Perfect World Entertainment announced recently that it would be delaying Livelock across all platforms without a definite launch date in the foreseeable future. We had the opportunity to speak to Lead Game Designer Kevin Neibert to find out the motives behind the decision and the opportunities that will be realized as a result.
MMORPG: Firstly, I want to say that I’m enjoying the game so far. I was one of the lucky PC reviewers to get a code before the delay.
Kevin Neibert: We’ve put a ton of blood, sweat, and tears (mostly tears) into the game over the last few years and it means so much to hear that people are enjoying it!
The delay actually has little to do with quality or press timing. Thankfully, it’s just first-party certification technicalities that we’re working through.
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MMORPG: What ultimately led to the decision to delay the game?
KN: We had a date we were comfortable with, but it was aggressive in terms of first-party certification processes. One platform missed cert, so we revised. Then the other missed cert, so we decided to play it smart and not confusingly stagger the releases. That decision led us to padding out the certification process time. As soon as we receive the green light for final certification, we will announce the new date, as opposed to announcing the date and having something unexpected come up again.
MMORPG: Is this because Livelock will be cross-platform enabled, by chance?
KN: I’m afraid not. We love the idea of true cross-platform play, be it Steam to PS4, to Xbox to whatever comes next, but the reality is that the delay isn’t for new features. It has more to do with timing and our desire to release the game simultaneously on all platforms.
MMORPG: Are you taking the extra time to fix any issues you might have seen reported? I know for my part, the aiming seems a little (pardon the pun) hit or miss, and the CIs seem to have trouble aiming up or down hill.
KN: The extra time is being used very wisely! We have been working diligently to fix a few new bugs that popped up and make minor improvements to the game so that we can deliver the best gameplay experience for players on launch.
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MMORPG: There’s only one “endless” survival mode in the game right now. Do you expect to add any more post-launch?
KN: We have additional Open Protocol Missions planned out, but as a small development team, the community response will ultimately determine the extent of what we can do for Livelock post-launch.
MMORPG: How about post-launch content plans in general? Can we expect more campaign missions, more features, etc?
KN: We are already working on creating additional Difficulty Levels and Weapon Upgrades for post-launch but it totally depends on the reception. If people are enjoying the game and it does well (which we sincerely believe it will) then we will absolutely continue to support Livelock. From a story stand point, we are just scratching the surface of the Livelock universe, so that is definitely something I would like to explore more through additional content.
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MMORPG: When do you foresee the game launching now, across all platforms? Weeks or months away?
KN: We’re most likely looking at a matter of weeks. We apologize for all the confusion, but the reason behind the delay has everything to do with timing, our goal to get the game out everywhere simultaneously, and our ability to confidently pass a couple cert hiccups that aren’t indicative of features, gameplay or even overall quality.
