David Jaffe, creator of two of Sony's biggest first-party franchises, Twisted Metal and God of War, left the studio he founded, Eat Sleep Play, earlier this year to pursue new projects. Months after the release of his last game, Twisted Metal, Jaffe is talking about his first project since his departure, a free-to-play shooter.
Jaffe told Gamesindustry International he decided to make a free-to-play game because, when faced with the choice of making a huge next-gen title or a F2P game, he feels that the game with the smaller team and the lower barrier of entry is more in line with what he personally wants from a game:
"I hate free-to-play but I love aspects of it. I love the instant-on, I love the low to no barrier of entry to get all kinds of people to jump in and play, I love the fact that you're sitting there at lunch and can play for five minutes or you can get sucked in and play for three hours."
Jaffe's primary concern entering the mobile/browser game market is figuring out how to make a compelling shooter that can be monetized without making gamers feel like they need to pay to win.
"For me it's about starting a company and finding the right group of people that really believe in this vision that there's great stuff about free-to-play but we want to make it genuinely for gamers. And I know a lot of people say that, but what they mean is we're making games that are thematically and mechanically appealing to gamers, but then we're going to f**k it all up with a business model that kind of pisses gamers off and keeps gamers away."
There are still a lot of unknowns for Jaffe and his fledgling project. According to his interview, he spent much of E3 looking to put together a development team. The game's funding is still up in the air, as well. Jaffe says the game could recieve funding from a publisher, but he hasn't ruled out venture capital or even using a Kickstarter to get the ball rolling.
Do you think David Jaffe can change the way we think about free-to-play gaming? Let us know what you think in the comments!
