 60 bucks also applies to what they spend 10 bucks on."
The whole thing is a fascinating read, giving a rare insight into the sort of decisions that get made during a game's development -- and how they can have unintended results.
So what's next for Jaffe? He still hasn't made any official announcements, but way back in May of last year, rumor had it whatever it is would revolve around cars as well.
Source: 1up.com
"I'd say she had a good run online, but she really didn't," Jaffe began. "With the exception of the first few hours when the game hit PSN, there were never more than 3-5 people playing at a time." Jaffe explains that ultimately the biggest problem with the game was what he called a "lack of stickiness."
"I think we did a really good job making a fantastic piece of bubble gum that was sweet and jam packed with sugar and had a hell of a bang when you put it in your mouth," he wrote. "But for some reason I still have not totally figured out, the flavor faded VERY fast. You could come back to it after 2-4 weeks and have that same great experience, but it was always a really short ride."
And ultimately, Jaffe concluded it was a problem with perception, even for a $10 game. "I guess it really came down to us gambling wrong in terms of what kind of and how much entertainment people wanted for their 10 bucks on a -- at the time -- $600 HD state-of-the-art game machine," he wrote. "We just thought, for 10 bucks, people woulda been trying these things and sampling them like candy. But alas, much of the same logic that applies to what people buy for 60 bucks also applies to what they spend 10 bucks on."
The whole thing is a fascinating read, giving a rare insight into the sort of decisions that get made during a game's development -- and how they can have unintended results.
So what's next for Jaffe? He still hasn't made any official announcements, but way back in May of last year, rumor had it whatever it is would revolve around cars as well.
Source: 1up.com
ROFL