Ex-BioWare boss says studios should better set expectations of schedules

Inflexion Games CEO and former BioWare general manager Aaryn Flynn has said studios need to be more clear to players with post-release schedules, especially in a post-pandemic environment.

Flynn made the comments in an interview with VGC published yesterday (June 18), with his current studio, Inflexion Games, working on the upcoming Nightingale.

“I think players are ultimately pretty fair. They want games to be great, they want them to be polished, and they want experiences to be respectful of their time,” explained Flynn.

“I think our industry has underdelivered and overpromised on some of those things. A lot of times when you see disappointed players, it’s often because a studio or team has set an expectation that they can’t hit. I get that… I can relate to that.”

2022 has seen a number of high profile games delayed off the back of pandemic struggles, with the likes of Starfield and Redfall, and many more games pushed back due to a myriad of reasons surrounding pandemic difficulties.

“It’s about being honest about this stuff and just saying, ‘this is where we’re at… some of these things are hard and we’d rather spend a little longer giving you something great than something compromised earlier’,” added Flynn.

“Again, I think the vast majority of players want that too. Players have so much choice now… they’re going to go play something else in the mid-term if you don’t have content, and that’s a good or bad thing for certain studios.”

Back in April NME talked with the former BioWare boss about the upcoming Nightingale, which is being developed by a number of BioWare veterans. The survival game is set to focus on storytelling, somewhat, although “it’s very much a sandbox,” according to Flynn.

Nightingale is set to release in quarter four of this year on PC.

In other news, Lego is set to release eight new character packs themed around Super Mario.