Console gaming audience has grown up say DICE

Lars Gustavsson, creative director at DICE, has commented to GI.biz that he believes the audience for console games has grown in the last few years. He goes onto say that this caught the team developing Battlefield: Bad Company somewhat off guard, and he hopes this can be set right with the sequel.

“To me, Battlefield: Bad Company was an eye-opener, and for a very long time I think the PC audience was seen as the hardcore, the most competitive and dedicated audience. Maybe at one time that was partially true, but now we definitely see a fanatic shooter audience on console,” he remarks

“I think one of our biggest mistakes with Battlefield: Bad Company for example was that when we started making it, laying out the plans, the view on the gamer was that it’s a console audience, and we need to treat them a bit more gently, since they’re less experienced…

“Well, when we shipped it – it was quite a long project – the audience had grown, matured, played more online… so they knew what a shooter on a console should be like, what to expect.

“So I think in some areas, as lead designer on that project, I feel that we could have done a better job of meeting those expectations, even though I was extremely pleased with the project.”