After this week’s announcement that DC Universe Online would indeed be seeing a delay until early 2011, we had the fine opportunity to go directly to Senior Producer Wes Yanagi and let him explain in his own words why the release is getting pushed back and ultimately what it means for the future of DCUO.
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MMORPG.com: |
Obviously the players weren’t the only ones who were excited for a November release. I’m sure after years in development the entire staff at SOE Austin was looking forward to the launch of the game. But many people forget that target dates are always, well moving targets. From your point of view, what’s the best part of delaying DCUO? |
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Wes Yanagi: |
The whole team’s excited about getting DCUO into more hands of the fans that have been so patient and supportive since the game was announced. They’re just as excited about the chance to see their efforts realized and everyone having a blast when the game goes live. Although it means more work, extending our Beta is the perfect opportunity for us to take that extra time to deliver a polished and awesome experience when we turn those servers on for real. Early indications from our existing beta community are telling us that players are having a blast, and this lets us know that we’re definitely moving in the right direction! |
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MMORPG.com: |
We know one thing that was potentially on the chopping block for launch was the Light power set (Green Lantern, et al.). Will this delay help ensure that players can don their own rings of power when the game comes out early next year? |
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Wes Yanagi: |
This added time is more about giving us the time to act on feedback from our players and identifying key areas to focus on in the last few months before we go live. As for “rings of power” there are always going to be features that some segments of the community want more than others; then it becomes a balancing act. We’re building DC Universe Online to have tons of replayability and content to suit players of all stripes. Having the benefit of access to the entire DC Universe affords us the opportunity to add features, content and characters in a very logical progression, one that’s much more organic and common-sense and in the end, much more rewarding for our players. It would be similar to a comic book or TV show, with story arcs/episodes that begin and evolve. |
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MMORPG.com: |
Now that the public knows about the delay, surely they’ll be even more rabid to get in and help test out the beta. Care to share your studio’s approach to the beta process, and what players can expect to have access to as the external test begins? |
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Wes Yanagi: |
We’re currently in our “Friends and Family” stage of the beta and starting this week, we’ll be letting in some of the VIP key holders followed by selected registrants from the website, growing the beta over time and continuing to get that important player feedback as we test and scale our infrastructure. We’re also doing a little “incentivizing” of beta access (s that a word?). Players that pre-order the game by Nov. 15th are assured of access to the beta on or before Nov. 30th , so anybody that wants to play the game and guarantee their copy at launch should go out and pre-order now! We’ll have full details on this pre-order promo on the website beginning October 7. |
